Lessons from the Road

Three weeks later and we’ve arrived home. The free weights I debated on bringing never made it out of the trunk. But I figure hauling 70 pounds of weights up and down my stairs counts as a workout, so it’s not a total loss.

As expected, maintaining a healthy lifestyle on the road was a challenge and after a few days to ruminate on our adventure, I’ve come up with a few key takeaways.

1.   Keep your vacation to one week. 

That seems to be the magic number for me in terms of how long I can maintain the willpower necessary to stay “on plan.”

During that first week, I actively sought out the hotel fitness centers and used my friends’ gym memberships to squeeze in several workouts. That tenacity diminished as the weeks progressed, as did my ability to say “no” to margaritas and wine with friends. It seems that the more time passed the louder the voice in my head became saying, "But you're on vacation!"

As evidence of my failure of willpower, I give you the following data. The number of times I worked out and the number of unsanctioned beverages (a/k/a alcohol) I consumed  over the course of the trip.

Look what happened.

As you can see, extending my vacation beyond the first week was a disastrous decision for my healthy lifestyle objectives. And Week 2 was particularly difficult on my liver. But hey, I made some memories. I’ll have to be sure and call my Texas friends to gain a better understanding of those memories as I’m a little fuzzy on the details.

Which brings me to lesson number two.

2.   Don’t vacation with these people.

Our Texas friends, Jeff & Shelley

Or these people...

My two sisters, Cathy (in front) & Tammi (in middle). That's me in the back.

And certainly not these two!

Mike (pouring the wine) and Rick (holding the beer bong funnel)

Even though my friends and family are completely supportive of my lifestyle choices, when they show up with a jeroboam of wine it’s a little difficult to sit on the sidelines and not join in.

If you want to stick to your plan you need either different friends, a backbone made of titanium, or the budget to vacation at Canyon Ranch. 

Seriously, while I enjoyed our travels immensely, I’m relieved to be back in Richmond and ready to get back on the In8 plan, because honestly, I feel sluggish, moody and my headaches are back. All those things disappeared when I was more proactive about managing my diet and exercising regularly.

As Katherine Tallmadge, M.A., R.D., author of Diet Simple: 192 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations says, " … one of the most important skills to have is to learn how to splurge, then go back to healthy eating right away…”

Yeah, I’m on it sister!

Also coming up this week are my results from the program. I’m sure my little road trip will detract from my hard work a bit, but hopefully not too much.

We’ll see…