Watch Out, I’m Packin’

My car as it waits to be worked on

Usually when you make the comment that “you’re packing”, it refers to carrying a concealed weapon. And by the way, I do have a little card in my wallet that enables me to do that. But yesterday I was carrying on my person more than one concealed weapon.

After my roadtrip to Connecticut where that pesky tire was making me stress out, I knew I had to get the tire replaced. Thanks to today’s cars, all-wheel drive and all that automotive blah-de-blah, you can’t just replace one tire without having to do them all. Sigh. During the week, I had this crazy notion to run down to the tire place and “quick get it done”. They were booked solid and couldn’t fit me in until this past weekend. I had a 9:00 appointment for Saturday. Not what I had planned for Saturday, but I had to do it.

I reluctantly woke up early Saturday morning after a long Friday night out with my son at a concert. He was still sleeping in when I got up, had my morning pot of coffee and a homemade breakfast sandwich of a low fat bagel, microwaved Egg Beaters and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese stuck in there. I glanced up at the clock and wondered how long I’d be at the tire place. I also had errands to run in that area.

A habit I’ve gotten into is packing food to take with me when I go on my “Errands from Hell” days. This habit didn’t happen overnight. It was the accumulative times of banging my head into the drivers’ side window because I was out running around and got hungry and the only thing around was a convenience store or drive through fast food place on the way. I’d get so angry with myself because it’s hard to think of good options when your blood sugar is low, you’re hungry and you just can’t think.  I had my day planned out and I knew for lunch I was going to have an apple, a flatbread sandwich with a grilled portabello mushroom, lettuce, melted cheese and catsup & mustard (my healthy “burger”) and a Fiber One brownie. My mushroom was already cooked and waiting for me in the fridge, so I took a few minutes, made my sandwich and wrapped it in foil. I have several lunch bags and I grabbed one, threw my food in along with some Tab sodas and a paperback by Brene Brown that I’ve been wanting to read. When I arrived at the tire place, I thought, “I better just take this bag in with me because who knows how long this is going to take.” I’m so glad I did.

Vending machines from Hell

They took my car in and I settled into the waiting room. It consisted of a TV, a counter with a coffee pot and two huge honking vending machines. One contained an assortment of drinks and the other was snacks. Now, I don’t know about YOU, but just having those snacks in front of you, staring at you, taunting you… you don’t even have to be hungry and you’re already looking for change. I looked at the drink machine. Lots of sugar sodas, full sugar energy drinks and a diet cola and some water for $1.50 each. Then I looked into the snack machine. A cornucopia of bad options from chips to cookies to candy and everything in between. I sat back down after getting a hot cup of coffee (hey, it was free) and settled into my book. A few more customers came in and sat down in the room. A young woman sat next to me and was watching the television and eyeing up the snack machine. I was casually eating my brownie at this point. She sighed and said, “I should have done what you did. I really don’t want to eat anything in that machine.” I offered her my apple and she declined. All I could think of was the witch in Snow White saying, “An apple, my pretty?” Anyway, you could tell she was laboring over her choices in the machine and she ended up buying a pack of peanut butter crackers.  Then a half hour later as she was complaining her car wasn’t supposed to take this long (welcome to my world, honey) she bought a bag of chips while I was nibbling on my sandwich and drinking my Tab. And I heard the usual question, “They still make Tab? My mom drank Tab like YEARS ago.” I smiled and politely said, “Yes, they do.” But I was thinking, “Yes. They make Tab. And I’m not your Mom. I would have taught you a manner or two.”

In another few minutes they told us our cars were both ready and we went to the counter to pay. The girl was saying, “God, I’m starving. I have to go get some real food. Isn’t there a Burger King near here?” The kid behind the counter told her about the different fast food places in the area and she seemed thrilled. I already had my lunch, I paid my bill for my

My concealed "weapon"

tires and I went on to do the rest of my errands before coming home to get into my cleaning.

I didn’t sacrifice my blood sugar. I didn’t get that whooshy feeling or end up making bad food choices because I was packin’ a secret weapon. My own food. I don’t get embarrassed to take my own food and dig in. I was embarrassed in so many more ways just by being bigger.

Taking the Gobble Out of Thanksgiving

They say that over the holiday season, the typical weight gain is about ten pounds. That’s probably why people go into “I got to lose weight” mode in January. But it doesn’t have to be this way. How is it that we’ve equated holidays with FOOD? Hey, we’ve all done it.

There’s holiday cookies and desserts, you know those family recipes that we make on the holidays and it’s tradition so we HAVE to make them.   Or do we? And why does it have to be ME? Doesn’t anyone else know how to cook or bake?

Thanksgiving is coming on this Thursday here in America.  It’s supposed to be a day we realize the wonderful people and things in our lives and be thankful and grateful. And then we gorge ourselves on turkey, stuffing and tons of desserts and go into a tryptophan coma with football blaring in the background. (well not at my house, no tv and we’re not sports fans).

I was going to do things differently this year and take a very easy route.  Right now, my life is filled with craziness, busy-ness and loved ones close to me with severe medical issues as well as some of my own emotional issues. I was going to take my son and daughter out to eat at one of our favorite Asian restaurants and by pass the whole turkey day affair.

However, my friend and my ex (yes one in the same person) asked if we could spend Thanksgiving together with the kids. At first my heart sunk a bit. I was trying to get away from the whole Food Frenzy day and rest a bit since I have to work Black Friday the next day. But Thanksgiving should be filled with people and fun and I said ok.  Then, I smiled. This could be interesting.  I’m going to go into this with a positive attitude and lighten up a lot of dishes I plan to eat. It’s going to be an exercise in how to say “no” to the dishes I shouldn’t eat.

I got my turkey today. My local grocery store always runs a promo before Thanksgiving so that I can get a turkey or turkey breast for free. I secured a nice 20 pound bird and I’m going to leave it up to my friend to cook that at his place. He’ll be picking it up today when he drops off my daughter from the weekend.

He’s got a traditional stuffing his family has always made with 1 part bread cubes, 1 part spicy sausage, 1 part mild sausage and 1 part coronary failure. I won’t be eating any of that this year. I’m going to make a stuffing using low fat bagels cut up, some celery and onions, poultry seasoning and chicken broth and I’ll make that ahead of time to take with me.

He likes to have the usual green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup and fried onions. Kim has a recipe on her site for a Broccoli Crunch using broccoli, low fat cream of soup and reduced fat crackers. So I’ll make mine ahead of time to take with me.

He likes to have a huge pumpkin pie from the local Costco and the apple crumb pie that his grandmother always made. Well, if that’s what he wants, he’s going to have to run to Costco and pull out his own apron to make the pie, I’m not doing that.  I’m going to make the Crustless Pumpkin Pie from Kim’s website and there’s a Chocolate Cream Pie on her site that I’m going to try to make this week.

He’s making some yams but I think I’m going to bake a butternut squash, scoop it out, mash it and season it with some cinnamon and some Whey Low sugar substitute. He wants his dinner rolls, well Mister, go get them.

I’m writing it all out, planning it all out and following my little notes once the big day is here. Food will be kept in the kitchen area and we’ll be filling our plates buffet style and not sitting at the table full of food staring at us. Unlike other years, I won’t be drinking wine or beer and I’m sticking with unsweetened iced tea, water and maybe some diet soda.

The food, on my end anyway, I’ll be making ahead and then putting in the fridge to take with me. The day of Thanksgiving, we plan on playing cards, playing some games, watching a couple movies and hanging out and spending some quality time.

That’s MY plan. I won’t let anyone guilt me into eating or making a food item that I don’t want to do. I don’t care WHOSE recipe it was, or how many years we always did that. It doesn’t matter. The day is not going to be centered around FOOD.  My father used to chastise my mother saying it was a crime how many hours we spent in the kitchen prepping, cooking and baking for it to be devoured within twenty minutes. He’s got a point.

So you have a few options this year. Honestly, if you can afford to just take the family out to eat for Thanksgiving, I think it’s a great option. I did that a couple years ago and it was great. It was a buffet and everyone stuffed themselves in their American style gluttony and I had NO cooking, NO cleaning, NO leftovers. In my book, that spells AWESOME!

Scale it back. My original plan was to just do a turkey breast. If my ex wasn’t involved, that’s what I’d be doing, but he likes to do the whole “stuff the bird thing”. Whatever.  But who needs ten side dishes? Decide on a couple of vegetable dishes, the starch you want and your turkey (or ham or whatever meat you’re doing if you’re a carnivore). Decide on 1 or 2 simple desserts. It doesn’t HAVE to be a grand production unless you turn it into one.

Do any prep or cooking ahead of time if you can. That way it’s not exhausting.

I find that the easiest way to screw up our eating is when we’re stressed, tired or the “wine is talking”. So I’m taking those factors OUT of the day for me.

If you don’t want leftovers and you’re having people over and feeling benevolent… give away the leftovers!

Accept help. If someone wants to bring a dish or help out, LET THEM.

Have a game plan. Write out what you plan on putting in your mouth that day and STICK TO IT.

NO BLTs! (bites, licks or tastes). As you’re preparing and having food sit out, do not pick at it, lick spoons or keep “testing” things. Plan that the only food that goes into your mouth is when you sit down to eat your meal and then THAT’S it. Does it take some strength and fortitude? Sure! How bad do you want it? You can do it because you’re worth it!

Drink plenty of water! The more water you drink… first you have to drink those 8 glasses minimum  a day, but secondly, you will feel more full and won’t be tempted so much. I’ll be carrying around my water bottle.

Say “no thanks” when offered that unfactored dessert. Practice it now. Say it over and over, so it becomes natural.

I know it can be a busy day, but try to get a work out or even just a good walk in during the day. Pre-dinner, it will actually help your state of mind, feeling more positive and give you energy. Post dinner, it will help you walk off some of it!

Take the ‘gobble’ out of Thanksgiving and you’ll be giving yourself a pre-holiday present. Better self esteem, the awesome feeling of perseverance and victory AND you won’t be one of those people who are kicking themselves afterwards saying “I CAN’T BELIEVE I ATE ALL THAT!”

P. S. The recipes I mentioned can be found at http://www.kimbensen.com

Do We Just Want It All?

Over ten years ago, I lost a lot of weight on Atkins. I have nothing bad to say about low carbing and the Atkins diet, although I know I did it in a way that probably wasn’t the most healthy. The only reason I don’t do an Atkins style diet now is that, since my hysterectomy my body doesn’t handle animal fats well anymore.  I was getting stomach aches when I ate high fat animal based foods. That’s what caused me to give low fat dieting another shot. But when I was on low carb, I learned a lot about the science behind losing weight, the way our body metabolizes calories and sugars and insulin. So at times, I pull from that knowledge while I’m dieting now.

One valuable tip I had learned along the way was about putting your body into starvation mode. We are so eager to lose weight that we’ll try almost anything including eating almost nothing in a day.  You’ll notice a couple things when you do this more than one day in a row. First, you won’t lose as much weight as you think you should. And secondly, remember, you can’t do this long term. You’ll end up just going food crazy, feeling horrible and shaky and it will result in food binging.  When you think you’re going to live on a few protein shakes a day or a couple containers of yogurt, you’re taking your calorie count down way too far.  Your body needs a certain amount of calories just to function on a day to day basis. This is known as your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. There’s lots of calculators out there on the Web to do this and probably a phone app or two.

When I had joined a very famous weight loss program that uses a point system to calculate how much you should eat, there were weeks that I felt like I was overeating. When I asked the leader of this program about that, she was emphatic that I should eat every point I was assigned including any bonuses. I lost at a healthy rate, but disappointingly slow. It was .2 lbs some weeks, a half a pound other weeks, but rarely more than a pound a week. I just gave up after a while, not just because of slow weight loss but I lost faith in the program, the people running it and I had very little support from people close to me.

When I joined up with Kim Bensen and her Xchanges program and I got accustomed to this new style of programming my food, I asked her the same question about using all my Xchanges points. I had expected the same response but what she said surprised me. She said, “If you’re really not hungry, don’t use them.” I said, “What about my metabolism?” She said, “Go with how you REALLY feel for true hunger. Not head hunger. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat.” This was in the beginning of my Xchanges program and I was to be eating around 1800 calories in a day. I was only eating about 1300 and I just wasn’t hungry. So that’s what I did. I was losing weight, anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds a week. In the last 10 months, I averaged 10 pounds a month lost. This is not radical or extreme, this is healthy weight loss. Then I realized something. I was comfortable eating the calorie range of what women a lot smaller than I was at the time are eating. As I lose weight and my BMR changes, I don’t have to take away food items and feel like I’m depriving myself. In those 10 months, unlike other programs and diets, I hit NO plateaus or stalls. It was amazing to me.

Kim once made the statement in a meeting, “Instead of eating up all your points and Xchanges and seeing what you have left in the day to eat… why not try to see what you can live without?” It made perfect sense to me.

Recently, I had Kim Bensen’s people calculate my formal Xchanges code to see what I “should” be eating. I’m at the 1300 calorie range. I made it to all the way to that point without having to take away calories from myself and with continual weight loss and I haven’t thrown my body into starvation mode. Now I do have to be more precise and careful because previously my body had a higher BMR and those little nibbles I wasn’t keeping track of were being burned off. But I’m smaller now.

November has been a month of staying at the same weight for me. It’s a mixture of probably a little bit of a plateau and the combination of some very personal stress going on for me.  But I expect to get back on that downward slope again very shortly, I just had to “relax” for a few weeks while I had bigger priorities.

But this whole bit of an experiment made me wonder a few things. How much of the starvation hype is based on REALLY putting your body into starvation mode? I felt the other program I was on didn’t want me getting to goal too quickly or they’d lose my weekly fee. Just my thoughts and opinion. Are we just accustomed, as Americans, of eating WAY too much? How much do we trust those doctors that tell us just what calorie range we “must” eat?  Are we too accustomed to having desserts and treats? Look at those shelves in the grocery store with all those diet candies, diet cakes, diet ice cream, diet soda, and diet treats… billion dollar industry, baby!

On my current program, Xchanges, I do have some treats. But I have to admit something… the weeks where I’m eating treats, even low calorie, low fat desserts and candies, I don’t lose weight much. The weeks where my sweets come from fruit or I just abstain from sweet stuff and do real cooking of fresh veggies and meats, I lose weight. Processed packaged foods are quick, easy and  (sometimes) cheap… but not the best thing to be eating on a full time basis.

I was able to talk personally with Dr Atkins several times over the years before he passed and he was very right about something. Sweets are addictive and it plays havoc with our insulin. Our bodies produce insulin to metabolize sugar. Even artificial sweeteners cause our insulin to rise.  Overproduction of insulin results in too much insulin in our system. Unused insulin turns to… fat.

Personally, I’d rather wean myself off the need or addiction to have something sweet whenever we want it. We don’t NEED it. We just WANT it.

So, I ask you, do you WANT to lose weight as much as you want to eat something sweet?

It doesn’t matter if you’re counting calories, carbs, points or Xchanges, it really does come down to your BMR and how many calories you’re putting into your body vs. how many calories you’re burning with ANY kind of activity. If your BMR is 1800, but you’re eating 3000 calories of pure protein a day and not burning it off, you’re not going to lose weight for very long if at all. I know, I’ve been there.  I have found through experience that eating a diet in whole REAL foods from all the food groups works well and in a very healthy way. But do I eat all the way up to my BMR? No. Just a little below. Because I don’t care how many degrees someone has hanging on a wall or how many letters are in their title, I go by how my body reacts.  It seems like every few years the doctors working for the government are changing their stance on the food pyramid and what foods are good or bad for you. So I listen to it all and see how it works for me. And that’s what I hope you do, too.

Diets are about structure. There’s so many different programs and diets out there and you have to find the one YOU can live with forever. Good health is about compromise. Any diet that promises to give you everything you want, in the portions you want with no structure, is just another empty promise. I hear people complain that dieting is hard. I don’t find it hard, it just takes WANTING to do it.

I apologize, this blog entry isn’t humorous, glitzy, or filled with my usual little pictures. It’s just some thoughts I’ve been pondering on this past week. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks full of unexpected situations involving those close to me. But it will get better. And I haven’t resorted to food for comfort. I’ve resorted to relying on my structure to get me through.

 

A Roadtrip Through ONEderland

This past weekend, my daughter and I went on a 3 day road trip up to Mystic, Connecticut and did it without straying from our diet plan. I have proved to myself that it’s not impossible, it just takes some extra planning and packing. The following is from the log of our trip. Now, don’t read this log thinking “wow she’s food obsessed” … this is just the FOOD info from my journal. We did so much and I contemplated a lot in the past few days that you’d find the personal stuff just plain boring, so this focuses just on food with yes, some stores’ & restaurants’ names thrown in there:

Wednesday:  I’m stressing. Are we going to be able to do this? I’m so used to planning my days for food the nights before. I detail what I’m going to eat all day. That’s how I do it. I can’t wing it. This is going to be impossible on the road because I’m not packing ALL our food. I have breakfasts covered and lunch for on the road Friday, but just not sure about Saturday and Sunday. I don’t want to blow it. But this could be a bit tough.

Thursday: Clothing is packed. I have 2 bags packed for our clothes plus I have an insulated bag for food that has to stay cool, a duffel bag of dry goods. Food we’re taking is as follows:

air popped popcorn (in 2 separate one-gallon reclosable plastic bags)
a box of Fiber One brownies
a couple gallons of our own well water to refill water bottles on the way
our favorite diet sodas (Tab of course and Katie’s favorite diet grape)
flat bread sandwiches for lunch (made with large portabello mushrooms, spinach and sautéed onions and Italian spices)
grapes & apples
I found Glad 1/2 cup containers with lids to take some Whey Low sugar substitute, FF cream cheese, blueberry spread I made with Whey Low
a tube of Kim Bensen’s blueberry bagels
for breakfasts in the hotel (made sure we have a microwave & fridge):
some packets of oatmeal
diet hot chocolate mix & tea bags
cereal & Parmalat FF milk (won’t need refrigeration til opened)
a few FF greek yogurts
a bunch of single serving FF salad dressings and low-sodium soy sauces in case we eat out at an Asian place

I had hoped to be in bed by 9 pm to get up at 5 am, but it’s about 11 pm. It’s been rainy and cold, it makes packing not-so-fun.  I try to get a route put into the GPS, so I can just go in the morning. The GPS was not cooperating. I don’t want to take Route 95 through Newark & New York, and I want to go by way of the Tappan Zee Bridge. I put the setting on “no tolls” so now it wants to take me up through Scranton, into New York, to the Canadian border and then over to Connecticut… this is pissing me off. I print out directions from Google maps using the Tappan Zee as a via point and figure I’ll go up Route 78, to 287 and then the GPS will scream “recalculating” a few times before it realizes what I’m doing. Damn technology. It’s stressing me. Want to eat. Don’t eat.

Friday morning: Got up shortly after 5 and after a couple cups of coffee and a yogurt, we’re ready to embark on our journey to Connecticut by 6:20 am.  The weather was sunny which was good, but when you’re driving east, the sun’s right in your eyes. No biggie. We actually made good time. When driving, I usually need coffee to start and then I like to drink water to keep hydrated, maybe my Tab or Diet Coke for the caffiene. Sitting for hours at a time when you don’t drink your water can be unhealthy. I don’t fear drinking a lot of water because we’re on interstates and there’s rest stops for potty breaks and I like to get out and walk for a few minutes because my knees get to bothering me because of my arthritis. Plus I have this fear of thrombosis, so every hour and a half or less I like to get out to stretch my legs.  I remember back when I was a kid and my dad was heavily involved with racing cars. We’d go for trips and he wouldn’t stop right away for the women to go to the bathroom so I learned to hold it. I’m not road-tripping like that anymore for me, let alone my daughter. We’re not on an intense time schedule, so we can stop every so often without shame. This isn’t a race. Another habit I have is grazing while I drive because I usually road trip by myself. That’s why I have the airpopped popcorn. It’s crunchy and fills me up without damaging my diet. Katie pulled out the popcorn by 8:00 and I didn’t eat too much of it.  The traffic wasn’t bad, probably because it’s Veteran’s Day and most people aren’t commuting, but it’s still heavy in spots, but no traffic jams, thankfully. Right across the Connecticut border, we stop at a Welcome Center and I refill my water bottle. I also see my driver’s front tire is a little low on air. Great. I don’t have an air gauge with me. I can feel that ball of tension in my stomach. I have triple A, don’t need to panic, don’t need to stress, it’s just air. I remember my son saying that this tire needed to be looked at sometime and it slipped my mind. I refuse to let it dominate my thoughts and I refuse to take it out on Katie with a short temper. I’ll deal with it. Gas stations are everywhere and I can deal with it. No need to start stress eating.  I put some air in it til it looks right (eyeballing it with my other front tire and watching the man in the minivan watching me like I’m an idiot but not exactly getting off his ass to help me out either… jerk. Ok, I called him something a lot more profane in my head but I’m trying to keep the blog somewhat clean in language…somewhat). Our first stop is Kim Bensen’s new weight loss center in Shelton, CT and we’re about a half hour away. We’re on Route 15 which is a pleasant drive enveloped in trees and those beautiful stone bridges with archways. I remember why I love New England scenery so much, throw in there some autumn foliage… it’s idyllic (hope that tire holds out…shut up, brain).

We pull into 911 Bridgeport Avenue and get out to stretch our legs before going in. I look at the tire. Not sure if it’s my imagination or fear but it’s looking a little low again. DAMN! Breathe deep, it’s ok. Haven’t mentioned it to Katie, I don’t want her to panic and feel like

All my favorite Kim Bensen products waiting for me as I walk in!!!

we’re a couple of girls out on the road not knowing what we’re doing. We go in and spend time with Penny & Jenn and got to meet Kim’s hubby, Mark. So much fun. One thing I have to say about Kim and her crew at Kim Bensen’s is that… because of all the personal involvement the organization gives you  such as phone calls, one on one emails and more, they become your FRIENDS, not just “some people that work for the weight loss program I subscribe to”. We share stories, life experiences and get to know each other. Katie & I get our picture taken and afterwards my daughter admits she felt really special to be included here. I got to meet a new member that came into the center and shared with her that I lost 100 lbs on Xchanges and she was very excited. She lives local so she can come into the local meetings but will also be in the online meetings and I tell her to look for me. She’s lucky, she can come into the new little store area the girls have here with all the coveted products I buy online such as the flatbreads, the Whey Low, bagels and lotsa good stuff!! The girls gave us some tips on what to see in Mystic and Penny asked us if we were visting Mystic Pizza. I said I wasn’t sure. She said you HAVE to! Ok, did someone who works for the weight loss program just say this? And she gets a copy of a “pizza template” used to calculate easily how many calories to eat take-out pizza. Wow! I haven’t eaten pizzeria pizza in over a year and although I wasn’t missing it all that much… it sure would be nice to do that again. PLUS be able to say we went to where the movie “Mystic Pizza” was about. AND to be able to stay on diet. Cool! Hated to leave but we had to get on the road. It was lunch time so we pulled into a shopping center to do a quick picnic lunch. Katie spies an Asian restaurant and asks if we can do that. I reminded her that we want to get to the afternoon in Mystic Seaport and that I packed lunch to save on money and calories. I asked her if she wanted me to make her a peanut butter and jelly wrap (Better Than Peanut Butter brand and my own jam made with blueberries and Whey Low). She said she’d TRY a mushroom sandwich, but I could tell by her face she wasn’t sure. She takes a bite and chews. Looks at me. I thought, “Ok, I guess I have to get over my germaphobia and eat a sandwich with a bite out of it”. She says, “This is REALLY good.” Look, I don’t know about YOU, but when a 12 yr old PMS ridden chick that can be a picky eater tells you that…that’s one HELL of a compliment! Now I wish I had packed the extra ones that were still in my fridge at home. We had a couple of wraps, some diet soda and a handful of grapes before getting back on the road (after I coyly peeked at the tire). We pulled into Mystic Seaport around 1:30. Winds were kicking up so I was glad we packed our boots and gloves for walking around the seaport. Since it was 11/11/11, they were running a special on admission $11 ea instead of $24…woo hoo! We were walking for a couple of hours and I said to Katie, “You know it’s a shame I lost my pedometer, I wonder how much we’ve been walking.” She said “Isn’t that the second pedometer you’ve lost?” Like I said PMS-ridden little bit—  I reach into my pocket for my gloves and feel something hard… my pedometer was stuffed in there. Without wondering why, I laugh and pull it out. We already had 8000 steps logged for the day. Awesome! We walked around the many shops in their 19^th century charm with all the education, walked through whaling ships and walked, walked , walked until 4:30 logging in over 10,000 steps for the day. The sun was setting and it was getting chilly. Katie said her feet were tired and when could we check in at the hotel? It was then, I realized, “HEY… my kid is tired before ME for ONCE in my LIFE!” My knees had no pain whatsoever and bottoms of my feet were only mildly sore. It was an incredibly great feeling!

We checked into the Comfort Inn of Mystic and then came one of the first challenges… dinner. And we were tired. And hungry. An equation for disaster. At one of my rest stops after we hit the Ct border, I had picked up a graphical map of Mystic and a booklet on the town with restaurants, shops and such. I paged through it to see what was close to us. We were both hankering for a nice broiled seafood dinner. I was using the Internet on my phone to pick through menus. I just wasn’t finding anything like what we were looking for. Which is kind of strange for being in such a seafaring community. After spending about 20 minutes searching, we settled on trying out The Boathouse, which I think was on Coogan. I expected to have an hour wait for dinner and we were seated immediately… thank God, because they haven’t seen Katie on a sugar low to know we needed food NOW! One of their specials was a grilled swordfish with steamed asparagus and fingerling potatoes. I remembered reading that fingerling potatoes are NOT baby potatoes but are a kind of potato that is actually the BEST for glycemic index. We had an appetizer of jumbo shrimp cocktail and each had several shrimp. We didn’t order dessert. It was a fantastically yummy dinner and we decided to check into a grocery store to pick up some odds and ends before heading back to the hotel. At McQuade’s Marketplace, we grabbed some bubble

Oh my, I spy with my little eye...DESSERT!

bath. Yes, bubble bath. We only have a shower at my house, and there was a bathtub at the hotel, so these girls were getting long, relaxing baths tonight! While we bought our Mr Bubble (my big date for the night), we saw this little grocery store also stocked Arctic Zero, our favorite low calorie dessert. You can eat a whole pint for 150 calories and feel like you’re cheating!

Saturday:  We got up fairly early around 7:30. Instead of searching out a diner for breakfast, we knew we had our grocery supply. We could have eaten in our rooms, but they offered a dining area in the hotel for a continental breakfast. I gathered my eco-friendly shopping bag and put in our box of Chocolate Cheerios,my favorite instant oatmeal with flaxseed, my Fage fat free yogurt, Kim’s blueberry bagels, some FF cream cheese, Parmalat FF milk and some blueberry jam I made with fresh blueberries and Whey Low sugar substitute, and a packet of diet hot chocolate mix. I wanted to eat a hearty breakfast so that we didn’t need lunch right away. Katie was nervous about taking food into the dining area. “What if they look at us weird,” she asked. I said “Why, don’t you want to share?” Flustered, she said “What if they tell us we can’t do this.” I said “Katie, we are paying for a room here and we won’t be eating a lot of the food they’re offering to us for free, so they won’t care.” But she was still nervous, I could see it in her eyes. We went down to the bustling breakfast area and found a table for the 2 of us. I poured her a bowl of cereal and got hot water for her hot chocolate and my oatmeal and quietly got our breakfast ready. She was already turning red  and just looking down. Then I said, “Katie, check it out.” She grunted, “What.” I said “About half this room is preparing their own breakfasts with things they brought.” She looked up. A mother had 2 cereal boxes on the table with the same boxed milk we brought for her 2 young kids. An older gentleman had brought his box of Grape Nuts. A college aged girl was sitting there eating a large grapefruit which she had brought along with a box of Shredded Wheat. I said “See, we’re NOT doing anything weird.” The redness from Katie’s face vanished and we ate our filling OP breakfast for our day at the Mystic Aquarium.  Soon we headed down the street to the Aquarium, less than a mile away. It was a windy day so we dressed warm. Aquarium opened at 9 and we were there at 9:01. We spent almost 4 hours at the Aquarium when Katie said she was starting to get hungry for lunch. We popped into their Penguin Café and I was less than impressed. I had forgot to look for good lunchmeat options at the grocery store the night before and I was regretting it. I had flatbread and Laughing Cow wedges but no sandwich protein. UGH! I looked around this café and they were getting $6.00 for a sandwich that I really didn’t want to eat. Other options there were burgers, fries, the usual crap and pizza. Then it clicked. I said “Katie, how hungry are you?” She said, “Kinda, why?” I said, “Well, let’s see everything we want to see here and then head over to Mystic Pizza for lunch. Penny gave me the pizza template. If I’m going to pay tourist prices for food, it’s going to be a sit down

My daughter outside the famous "Mystic Pizza"

lunch where they bring it to ME.” She rolled her eyes at first but agreed. She wanted to see the 1:00 Beluga Whale feeding and then said that she had seen everything and done everything she wanted at the Aquarium for the day. We headed over to Mystic Pizza on Main Street in Old Mystic across the drawbridge. We were able to get a table right away. We had the usual unsweetened iced tea (with Whey Low in my pockets) and ordered a Greek salad with no dressing to split and a small buffalo chicken pizza (no cheese). Now ordinarily, I wouldn’t have eaten a half a small pizza because it’s still a little more calories than what I usually eat. However, we were walking around ALL day in the cold. After some girlie shopping (I bought a beautiful seabiscuit ring and Larimar whale tale necklace from Mystic Gem and a gorgeous wool hat that screamed 1920s from Peppergrass & Tulip amongst other goodies) we tallied up over 5 miles of walking on the pedometer! By dusk, we hit the coffee shop behind the Army Navy store on Main Street where I had just a simple black coffee to warm up before heading back to the hotel. Since we had a late lunch we figured dinner would be later. We went back to the hotel and put our feet up for a while, Katie played some video games on her DS and I read through the brochures of Mystic and shut my eyes for a bit. Around 7:00, we bounced around some dinner thoughts and the sushi at Go Fish sounded interesting to us. Between my breakfast and the pizza, I knew I shouldn’t really do much in the carb department so I aimed at the sashimi appetizer which is just pieces of raw fish (and yes I love it). The waitress was very good with helping me pick out a sushi roll which had more fish and less rice and fillers, I can’t remember the name of the roll. They had low sodium soy sauce on the table, which always ranks high in my book. I just LOVE the taste of soy sauce with lots of wasabi mixed in it (Asian horseradish). I pondered outloud to Katie that I wondered how Kim’s flatbread would taste with low sodium soy with wasabi brushed on it. Sounds like a recipe I’ll have to work on sometime. We got out of the restaurant about 8:30 and went back to the hotel for chillin’ out time for the night which included bubble baths and cups of decaf. No thoughts of dessert tonight, we were full.  We discussed some shopping options for Sunday but knew we had to plan the day carefully since it’s a 5 hour drive home and I didn’t want to be driving home in the dark, just in case I had problems with that tire (remember that tire? Yeah, I had forgotten it til then too). We stayed up entirely too late, giddy on girliness and Katie said it really was the best weekend we’ve had together in so long and she hoped it would never end. But they do, dear… but then you have great memories. We TRIED watching TV but after flipping through the stations endlessly, we realized why we don’t have TV at home in the first place and we went to bed around midnight.

Sunday: Slept in til 8:30 and darn that just felt good.  Got up and did a repeat of our breakfast in the dining room, this time with no embarrassment from Katie. Over breakfast, I said, “Have you noticed, we really haven’t touched our snacks much the past couple days?” She said, “I guess so, I haven’t really thought about it.” And I said, “Right, we’ve been so busy DOING things and talking and having fun, that the food isn’t the number one priority.” So after some thought and talk, I asked Katie if there was anything else she wanted to do in Mystic before we left. She smiled and said, “I think I’m still tired from the past couple days, but there’s so much good stuff.” I said, “That’s ok. We’ll be back. Should we think about just hitting the road?” She said that was ok with her, so it was gas up and check that tire time. I put some more air in, said a prayer to my guardian angel and made sure I knew where my gold Triple A card was in my wallet. I filled up my two water bottles, got a 16 oz cup of travel coffee and threw a 6 pack of Tab on the passenger seat for the drive home (have I mentioned I stay very hydrated while driving…just a habit). Katie cozied in the back with her DS and headphones and I cranked up my Sirius satellite stations of Octane, Liquid Metal and BPM (pending on whichever mood I’m in for – hard rock, EXTREMELY hard rock or techno), because 5 hours of driving requires you to be comfortable! About an hour into the drive home, I realized I had no popcorn and no snacks up front with me. I shrugged it off, didn’t feel the need. It was a smooth and uneventful ride home, I only was flipped off by 1 Jersey driver that I know of.  For the record it was because I wasn’t going fast enough for “the situation” I guess. I refuse to go much over 10 mph in a state I don’t live in. Something about a target on my back while doing that. By 2:00, we had made it into North Jersey and on Route 287 and I said to Katie we should start looking for a place to eat. I probably should have stopped at the grocery store and packed sandwiches, but next time I’ll be more prepared. We weren’t having much luck seeing billboards and the GPS wasn’t coming up much besides Burger Krap, Dunkin Donuts, McDEATH (oops did I say that out loud) and that kind of crap.

Off Route 287, Thatcher McGee's, a great little place to eat!

Then on one of the “Food Exit” signs it mentioned an Irish family restaurant. It sounded like a good bet, so I dove off exit 55 and found Thatcher McGee’s Pub & Eatery. They had some good options. Katie went with the turkey burger and fries … don’t tell her I narcked her out on the fries. I was going to go with the lamb stew and then at the last second I saw an Ahi Tuna Salad which was out of this world fantastic! It was a seared tuna encrusted with black and white sesame seeds and mostly very rare to raw (yeah, I know, here she goes with the raw fish again) sitting on a bed of warm romaine lettuce with a wasabi cucumber dressing on the side. I used Kim Bensen’s advice of dipping the fork in the dressing and then eating bits of food that way. Topped it off with a great cup of coffee … I DO love my coffee…and then we hit the road for another 1-1/2 hours til we were home.

I have to tell you. I was so blown away with how I felt after this trip. Literally an hour before I pulled in the driveway on our way home, I was saying to Katie “Ok, I won’t feel like cooking dinner, so let’s think about dinner options out. Get your stuff in the house, because I’m going to hurt. And we’re going to bed EARLY because I’ll be exhausted.” I already had myself convinced of these things. After we pulled in, my adrenaline from driving calmed down and I was sitting having a cup of tea, I realized something… I felt fine, in fact I felt invigorated after 5 hrs of straight driving. My knees didn’t hurt a LICK… my butt was a completely different story, it was flat and numb!!! haha

I unpacked the whole car, made dinner from scratch after thawing a few things out and didn’t go to bed super early. I started a load of laundry, unpacked our souveniers and started writing a new chapter on the blog. I looked around and said out loud “Seriously, did *I* just do that after a trip??”

It’s amazing how we THINK we’re going to feel simply out of HABIT vs. how we really feel.

Now… about 4000 words later, the story doesn’t quite end here. I noticed some great OP (on program) things about the weekend after we got home here.

FIRST: I unpacked the car immediately. Usually, I’m so spent after driving for only 3 hours let alone 5 hours, that I let the shit sit in the car for at least a day before I want to unpack it. I dove right in and unpacked!  Back up and re-read to see… I WASN’T TIRED!

SECOND: My knees still have no pain and I look back and see I not only didn’t pack my ibuprofen, I didn’t miss it. I used to eat those things like Pez candy! My arthritis was a non-issue on this vacation.

THIRD: I *made* dinner tonight after we got home. I made a great turkey taco salad for Katie and myself. My usual M.O. would be take out, drive through or grab from the hot bar at the grocery store, but I had the energy to COOK dinner. Not only cook dinner, but I used Kim’s flat breads and the tortilla molds to bake taco salad bowls for dinner…AGAIN… I HAD ENERGY. I’m sitting here at almost 11 pm writing this down this first draft and I’m NOT exhausted.

FOURTH: We unpacked a lot of food. We hardly touched the snacks. The brownies were never opened. A full zip bag of air popped popcorn was untouched. Most of the sodas were untouched, I drank water, unsweetened iced tea and coffee…a good portion of it decaf… most the time.

FIFTH:  Before I even unpacked the car, I jumped on the scale and I did not gain ANYTHING from the weekend…even after Mystic Pizza. Didn’t lose…but I didn’t gain. Wow. I mean seriously… WOW!

SIXTH: My tire held out on me. Need to get that checked out tomorrow.

SEVENTH: Habits are a funny thing. I made assumptions based on the way I previously felt until I relaxed and realized that I didn’t feel that way anymore.

EIGHTH: When I’m armed with all my food options with me, I actually eat LESS. I’m not like a puppy that has to wolf everything up because it’s right there. I ate LESS snacks than I have on previous trips.

I am the captain of my ship!

NINTH: Roadtrips are NOT impossible, they are a good analogy for your new lifestyle. You may have a bump, roadblock or a leaky tire that makes you sweat a few times. But you can do it if you want to. You can get behind the wheel and GET YOURSELF to your destination, YOU ARE THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR SHIP. Are you going to let your crew (your body) tell you what THEY want to do, or are you going to be in charge and point the ship toward new and better horizons of good health. You decide!