Post-Op Week 50: In Which I Plan for Vacation

Slightly up on the scale this week.  I think it’s probably due to the eating out that happened this week.  I need to dial that back this week as much as possible since we will be heading out of town at the end of the week, and eating out is mostly what we’ll be doing.  We will be at my mother in law’s for part of the time we’re gone, which is good because we’ll be eating at home pretty much all that time.  When we go visit, I generally do all the cooking because my MIL is arthritic and spending long periods of time on her feet, bending and stooping is really painful for her.  So I help out by cooking for all of us while we are there.  I also load up her freezer with pre-cooked meals so that all she has to do is reheat them.

But spending time there is also a bad thing because the only thing we tend to do while we’re visiting is sit, sit, sit, and sit some more.

And I have grown to dislike sitting for long periods of time.   I am finding that I really dislike being sedentary for long periods of time any more.  This is a big, big deal for me because before, I HATED to move–mostly because it was so painful and I got sweaty (which I used to hate).  Now that I don’t hurt nearly as much (my shoulders are slightly jacked up so upper body workouts are tough), physical activity is more enjoyable, and I’m discovering that it is necessary if 1. I want to eat the way I do, and 2. I want to get a good night’s sleep.  So I have to move.  I am definitely getting my ass to the gym this week, and going for walks on my off days because all day Friday I’ll be stuck in a car.  Thankfully, for the times we’re staying in hotels, I booked us for places that had hotel gyms, and we’ll be going to the gym my sister in law and her husband go to while we’re visiting.  I’m planning to go to the gym every day while I’m at my mother in law’s, because I really, really do NOT want to be stuck inside all day sitting on my ass.  Vacations are hard enough for me because I hate long periods of time with nothing to do, and my husband’s idea of vacation involves doing just that.  I am a planner by nature, and for me, vacation is planned to the minute with plenty of things to do at all times.  This is not how he relaxes, and in our 11 years together, we have both learned the fine art of compromise:  he gets his periods of time with nothing to do, and I get my periods of time full of activity.  It works for us.

Our upcoming trip is the first long trip we have taken since both of us had surgery, so it presents quite a few challenges:  we’re not in our usual environment, we’re at the mercy of others’ environments, and road food.  I already have plans to pack our food scale so that we can measure portions while we’re at my mother in law’s, and I am packing our bathroom scale so that we can still weigh in for the next two Sundays.  Personally, I am packing all my vitamins and supplements, plus all my workout clothes, iPod, Fitbit charger, and heart rate monitor.  I am going to try and recreate my environment as much as possible, but it will be tough.  We will be stopping at a travel stop along the way that sells jerky of all sorts, so I’m planning on picking up some turkey jerky to snack on while we’re driving so that I’m not tempted to buy chips or other crap like that.  My old road food favorite was Tom’s Hot Fries, but I know now that they’re not the best choice, and besides…they probably don’t taste nearly as good as I think they do.  So I’m not going to bother to buy any.  The kick-ass wardrobe I have amassed and low resting heart rate I now have as a result of not eating that shit are great motivating factors.

The thing that really sucks is that my one year follow up appointment is right after I get back from vacation, and I don’t want to post a gain the week I celebrate my one-year surgery anniversary.  The day after I get back, I am going to attend one of my surgeon’s seminars as part of this celebration–partly to relearn some of the things he tells his prospective patients, and partly to show them that it can be done.  This alone is motivation for me sticking to a plan while I’m away.  I want him to see how well I’ve done, and I want to hit his goal for me by the time I see him.

This week’s challenges are making sure I get to the gym, and cutting back on my carb intake–I’ve been letting myself have more starchy things than I probably should.  I’m still hitting or exceeding my protein goals, but I’m getting too many starchy things into my eating and it’s got to stop because I think it’s the reason I’ve danced around the same 3 pounds for the past 4 weeks.  I may also need to cut back to 1000 calories daily rather than the 1200 I’ve been eating.  I refuse to go down to 600-800 like some folks do–I felt like complete and total shit when I was eating so little, and now that I’m way more active than ever, I need to eat to fuel my daily activity.  600-800 calories isn’t going to cut it.

I’ve increased my workouts from 30 minutes to a minimum of an hour and am doing strength training now too.  I tend to put on muscle crazy fast, so I’m hoping that by the time school starts I will have made progress on my upper body so that my arms don’t look quite as doughy.  I’m not going to have a gun show so that I can go sleeveless, but I do want my arms to have a bit more definition than they currently do.  My legs are coming along, thanks to the biking and elliptical.  I’ve also started adding some balance ball work for my abs, and I’m working on my back as well.

I just hope this vacation doesn’t derail me completely…wish me luck.