Travel Learnings, Weight Update

OMG I'm back. It's been a crazy last few weeks with the back-to-back trips (19 days - 5 days in town/not traveling):

May 19-23 - Gulf Shores for 3-day music fest!

May 23 - 25 - Birmingham for E's graduation!

May 27 - 29 - Lake Trip for Memorial Day!

June 2 - 6 - Destin for Mary & Jimmy's 5th anniversary!

OY. On top of that we had the holiday (memorial day) and I had some full-day activities as part of that leadership program I got in, etc. And NO i'm not complaining at all! I had a blast. So, where am I going with this? I feel VERY behind and a bit overwhelmed. I'm going to try to stay in town this weekend and do very, very little - wish me luck! As far as the trips and looking back here's what seems to work for me:

• Bringing my own food. It was just too easy. I never had to go out and pick up something when I was hungry, I didn't spend these mini vacations cooking or going to the grocery store. I just drove in with a cooler, unloaded it, and each time I was hungry there was a portion-controlled breakfast, lunch and dinner at my disposal. I also brought a bag of dry snacks (tried to not bogart the entire fridge). Dry snacks included nature valley bars, mini luna bars, goldfish, crackers, etc. I also brought chips and salsa (fridge item!) and a circle of laughing cow wedges (to spread on the crackers) - awesomeness. Did I cheat a bit? Well, sure! It was hard to get food into a music festival so one night I split a panera plain turkey sandwich with Scott then ate late at night when I got home. Another time I had a few munchies at Ruje's before we got back late. (hard to go from 3 p.m. to midnight without a meal! LOL) But it still worked out, especially on the other two trips that didn't involve being without a fridge all. day.long.
• Working out beforehand. Yes, I packed my workout stuff on each trip. I got in 1 workout at Gulf Shores, 1 in B'ham, and none on the other 2 trips. I'm definitely going to bring my stuff 'just in case' - but I found that it was best for me to plan 2-a-days between trips and get in great, well-rounded workouts before I leave, so if I do them on the trip it's just gravy; not necessary.
• Not worrying about it too much. I just felt I didn't have to. I felt i'd prepared as much as I could so I just had to go with it. Nothing worse then spending your whole vacation going 'can't eat that,' 'can't go - have to work out,' etc. I did what I wanted to do and tried to not go crazy and I didn't go too crazy. Yes, I had an extra sweet or two (or three!) and lots of a few extra adult beverages, but it wasn't too bad or out of control!

So where did this leave me as far as weight?As you may remember, late last month I kind of freaked out about my weight. I had hit 125 and I knew why. SO, I set out to try to get that number down. I identified my weight gain culprits, which included beer, my work breakroom, events and not getting enough sleep. I also determined that I needed to start tracking again. Well, my weight never hit 125 again, and even got to 120. Before I left for my trips I was at 122 which I was happy with. I weighed before the lake trip and was at 123. I weighed before the beach trip and was at 124. Yesterday, when I got home from the beach I weighed 124. And this a.m. I was at 124. So... not awful, but I have no more trips so fewer excuses - onward with the tracking to hopefully be at 120 by July 1. This is totally doable, right? Yes!

Quick backtrack - Sunday was simply spent in the car. We share driving time, spent time working on the aircard to get caught up, then got home, got our baby puppers, gave them baths, ran laundry and got ready for a long Tuesday. The ONLY thing worse than a Monday is a Tuesday after vacation!

Q:What do you have going on this week?! I hope to just get the house back in order (which is almost done!) and get in a bunch of workouts - woo! I love that I actually miss spinning - awesome. And it's time to get the new workout clothes in gear! (pics coming soon!)

Q: What works for you when you travel? Any tips that keep you from coming home with extra weight?

Off to read your blogs! Sorely behind and sad about it! Tomorrow I plan to post a new Asian-inspired recipe and a book review of Mini Shopaholic!! So cute.