Spring Break Edition!

"Will there be a post this week?" has been the most popular question of late.  Why?  Because I'm on spring break!!  Woohoo!  While most of my students were going to exciting places like Fort Lauderdale, New York City, and the Bahamas, I went to...Ohio.  But that's where I wanted to be!  I came home to see the family and just spend some time away from campus.  After my crazy last weekend, I really needed the time away, but the trip has presented its own set of challenges.

My family is extremely supportive of my journey (if we're friends on Facebook, you should check out all of their awesome comments on my posts) and they have made the trip as easy for me as possible.  Prior to my leaving school, Mom told me that she was going to the store and wanted to know what I needed her to pick up for me to eat.  It caught me off guard, but I told her to just get some fruits and veggies and I'd get anything else I could think of when I got home.  Well, it wasn't until I got home that I realized everything I was going to need.  When you go stay somewhere else for a fairly significant amount of time, you realize how much you take everything in your own house for granted.  Luckily, I thought to bring some of my WW shake packets to help me get in my dairy, as well as my new fav Fiber One bars.  (Super tasty, GREAT source of fiber, but they will definitely keep you regular...that may be TMI, but it's the truth.)  But you don't think of all the little things, the giant bag of individually separated servings of baked chips I have - the packets of tuna fish - the dining hall where I at least have all my lunches - etc.  I was hungry for lunch today and thought "hmm...I can't have my usual chicken salad because it would take way too long to make it - and we don't have any light bread or turkey for a sandwich...".  What to do??  So, I had to make a run to the store to pick up some stuff.  I certainly didn't mind, especially since the store is only a few blocks away from the house, but it's just those things that you take for granted in your own home.

The trip home itself wasn't bad - I took some grapes and I stopped at the gas station and got some baked chips and half a turkey sub for the ride home (it's a 3 1/2 hour drive and I hadn't had lunch yet).  And each night Mom has made sure to either ask me what I want for dinner ahead of time, or make sure that she's making something I can eat.  But, another challenge has still been that my daily schedule is interrupted.  At work I have a pretty structured life...I live by my calendar.  I eat breakfast first thing in the morning, I eat lunch at noon, and I try to eat dinner between 5:30-7 depending on after work meetings and my work outs.  That is definitely not the schedule I keep at home.  To start with, I'm on vacay...I let myself sleep in!  Now, "sleeping in" means sleeping until 10:00am, not the sleeping until 1:00pm that it used to be.  But, it still means I'm getting a later start on my day.  I'm still eating a small breakfast when I get up, but it's pushing my lunch back a bit then.  So now I'm eating lunch around 2:00...and then eating dinner around 7.  It's just taking some getting used to.  I got spoiled with my structure and having almost all of my meals prepared for me and now I see what it's like for others.

The other big challenge I have had so far is that my exercise routine pretty much centers around the tv...whether it's the Dancing with the Stars video or the Wii dancing, it needs the tv.  There is a tv in my bedroom, but generally not enough room to exercise.  And the tv in the living room is shared by the whole family, which makes it difficult to get my exercise in on my normal schedule too.  The fam has been great about letting me get it in, (and actually doing it with me!) but I still feel bad taking up their tv time, and even more so about taking up the whole living room.  So, I've been doing what I can and then supplementing it with more work on the yoga ball.  I almost forgot that I had bought one years ago until my sister reminded me that it was still deflated in the box.  So, I used all my hot air and blew it up!  I've been showing them all the crazy exercises I do on it, but who else but your family won't make fun of you for the strange positions you put yourself in while exercising?  And thankfully, younger brother gave me a great idea to enhance one of the exercises I already did!

Overall, my trip hasn't been too difficult, I just need to learn how to not be so spoiled!  There is a Weight Watcher meeting here, but it's on Tuesday unlike my normal Monday.  At least I can still go weigh in and it won't be too far off from my normal time!  Let's hope their scales aren't too different from my regular...

Initial weight: 257.2
Week 8: -3.6
Total weight loss: -19 lbs
Current weight: 238.2