We're back from our East Coast swing. The dieting issue was at least as problematic as I anticipated. I already wrote one post about visiting our former Chinese grad student and her family. First they took us out to dinner, then we got ready for their twin's second birthday party the next day. There were thirty guests for that mid-day gustatory marathon. After they ate and left, another couple with a seven-year-old and an eleven-year-old came over and dinner was served.
Our next stop was with our Indian kids whose twins are six and a half months old. They cooked less than usual, as their lives have gotten considerably busier, but ordered out more than usual. Since they are vegetarians, we had some respite, but they certainly made sure we were well fed.
Our Baltimore friends (their twins are four and their older son is seven) follow fairly healthy eating patterns at home, and we got up early and served ourselves cereal and fruit for breakfast. But we were taken to a very nice restaurant before we even got to their home and had crab soup and crab cakes. Overall I ate considerably more on this week-long trip than I usually do.
What I didn't get was any real exercise. We're used to a six or seven times/week fairly strenuous gym workout or snowshoeing; here we got to walk a bit, largely in airports, but we sat a lot. I didn't even have much opportunity to walk up and down stairs. I did actively play with the older kids in Baltimore.
I then realized, as our trip was truncated by approaching the DC-area blizzard, that we were going to have overnight company, our niece-to-be, her eleven-year-old daughter and the daughter's best friend,when we got home.
I stepped on the scale this morning and watched to see if I was over my 155 upper limit (I left at 149.6). I found myself moderately pleased that I was under by 0.8 pounds
So today we went back to our diets. Our guests went shopping and I ate half of my lunch. Tonight I'll have cereal and a piece of fruit before the Symphony's concert. I've arranged for a snowshoeing trip tomorrow.
Could I have avoided this 4.6 pound travel bounce? I've done so while I was still trying to lose weight; this time, well below goal weight, I gave myself leeway, more than I should have.