We've been on the road (both literally and figuratively speaking). Actually the latter came first as we flew to the DC area where our nine-year-old grandson is appearing as Tiny Tim in Dickens' Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre. We're really proud of Jordi; this is his third professional show in a year. We flew from Denver to Dulles airport and stayed with a good friend who lives near to there. We had dinner at her place the first evening, ate lunch with several old friends the next day, had two restaurant dinners with our kids and ate out with Jordi after his performance at the wonderful cafeteria at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.
I left weighing 151.4 pounds, six tenths under my goal weight. I really stuck to my diet and exercise program in the days preceding the trip as I knew I would likely gain weight during it. We also walked an hour or more each day while we were in the DC area.
I was right about the weight gain; the day after we came home I was up five pounds, clearly above my trigger point of 155. Anytime I get there, three pounds above my goal weight, I go back on the diet for real and head straight to the gym. By the next day I had lost two pounds, but I'll stay on a stricter version of my diet and exercise program until I'm back to the 152 range (give or take a half pound).
Today we drove to Denver for a wonderful Genghis Khan exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. A friend joined us for the traveling exhibit (go see it if you live anywhere near Denver or it comes to your city later) and my wife and I ate a late lunch in the city at a very nice Thai restaurant. I made that my larger meal of the day.
But let's put this in context. I'm down roughly twenty-five pounds from my June 2009 diet re-start and was under my final goal; most of what I gained on the trip was "water weight," really meaning salt and water weight and I'm back to exercising daily and eating two small meals and one larger one. When I travel for a longer time period, I don't eat anywhere near as much (that was true on two earlier trips this year).
What happened here was I was down to my goal weight, allowed myself latitude for a few days and had a great time with friends and family. By next weekend I'll be back at goal. Don't let your diet, if you're on one, prevent you from enjoying life. Don't fool yourself either; it's really easy to fall of the diet/lifestyle cliff, gain a few pounds and think, "I can't get back on my program." You can too.