I just returned from 5 wonderful days in Sedona, AZ. To be honest just before I left for vacation I thought to myself – I’ll try to be good, eat a lot of vegetables, drink a lot of water and do a lot of exercise. Well two outa three ain’t bad.
There were only two instances where my size was dragged out into the open, well if you forget that it’s completely obvious. On the flight to Phoenix the flight attendant stopped at my seat and pointing to my seat belted belly said, “is that a seatbelt extender”? Now 25+ pounds ago I had to use an extender, but now I don’t, thankyouverymuch. I immediately knew she asked me because if it was she was going to charge me for an extra seat. I won’t name the airline though (Southwest). I told her it wasn’t an extender and she just nodded and walked along. When she came back again I stopped her and asked her why she inquired about the extender. She said that if it was an extender, she wanted to make sure it was regulation. Yeah, sure she did. Everyone has heard stories about that airline and how they charge for fat people. The most recent story I heard was from the director Kevin Smith. As embarrassed as I was that I was pointed out, I was even more ecstatic that I didn’t need the extender and had essentially won.
I’d say it took me exactly one day to completely (or almost completely) forget my commitment to myself. When you’re on vacation the idea of eating healthy kind of flies out the window.
For years now since I’ve been dieting I’ve kept Saturday night’s dinner as a ‘no rules’ meal or since I’m on Weight Watchers – a “no points’ meal. I lob on the cheese, add the sour cream, have appetizers and of course, dessert. Oh and don’t forget the bread and butter. Yum. Since the first night in Sedona was a Saturday night – yippee! We received a great recommendation for a restaurant in town – an Italian restaurant. The bruchetta was absolutely incredible – and it was mostly tomato and garlic, wasn’t it? Bread, butter, Caesar salad, shrimp scampi and a shared dessert.
We stayed at a bed and breakfast so breakfast was pretty much force-fed. The first breakfast was omelets. Not too bad, I ate half and the croissant they forced on me. Oh and some juice – not too bad. Salad for lunch. That brings up something interesting. You’d think a salad would be a perfect choice, not really. Salads have lettuce or greens, and veggies – great. But that’s pretty much where the good, healthy part ends. Bacon, croutons, nuts, cheese, fatty dressings…pretty much all bad if you’re a food addict like me. So during my vacation I would have a salad under the pretense that I was eating healthy, but I loved the fatty parts of the salad the most. I’d tell myself I was having a salad so I could have some bread. I’d probably have been better off with a sandwich. The second day all thoughts of being good were gone from my brain. Breakfast that day was French toast, yum. Bring on the butter and syrup. The days that followed were filled with fatty salads, with rich dressings, Italian food – who knew that Italian food in Sedona would be so incredibly good. , cheeseburger, pizza, incredible desserts – which of course I shared so as not to seem like such a pig.
I did get a lot of exercise…walking, shopping. I was even able to go to the Grand Canyon and walk a bit there.
Because of the dry air or altitude I was incredibly thirsty. I drank a lot of water and a good amount of diet coke. With most vacations, we did a lot of walking. We walked in the shopping areas and during a day trip to the Grand Canyon we walked a lot. Because of my fear of heights I walked just a little bit faster around the Grand Canyon, well jogged really.
The other time where my size was made pointed out was when we took a jeep tour of the red rocks. As soon as we met our tour guide, he looked right at me and said, “I’ll need someone to sit up front with me. I was thinking I’d sit with my sweetie in the back, but he repeated the request, again looking directly at me, dead in the eye. Finally I said, I would do it. As we picked up another couple at their hotel, he instructed them to sit across the one person sitting single. Then I it finally came to me – he wanted me to sit in front so he could put two people on the driver side of the jeep apparently to offset my mammoth girth. I admit, I’m pretty overweight, but I don’t weigh double what someone else does, wait a minute, yes I do. At 270_ I weigh the equivalent of two people who weight 135….although I seriously doubt those two women weighed 135 – more like 175 but who’s counting.
The seatbelt fit just fine and the ride was amazing. We took amazing pictures and had a wonderful time. We stopped a couple of times and walked around the red rocks. The views were absolutely incredible.
Tomorrow is my weigh in. I’m anxious to find out how the scale thinks I did.
As I look back on this vacation I know I could have done better, but I also didn’t completely fall off the wagon. I’m pretty much being dragged along the side. I hope it doesn’t take me long to climb back up and sit comfortably on that wagon, without the seatbelt extender.
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