Fantasy Football Draft = pizza & alcohol

Labor day weekend to most people equates the beginning of a 3-day weekend but for my family it's the start of football drafts and fantasy football. Danny & I are in 2 fantasy football leagues and the main source of food is pizza and beer...both are typically high calorie foods. My first draft is tonight and I'm planning to have eaten all my 5 servings of fruits/veggies before I go. Originally I had thought maybe I'd take some fruit with me but can you imagine all the guys looking and me like I'm a fruitcake. Hopefully this will fill my belly enough to stick to only 2 slices of pizza and NO alcohol at all. Beer typically doesn't tempt me because I've always been the fruity drink kind of girl but there have been drafts in the past that Mike's Hard Lemonade or other similar malt drinks have been available. I'm planning to take my water bottle with me...how will that look with all the beer bottles on the table...lol....and be good tonight. I love pizza but if I'm not hungry, I'll be good. Boy is this weekend going to be hard to stay OP!

Vacation

What is it about vacation that causes us to lose our heads and get off plan? Is it the many different food choices available? I doubt it because we have a lot of restaurants available back home too. Is it the ease and smell of boardwalk foods...maybe, but that's not much different than going to a carnival. I think it's just the idea of taking a vacation from everything. We all have so much stress in our daily lives...the family, our work, school, etc. that it feels good to not have to think about anything except having fun. I know that was the way I was this year. I didn't go overboard on the boardwalk with fried foods or pizza but I did eat out of my comfort zone with my regular meals. There were so many great meals that wouldn't have been as great if I didn't eat it. And you know what, I don't even feel guilty. I know last year I would have because I was still trying to lose but this year, I think I looked at it more like a challenge. If I eat THIS food and exercise THIS much, will I still maintain or will I gain weight. So far I've only gained 1 lb so I still consider it maintaining. I was down to 129 before I left so being back up to 130 is my normal weight. Will this all catch up with me after a week or will I be able to keep maintaining...only time will tell. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Maintenance isn't easy

Maintaining your weight isn't as easy as you may think. I know when I met my goal weight back in December of '07, I had a misconception that it would be easy. Boy was I wrong. My weight has fluctuated up and down so much in the months that followed that I didn't think I'd ever get it under control. But now, almost 8 months later, I think I finally know what I need to do to keep my weight down. Here are some things I've learned:

• I will never be able to stay the same weight indefinitely. Just because I'm a woman, my hormones cause my weight to yo-yo a couple of lbs each month. So I'm happy if I can keep my weight within 2 lbs of my "normal" weight.
• I can sway from my normal healthy foods 2x a week before I will notice a weight gain. That means I can have a not-so-healthy meal like pizza and breadsticks or I can have some tasty treats like chocolate chip cookies or brownies. Roughly this will add up to about 20+ extra points so it's similar to using my weekly flex points.
• My daily maintenance points without exercise need to be around 24 pts. Everybody's is different, so it takes a while to figure it out.
• If I exercise by going to the gym, I will usually earn 3-4 AP points that can be available if I want them. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I don't. It doesn't usually affect me either way.
• I need to drink at least 6 servings of water a day. The days I don't drink enough, I feel blah!
• I can go about my week without tracking my points or journaling my foods as long as I stick to following the 8 Good Healthy Guidelines. My food choices when I follow the GHG are exactly what I need in order to maintain my weight. It's when I sway from this that I start gaining again.