So It's Been a Little While...

Hey everyone!

I know I said my hiatus wasn't really going to be a hiatus, and that I was going to be updating from the road, but that clearly wasn't the case. But blogging was really the last thing on my mind during a solo drive of 1400 miles. Yup, 1400 miles. There were a few times where I considered pulling over on the side of the road and curling up to die. Despite the fact that both Jeff and I moved back north for the summer, we had to take separate cars on the drive back, so there was no switching off on the driving, no sleeping in the car, and no entertaining each other. Needless to say, it was NOT a good time.

But that's besides the point. What I'd really like to focus on is my eating habits during the trip. I have to say, I'm not exactly proud of myself, but I also don't think I really took into account the kind of toll such a long drive would take on my body. Day one didn't start off exactly as I would've wanted, but it wasn't TERRIBLE. With the craziness of showering, last minute packing, and mentally preparing myself for the drive that lay ahead of me, I didn't exactly have time to make breakfast at home. Jeff and I had decided the night before that we would make a brief stop at a nearby Starbucks to start our trip off right (I normally try to stay away from drinking coffee, mainly because I was extremely addicted to caffeine a few years ago, and also because any coffee drink I like drinking would never be included in my strict diet plan). Starbucks has a delicious spinach/ feta/ egg wrap thing that I knew would be a good start to my morning. I'm not really supposed to be eating carbs right now, but I figured the wrap would have significantly less carbs than an English muffin or toast...

"Sorry, we're all out of that sandwich right now, did you want something else?"

REALLY???????

I ended up settling on some veggie egg sandwich situation, and not only could I taste the preservatives oozing out of the previously frozen egg, but the sandwich just so happened to be on ciabatta bread. I was pretty aggravated, but I knew it was important for me to have SOMETHING to eat before we hit the road. Now despite the fact that this sandwich wasn't exactly my first choice for breakfast, the iced venti non-fat white mocha with no whip was a definite choice. One that I'm not particularly proud of, but quite frankly, anything without espresso really wasn't gonna get the job done, and I figured a road trip of this magnitude was an extenuating circumstance where slight diet deviation would be acceptable. The rest of the day went pretty well, with a Special K bar, a yogurt, and a 5-hour energy holding me over for most of the trip. But it was once we hit Georgia that things kind of went down hill. In northern Florida Jeff wasn't feeling so well, but we both kept driving on and I figured he would be fine in a little while. Once we hit Brunswick, GA though, we were both feeling pretty crappy. We stopped at an IHOP and split an appetizer sampler. There's never an excuse for fried, greasy food, and even though it made me feel a little bit better, the regret I felt later wasn't really worth it. After taking a bit of a nap, we were both feeling better, so we kept driving until we hit South Carolina and decided to stop for the night. By this point, I was absolutely ravenous, (see, I told you fried food's never a good idea) so we both split the homemade chicken salad we had made the day before, found a nice hotel, and got some much needed rest.

There's no need to get into explicit detail about day two of our little expedition. Let's just say that 17 hours later I couldn't feel my ass, and I could swear I was still moving once I got out of my car. I started off the day right with our hotel's continental breakfast. Their fruit selection was pretty grim, but I had a lowfat yogurt, a hardboiled egg, some scrambled eggs, and a piece of ham (I knew stocking up on the protein in the eggs and the ham would be a good idea since I would need it to hold me over for a while). We went for about 4 hours before we stopped for a bathroom break and I had a protein bar (Think Thin brand protein bars are awesome because they have zero sugar alcohols in them, which is an important thing to look for). After another four or so hours though, I was fading fast. I was extremely uncomfortable from sitting in the same position for such an extended period of time, and the fact that my last REAL meal was at 6:30 am was putting me in a pretty bad mood. By the time we got to a Wendy's in Pennsylvania, I was really agitated, and I think both Jeff and I were seriously regretting our decision to eat ALL the chicken salad the night before. And that's when a 10-piece chicken nugget became an inevitably. And I was not happy. It was nice to have something other than a protein bar, but it definitely wasn't the kind of healthy, fulfilling meal I was looking for.

So we kept driving. And driving. And driving. After that trip I didn't even want to look at my car. We were so close. Upstate New York, in fact, when I started feeling sick. I was exhausted, dizzy, and nauseous. We stopped for gas and I just wanted to die. It had gotten dark, the lights from other people's cars were giving me a headache, and I wanted to throw up everywhere. Jeff suggested we relax for a little while, sit down, and maybe have a snack. We each settled on a candy bar, and I also got a monster Slim Jim (I know, what a healthy eating decision). Once we ate I felt a little bit better. We got back on the road, and after an hour or so of driving, and 20 minutes of completely ridiculous traffic in Connecticut, we were passing out for a blissful 10 hours of sleep at his grandparents' house.

So that was my road trip, in a nut shell. All in all, it wasn't as much of a success as I would've wanted in regards to my diet, but it also wasn't a COMPLETE failure. But I definitely feel like it's important to chronicle on here when I do stumble, because I'm only human, and I do make mistakes. Besides, who wants to read a blog about someone who never messes up? I'm certainly not perfect, and I don't expect that anyone who reads this blog is either. And that's why this blog is not just diet tips and fitness advice, it's a weight loss journey that I hope other people can relate to.

Thanks so much for reading, and look for my next post where I'll talk about how to eat right when eating out, and how to not fall into the trap of eating crappy food at family functions. Stay healthy!