PAINS, TRAINS & BUFFETS

Well I am finally back from my whirlwind adventure in Toronto and Niagara Falls. For what seems like forever, I have been in a training seminar for 2 days in Toronto, a dance competition for my daughter in Niagara Falls and all the while working from my laptop while I shuttled back and forth from Brantford to my client's office. Please understand I am not complaining because all the while I was working and earning money which is a good thing. I am just exhausted from the journey. Not to mention I am carrying a new 'weight' on my hips rather than my shoulders.

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week I attended a training seminar in Toronto. In order to do this I had my children sleep at their grandma's houses on Tuesday night and Wednesday night so I could board the train at 7:20 am. So Tuesday night the kids went to my mum's house after dinner. Wednesday morning I grabbed a quick breakfast and got on the train. From here on in the miles AND the calories start to mount.

For lunch that day my friend Deb was kind enough to treat us all to lunch. I ordered the Chicken pesto sandwich with fries and ate every. last. bite. (chicken sandwich 400 calories: french fries 500 calories)

Once I arrived home that evening at 6:30 pm I had to meet my mother at dance to pick up my eldest daughter while my husband took my youngest to baseball. By the time we got home it was past 7:30 pm and neither Kevin nor I had eaten. We decided to have a late dinner consisting of chicken schnitzel deep fried and served on a bun (500 calories). But before that I had timbits which my daughter got as a treat on the way to grandma's in Hamilton (70 calories per timbit x 7 timbits = 490 calories).

That night I managed to drift off by 11:30 pm and woke at 3:30 am unable to go back to sleep. So I lay there for several hours hoping to get some rest. By 7:20 I was back on a train to Toronto - hungry and tired - a deadly combination that can cause EXTREME sugar cravings. Once I arrived at the office I had just enough time to grab a tea and a muffin at Tim Horton's (muffin 300 calories: tea 50 calories) before I was thrust back into the classroom for yet another day.

Once again someone else took us out for lunch. Today I had the Mushroom Swiss burger with fries and AGAIN ate every bite (burger 600 calories fries 500 calories). After the seminar I boarded a train and it was off to Hamilton to meet my family and rush to Niagara Falls for my daughter's dance competition. On the road I snagged a few more timbits from Delaney (210 calories) and arrived at the hotel by 6:45 pm.

Once we settled in and unpacked Kevin and I decided it was time to have dinner. We ventured out to the competition location and stopped for dinner at Arby's to pick up a chicken club and fries (chicken club 500 calories: curly fries 540 calories). After which we returned to the hotel to eat dinner at 9:00 pm.

Friday morning my daughter and I went to Starbucks to grab tea and a muffin for me (muffin 360 calories) and we were off to her first dance.

At 9am we returned to the room so I could do a few hours work and Kevin and the girls could play some games.

Once I was done working we decided to go for some lunch. Burger for me please (600 calories). At 2:30 pm was the next dance and then we had a short break before we were back for the final dance. During which time we went to Wal-Mart to pick up pajamas and a toothbrush which I forgot to pack and I 'treated' myself to a chocolate bar (100 calories). I figured a bit of sugar would keep me going until the day was done.

At 8pm the dancing was over, the awards were given and we found time to eat...again. so it was off to a BUFFET! What a mistake. I had 2 plates of food for about 900 calories (mostly pasta). Then I HAD to have some ice cream for dessert. After which we went back to our room and I vaguely recall stopping at the store and purchasing more chocolate to 'snack' on later.

So here is my grand total for my week of food and travel:

Total kilometers traveled per day

Wednesday - 200 KM
Thursday - 300 KM
For a total of 500 KM

Total calories

Wednesday - 1,890 calories
Thursday - 2,700 calories
Friday - 2,200 calories

Okay so overall this isn't as bad as it looks. According to the fitness test done at the gym my body's resting rate of caloric burn is 1900 calories BUT most of those calories are from sugar and fat. AND most of them were consumed very late at night which did not give my body opportunity to use the calories consumed.

So what was the result of the week spent on the road and in the restaurant? I gained
7 POUNDS!!!!

Now it is going to take me A MONTH to lose that gain. Now I can spend all day complaining about the fact that my husband ate just as badly and gained nothing. I can rationalize my food choices by saying I was sleep deprived. I can plead that I wanted the TREAT just like everyone else had but the reality is that I am the one who is now paying the price. It took me all day Saturday and most of Sunday to recover from feeding my body all this crap and treating my body so badly. I should have skipped the sugar and fat and went to sleep. Had I planned a bit better and realized all of the pitfalls of this week I would have approached it with a 'plan' to avoid bad eating and treated myself and my body better. Instead I went into this week a blur.

I think this is where many of my mistakes have been made. Not only did I eat badly during this week I spent large amounts of money which could have been avoided with a bit of planning ahead. We could have mapped out restaurants and meal times that catered to healthy choices eaten at healthy times. I could have packed things like fruit and whole grains to eat on the train and in the car to avoid grabbing something quickly to tie me over until later.

In retrospect I see my mistakes and I know to do it differently in the future. Although I will admit I loved every minute of the consuming all that sugary, fatty goodness while I was doing it, I did not consider the impact it would have on me and my body later. I think I can equate this feeling to that which you feel after spending too much money. You see something you want, you convince yourself to get it and you regret that same action later. The only difference is once you consume a calorie it cannot be returned as easily as a fancy dress or an expensive pair of shoes.

So now I must make a new plan to rid myself of my guilt and my extra pounds and move on. I won't beat myself up over this slip but instead I will learn from it and with God as my witness I will never eat buffet again!