I just got back back from sunny La this weekend. The trip was a working vacation since I was going to a conference with other leader from my church to the Celebrate recovery Summit for a training seminar. We got back late Saturday night but I have been busy catching up and have finally found computer time today.

The good news is that I only gained .5 of a pound these past few weeks while I had a little less control what and where I could eat. Actually, I did have food choices because I preplanned. That helped a lot. A few friends of mine had been to this conference the year before and knew what kind of foods they probably would be serving, so I knew I would have to bring my own BK and snacks. Lunch turned out to be something I could pick at, but next year I will bring my own bread and maybe call ahead and see if I can get them to provide a chef salad for me since lunch was carb central. Dinners turned out all right since we found a Wahoo's down from the hotel within walking distance. Some of us ate there two nights in a row.

Wahoo's is a fish taco place. There is actually one in Austin, but none in Sugarland. We all loved the place and found you could eat healthy , cheap, and low calorie there if you chose. I loved the vegetables. Note, the spicy tacos were not as good as the plain. The spicy were dry, over cooked, and probably fried. Stick with the mild or plain fish if you ever go to one of these simply because the fish is much better. Some people got the burritos which could serve two people easily. They have a tofu plate for those vegetarians.

One night we went to TGIF and I was pleased to see the calorie count on the menu ! You bet I chose my meal accordingly ! There were only two options for me since I had to keep under 500 calories. One meal was 360 the other 650, but I could eat half of it, which I did. I also asked for less rice and more broccoli and no sauce on the grilled Salmon. It was good and the veggies felt SOOOOOO good going down. I felt veggie deprived all week. I'm used to eating a lot of raw veggies through out the day, so it was hard for me not to get my raw veggies in. I finally got in a salad on Saturday when my friends went to In and Out Burger. A friend of mine and me took one sniff of the place and headed to Chick- Fil- A where we got a salad and a wrap for the plan latter. My friend Deb turned out to be my eating encouragerer on the trip. She kept encouraging me to eat properly no matter what ever one else was doing. I'm glad I had someone like that on the trip because it was hard at times. The conference served 5 " cookies for snacks, sweet rolls for breakfast, and these huge Kiaser roll sandwiches with potato salad and brownies for lunch !!!!!!!!!! Thankfully, they had apples which I snatched up at breakfast time and put away for snack time and lunch time. I only ate one slice of bread and the grilled chicken, gave away my desert, and onetime ate the pasta salad, and german potato salad ( part of it ).

I got in a lot of walking over the week. I took my pedometer and wore it three days. One day I got in 5 miles, the next 2 miles, the third 3 miles, and I don't know about Saturday. It was an airport day, so I expect it could have been a couple of miles. One night I went to the hotel exercise room and got on the exercise bike to get out some muscle cramps from sitting to much. It wasn't much, but it helped. I'm sure the exercise helped keep me from gaining weight while on the trip because I know I ate portions that weren't in keeping with my size.

That was the food trail part of the trip. I feel I conquered it over all. There are some things I would do different. I have traveled the past two years by plane now to learn a few things about how to manage eating on planes now. My only gripe about traveling is that the hotel charged me for use of a frig. I had to have one because I had to take medication that had to be refrigerated !!!!! It was ten dollars a day ! I feel for those that have to have this need it is unfair to charge. You bet I complained.........

Well, it's good to be back.