The Long Road Home

Day 3

Today was a travel day. I have to tell you that I've been hit with every temptation that could possibly be thrown my way today. When you know you're going to be on the road for 8 or 9 hours, the temptation is not to drink water in order to minimize stops. Then there's the whole fast food thing and the stopping to get gas at convenience stores. Candy bars, chips, burgers, fries and sodas OH MY!

When you're hungry and tired the temptation to comfort yourself with a big juicy hamburger is strong. In fact, you probably don't even realize your doing it. But, today I had the strength of a lion. Breakfast was the light version of what we like to call the "Yankee Breakfast Sandwich". Regular version is two fried eggs, cheese, and sausage on toast which is usually buttered. My friend Andy was kind enough to lighten it up for me. He already had his head in the right place by serving them with lean ham. He made mine with one scrambled egg, no cheese and dry toast. (THANKS BRO!) It must be said here that Andy was a cooking fool this weekend. His Kielbasa and Saurkraut New Year's Day was nothing short of perfection.

We hit the road this morning about 10:30 am Central and GPS had us arriving at home around 6:40. Fat chance. I knew that was never going to happen. This southern gal had to navigate through a little snow on the way out of town and since we aren't used to what happens to your car when it's a balmy 14 degrees outside, I quickly discovered that the windshield wiper fluid was blocked by ice. This added 20 minutes to the trip. Then, there was a road closure in Columbus due to the Ohio State Buckeyes return home from their Rose Bowl win. (Go Buckeyes!) Add in a wrong turn and there's another 20 minutes. By the time we got out of that mess my first liter of water kicked in and then came yet another stop and about 8 minutes added to the trip.

I was prepared food wise with an apple, some protein bars and almonds to get me through to our next real meal. I settled on 1/2 a protein bar. My goal was to eat every few hours. I didn't want to get to the point that I was so ravenous that I didn't have my wits about me when it came time to choose a healthy(ish) lunch. Of the options available, we decided that the KFC/Long John Silver's combo restaurant would be the best bet. Don't laugh, it's true! I had the 395 calorie meal (2 pieces of Kentucky Grilled Chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes). I did allow myself a diet soda here. It was my third of the entire long weekend, which is a huge improvement over my 2-3 a day habit of the past. Thirty seven minutes added to the trip and we were back on the road again.

Later in the day, I added some air popped popcorn and nuts to my stash of snacks along with another liter of water. Do I even need to say that this made a couple of more restroom breaks necessary? Around 7 pm, I had a choice, we could press on, get home around 8:15 and end up eating at 9:00 or we could stop and eat dinner on the road. I didn't want to eat that late because this is a dangerous time for me. I tend to lose my mind when I eat at night. We hit the Subway in Bowling Green, Kentucky and I chose a 6 Inch Roast Beef on Wheat with apples and lemonde this time.

We finally hit the door around 9 pm and I've already unpacked my clothes. This is also something I never do. I am tired, but nowhere near as exhausted as I would usually be. I think the fact that I got a good night's sleep last night and I kept my body fueled all day has helped keep my energy up. I can go to bed feeling good about my choices.

I'll weigh in tomorrow morning and we'll see how well I did with my goal of not gaining any weight during the holiday weekend. I'll post my measurements then as well.

Tomorrow is a brand new day. What will you do with it?

Margaret