I am writing in the air, though of course I won’t be able to post until I’m back on the ground. I’m on my way to Vancouver for a trade show, this weekend.
But before I get to that, I’ll make up the gap a little bit. I recovered from the stomach flu fine, though it seemed like forever until I got there. Last Saturday (Day 8) I could stomach absolutely nothing but half a double chocolate protein bar. Jo-Ann told me that I should log “everything that went into my mouth” on my journal, so I naturally felt that should include everything that came back out, being a cheese and spice omelet and a peace mango drink, not necessarily in that order. (I know, TMI, I am a homeopath and so have a strong stomach.) Sunday I gradually began to gain my strength back, but still only managed a little lettuce and one protein package.
Monday morning… I have to make a confession. I cheated. I ate an avocado. I take full responsibility for that action. I make no excuses. Well, all right, I make one excuse: I’d hardly had anything to eat the entire weekend. Two excuses. It was going to go bad if I didn’t eat it.
With all that privation and only a small cheat, I figured that my weight would drop another substantial amount on my Thursday weigh-in, and actually feared that somewhat; it would mean I had lost muscle. There was no way I didn’t on the weekend, the only mercy being that I knew it was probably not very much as the almost-fast had been only two days. The most interesting thing is that Jane (who has been coaching me in Jo-Ann's absence) told me I didn't lose weight because I wasn't taking in enough water. Not taking in enough water influences how fast you lose? I had no idea.
Alas… or perhaps to my relief… my weight dropped only two pounds. A bit of a bubble-burst, but I could still say I dropped 14 in two weeks—a pound a day—which still sounds impressive. It also was a short week, six days.
The reason for that, of course, is that I couldn’t come for weigh-in on Friday because I’d be travelling. Leading to the whole thorny question of, how to manage the Ideal Protein diet while on a trip?
Jewel, the receptionist at Medi-Spa, when she found out I was going back on my first consult, actually suggested that I not start until after I came back. I brushed that off. “I’m going to go on other trips while I’m doing this,” I told her. “I have to learn to manage these things.”
So, I am in the air, and blessed with a very decent excuse to turn down anything that resembles airplane food, which, as all you flyers out there know, barely resembles food.
What I did was think out carefully where I’d be for each meal, and plan/purchase IP and other foods that would be possible. On the plane, for instance, I can do no preparation at all and couldn’t bring liquids either, so I’ve got several bars in my laptop case, which is my carry-on bag. At the hotel I am assuming there’s no microwave, so I will be able to do cold mixing only, with the shaker that I stuffed into my suitcase. For the dinners, I will negotiate with the waiter. “Two cups veggies and eight ounces of meat only.” I expect that is going to be tough, as I’ll have to look at the whole menu to find the IP-compliant stuff on it.
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I was too busy during the weekend to blog more, sorry. Now back and into the regular routine. About travelling during IP Phase One, I have learned:
1) For lunch, it's really hard to find two cups of compliant cooked veggies as a dish on a restaurant menu. However there are lots of Greek salads. Practice saying it with me: "Hold the feta and the balsamic." Olive oil, of course, is cool as long as it's not too much.
2) Dinner is easier. "Hold the potatoes/rice/pasta." Or combine a salad and a meat appetizer. Because it was a coastal city I kept ordering seafood as my meat portion, and in a little Greek restaurant called Maria's I had a garlic kalamari dish that was to die for. I mean, it melted in your mouth, and the sauce was awesome.
3) You have to carry bottled water to keep track of how much.
4) Getting your daily salt is easy--you just carry it with--oil not so much.
5) In the whirlwind of travel, you'll lose track of all the pieces and forget things. It's a PITA, really. So it goes, compensate and go on.
I had one thing happen on the weekend that was very heartening... for the first time, I saw my weight loss. I was walking past the mirror in the hotel room when I noticed I was narrower front-to-back in the tummy. Then I went into the bathroom and looked at my face in the bathroom mirror, and saw it there, too. My eyes and cheekbones and mouth were just ever-so-slightly more prominent.
Instantly it all became worthwhile.
--
I was too busy during the weekend to blog more, sorry. Now back and into the regular routine. About travelling during IP Phase One, I have learned:
1) For lunch, it's really hard to find two cups of compliant cooked veggies as a dish on a restaurant menu. However there are lots of Greek salads. Practice saying it with me: "Hold the feta and the balsamic." Olive oil, of course, is cool as long as it's not too much.
2) Dinner is easier. "Hold the potatoes/rice/pasta." Or combine a salad and a meat appetizer. Because it was a coastal city I kept ordering seafood as my meat portion, and in a little Greek restaurant called Maria's I had a garlic kalamari dish that was to die for. I mean, it melted in your mouth, and the sauce was awesome.
3) You have to carry bottled water to keep track of how much.
4) Getting your daily salt is easy--you just carry it with--oil not so much.
5) In the whirlwind of travel, you'll lose track of all the pieces and forget things. It's a PITA, really. So it goes, compensate and go on.
I had one thing happen on the weekend that was very heartening... for the first time, I saw my weight loss. I was walking past the mirror in the hotel room when I noticed I was narrower front-to-back in the tummy. Then I went into the bathroom and looked at my face in the bathroom mirror, and saw it there, too. My eyes and cheekbones and mouth were just ever-so-slightly more prominent.
Instantly it all became worthwhile.
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