When I travel for business my goal is to meet with as many people as possible over the course of my trip. I spend time with suppliers, agency partners, clients, and old friends. Last week I had 20 appointments over the four business days (plus two travel days) I was away. To get in 5 appointments a day, I schedule them over breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee, and dinner.Over time I had come to accept that when I travel for business I will gain a pound a day each day that I'm gone that I then have to take off when I get home. But I'm tired of each one week trip setting me back an average of three weeks. So this trip I vowed was going to be different. I would continue to work on my Week 2 goal of stopping eating before I was stuffed and, adding to that, would try to order the healthiest choices on the menu when dining out.
Being back in an environment where I often did not make the right choices was tough. Whether I was successful or not at a particular meal had a lot to do with where I was (i.e., memories associated with the place), who I was dining with (how they eat, external pressures to eat more or eat differently), and how I was feeling (tired, frustrated, happy, in control).
As victories, I never once felt stuffed and felt I had way more energy than I usually do on these trips. I drank less coffee than I usually feel I need on these trips - partly because I didn't feel as tired as usual and partly because I didn't want the extra calories that the lattes and cappuccinos I prefer deliver. At one point I smelled a deep fryer smell and thought "ew gross" as opposed to "mmm fries" so change is afoot!
There is still room for much improvement but instead of beating myself up over everything I could have done better I look forward to making additional strides next time I'm in the same situation. At the end of the week I had gone up 1 lb putting me at 3 lbs down since starting the 50 Week Food Challenge 3 weeks ago, and 47 lbs down overall. Given I would usually have gained 4-6 pounds on a business trip of this duration, I am trying to see this as a step in the right direction. I'm building new lifelong habits and some are going to be harder to change than others.
