A REALLY LONG POST ABOUT EASTER WEEKEND

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. And although I tried my best to stay on track - I was not 100% successful.  BUT, I am not beating myself up for it.  I am focusing on what went well, and getting myself back into my routine.

Routine is really important!  Who'd have thunk??

For Easter weekend we went to Colorado to visit my in-laws and spend the holiday with them.  The trip down is tough on dieting me.  First of all, I am out of my routine.  Honestly, I live and die by my routine right now.  It really keeps me focused and in check.  Secondly, I really like to snack on a road trip - and the minute I get in the car for a long drive, I want Doritos (my snack of choice) - I resisted, but I hated feeling that snacky, cravey feeling.  It makes me feel like I am losing control.  NOW, what I should have done was prepare a bag of healthy snacks that I could eat on the trip.  I need to make time to do this for future trips.  Even though I won't be chowing down on Doritos, having some pretzels would probably still work for me.

ANYWAY, on the way down Chris and I stopped at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Provo, UT - Los Hermanos.  Los Hermanos isn't the best Mexican food around by a long shot, but it has a lot of sentimental meaning for us - it is where we ate for our first Valentine's Day together!  When we get a chance to go there, we don't pass it up!  Los Hermanos serves THE BEST frozen specialty drinks - THE BEST - but we both knew that the drink on its own was enough calories for an entire meal, so we decided to pass.  I won't lie, I cried a little knowing I was passing up the Peachy Rico.  We also made a good entree choice - we ordered a full order of chicken fajitas and split them.  They were good and we both felt satisfied with the food AND our choices.

SUCCESS!

After we ate we headed back out on the road.  It was a pretty uneventful trip down and overall, I wasn't super cravey - so that was a good thing!  It was the trip back that tanked me...more to come on that.

We got to my in-laws' house around 3:00 pm.  The minute I walked in I started to worry that I was in trouble - MAN, did it smell fantastic! Although my mother-in-law is a career dieter, former Weight Watchers leader, and lifetime WW member - she loves to eat (don't we all).  And my father in law, well, he LOVES to show his affection through his cooking.  And man, can he cook!  And that day, he was cooking up homemade bbq sauce, baby back ribs, and baked potatoes.  HAVE MERCY!  He was so cute, talking about how he had prepared them low calorie - using  rub instead of a marinade - I really appreciated the effort to keep us on track.  But I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my portions in control.  When I say my FIL can cook, I'm not kidding!!!

When it came time to eat I carefully measured my servings, as did Chris, and we ended up staying right on track!  It was a pretty good start to the weekend.  I thought we had a chance of making it through unscathed.

**Sigh**

The next day was Easter Sunday.  We woke up and headed to a Sunrise Service that my mother-in-laws church holds.  After the sunrise service we headed back to the house for a breakfast of french toast and ham.  It was delicious - all carefully weighed and measured and right within our calorie ranges.  YAY!  Once breakfast was over Chris and I headed to our church services.  Once church was over we headed back to the house and we all got ready to head up to Colorado National Monument for a hike.  I admit, I was a little nervous - but Chris assured me the hike he picked, although long, didn't have a big incline.  Our hike to the Y last year has me pretty traumatized about hiking up steep inclines!

Our hike was pretty fantastic - more on that to come later - for the purpose of this post I will tell you that we ended up hiking for around 2.5 hours and burned a BOAT LOAD of calories.  I won't lie, I felt pretty good about how I did on the hike!

Sneak peak of my svelte hiking physique!

When we got back from the hike we were all pretty exhausted, and definitely ready for dinner.  My father-in-law made steak, that was to die for, and I paired it with a garden salad.  Again, all in caloric range - everything on target.

Monday is where it fell apart a bit.

After a great visit, we headed home Monday morning.  I was stupid and didn't eat anything for breakfast - so by the time we were ready to eat I was ravenous.  We stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant in the Grand Junction area - Fiesta Guadalajara (do you see a theme here - I adore Mexican food!).  I want to be able to tell you that I made a good choice, but I didn't.  I was starved and I used my calorie burn from the day before to justify the Super Nachos I ate.  UGH!  I felt pretty gross after lunch and decided I would take it easy the rest of the day...IF ONLY.

We got back on the road and shortly after crossing into Utah we stopped at a rest stop that looked like it had some interesting hikes.  We hiked around (nothing major) and took in book cliffs and desert landscape.  I took some fantastic pictures of desert wildflowers - I couldn't help but share them here.  It was a really nice break.  After about an hour there we resumed our journey home.

Desert Flowers.  Central Utah.

In Wellington, UT we stopped at the Walker's gas station (our typical 1/2 way point stop).  I SWORE that we wouldn't buy snacks from gas station - but I was feeling really snacky and I folded.  Now, the good news is that I chose Special K chips - the bad news - I ate a bunch of beef jerky.  UGH.  As if that wasn't bad enough, by the time we got home it was 6:00 and we were hungry, so we ate out again!

I was displeased.  And of course, I kept thinking "this is it, the backslide - this is where I get off track".  But that didn't happen.

The Good news,  I made good choices on 2 of the 3 days we were gone.  I exercised - and felt good about it - even to the point of wanting to incorporate a lot of hiking into my routine this spring/summer/fall.  I had a good time with my family - and that is always a positive thing.  I didn't fall off the wagon. Tuesday I was right back on program - counting, tracking and holding myself to the calorie range I need to be in.

Better news - I weighed myself immediately on Tuesday morning to hold myself accountable, and I am actually down, not up! Not down a lot, but still - I don't feel like I undid all my hard work!

Lesson learned - I need to remember that I could easily fall off the wagon with a slip like that.  I am a food addict.  Eating out is a trigger and I have to keep it in check.  One slip up like Monday could have disastrous results for me.  I feel lucky that I didn't get off track, but this can't be about luck.  It needs to be about good choices.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  I would be remiss if I didn't share my favorite talk about the  atonement, and the gift our Savior gave us.  Watch it here or read it here. (Watch it - the emotion with which this talk is given is beyond moving).