Vacation Part 1

Did you miss me??

4 AM - time to hit the road! 

I actually wanted to blog before we left for vacation but I just wasn't able to find the time. I wanted to report my final official PRE-vacation weigh in! So, on Friday May 26th I weighed in at 192 pounds. 3 pounds below my goal of 195 and only 2 pounds above my hopeful goal of 190. Needless to say this was a great way to start vacation.

We left around 4 AM Saturday and drove to Savannah so we could break up the drive a bit. We went to Houlihan's for dinner and I was super proud of the fact that I chose the salad. It was what I wanted. I didn't choose it because I had to, I chose it because it sounded good and nothing else sounded "worth it". I'm also sure there were plenty of calories in this particular salad.

Sunday we got up and got right on the road. We decided we had enough snacks, etc. that we didn't even need to get breakfast. When we made a stop and got some more snacks at the vending machine I decided to get cheese/peanut butter crackers. This is a big deal to me because I didn't get a candy bar simply because I "could" because I had given myself permission to basically eat whatever I wanted for vacation. I chose crackers because I was pretty hungry and wanted something more like real food than a candy bar. I also knew what was on the menu for later that day so I wanted to save myself!

Day 2 of vacation & salad 2 of vacation! 

The awesomeness in the pic above was what was on the menu. It's called the "Kitchen Sink" and it's amazing. It's something like 8 scoops of ice cream, every topping they have (which is a ton) and a whole can of whipped cream! This is what learning balance is about. When we got lunch around 1 PM I knew we were getting this at 4ish so I didn't really need a huge lunch, but I also hadn't eaten anything but crackers all day so I needed something. I chose the 310 calorie salad at Earl of Sandwich in Disney Springs. It was yummy and perfect. I wasn't stuffed at all and left plenty of room for the hundreds of calories I later had in ice cream! And that ice cream ended up being dinner.

Mary started taking pictures right away when we got there and for the first time in a long time I was totally on board with it. And I couldn't believe how thin I think my face looked in these pictures. It's been so long since I have looked at a picture of myself and thought any part of me looked "thin". I think taking and looking at these pictures helped keep me a little focused to stay somewhat mindful of my eating.

1 AM and in our 4th park that day! 

Monday started the long week of 6 consecutive days in the parks. We have never purchased the "park hopper" before, but decided that we would splurge on it this time. This means that we could go to any of the 4 parks every day we were there. We definitely got our money's worth on this! We went to at least 2 parks every day but one; and on Wednesday we went to all 4 parks in one day!

Throughout the week I tended to try to keep my food in check by only eating twice a day most days. Mary and I would also frequently split meals. I swear I felt like I was maintaining my weight, or even losing weight throughout the week! I kind of wished I had my scale! 😄But, I think I started to get more and more relaxed as the week went on partly because I felt like I was doing so well. So perhaps if I DID have access to a scale I would have eaten more because I had already given myself permission to gain weight. 

Seriously though, WHERE have my babies gone?!?!

We seriously took so many pictures between the Disney Photopass people and the pics that we took! I want to share all of them because I love them all and that's such new territory for me! It's been kind of hard deciding which ones to put in this post and I've put in a lot! I also already posted a few transformation pics from previous trips to Disney. I didn't post any comparison pics from our first trip in 2011. I wasn't sure if there would be that big of a difference because I only weigh about 8 pounds less than I did when we went then. But, it was still fun to do the side by side pic because of how much the kids have changed! 😲I may not look too different in the 2011 vs 2018 pics, but I will tell you that the shorts I wore in 2011 were one of the pairs that I just recently got rid of because they were literally falling off of me. The shorts I'm wearing in this year's pic are a 14...2 sizes smaller than what I'm wearing in the 2011 pic. I'm also wearing a large top this time vs XL in 2011.

On the last night we were there we did some shopping for souvenirs. I bought a zip up hooded sweatshirt when we went in 2012 and I wear it all the time. It had gotten to a point where it barely fit and now it is so big I am swimming in it (but still wear it all the time). That sweatshirt was an XL. I decided I wanted to get a new zip up hoodie that fits a little better. I tried on the large and when I zipped it up I decided it was still bigger than I wanted! I mean, I figured that we likely won't be back to Disney for a few years and I still plan to lose more weight. I ended up buying the MEDIUM sweatshirt! It fits me well enough now that I've been wearing it, but it's a little more "fitted" than I usually wear a hoodie. Talk to me in 20 more pounds and see how it fits!

All in all it was a great vacation. I was super proud of the decisions I made throughout the entire time I was there. I ate what I wanted to eat, but didn't eat anything "just because". Stay tuned for Vacation Part 2........