Determined To Succeed

Happy Hump Day! It’s Wednesday and the last full day of all things conference, Atlanta and not really knowing whether or not I am truly doing ok or badly. I’m not saying I am purposely going off the deep end with what I’ve been eating but I do know I haven’t worked out at all (something I know I absolutely should be doing) and I’ve been eating foods way out of my norm.

At this point I think I should say even though I am here in the South I have yet to have an authentic Southern meal. I know, I know. I keep griping about that and it’s just a happenstance of my hotel and its proximity to the convention hotel. Nonetheless, I have been eating a steady diet of what’s available in either my hotel or the convention hotel – some of it good and some of it bad.

For example, I started out my day with a grande (medium) Cafe Latte from Starbucks and a granola bar. OK, not so bad so far. Then, later on ( pushed having lunch until like 2:00 PM because the conference had a late dinner scheduled tonight) I had three medium slices of roast beef (absolutely delicious) and just two (I swear) mini egg roll thingies. For dinner, we were served roast beef, carrots and two pieces of boiled garlic shrimp. I do admit I had two rolls, also. But with no butter. And…OK…I will also admit I had a medium piece of red velvet cake (totally good and worth it).

You’re thinking “OK, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Right? Well, with me, the guy who can gain weight by looking at an egg roll funny and not exercising regularly and a couple of pounds come to visit and pretty sdoon, they’ll invite a few of their friends, too.

On the other hand the reason I don’t feel too terrible about all this eating is because I am walking my ass off at this convention. That is not a slam by any means, just a statement of fact so I hope that all that walking, talking, schmoozing and boozing (well, not so much boozing) is helping work off and balance out the calories I am ingesting.

What does all this mean? It means, in my new Zen way of not being all angry at myself for every little ounce I may or may not gain back during a trip, that I’m going to get home Thursday and immediately jump right back into my routine – my regular meals and my regular exercise regimine. And I can’t wait. It’s what we all should do once the insert-the-name-of-your-event-here is over and we’re back into our lives.

One really cool trhing is how many people are coming up to me introducing themselves and talking about their weight, asking me how I did it and what the secret recipe is. When I tell them there is none, that I lost weight with improving my diet and exercising, I can see their faces drop a little but not too bad. Then, I tell them how freaking hard it is for me, particularly in a convention/social setting and they instantly relate to how much of an ongoing thing this weight loss journey can be. That’s nifty. I hope people see they can do it.

But I so hope they have more will power than me, though. Why?

Because there’s a visit to my personal Mecca needing to be done – a trip to World of Coca-Cola. yep, you guessed it – not only does one of my Kryptonite foods hail from Atlanta it also is in close proximity to the convention. I so can’t wait. You will hear all about that tomorrow.

So stay tuned…and wish me luck surviving the temptation of ice-cold Co…oh, you know the rest.