9/28/12: Frustrated, But Not Disheartened

Predictably, yet regrettably, I was almost 3 pounds heavier this morning than I was on the morning I left for China.  This morning I weighed 173.0 pounds.

It was hard to get on the scale and see the weight gain, yet I know in my heart of hearts that this is temporary.  The travel days were really rough.  It took about 27 hours to get from the door of the hotel to home.  We took a taxi to the ferry, the ferry to Hong Kong, a direct flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco, and then a direct flight from SF to Kansas City.  We would have arrived in Kansas City earlier, but our flight that was scheduled to leave San Francisco at 10:20am didn't end up leaving until 2:00pm.  In addition to the long and tiresome day, the hotel wasn't serving breakfast before we left, so we did not get to eat breakfast until we got to the airport and then we didn't have time to eat a proper breakfast so I grabbed a smoked salmon sandwich as we were boarding to eat on the plane, about 6 hours after I got up.  Between a disrupted meal schedule, the discomfort of the 12 hour flight from Hong Kong to SF, high carb airline meals, a sleepless night the night before we left, and sketchy sleep while on the plane, I found it very difficult to eat appropriately yesterday, particularly as the day drug out an additional 4 hours due to our delayed flight from SF.  Also, as I mentioned in my last post, I found it difficult to eat on a schedule and eat within my normal calorie parameters while in China.  I tried not to over-eat, but I knew I was eating more calories than normal.  I also was not drinking enough water

On the flip side, I felt very good about maintaining my normal exercise routine while in China.  I exercised for an hour every day that I was on the road, and stuck very close to my normal routine.  That part felt good!

I am confident that this three pounds will come off pretty fast, as I am sure that most of the gain is water retention.  I felt my ring getting tight after our first day there.  The food was all pretty salty and I know I ate way more salt than I normally do.  Also, the stress of the travel day yesterday took its toll.  I hope to see a pretty quick drop and to be back down into the 170.somethings by my weigh-in on Monday. 

It appears as if going to China will become a more or less regular occurrence for me, so I'll have to get a handle on the food and water part of the traveling.  I can do a much better job packing snacks such as Luna Bars and I can insist on getting a couple of cases of bottled water to put in the conference room while I am there.  If I snack appropriately and drink plenty of water, I should be able to have much better control of my meal times.  I was finding myself ravenous at some of the meals, because we were eating on such a weird schedule, and I would overeat if the food was good.  At other meals the food would be so bad I would barely eat at all. 

I'm a little bummed about the weight gain, but I can't let it get me down!  I got up like normal this morning at 4:30am for my regularly scheduled personal training session with Jeremy, so that felt good to get right back into the routine of things.  My plan is to immediately get back into my normal routine of exercising 6 mornings a week for an hour, exercising most evenings for about half an hour, and eating between 1500 and 1600 calories a day.  I just hope the weight really does come off pretty fast.  I am glad that when I revised my goal I gave myself until December 31st to get to my goal weight of 150 pounds.  Because of my consistent trend line, I felt pretty confident that I could get there by December 3rd, but I thought it best to give myself until the end of the year in case there were any hiccups along the way.  So, even if I don't drop this 3 pounds in a couple of days and I just go back to losing at my normal rate, I should still reach my goal by the end of the year.  I just need to work out a solid plan for future trips to China.  At least now, I know what to expect!