Normally a trip to NY is short and sweet, 4, 5 or up to 7 days but given I’ve a buddy over there who put us up for a few nights we decided to go for ten days to try and soak up everything New York has to offer.
And like all holidays, this one was no different. We had no access to cooking or prepping our own meals.
Yes that meant eating out. For ten days. In America. Where everything is filled with grease, corn syrup and GMO’s.
I’m not gonna lie, I was worried. And I knew that fast food was cheap and fresh food was expensive.
But sure in New York everything is expensive if you don’t know where to go.
Let me just say that every day I had fast food. Be it McDonalds for breakfast or lunch, Dunkin Doughnuts for the mid day slump, a hot dog on the corner to keep you going or even “pub grub” at dinner time. In most part it was just junk to keep the hunger at bay.
I didn’t poop for over four days.
And then three days later I had a case of the squirts.
Switching diets drastically clearly had a huge effect on my digestive system as well as absolutely destroying my skin and left me feeling bloated all the time.
As the days went by my jeans were getting tighter and tighter – even for the last two days I had to wear an already worn pair of jeans that had a bit more of a stretch than others.
For someone who doesn’t really like “good stuff” and is trying to improve on better food choices, I honestly felt like I was doing an injustice to my body. Now don’t get me wrong, I know when you’re on holidays you should eat, drink and be merry. I used to eat take away 3-5 times per week until I started getting more active and the “cravings” subsided. I WANTED good food because the nutrients are good for me, not because I was thinking of weight gain or calories etc. Surprisingly enough even though EVERYTHING on the menu has the calories listed, I did not pay attention to it at all. And I did the best that I could do given the situation I was in. I stopped eating when I was full. I ate the “main” (lol, burger) and nibbled on the fries until I had enough.
I still lost 2lbs. I weigh myself out of curiosity of course and not for goals.
We also walked on average 5 miles everyday, thanks to my other half’s activity tracker. This was at a strolling pace. So the fact that I was out and about everyday instead of sitting sedentary did make a difference but I also suspect my 2lb weight loss was actually a bit of muscle loss (and fat gain), given my jeans are still tight and I didn’t do any sort of weight training while I was away.
So what now that I’m home?
Get back to normal.
No I’m not going to go on a detox, or juice diet, “eat clean” or anything. I don’t feel the need to over train myself to make up for all the crap I consumed over the past ten days. I’m also not going to give up the routine I had before just because the holiday is over. I’m going to get back to normal. Eating mostly home cooked foods, stopping when I’ve had enough and breaking a sweat in class.
I will probably have pizza again this weekend. And a bottle of wine. In moderation.