Monika: Week 2 - Ready, Steady, Go!

This past weekend proved to be not as bad as I thought. We went camping at Mammoth Cave, which included hiking, horseback riding, playing frisbee...tons of physical activity. We sat around a campfire and had drinks and made s'mores. At the end of it all, I'm down a half pound. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't look at a half pound as big success. But, considering all the landmines that the camping trip held, I'm pretty pleased.

This weekend I'm off to Chicago for a bachelorette party. I'm more worried about this trip than the camping trip, mostly because I'm sure we'll be eating often, drinking a lot and partying. My goal is to walk as much as possible, and to dance as much as I can. If I'm going to make this work, I have to somehow incorporate my life into my life...does that make sense?

I know these situations will keep popping up. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years mere months away, the best think I can do for myself is come up with a strategy for attack, then implement it now before the real challenges hit. My mantra for myself is ready, steady go. First, I get ready by thinking through where I'm going, what we'll be doing, how I can incorporate activity to offset crappy eating or drinking, and to consider how I can lessen the bad factor of the food choices I make. Once I've got my ready plan, I have to hold steady to the plan, which is the hard part. It's easy for me to get swept up in the excitement of the crowd, and let myself excuse little slip-ups. Then it's Go! Go! Go!