The Trip

April 1, the morning of my trip came and I could barely drag myself out of bed. I felt blah and weak. This diet was kicking my butt! But I’d been on a low carb diet before, but never this low and the calories were much lower than I ever had before. My blood sugar must have been low. But I knew I would have to do my best to continue. I really wanted to see the weight come off as quickly as I could to get to the surgery! I packed 2 good salads for myself, weighing all the protein. I packed sliced apples and celery sticks for snacking as well as hard boiled eggs in case I was in need of protein for a meal on the way down and back.

I did pretty well down and back and I’m happy with my choices. It’s not easy to diet and travel but it really can be done. Sunday late morning I ate my breakfast and we left around 1pm. I decided since I was feeling so logy that we would stop at a Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee. Late afternoon I had my salad while my “trip buddy” had a fried chicken sandwich and fries from one of the restaurants at a rest stop on the way. Oh, the French fries smelled heavenly! I didn’t even ask for one! During the rest of the trip my trip buddy occasionally snacked on prunes and honey roasted peanuts. Although neither are allowed on my diet, I did eat a few of the prunes (they were delicious) for, what I had hoped would be, energy. I didn’t touch the peanuts though they are one of my FAVORITES! I did, however eat some celery and an apple that I brought. That night we didn’t really want dinner, but since I was nauseous on and off all day, I decided to eat 2 of the hard boiled eggs I brought. Who knew that hard boiled eggs could be SO DELICIOUS? I guess I was famished!

The next morning I could barely get up, but of course I had to. After riding 10 hours (thank God my trip buddy likes to drive) and getting to sleep at 2am and then back up by 7am AND because of the low calorie diet I was on, I definitely thought it had to be my blood sugar. On the way out of the motel I stopped in the lobby where they had the “continental breakfast” and grabbed a small cup of orange juice. It’s not allowed on the diet, but I figured it was better than passing out. Once we got in the car, I felt better. Standing up and walking were an effort to the point where my leg muscles hurt and were weak. I was wobbly. But once I sat down, I felt pretty much ok; a little nauseous, but tolerable. We stopped at a convenience store with the intention of getting coffee. Since I don’t drink hot coffee, I looked for iced coffee. Blech, they had that processed pre-sweetened kind! I knew my stomach wouldn’t tolerate that. I grabbed a “snack bag” of mixed nuts and a Diet Pepsi for the beginning of the long ride home. A bit later we stopped off at McDonald's for breakfast. I didn’t have any food, but I did get an iced coffee. Normally McDonald’s iced coffee is good, but this one was not sitting well in my stomach. Maybe this was a sign that I really did need to give it up?

When it came time to have lunch we had a tough time finding a diner or restaurant that wasn’t fast food. Finally, I was so hungry I just decided to say screw it and said to stop at the next rest stop where there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken! I was now so hungry, I just didn’t care. Just before we pulled off the exit the sign mentioned other places to eat including Ruby Tuesdays. That’s it! We found a place I could eat without cheating on my diet. They have a GREAT salad bar. Once inside I saw that they DID have a great salad bar, but in the past I would eat most anything on it. I had forgotten how much NON diet foods they had on there: macaroni and potato salad, bacon bits, cole slaw and other carb-laden (but YUMMY) foods. But I did not give into temptation. Those foods were definitely NOT worth cheating over. There was plenty other salad fixings I COULD have. For the main entrée, which would be the only meal we were stopping for, I had spaghetti squash with roasted eggplant and sauce. Although I’m sure the sauce was not prepared totally low carb, it was a better choice than most of the other entrees on the menu. And it was DELISH! I only ate half the entree and brought the rest home. I didn’t end up eating my other salad as I had planned; that ended up being lunch the next day.

Before you go and say, good for you Donna! Or WOW, what willpower! Let me tell you my motivation. That night when I got home, there would be pizza and wings waiting (we had special company!). And I had been planning on having some! And I did, but limited it to ONE piece of pizza and 6 Buffalo wings. WAY better than I would normally do. I’m STILL happy with my choices. Traveling and dieting is tough!

I had taken a couple of days off for the trip and with my regular days off I didn’t have to be back to work ‘til Saturday. I still felt crappy the next few days thinking I would probably call the Bariatric center to see if this was normal or if I should add something to my diet. On Tuesday I got a letter in the mail regarding the blood work that had been drawn a week ago and it informed me that I had iron deficient anemia and that I need to take iron supplements and vitamin C to bring my levels up to where they should be. I am to take those with my meals twice a day. I continually forget them. I take medication in the morning and in the evening. I can barely remember to THOSE regularly. I finally gave in to using one of those BIG geriatric looking pill containers for the week with morning pill and night time pill slots. Oy ve!

Oh, and I figured out the reason I wasn't feeling well was because I had some type of stomach bug. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that? I just assumed it was the diet! Turns out poor Jessica ended up with it and so did my trip buddy! I was sorry for them, but glad that's what it was.

I've had a few times where I was sick of a salad for my meal, but Jessica has been great about making me something delicious for dinner, using the foods and fats that my diet allows. Some of the leanest type of meat on the list is shellfish. And I loves me my shellfish! I've become a lover of lobster, but who can afford to eat that? Even to diet! But it's pretty cool that it's very low in fat! For my birthday Jessica steamed a lobster for us to share. It was succulent and finger licking good all in one! Even though there was a tiny bit of melted butter on the table, I mainly ate the lobster meat without it. Very tasty! Dinner would be a challenge for me if I had to make it every night. Jess makes it most nights. She's a bit more creative than I am. And working 12 hour shifts doesn't leave me much energy to plan a delicious and nutritious dinner that is different every night! If it were up to me, I would make a salad and broil chicken. Now how boring would THAT be!?