Days 40-44: Ahhhh

We've been in the south of France since last weekend and the non-stop sunshine is doing us a world of good. (Although I'm not much of a hot-weather person and at times the heat is a bit too much for me, if there is no breeze. But I am a lot less needy of air conditioning than I used to be, so there's that.)

One of my challenges on this vacation is that my step-son and my sister-in-law both need to gain weight. So my husband, who is doing the cooking at the moment, is cooking to fatten them up: lots of meat and potatoes cooked with oil. Not precisely the best formula for weight LOSS (although it all tastes wonderful). We do try and off-set those heavier meals with lighter fare when we can. For instance, at lunch today my husband made one of his trademark amazing salads, and although he makes his own vinaigrette and there were avocados in the salad, it was still something I felt much better about eating. (Plus, in the heat, who wants to eat a big heavy lunch anyway, right?)

Sometimes, when we're eating out, I get lucky with the restaurant menu, too. The other day I had an amazing salad that had tiny shrimps and chunks of mango and grapefruit in it, and yesterday I had this:

Jumbo shrimp (gambas) cooked in pastis (!) over sauteed zucchini and sugar snap peas, a little steamed rice with little chunks of cucumber, and a mini-quiche. Delicious, and I didn't even eat much of the quiche (it was good but I don't really like eggs).

On days when we're at the beach, I make sure to get in some swimming and water "toning" exercises. It's been very hot so we haven't been getting in quite as much walking as we normally would, so I try and take advantage of the water when I can.

I'm drinking a lot of extra water to stay hydrated... but I do admit to having a little wine or pastis each evening. 

When I weighed in yesterday, although it wasn't my normal scale, I had lost 0.3 lbs. That's not much but it's not a gain, and with the heat I know I've been retaining a bit of water so this was a good result.

I had one more "victory" today. Although I am on vacation, I have been extremely stressed by a personal situation which I can't elaborate upon at the moment (and where it will be a few days yet before I know what's going on whether good or bad), and today while I was in the supermarket I went (on purpose) into the candy aisle, intending to buy some chocolate so that I could stress-eat later. But when I got there and looked at all the candy... I suddenly didn't want any of it! (Wow, that might be a first!) I don't know why, but it just didn't look appetizing to me in that moment. So... I walked away and bought NO junk food for myself whatsoever. If the situation in question will end up being bad news, it could be VERY bad; but it also could be nothing, or at least not be as bad as I fear. In the meantime, until I know more, I don't feel like eating to cope with the stress. That, right there, is HUGE for me.

Still, we're in a lovely part of the world and enjoying ourselves, and life is for enjoying in the moment. And that's what we're doing.