my oh my.

Oh dear god. I don't even know where to start.

The vacation part wasn't the problem, it's coming back from vacation and picking up the pieces that's stumping me.

Las Vegas:
I knew going in that exercising in Vegas wasn't going to happen. I was really unsure where we stood in terms of gym access at the hotel, not to mention that part of the trip was so short that I couldn't justify spending ANY of that time torturing myself in a gym. I was relying on good food choices and walking around the Strip to keep me from going overboard, and I think I did a good job?

Monday was a long day of airports and shuttles and standing in line. For breakfast I had one hashbrown from McD's, after the flight I had one 180 calorie Emerald nuts breakfast snack thing. We had dinner at a Brazilian barbeque, it was all-you-can eat and we ate tons, but since we had a looooong day of travel and virtually no meals we felt it was justified. We had water to drink at dinner, then I had one Bud Light Lime during the Mystère show.

Tuesday was brunch at the Carnegie Deli, I opted for matzo ball soup and a corned beef omelette sandwich on a toasted bagel (I only ate half). We walked around the casino floor, then to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, then around the Caesar's casino floor/Celine store/Coliseum. I had one 32 oz frozen Margarita, I didn't drink it all because boyfriend stole a chunk at the end. Before going to see Celine Dion, I ate the rest of my omelette bagel, and then we walked back to Caesar's. At the show I had a 16 oz Absolut vanilla and cranberry (probably cocktail... who knows). We decided to skip a formal dinner and instead shared two appetizers (nachos and three sliders), water to drink.

Wednesday we had lunch at Lotus of Siam, we shared the nam prik ong to start and I ordered the chicken pad thai. It was incredible food and I didn't even feel bad about wiping my plate clean.

Los Angeles.
We made the 4 hour drive from LV to LA on Wednesday night. After being in the car all day I was itching to get some exercise so I went to the gym immediately after checking in at the hotel. The elliptical machines are the same brand that I use at home but they were much newer models, but I felt like it would be a smooth transition. I didn't quite understand the touchscreen controls and somehow the machine was configured for dynamic level intervals, I couldn't figure out why I was unable to move faster than 55 RPMs and then I saw that I was working at a level 11. I'm not exactly sure how that happened because I definitely set it up to be at level 3. I got to 2.5 miles before I felt like I was going to die, I was proud of my progress and called it a success.

For dinner we went to a Korean barbeque, it was also all-you-can-eat, but unlike Samba in Las Vegas, we were afraid of this food. None of us knew what the side dishes were so the meal was heavy on the meat, and our group went through half a case of beer (although I did my best to stick to the flavored water). Afterwards we went to a Reggae club, I volunteered to be DD (mostly so the boys could get their drink on, but also to skip out on all the beer calories) but I did spend the night sipping on a 12 oz pear cider.

On Thursday we walked to and around Venice Beach, then we drove to the Santa Monica Pier and had lunch at Bubba Gump. Boyfriend and I shared the cajun shrimp appetizer, I had a Coronarita and the shrimper's haven. It was huuuuuuge and a really poor choice in terms of health food (everything was fried) but I was dying for deep fried shrimp and I just had to have it. We walked around the pier all afternoon before heading back to the hotel to enjoy the hot tub, and then I went to the gym. I think I did 2.5 miles again (? I can't remember) but this time I figured out the level controls. I set it at level 3 and it still kicked my ass. For dinner we had brats and potato salad at our friend's place, I drank 2 cans of Coors Light.

Friday was the wedding. Not much in terms of physical activity since we spent the day on a yacht. Dinner consisted of two salads, a dinner roll, a piece of pecan crusted soul fish, green beans, and a small slice of roast beef with horseradish sauce. I had 5 or 6 cranberry and vodka cocktails and one slice of banana nut cake. After the wedding I had another vodka cranberry and a glass of sangria, then we had a group dinner at a Mexican place down the street. I had a chile verde burrito, chips and salsa, boyfriend and I shared a pitcher of margaritas. Back at the hotel I drank a bottle of wine (rosé pinot grigio) while playing cards all night. Bad news.

I spent most of Saturday fighting off a nasty wine hangover. For lunch we had In-N-Out (#2 meal) and we drove back to Santa Monica and walked around Venice Beach for at least an hour. I did a little over 2 miles at the gym while watching Law and Order SVU (if my elliptical at home had a TV and constantly showed episodes of SVU, I'm convinced I wouldn't have a weight problem). For dinner we shared Korean wings and this pork sausage veggie dish thing, but there wasn't much to go around and we finished the meal feeling unsatisfied. Later that night we went out for pizza, boyfriend and I ate most of a 14" sausage and green pepper pizza.

Sunday was a travel day, we had a 4am wakeup for a 6:35am flight. We had to return the rental car and find our way around LAX. For breakfast I had an Emerald breakfast packet and water, then later that morning I had a green apple, orange juice, and a small chai tea latte. We landed in Des Moines around 1pm local time, after getting home my mom made a snack plate consisting of tortilla chips, beans, cheese, and salsa. For dinner we had brisket burritos with rice and beans and salsa and I seriously overindulged. It was just too good having a home cooked meal.


Returning to work on Monday was daunting because I was exhausted and I didn't want to admit that our vacation was over. It's hard to believe that just two days ago I was in California. Before I left last week, I cleaned out the fridge leaving us with virtually nothing (some old cheese, peeled garlic, and too much beer). I didn't even bother putting together meals for work, I settled on the idea of picking something up from the gas station. I went to the one closest to my work because I remembered seeing fruit on sale there once before. It was my plan to pick up some fruit, a granola bar, and a fresh deli sandwich and hope that it was balanced enough to get me through the day without crashing. Instead, there was no fruit, the breakfast bar section may as well have been labeled "candy" and the only thing close to fresh food were some hot dogs that had probably been sitting out all night. I frantically walked around trying to find items that had some nutritional value and the best I came up with was Honey Nut Cheerios (they didn't even have regular Cheerios!), 2% milk (no skim), and a bowl of Campbell's vegetable soup (containing almost half of the recommended daily sodium intake). Since my best attempt at healthy was a complete failure, I also picked up a Starbucks vanilla frappuccino.

Coming home from work, my body was hurting. Hurting from all the traveling, from having to unpack and settle back into life at home, hurting from lack of routine, hurting from sleeping in different places and eating at funny hours and walking on uneven sand (things you don't think about in Iowa). I convinced boyfriend to come home early after I finished at work, and then I napped for three hours. My parents were kind enough to send us back to Iowa City with the leftover brisket from Sunday night so I heated that up for tacos and made some rice and beans. It was absolutely incredible getting to cook again! And I made enough for leftovers so I'm thrilled to say that I'm not spending money on nutritionally devoid gas station food today.

The hardest part about leaving Las Vegas has been coming home and needing to unsubscribe from all the mailing lists I have been enjoying over the last seven months. Also, I'm having a really hard time convincing myself to take a look at the photos on my memory card, as if somehow moving them onto my desktop means that I have to let go of the fantasy.

I didn't want it to end.




Today, Jillian Michaels inspired me to try interval training. I've been living the last three months treating myself like I'm infirm, rehabbing myself from the debilitating condition known as obesity. Last night I was a little stir crazy and I took to stretching on the living room floor and I realized that I could place my bum on the back of my heels for the first time in recent memory... and even then I didn't feel like it was a deep enough stretch! I need a challenge, and today I know I'm capable.

Au revoir Quick Start, bonjour High Intensity Interval Training.