They’re Back


The same ten pounds I’ve battled for the last twelve months have returned. Since we had to go out for anything we ate, I expected to maybe lose weight on vacation. I hear you laughing, but it’s happened before. Honest.

After we got home, I stepped onto the scale–naked–so whatever number popped up would be all me. I admired my new tan line in the bathroom mirror as I waited for the digits to stop flashing. I weigh EXACTLY the same as I did this time last year–before Weight Watchers, the gym membership, and my new running habit.

Wah!

I blame the tan. It couldn’t possibly have been anything I ate. Isn’t seafood good for you?

Or maybe it was all the driving. Since we had to come off our healthy food bandwagon anyway, we decided to go all the way and stopped at Hardee’s. I got the value meal with the third-pound burger, a half pound of fries, and a gallon of Coke. I never order fries. Never. As for the drink, I did what I always do. Took two good sips before dumping the rest in the trash.

We ate dinner at Tubby’s Tank House outside of Savannah that night (Friday). I got scallops–fried because dammit, I’m on vacation. They were huge and came with Tubby’s homemade potato chip/french fry thingies that made me wish I’d passed on the fries for lunch. For health reasons, I added a tossed green salad with honey mustard dressing. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and walked over to Leopold’s for dessert. I got a hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl that had to have been made the same day. It was delicious!

We tackled the breakfast buffet at an upscale hotel and then drove back to Athens. Instead of waiting until Sunday or Monday as originally planned, in a rare spontaneous act, we left for Panama City Beach that afternoon. Numerous stops at fast food restaurants were involved. I vaguely recall a half dozen chocolate-covered Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a package of mini doughnuts with white powdered sugar on them in there somewhere.

Sunday night, at my partner’s request and because Athens doesn’t have one, we ate dinner at Fridays. I had a margarita and ordered the parmesan crusted flounder. After dinner, we hit White Mountain Creamery. I had the most incredible triple toffee sundae with toffee ice cream, bits of several kinds of chocolate candies, whipped cream, and both chocolate and caramel sauce piled high in a waffle bowl. I’m telling you it was just awesome.

Our destination for dinner Monday was closed. We stumbled onto a Mom and Pop place called the Captain’s Table. My favorite dish at the beach is a broiled seafood platter, replacing any oysters with extra scallops or shrimp. Though I always go with broiled or grilled, at the last second I changed to fried. The hush puppies were among the best I’ve had. I picked two healthy sides: steamed broccoli and a tossed salad with Thousand Island dressing thick enough to support silverware. I don’t remember where we had dessert but am sure we didn’t skip it.

Tuesday we ended up at an ocean-front Mexican seafood restaurant. I had a spicy bloody Mary. We munched our way through two baskets of chips, arguing about which of the two home-made salsas tasted better. I ordered the crab cakes and thought they were unusual, but really good. For dessert we stopped at a homemade ice-cream shop in a strip mall across from the beach. I had a hot fudge sundae with banana ice-cream, opting for the glass dish rather than the waffle bowl, with whipped cream, and peanuts. Delish!

We followed the same pattern the rest of the week: a light breakfast and lunch at the beach house and then out for a fabulous dinner and dessert. We stopped at Hardee’s again on the way home. I got a turkey burger and a vanilla milkshake. I won’t tell you everything my partner got for just five dollars, but it was obscene and probably illegal in some communities.

There wasn’t anything to eat at home, and we were too tired to go to the store. So we ordered two pizzas and a bag of parmesan bites from Dominos because it was cheaper than ordering just the one pizza we actually needed. The empty boxes were in the trash an hour later. Anyone expecting cold leftover pizza for breakfast was sorely disappointed.

Saturday I returned to the gym for the first time in over a week and started tracking my Weight Watcher points again. I blew it all at our writer’s group meeting with a big chocolate brownie and a turtle latte. A guy’s gotta eat.

Sunday I started running again, and despite the pain in my thighs and butt from working out the day before, ran for almost ninety minutes. We had ribeye steak and baked potato for dinner. I’m easing back into things.

This morning I returned to the gym for my upper body workout. Zumba hasn’t been an option with all classes canceled for the holiday weekend. Wish I got a day off in the battle against the bulge.

But it wasn’t just one day. My binge lasted more than a week. Oh well. It’s over now. No doubt I’ll lose those ten pounds again now things are back to normal here in…

My Glass House


6 responses to “They’re Back”

  1. Awww vacations do that!!! I didn’t gain on mine, but i didnt lose either. I’m still in limbo and came back a week ago! Hopefully the losing starts back up again. I’ve been on track diet andexercise wise since then, i think my body’s still in shock from all the fried food.