Traveling and Weight-Loss Management: Welcome to my Angst: The 1500-mile Icelandic Road Trip

Today’s post involves a problem that I am very fortunate to have. I am lucky that I have the opportunities to travel. But the reality is that sometimes, traveling and weight-loss management are two diabolically opposed forces. For me, the basics are as follows:

• I lost about 70 pounds twelve years ago and then another 25-30 four years ago. I maintained this (?too low) weight for about a year and then gained about 5-10 back and have maintained this for a few years . For the mathematically challenged, that’s about 90 pounds of weight lost.

• I love to travel and visit new places in the world.

• I have terrible anxiety about gaining 90 pounds. Or even 10. Or 5.

Today's post will be photo-illustrated by our recent trip to Iceland ...

The face of terror...


...I wasn't terrified of driving in torrential rain

...nor the driving in torrential rain on the gravel road that went on for about 70 km...
(I credit my driving skills to years of car-racing video games)

...I was scared of the cumulative effects of a few of these...


...and these...

...and what this "six-pack" of chocolates would do to my dreams of ever having a "six pack" again. Sigh.

Of course I don’t ever believe that I will gain huge amounts of weight in a week or two, but there is a constant nagging fear that this particular trip will be “the beginning of the end” of my successful weight loss management.

I come from a long line of people who love to eat, drink and be merry. It’s part of my genetic makeup. Wanderlust also permeates my DNA and I married someone who eats, lives and breathes travel. Our mutual love of travel is one of the reasons we got together, and one of our favorite things to do as a couple. Yes, I'm a grown woman and still carry a huge backpack when we travel.

I do feel sorry for my husband, Derek because he is the only person who has to hear my neurotic ramblings about how much I’m destroying my diet on each and every day of a trip. Calmly he tries to remind me that “this happens every trip” and “you’ll get back on track when we get home.” After all of our travels together over the many years, it would seem logical that I would recognize the truth in his words. But when it comes to this topic, logic has nothing to do with it.

When I travel, I try to follow some basic guidelines just to keep things in check AND to be able to enjoy all of the culinary pleasures that our destinations have to offer us. Whether it’s a local specialty dish or the country’s revered carb, I want to partake in it. In fact, one of our favorite past-times when visiting foreign lands is slowly perusing the supermarket aisles. And don’t get me started on the chocolate or the ice cream.

Here I am casing the joint. I love me a good foreign Supermarket.

Soft serve. It doesn't get much better.

Here are the tricks that I have used in order to keep things in check while on vacation:

• Pack healthy & filling meals and snacks for the plane because you have no idea what will be served, if anything at all. These days airlines are charging for everything. You’ll be lucky if they toss you some peanuts with your free bevvie. Beyond that, it’s all you, baby. Sometimes, they have healthy options that you can buy. Sometimes they run out of those healthy options. Just before they get to your row. I usually clean the perishables out the fridge and bring most of them with me. This has saved me on more occasions than I can recall.
  

• Exercise most days, as my energy will allow: If I can find a gym, this is often the best option. If not, I will create a plyometric/sprinting/circuit routine on a country road, city park or hiking trail. I bring resistance bands and my mini ipod shuffle. If I’m really short on time but want to stand in a puddle of my own sweat and be unable to sit down for a few days, I do my Hotel Room Lunge and Squat Workout. Exercise allows me to start the day off right. Plus I love a good dose of endorphins, don’t you?

Only once did I locate a "Gim" in Iceland- that was how our hotelier pronounced it. We liked the sound of it and it has stuck. I now go tell Derek that I am off to the Gim.

If there is no Gim in sight, you need to make do. Plyometrics, anyone?

The Boy gets some serious plyo-air.

Butt-kickers (I don't recommend doing these in flip flops by the way...I was just to lazy to put on my sneaks.)

Sumo Squats- perfect timing- a tour bus passed by at that moment.
P.S. Thank goodness for stretchy jeans.


Leg Lifts, or just goofing off?

• If possible, eat only one meal per day in a restaurant. The other two meals could be simple picnics or self-catered, often with food bought at a supermarket. The ‘meal out’ sometimes includes alcohol, and almost always involves a dessert or two. And bread. And the local specialty of the house or region. I try to eat things that I can’t readily find at home.

Local Icelandic Beer was consumed.

Smoked salmon on nutella reduction: Don't knock it 'til you try it.



Local Specialty: Lobster Soup

More salmon. On top of amazing things, with amazing sauces. Sorry, I'm a bit rusty on my food blogging skills.

I picked a good week to avoid dabbling in vegetarianism.

.

Due to the sometimes-foul weather, many of our picnics were inside our VW Polo with spectacular views of glaciers, harbors or waterfalls. Or mini-mart parking lots.

Check the klassy decor at this road-side cafe: Ice cream cones holding fake flowers, stuffed into coffee pots 'vases'...ironically, this cafe had the best lamb soup we found in 9 days in Iceland.

• If possible, bring my mini-blender to allow me to make my shakes for breakfast. (THIS WAS NOT POSSIBLE IN ICELAND). For those die-hard readers who have been on this journey with me for a while (THANK YOU!), you will be correct in noticing that I recently did a 180 on the blender issue…Back in October I was very proud of myself for leaving my blender behind. After much deliberation, I decided to ‘cry uncle’ and let the blender back in the suitcase. The reason? The ONLY breakfast ‘food’ that fills me up and keeps my hunger in check throughout the day is a big fluffy smoothie. It even seems to carry my satiety after lunch. I can’t explain it. It’s just a fact with my crazy body.

Even healthy, balanced breakfasts from Icelandic Breakfast Buffets do not work for me...I am rendered starving all day long.

When battling unstoppable hunger, even the scenery reminds me of food: "OMG! Look at those huge marshmallows!"

• Pack several pounds of healthy snacks of which I usually consume about half. I pack energy bars, nut butter envelopes, single serving packs of nuts, oats, beef jerky, Primal Strips Seitan Jerky (Thai Peanut!) and 100-calories packages of candies that I love... just in case of a chocolate craving. I also found some single serving tetrapacks of hummus at JFK that I will need to hunt down for my next trip. (These are genius single servings that are SHELF STABLE!) Once at my destination I hit the grocery store and buy fruit and veggies, as well as yogurt if a fridge or cooler is available. Icelandic Skyrr was good, but in my opinion, Greek Yogurt is King.
  

Single-serving shelf-stable hummus!
(poor quality photo due to turbulence at 30,000 feet and an iphone camera)

So despite these safeguards, I still suffer diet-anxiety on trips. While I’m adoring the dark rye seedy bread that was baked in the steam of the local hot spring or the amazing lamb soup, I am also beating myself up for knowingly and willingly “going over” my calorie limit for the day.

Speaking of lamb soup AND dark rye bread...

My question to myself is this: why oh why can't I do what “normal” people do? Normal people go on vacation. They eat and drink more than usual, know that they will gain some weight and shrug their shoulders saying “oh well, I’ll just take the weight off when I get home.” I believe that it is my fear is that one day, I won’t be able to take off the weight that I inevitably gain on vacation, and it will be the beginning of the end. What if? What if?

Gratuitous adorable foal photo.

Invariably, we have a marvelous time and I DO gain a few pounds. The last time I had a big trip, I did not get right back on track as I mentioned in this post. And frankly, it did mess me up for months.

After we left Iceland, we met my brother and SIL in London. I also got the rare treat to meet up with this fabulous blogger from Salad And Sequins! She did a great recap of our visit here.

Is Tamzin adorable?

She came bearing many gifts including the darling badge I'm wearing...love love love it! Also love the presence of the London Cab in the background.

Thoughtful smoothie-friendly care-package from Tam.

Then Derek, my brother, Steven, SIL Arizbe & I boarded a cruise that was such a caloric disaster that it made any concerns I had in Iceland look utterly laughable. As I don't like to whine on my blog (that's what Derek's ears are for), I will spare you the gory details. Perhaps I'll do a photo recap at some point, as we had an absolute blast, and paid much homage to my Dad, who was very much with us in spirit.

Last week when I returned home, I was actually thrilled to get right back into the food-in-moderation camp and so far, I do feel 100% better for it.


I also did go to Ross and stocked up on new, cute sun-dresses and mu’u mu’us (aka Maxi-dresses) so that until I’m back to feeling really comfortable in my own skin, at least I can feel comfortable in my own clothes.

Oh look! Blue skies ahead!

**Special Note to Bloggers using Windows Live Writer...SOS! Help a girl out! I can no longer load my newest photos from Picasa to Windows Live Writer, but I'd love to do a Wordless Wednesday Post on Iceland. Frankly I don't think I have enough time or energy to attempt it in Blogger. Sigh. Thoughts?**

Q: Do you have any tips for traveling? Do you experience travel angst? How to you deal with the ever-present conflict of wanting to enjoy your vacay and not-gaining-weight? Will anyone else cry big wet tears with me when Maxi-Dresses go out of style? Do you have trouble with WLW and Picasa photos?

Guest Post! "Catch me if you Can" by Jenn of Girl Heroes

This weekend I decided to go to the local high school track to get in a sprint workout in hopes of carving my log-like thighs into something more shapely like tubas. I was disappointed to find the local track surrounded my 8 foot fences and locked. So I drove to the local city college and found the same thing. Luckily, I ran into one of the faculty and I asked what's the deal with all the locks and fences. She explained "vandals". Grrrrrrrrr. I will refrain from ranting. Anyway, more determined than ever to do my sprint workout I drove back to the high school and like MacGyver in my mini-van.

I came across a gate that I thought I could squeeze myself through. I was right. "Ha ha!", I grunted victoriously. So I did my workout (see below), stretched, and exhausted I got up to leave. I walked back to the gate where I had easily slipped through and look at the opening in the gate. Hmmm...it looked smaller. I had fit through that? I kneeled down and tried to squeeze through. No luck. Great. I starting getting mad thinking someone tightened the chain while I was working out. Because it's couldn't have been my fault. I quickly became sure someone was thinking "I'll teach that lady a lesson not to use the track when it's locked." Humph. I think not. I held my breath and got one leg, my hips, and chest through but my head started to get stuck. My defiance quickly turned to "oh crap". I backed out again. This was harder than pushing out a baby. I thought about climbing the fence but my legs were so exhausted I didn't think I'd make it. So I decided one last time to try and squeeze myself through the gate. I got down really low (near the ground) and tested squeezing my head through, praying to God it wouldn't get stuck. Sure enough if my head was two inches from the ground I could shimmy it through. So I backed out and prepared for my escape. Slowly, I squeezed one thigh through and then inhaled and shimmied my hips through. My shoulders and other thigh followed. Kneeling with my face practically scraping the ground I got my head through. Then I looked back and saw my cell phone was just out of arms reach on the other side of the fence. Not really. Ha! But, lemme tell ya, that would have just been simply hysterical. I stood up and looked around for someone hidden in the bushes laughing their fool head off at me. For a moment, I even thought about twirling around with my middle fingers up in the air giving a general you-know just in case someone really did tighten the chain and was watching. But then I decided that's not the kind of person I want to be so I let my Houdini move speak for itself.

Anyway here is the workout I did and it was awesome. (Yes I still say "awesome".) My hamstrings are still sore.

Sprint Workout:
1 lap (400 m) slow jog
4 laps sprinting the straight ways and walking the curves. (In other words 100 m sprint alternating with 100 m walks or thereabouts for a mile.)
1 lap (400 m) slow jog
For fun I threw in 10 sets of bleachers.
Stretch
If you don't have access to a track just go to a park and estimate. I think this is what I'll do next time.
Hugs and High Fives,

Jenn

Guest Post! Ginger Spritzer recipe from Allie of Pimp my Protein Shake

Hey there, this is Allie from Pimp My Protein Shake. I am, once again, out to try to steal Deb’s blog. While I might be under house arrest for bad puns and various blogging misdemeanors, I’m still playing with my blender. This time, a chunk of ginger transformed itself into guilt-free gingerale. Ginger is fabulous - soothing, spicy, and invigorating all at the same time. And I don't mean just that sexy redhead from Gilligan's Island...

That’s one hot ginger.

How about sitting out on the patio on a hot summer night with a glass of a ginger spritzer completely free of sodium benzoate and caramel color that also won't spike your blood sugar? I'll drink to that.

Easy All Natural Ginger Spritzer

• About 1/2 inch of fresh, peeled ginger root
• Water
• 12-15 drops of NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia (or other sweetener such as stevia, splenda or erythritol to taste)
• Soda water or sparkling water
• A splash of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (or lemon/lime zest)

Put ginger in blender with a small amount of water (about 1/4 cup) and pulverize into a slurry.

This ginger is even spicer!

If you have a large enough blender, go ahead and add your sweetener and soda water (keeping in mind that it might bubble over - I have a Vita-mix that's plenty big enough) and blend just enough to mix. Otherwise, stir ginger slurry in a tall glass with ice.

Go ahead and steal this recipe. You probably won’t get caught by the Diet Police.

Cheers,

Allie

Guest Post! Susan's famous Protein Bars from The Great Balancing Act

Hello Smoothie fans!! My name is Susan and I come from a little piece of the internet called The Great Balancing Act. It’s where I blog daily about my attempts on leading a balanced life, from becoming a certified personal trainer, to eating heaps of homemade baked goods ;)

Back in September ‘09, I joined a gym at a cost of $11 a week. In order to make up for this additional cost, I decided to stop buying protein bars at the store and instead make them more cheaply at home.

What followed were months of trial and error experiments to create a bar that both tasted great and had the nutritionals I was after.

Shown here are my homemade no-bake oatmeal protein bars. I have done many flavour variations with this, but the base recipe is as follows:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 4 scoops (120g) whey protein powder
• 4-6 tbsp nut butter
• cinnamon, cocoa powder, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup liquid (such as water, milk, applesauce, baby food, jam, mashed banana, pudding cup)

All you need to do is mix together your oats, protein powder and nut butter, then slowly add your liquid. Stirstirstir until the protein powder is barely dissolved. Always err on the side of caution, adding slightly less liquid than you want to. A crumbly protein bar is better than a gooey one.

Cover a square baking pan with saran wrap, then press the mix into the pan. Let settle in the fridge, then cut into 8 bars.

The above bar is one of my favourite flavour combos – Apple Cinnamon. Made with peanut butter, applesauce, cinnamon and raisins. The stats are 210 calories, 9g fat, 4g fibre, 23g carbs, 16g protein.

I’ve also made:

• Dark chocolate s’mores
• Chocolate banana peanut butter
• Marshmallow peanut butter
• Cherry dark chocolate
• PB&J
• Chocolate macaroon

These bars need to be kept either refrigerated or frozen. They’re delicious, but I wanted to create something that would also be stable at room temperature.

Enter: the baked protein bar!

These are pretty close to the no-bake version. The biggest difference is that I use soy protein powder. It bakes a million times better than whey powder. Whey has a tendency to get hard and squeaky when heated, soy will just make it a little more dense and crumbly.

Maple Cinnamon Oat Bran Protein Bars:

• 2 cups oat bran (I like Quaker)
• 1 cup unflavoured soy protein powder (or vanilla flavoured)
• 1.5 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 4 packets stevia
• 1/2 tbsp maple extract
• 1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup (you can also leave out the extract and use 1/4 cup pure maple syrup instead)
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 4 tbsp almond butter (I like crunchy!!)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Mix it all up until the powder is just dissolved, but mix is still crumbly . Flatten into a 9×9 pan and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

These have a great texture, and best of all, are filling too! The stats are: 212 calories, 6g fat, 26g carbs, 7g fibre, 4g sugar, 16g protein.

Again, makes 8 decent-sized bars. If only I had Deb’s iPhone for a comparison shot ;)

Well those are my adventures in protein bar making. I know Deb would probably want to lighten them up a little with some puffed cereal of some sort ;) Thank you to Deb for letting me stop by and share my kitchen experiments. Hope you’re having a blast on that trip Smoothie Girl!!

Guest Post! Protein Ice Cream from Heather of Heather Eats Almond Butter!

Heather from Heather Eats Almond Butter here, or HEAB for short. Both Deb and I are fans of creating lower calorie versions of decadent desserts. Well, back in the day, I made countless trips to Dairy Queen for some of my favorite desserts, which were definitely NOT low calorie, and to this day, I still crave a good DQ fix. So, I hope all of you enjoy the following lower calorie version of a DQ classic as much as I did.

Dairy Queen's Peanut Buster Parfait

Ingredients: Dairy Queen soft serve, peanuts, hot fudge sauce.

Peanut Buster Parfait Meets Banana Split, HEABified

Ingredients: Chocolate protein ice cream (made with unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze and 1 scoop chocolate Sun Warrior rice protein powder), 1/2 ounce roasted salted peanuts, 1 large banana, and chocolate syrup (1/2 TBSP maple syrup mixed with 1 heaping tsp cocoa powder).

You're welcome. :)