Fit4Miracles

5 suitcases? – check!
2 boxes of food?-check!
Snacks? – check!
Diapers? – check!
Wipes? – check!
Paper towels? – check!
Books, mad libs, music, pencils? – check, check, check, check!

The list to get out the door for a family of 7 can be intense but for an 8-night road-trip to Colorado, it’s like its own extreme sport. And I don’t usually win the gold, but I do manage to remember most of the essentials (I have been known to forget a kid’s underwear or pajamas before-oops). For this trip I not only had to have everything physically ready, I had to be mentally ready. I needed to have a food plan, which I talked about in my previous post, and I needed to have a fitness plan. I really didn’t want this vacation to sabotage everything I had done the 4 months prior.

My plan was to rely mainly on the fitness centers in the hotels where we would stay and the hiking we would do in the Rocky Mountains. Our first night stay went okay.  Not perfect, but okay. We swam with the kids, and I tried to use the fitness facility. I had forgotten that the pictures on Expedia may not show the details like dirt or how ancient the exercise equipment is. Hmmm . . . well, a few minutes on the elliptical and then some circuit training.

Then on a brisk May day we arrived at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park.  As I was sitting in the car waiting for my husband to check-in,  I was wondering what the fitness center would be like and how soon I would get there.  Then my husband came back and informed me that the fitness center was closed for renovation. Excuse me?  Pardon me?  I must be hearing you wrong.  Ok, I admit, a little panic rushed through me (A little type A? Yep, you guessed it.). I knew we would be hiking, but many of the trails would be child-friendly and at a child’s pace. What would I do?  I would just have to do my best and rely on the things that I had been learning over the past few months.

On day 2 of our cabin stay, I had a couple of hours to myself while the kids were swimming and the baby (he’s 2, but he’s my baby) was napping. I decided to do some circuit training. I didn’t have weights or anything so I used a jar of Ragu and a can of baked beans for my bicep blasters. I was just hoping no one could see through the window! I used the back deck for my walking lunges and the stairs for box jumps. I did push-ups, reverse lunges, leg lifts, ab work, etc. all under the gaze of a big, stuffed deer head, affectionately called Bullwinkle by previous visitors.

I kind of surprised myself. I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but 5 months before, I never would have done any of those things. Work-out? On vacation? Outside? Where people can see me? No way! But this experience showed me evidence of five months of hard work and a real change in myself. The confidence, change, and commitment that I had paraded around in my head as a theme were becoming a reality. It felt good. There under the Rocky Mountains it felt good to take the time to reflect and to be thankful and to feel strong.

I did another work-out like that while we were there, and we hiked a lot. The way back home was not as great because we were in a hurry to get home, but I felt overall that I did fine. I had accomplished more than I would’ve 5 months ago, and that in itself was good. The vacation had not sabotaged my journey. I know I can travel differently now when it comes to food and exercise.

And I know that I’ll never look at another can of Bush’s Baked Beans the same again. : )

We recently made the long trek to Estes Park, Colorado, with our 5 kiddos. Just the thought of packing us all up and not forgetting anything was a little daunting, but even scarier was the thought of all the fast food and snacks that might hinder my progress and end up in my kids’ bellies. I knew that I would not be able to be perfect (it is a vacation after all), but I wanted to do the best that I could to not gain weight and to feed my family well.

So I entered the Don’t-Go-Crazy-on-Vacation challenge armed with a notebook, a pen, and my computer. I started planning about 3 weeks ahead of our scheduled departure. I knew that we would have a kitchen in our cabin in Colorado, so I planned out our meals for each night and gradually filled 2 copy paper boxes with dried goods. I also stocked what I could for breakfast, lunch, and snacks (100 calorie packs for me-thank you). Then I made a list of all the fresh or refrigerated items that we would need and planned a stop in Colorado to purchase that before we headed to our cabin.

I felt like I had our cabin meals under control, but what about the fast food? For our first meal on the road, we packed a picnic lunch, which we ended up eating in a downpour in Hannibal, Missouri, but that was a fast food meal diverted.

Next, I knew that we would stop in Grand Island, Nebraska, to celebrate our 2nd son’s 10th birthday, and he picked his favorite –Fazoli’s. So before we left, I visited their website and checked calorie counts. I didn’t decide what I wanted right then and there, but I did have a general idea. I ended up getting a nice salad with low cal dressing and passed on the breadsticks (except for a bite!). The meals on the return-side of our trip were not planned and more random, so I didn’t do as well (sometimes you just want a burger), but overall, I kept it under control and didn’t have too much guilt.

So I think what worked best for me and my family was to control the situation. We planned ahead, we made as many of our own meals as we could, we investigated fast food menus, and we allowed for fun treats along the way. We not only ate fairly balanced meals, but we also saved some money along the way. Saved some calories, saved some cash, and had mostly happy campers!