Portion Control

A year ago, Jon and I set sail on a Caribbean cruise with our friend Scott and his grandfather, Gene. Surprisingly, I didn't gain weight on this trip like many cruisers do, even though we were offered food 24/7. But I'd made a conscious plan to enjoy meals without going overboard and stuck to it.

One thing that made it easier to do this was that the ship served smallish portions at the formal meals. At dinner, I'd always order an appetizer, main dish and dessert, but each dish was just enough for one person. I had some great food during the week including Cornish hen and chocolate lava cake, but I never binged. Since I ate healthy portions and got a lot of walking in, I managed to shed about three pounds.

I was reminded of that tonight, not only because this happened exactly a year ago, but because Jon and I celebrated a belated Valentine's Day at a high-end Indian restaurant called Junoon. The food was great, but like the ship, the portions were conservative. I'm used to going to Indian restaurants where I have to take home half the meal because they give you so much. But here, you got only a few pieces of everything. And know what? I felt satisfied when I was finished, but not stuffed.

In my many readings about food and diets, I've come across a lot of articles where it's been noted that there's a correlation between healthy eating and income. I don't think this is completely true because I know plenty of wealthy people who eat terribly and not-so-wealthy people who eat well. But I do find it interesting that many of the more expensive restaurants I've been to serve small portions whereas places like Denny's give you all these extras with your meals. I suppose family-type restauarants try to cater to those who are looking to get more for their money. I've also read about the "French diet," where it's been explained that the French are in decent shape because they eat well, but keep portions tiny. All of this is definitely food for thought (pun intended).

I've been trying to follow this method in my eating: eat well, eat small, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I feel as though this is something that I can stick with for the rest of my life.

It was really nice being able to go out and try some unique foods, but end the meal feeling energized, rather than sluggish. If I could lose weight on a cruise, I should definitely be able to do it in my routine life.

Home, Sweet Home

We're back home after enjoying three great days at the jazz festival. We heard a lot of wonderful music, spent a lot of time in the fresh air and at least I got a lot of exercise. I'm feeling pretty tired after walking up and down hills for the past few days, but I'm glad that I was able to do it. I still have a long way to go until I'm in any sort of shape to even do things like casually walk around the city for a length of time, but it was nice to be able to go away and do something fun without too much hassle.

I was hardly the only person there with a walker. In fact, there were dozens of people with wheelchairs and walkers, of all different ages. I guess I'm noticing them more now that I've been in that situation. There was also this one guy with crutches who was "crutching" up and down the hills with seemingly little effort. I don't how in the hell he was able to do that, but I give him a lot of credit!

My eating wasn't the best this weekend, but I stayed within my points and held it together. During the performances, we snacked on cheese, crackers, fruit and water, and then for dinner last night, I had a personal sized thin crust veggie pizza. It was so good! No disrespect to those of you from Chicago, but I'm not a big fan of deep dish pizza. I like my crust to be very thin and crispy and this pizza's crust was almost as thin as a cracker. Perfect! Jon and I then split a piece of cake, but I worked it off by walking up and down the hills for the evening performances.

One thing I noticed about even the small amount of weight I've lost is that I have less "insulation" against the cold. In the past, I could get away with wearing my lttle denim jacket in chilly weather and basically wouldn't switch to my winter coat until it got to be about 35 degrees F. But at night in the Berkshires, it dipped down to the mid-40s (F) and I was FREEZING! The first night of performances (we had a lawn pass so we were outside for all of them), I had my hands stuffed in my jacket pocket and was shivering the entire time. Last night, we brought a blanket, but it still didn't help much. I suppose that out of all the problems to have, this isn't a bad one, but seriously, how do you skinny people guard yourself against the weather? It seems that my days of being able to go out with just a jacket are over; now I'm going to have to layer up.

All in all, though, it was a great, albeit too short, vacation. I've missed traveling and really enjoyed getting away for a few days. Now that I'm walking a lot more, I'm looking forward to taking other mini-vactions and making the best of this fall.