Road trips

Do you eat in the car?

One of my friends who also is working hard to lose weight recently returned home from a three-week road trip. She says she would have done better had she not snacked so much while she was driving. Even choosing healthy snacks, she says she ate too much, and got too little exercise.

I have the same issue while driving. It's like all the normal, healthy eating rules get thrown out the window. Not so much for a trip to the mall [which, as you'll recall is an hour trip, one-way], but it's happened then, too.

Is it as simple as a vacation mentality? But that wouldn't explain falling off the wagon on the way to the mall. I don't recall trips from my childhood being food fests. In fact, I don't recall eating in the car at all when I was young. Er. I'll have to ask my dad if we had rules about it, or if it just wasn't the custom back in the old days. hehehe

I usually pack a cooler with crudités, grapes and bottled water – easy-to-eat and healthful. But I also have stopped and bought a bag of pretzels or popcorn, or, if I'm feeling particularly weak, something sweet. It almost feels like I'm getting away with something, since I rarely have sweets in the house and since I rarely eat anything with sugar in it.

Of course, I'm not getting away with anything – I'm setting myself back a step or two.

The truth is, on a trip of four hours or less I don't need to snack at all if I've eaten before I left the house. And on a longer trip, I should stop for a decent meal and a short rest anyway.

So. New rule! No food in the car. [Coffee and water aren't food, they're necessities!] I have two road trips coming up in which to test this new rule. And I think I'm going to have to reward myself if I actually stick with it. I'll be taking the first trip with the Spousal Equivalent, and we all know how much easier it is to stick with a rule when someone's watching.

The second trip, a solo effort, takes me past a lovely little yarn shop in Knoxville. Hmmmm.

Thanks to PastaQueen for her encouraging words about how weight loss can get slower than 1.25 pounds per week. Something to look forward to!

And thanks to PQ and Mariah for the comments on the tee shirt. My gauge swatch shrank a lot, which would mean major pattern redrafting. I'd rather find a different yarn. Mariah has seen my yarn stash. Think I'll have any trouble finding something else?