It's been ten days..

... and they've been full of ups and downs!!

I weighed in last Wednesday, and it was a wonderful number. This Wednesday, not so good... I spent a weekend by the beach (Torquay, in Victoria) with family. My mum had organised the weekend for all the women in her family. My Gran has two sisters, and they're all in their 80s. Because of their age, and their various ailments, they are lucky to see each other once every two years. Mum decided to organise a weekend getaway for the three sisters, all their daughters and all their granddaughters, close to where Aunty Dot (the oldest and most frail) lives, so that she could come down for an afternoon.

Needless to say, with an average of 12 women in a room at a time, all cooped up inside as it was over 35 degrees the entire time and we needed the air-con... it was soo noisy!! There were endless platters of cold meats, cheese, bread, lollies, chocolates, homemade slices, biscuits, cut up veggies, dips, crackers.... and alcohol. Loads of alcohol!

I managed to graze quite successfully - every time I wanted something I waited a few minutes before I ate it. I did catch myself mindlessly reaching for food quite often, but I did stop myself more than I usually would have. Because of the heat, I drank like a fish - both soft drink AND water (we didn't have that much bottled water and the tap water tasted funny so I didn't want to risk it), but stayed away from most alcohol. I didn't count calories much, which was weird, and I know I used more than half of my usual daily allowance in drinks alone.

I had the most amazing time! There were people there I'd never met, people I met when I was very young, and some people that I see all the time. There was always someone laughing, people having conversations with other people that they haven't spoken to in ages, and generally everyone enjoyed themselves. I was sad that I had to leave early (Saturday night) as I had a teacher's meeting for calisthenics early Sunday morning..

I was really looking forward to the meeting - Jason Coleman (Judge from So You Think You Can Dance) was a guest speaker and all the coaches were really excited about it. It turned out to be a flop - he spent an hour promoting his new business venture, instead of talking about choreography like he was supposed to. I would have rather stayed at the beach house, talking, laughing and reminiscing with my family.

I weighed in this morning with the full effects of my weekend of yummy cheese and no exercise weighing heavily in my tummy, and my conscience. I was up just over a kilo, but I know that with a week of cleaner eating, solid exercise, and lots of water, I can undo that damage and continue on my journey to a healthier, happier life.

On a brighter note, the BF came to work and had lunch with me today. I really felt the love, and was so excited for the hour before he came, and was on cloud nine for the rest of the afternoon!!