Current weight: 287.2 lbs,
Total weight loss: 18.6 lbs.
The last couple days, I was out of town at a work conference. Because of that, I wasn’t able to check daily weights for the last three days. So the last weight I had was on Tuesday before I left, and it was 287.6 pounds.
Conferences and trips have always been challenging for me in terms of making the best food choices. Inevitably, they seem to derail my healthy eating efforts. Part of the reason is that the food available at these events generally isn’t the best – a lot of high glycemic carbs and sugary sweets available ALL OF THE TIME. Another reason may be that my regular routine is disrupted, and this stress and uncertainty may cause me to reach for more palatable comfort foods.
So I was happy to see that this morning, after spending a few days at the conference, I actually loss a total of 0.4 pounds!
The conference was successful and educational. But more important, I was happy that I was able to deal with the big conference challenges and continue on my wellness endeavor. Below I identified some of the main challenges I face at work conferences, and how I tried to deal with them.
The Challenges of a Work Conference
- Adapt you regimen — incorporate flexibility.
- Deal with temptation — remember your motivation.
- Stay focused — have a plan.
The Challenges of a Work Conference
1. Adapt your regimen — incorporate flexibility.
At a conference, one of the biggest challenges is not having complete control of your schedule and needing to change your regular regimen. The key is incorporating flexibility without sacrificing control.
As an example: Wednesday was going to be a fasting day for me, as part of my alternate-day fasting. But at the conference, breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served. Breakfast was a buffet, and lunch and dinner were more formal events with seating arrangements.
I couldn’t fast the whole day and also participate in the conference. It would have looked strange and I didn’t want to have to explain repeatedly why I wasn’t eating. I also didn’t want to ‘pretend’ to eat and waste food. (I hate wasting food!)
So, I incorporated some flexibility. Since breakfast was just a buffet I skipped it – easy to do and not that unusual for me. I then had a delicious lunch and dinner. This way, I was able still to do some form of intermittent fasting and stay within my nutritional approach.
Planned flexibility is helpful when you have to adapt your regimen.
2. Deal with temptation — remember your motivation.
This one is particularly challenging. Every conference I have ever been to seems to have food everywhere! And not the good type of food.
There were trays of cookies and bowls of candy present throughout the whole event. And people munching on them the entire time. Needless to say, I did have some moments of envy as I watched people enjoy all the tasty treats.
But then I remembered that even if I weren’t overweight, I still want to focus on nourishing my body in the best way possible. And constant eating of sugary baked goods and processed candy definitely won’t accomplish this.
In order to avoid temptation, I regularly checked in with my main motivation: to get and stay healthy. I found the graph of my weight loss and the way I felt at the beginning of my wellness endeavor to be particularly helpful.
Find what motivates you, and check in with it regularly to help avoid temptation.
2. Stay focused — have a plan.
Having a plan will help with staying focused on your goals and progress.
During my conference, I knew that there would be a cocktail hour with plenty of appetizers and drinks before dinner was even served. My plan was to enjoy a drink (or two!) and some of the appetizers — but only the ones that fit within a ketogenic diet. And since I was going to be having appetizers, I knew that I probably wouldn’t want to eat as much at the dinner, which was not a problem.
It turns out that this plan worked well. I still had lots of options and was able to enjoy some social time with colleagues.
An intentional plan will help you stay focused on your ultimate goals.
Day #40:
Current weight: 287.2 lbs
Total weight loss: 18.6 lbs
– Previous Post –
– Next Post –