Anna’s Diary – Week 1

Anna’s post really made me grin (and cheer her on in places!) A great first week – read on for great tips on snacks when driving, coping with hotels, and much more. Brilliant advice for all of us who have to occasional travel for work – Anna does much more of this than me, though, and I’m jealous! I’ll give you her first week in her own words…

Anna … snacking healthily in the car

I travel a lot with my job and so you’d think by now I’m immune to the lure of the mini-bar and its overpriced contents. So did I to be honest, as I decided after putting my toe in the web page diarists’ murky pool that I no longer had any where to hide and couldn’t fool you lot so this WAS IT. Bring on a day of only eating fruit in the car – can you explain who decided that chocolate should come in BIG bags – I don’t even like it but feel so deprived when I don’t pay an entire week’s worth of calories when I’m paying for my diesel. I digress, I neatly avoided anything other than grapes as they don’t make a mess, and managed to slurp mango pieces without getting them on me, my car, or dropping some on to the floor mats to retrieve later covered in fluff and other unmentionables. It’s roughage after all, and waste not want not, don’t you know.

Anna … coping with meetings

Anyhow, after a meeting which saw me uttering words like ‘ I take mine black’ so as to avoid full fat milk and thinking I was having an out of body experience, I was truly ravenous. Make that starving, could have eaten a scabby donkey. Sorry donkeys; it’s just an expression.

Anna … enjoying a relaxed dinner in the hotel

So what did I do? My strategy for avoiding over eating in hotel restaurants alone in the corner trying to read Cosmo and not look sad and alone is not to do it. Instead I go to a supermarket and buy a salad, some pre-cooked prawns or chicken and a small pot of a nice dessert (all calorie counted) and a little bottle of wine. Go to my room, do some work then get in the bath pronto flushing anything left down the loo. Usually works.

Anna … experiencing the chocolate monster

A certain supermarket has wine on 50% offer. I do the maths and discover that buying a whole BIG bottle of wine is the same price as a little bottle. Clever girl me. The salad didn’t touch the sides. Neither did the prawns. So I drank the wine. And the chocolate monster struck. You’re right, I didn’t buy any but there was a crunchie and a twix in the mini bar. There wasn’t in the morning and I was a whopping 500 calories over for the day. I don’t really like the stuff, give me olives & goats cheese any day!

[Ed: I firmly believe that willpower dissolves in alcohol... 500 cals isn't bad, though, I've been known to scoff whole family-sized bars of chocolate whilst drunk!]

Anna … having a successful end to the week!

I spent the rest of the week undoing the damage I thought I’d inflicted, you’d have thought I was training for the marathon. Anyhow, the week has ended up with a 1 1/2 lb loss, a lesson well learned, and next time you check me in a hotel, please empty the mini bar for me first, thanks!

(Photo of grapes by joyrex)
(Photo of crunchie bar by yum9me)