travelling to Germany for 3 weeks, worried about diet/exercise

Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring countries
for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has been very slow
and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to exercise much
beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal plan is going to
be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of losing ground with
my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much damage can really be
done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be relatively conservative,
even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I probably maintain my current
level?

"determined" wrote in message
. ..
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring
countries for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has
been very slow and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to
exercise much beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal
plan is going to be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of
losing ground with my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much
damage can really be done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be
relatively conservative, even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I
probably maintain my current level?

My experience has always been that I lose while on vacation because of the
walking as long as I'm dilligent with my eating. Any strength I lose from
time out of the gym come back very quickly.
--
the volleyballchick

determined wrote:
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring countries
for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has been very slow
and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to exercise much
beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal plan is going to
be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of losing ground with
my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much damage can really be
done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be relatively conservative,
even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I probably maintain my current
level?



You make it sound like you are going to be kept under house arrest and
force-fed!

"Chris Smith" wrote in message
...
determined wrote:
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring
countries for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has
been very slow and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to
exercise much beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal
plan is going to be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of
losing ground with my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much
damage can really be done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be
relatively conservative, even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I
probably maintain my current level?

You make it sound like you are going to be kept under house arrest and
force-fed!

Really? Why? The fact is, for most of this trip we are staying in a very
small community with limited grocery access. We are staying with my
husband's parents, who eat very traditional german food. Heavy in fat and
carbs. Last time we went there was a meter of snow on the ground and below
zero farenheit the entire time. We were even snowed in for part of the
trip.

Have you ever been to germany? If so, do you have any HELPFUL advice?

I don't know anything about German food, my MIL is southern, not exactly
diet food there either.. My "trick" as always been to plan ahead, everytime
we went out of the house I would come back with as many veggies as I could
find.. and I would fill up on veggies (and fruits) and eat small portions of
her food. She did mind at some point, but...

Walking in the snow is very good cardio....



Will~ who remember long nights of trying to catch her dog (a husky) in the
snow... ARG

"determined" wrote in message
. ..

"Chris Smith" wrote in message
...
determined wrote:
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring
countries for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has
been very slow and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able
to exercise much beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my
normal plan is going to be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm
afraid of losing ground with my weight and fitness level. But in 3
weeks, how much damage can really be done? If I just eat when hungry,
and try to be relatively conservative, even if it's not what I'd
normally eat, can I probably maintain my current level?

You make it sound like you are going to be kept under house arrest and
force-fed!

Really? Why? The fact is, for most of this trip we are staying in a very
small community with limited grocery access. We are staying with my
husband's parents, who eat very traditional german food. Heavy in fat and
carbs. Last time we went there was a meter of snow on the ground and
below zero farenheit the entire time. We were even snowed in for part of
the trip.

Have you ever been to germany? If so, do you have any HELPFUL advice?

"determined" wrote in message
. ..
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring
countries for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has
been very slow and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to
exercise much beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal
plan is going to be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of
losing ground with my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much
damage can really be done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be
relatively conservative, even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I
probably maintain my current level?

I've been thinking about your question all day. With the holidays upon us,
many people will be facing similar, though probably not quite the same,
issues. I know my family and I will be spending time with my folks, where,
for some, eating is almost a sport. So this is what I think I would do.

1) Do try to get as much exercise as you can. It may not be as much as you
are used to, but even short walks are better than nothing.

2) I know that for some people, if you do not eat what they provide, they
can be offended. If this is the case, look at what is being served, and
choose the item(s) that are best for you. Take servings of everything, but
eat the healthier items first, and just eat a bit of the other items, and
tell them you are full from the delicious ______ that you just ate. That
way you keep damages to a minimum, but don't hurt any feelings. If dessert
is offered later, you can say you are still full from the meal.

3) It may be impossible to stick to your program, but you are not going to
gain oodles of weight over 3 weeks if you are moderate in your eating.
Remind yourself that it is only 2 weeks, and any weight you may put on will
come off very quickly once you get back home.

4) Give yourself permission to *enjoy yourself*--life is too short to ruin a
marvelous experience obsessing over a problem that may never happen.

I hope your trip is wonderful!

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:43:25 -0800, "determined"
wrote:

Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring countries
for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has been very slow
and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to exercise much
beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal plan is going to
be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of losing ground with
my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much damage can really be
done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be relatively conservative,
even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I probably maintain my current
level?

It may be just the kind of trips we tend to take, but I genrally find
I'm so active on holiday that I very seldom gain. The danger time for
me starts from the day I get home. For some reason, this is a point
at which I have so often weighed myself, found the holiday has done
little or no damage, and then been completely unable to get back on
track with my WOE and suffered the inevitable regain.

I find it more difficult to cope with a single restaurant meal at home
than a whole trip away, and I do almost everything I possibly can to
avoid eating out when I'm not away. Some people don't find this a
problem - we're all different and it's impossible to say whether you
can maintain while you're away. IMO a very important point is to
recognise that the food is probably going to be much more
calorie-dense than you've been giving yourself at home and reduce your
portion sizes dramatically.

I hope you have a great trip, and try not to focus too much on food

janice

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 21:50:18 +0000, Chris Smith
wrote:

determined wrote:
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring countries
for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has been very slow
and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to exercise much
beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal plan is going to
be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of losing ground with
my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much damage can really be
done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be relatively conservative,
even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I probably maintain my current
level?



You make it sound like you are going to be kept under house arrest and
force-fed!

Well, that may have been intended as a jovial comment, but it sums up
exactly how I sometimes feel when the menu for my meals is taken out
of my direct control, and it can be quite scary.

janice

"determined" wrote in message
. ..
Our family is soon to depart for Germany and parts of neighboring
countries for 3 weeks. My weight loss has been very hard won, and has
been very slow and difficult progress. I do not anticipate being able to
exercise much beyond doing alot of walking, and eating within my normal
plan is going to be impossible. I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid of
losing ground with my weight and fitness level. But in 3 weeks, how much
damage can really be done? If I just eat when hungry, and try to be
relatively conservative, even if it's not what I'd normally eat, can I
probably maintain my current level?
You won't be snowed in if you are going soon though so you should have
access to bigger grocery stores at least. I've always found Germany
difficult too - even Bonn and Berlin. Good luck!


--
Rachael

176/116/119

www.justgiving.com/rachaelslondonmarathon

"determined" writes:

Have you ever been to germany? If so, do you have any HELPFUL advice?

I have, but only a couple of times for a few days at a time, so my
experiences probably aren't very useful. I don't think I've ever seen
snow in Germany, but there's certainly more of it than I like here in
Finland... Shoveling snow is fairly heavy exercise. Maybe you can
pitch in if it's needed. Or ski or walk in snow shoes if any are
available.

I also don't think that much damage can be done in three weeks if you
can do at least some exercise and have some sort of portion control.
Maybe you could offer to cook something you like on some days as a
little cultural exchange?