VACATION MODE.

After a week long stay at our favorite place, 

we are happy to be home and in our routine once again.

  
My workouts were morning runs near the lake as my boys rode their bikes.  Beautiful, relaxing and calm. Such a great way to unwind...which we all need from time to time.  The main thing is to keep moving and if your workouts are shorter while on vacation, great...really watch your food intake on those days...
remember it's all about BALANCE.  

Vacation is also scary for me.  

Scary?  Yes.

In my past, vacation always meant throwing the "diet" out the door.  

The famous saying, "Oh I'm on vacation, I MUST enjoy myself and I'll worry about it when I return home."  

This worked great until one vacation "diet exception" rolled into the next...and then I found myself not watching what I ate whether on vacation mode or not, add this with no exercise and here was the old Marissa, back into her old habits once again.  

Funny how that happens so quickly, isn't it?  

How fast we can forget how healthy feels?  

With my new lifestyle, I must remain structured.  It is critical to find BALANCE with everyday life.  Whether that means the vacation-mode self or the day to day living.  

**WE MUST FIND BALANCE AND CONTROL**

Sure we let loose and I'm not meal prepping like a mad woman when we camp but I focus on balance. If it was a great day for exercise, then that was a good night for s'mores.  If it wasn't an active day, then I really watched my food intake.  Balance is so important.  

So how does a person who centered her life around food NOT center her life around food?
Ha, funny that you ask...
Instead of sitting by the campsite eating all day-we MOVE!
we explore as a family.  This works at home too.  Keeping busy when you'd normally be snacking away is very important.  It works very well for me and it keeps my house clean and kids happy too :)  
On our trip we walked near the water, took bike rides, played football, frisbee, catch...
you name it, we did it!  
(My former self would've grabbed a bag of Cheetos and a Little Debbie and settled in for a long afternoon but not ME, I'm here to LIVE LIFE)

Do you see why we NEVER want to come home??!  Gorgeous place...so peaceful and relaxing!

FINDING CONTROL AND BALANCE takes work and effort but it's what I choose to do in order to live this new life I have created for myself and my family.  

No more old ways of allowing FOOD to control my good time or not-so-good time.

STAY PREPARED:  
*Shop SMART!  Pack foods that you can take on the go, prepare all meals with veggies or always bring things to whip up a great tasting salad!  
*As soon as we arrived I mixed up a large container of Chobani plain Greek yogurt with a Mrs.Dash dry ranch packet-salt free and kept it in the container.  We used it all week.  Dip for crackers and veggies, used it on our fajitas to add flavor...possibilities are endless!  My kiddos ate it up...Shhhhh!
*As we grocery shop for a camping trip, we make sure to buy some "indulge" foods in moderation. For instance, if one night is s'mores buy enough for that one night...not in bulk!  This leaves little room for overeating.  Sprouted bread stayed in our freezer on the camper for easy sandwich making.  
*Buy LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies for munching while out and about.  
*PACK SMART: If we headed out for the day, I made sure to pack almonds, pistachios, fruits, veggies and brown rice cakes.  If we find ourselves "hungry", we have a good go-to option instead of stopping by a convenient store and grabbing a bag of chips, which is something I did all too often.  

Pictured is a clementine orange, wheat crackers, my Greek ranch, one slice sprouted bread, 2 slices low sodium smoked turkey breast, power mix lettuce and mustard!  Mmmmm!  
I fold over the bread like a hot dog bun as you can see :)  

We grilled most nights with sirloin steaks, boneless skinless chicken breasts, bunless lean burgers, fajitas made with boneless skinless chicken breasts and my husband sauteed the chicken with broccoli, squash, zucchini, bell peppers and onions...it was delicious!  We served the meat on tortillas for the kids, but the adults had the meat mixture on a bed of lettuce served with my Greek ranch dollup on top!  YUM!  Oh yes we still eat good while camping...
As for sides it was mostly grilled veggies like fresh string beans, steamed broccoli, etc.  
Keep it simple and delicious!  


And now that we've returned home, I am meal prepping like a crazy woman for the hectic week ahead...
On the menu is my Italian Chicken-on the "recipes" link at the top of this page.  

Cheesy, Turkey Meatloaf-
I believe this one is listed as well??  Don't EVER mash up your meatloaf...keep it loose to allow the meat to absorb juices...it's the key to a non-dry turkey meatloaf :)  

...a little no salt/no sugar added Organic Tomato Sauce.