The Furlough Fifteen

Remember at college how they would talk about the "Freshman 15" : those pesky pounds the freshman would put on due to the junk food and the extra food intake from the cafeteria and/or the dorm room snacking? Well we have spent the last few days at Maranatha Baptist Bible College so that my son could check out the college (he's just a couple years away from graduating from high school). We ate a couple of meals in the cafeteria and I have to say it would be very easy to put on 15 lbs at that school. The cafeteria is fantastic! There are so many choices at every meal! I did put a large portion of salad from the salad bar on my plate at lunch and only a very small drizzle of salad dressing. I also left off a lot of the options, mainly because I don't like a lot of funky stuff in my salad. I left off the bacon bits too just because I knew I didn't need the empty calories and fat. I did go through the stir fry section of the line where you could tell the cook the ingredients you wanted in your stir fry and which kind of sauce you wanted and which kind of rice. I chose chicken, green peppers, broccoli and onions with soy sauce over brown rice. There were 4 other food lines -- pizza, rotisserie chicken, subs, taco/nachos and I don't know what else. Amazing. I am glad we had other plans and didn't go back for dinner because it was difficult being self controlled. I do feel like I stayed away from the worst of the choices -- the highest in carbs, for example.

We are having breakfast there Monday with a professor .... and I will try to be careful to make good decisions. Probably will pass up the belgian waffle maker and get an omelette instead. I also find that when I can "eat all I want" that I overdo it with things like juice. I drank 2 large glasses of OJ the other day without even thinking about it. Monday I will have water or some hot tea and either leave off the juice or just have 4 oz. We will probably take advantage of the chance to skip a meal while travelling and just eat well for breakfast and then skip lunch. We are on our way to a 3 day conference where we will be staying with church people and probably have our meals scheduled at different homes. Those days are especially hard since I have so little control over my food or my schedule. The following week I will be travelling but it is going to be a girls' getaway with my youngest sister in law to go to Dallas and visit my husband's older sister. The SIL I am travelling with is also trying to be active and healthy so she and I are already planning how we can workout together while the other SIL is at work. We'll see how successful we are. Still hoping to get rid of some of the "furlough 15" before Christmas.