Sorry to hear things have been so rough hun!! *BIG HUG!*
Keeping a food diary on hol is a fantastic idea! I kept one a couple of work trips in dubai and it massively helped me stay on track as I'd go "oh, it wasnt too bad a day after all- better not throw the towel in and eat cake like planned!"
I will tell you what though, if you can avoid bread/pizza like he plague it'll be a big help. It is so easy to go for burgers and sandwiches but if you deny yourself the bread you will have a much better result. Look for the meaty options! In Florida I was paranoid as hell about gaining as I had JUST hit my 4st/overweight bmi mini target and never wanted to go back. I holidayed by these rules
Sophie's guide to minimizing gains and still enjoying food on holiday:
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1) strive to have a syn free breakfast!
I went for fruit and yoghurt and scrambled eggs with veg on the side. (there was a station who made them especially and I asked for the spray rather than oil, and they threw whatever veg I asked for in) - SO easy to be tempted to eat pastries and suddenly have a 1000 cal breakfast! If you make that your one SW friendly meal of the day, it wont affect your hol but it will help the scales!
2) diet fizzy drinks only (easy way of cutting out empty calories- definitely have a couple of cocktails to treat yourself but dont have full sugar pepsi just 'cause)
3) NO bread. Buns off, no sarnies/pizza- lifesaver!!! Make this your most important rule!
4) whatever I ordered I asked for superfree/salad instead of chips or onion rings and for low oil/butter/cream options. Look at what you want on he menu and find a way to improve it. Often restaurants go oil heavy when they dont need to. The creamy pasta options can usually do a half crean version that is still delicious for a coupla' hundred cal less.
5) have low syn hotel snacks at the ready! I packed and brought instant porridge (the plain ones from any store, mixed in some small splenda sachets), alpen light bars for when I needed somethig sweet in the room and mugshots for when hungry. Often after a big late lunch you dont need a big dinner, just something light. This saves €£¥ as well as unnecessary calories.
Often if you are hungry in the room you just want something quick- room service takes ages and all they tend to have is burgers and sarnies. Ask for a kettle if they dont give you one and enjoy a mugshot or porridge.
6) find somewhere to get bananas and apples for the room and your handbag (smuggle some from breakfast buffet or find a shop) this is SO handy and really helps get superfree in instead of chips by the pool.
7) ask for your veg unbuttered and your salad with dressing on the side. Ceaser salads can pack a whopping 1000 cal+ with the dressing and oil fried croutons. When you order veg they may well pack it full of butter and make it worth 10 syns.
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I followed these rules on hol, still ate yummy food (mainly meaty dishes) had the odd ice cream (whippies are less syns than most cornettos/magnums) and I actually LOST 1lb over two weeks in florida!!
These 'rules' dont get in the way of your holiday but they help cut out 60% of the bad stuff in every day meals out.
If you listen to just one thing and make it your mantra, just do yourself a huge favour and dont eat bread (inc pizza, pastries, wraps, baguettes and buns) as this is by far the easiest way to put on weight! Be a breaditarian!
Dont worry about WI this week, you will be retaining several pounds of water to fix that bug so it is pretty inevitable! Tut tut for the full fat drinks! My grandma always used to give me a coke when I was ill as she said the amount of crap, sugar and chemicals in it would help kill the bug LOL
Hope you feel much better soon though hun, hopeully the holiday can be a lovely post illness reward!
