We went to Walt Disney World a month or so ago, and I really surprised myself by how I acted around the food there.
A little background first, food has always made very vivid memories for me. I often can remember what I ate some where I have been more than what I did there. Disney World is no exception, it is my favorite place in the World, and I have countless memories there. I also had certain things I always ate there and restaurants we would always go to. In fact, making dining reservations is the second thing I do after picking the dates of our vacation.
When we went to Disney World in April, I fully expected the same thing to happen again. We had purchased the Dining Plan, so we had a sit down meal, fast food meal, and a snack every day we were there pre-paid.
Some of my new eating habits (not eating as much fast food, etc.) carried over to our trip. I won't go as far as to say I went out of my way to avoid junk food, or ate salads all the time, but the choices I made were much different than before.
There used to be certain things I would eat at WDW every day, or almost every day I was there. They are things you can't get outside the "World" like Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars, Mickey Rice Crispy treats, in Park Popcorn, and my beloved Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve.) In the course of a week long trip, I would have each of these things 4 or 5 times. It was one of my traditions.
This trip I still had each of those things, but I have them only one time. I didn't plan it this way it just happened all on it's own, and I am happy that it did. If it had not happened spontaneously, I would have felt like I was depriving myself the entire time.
I also made other smart choices with out realizing it. Now I fully admit that I am a 100% soda junkie, I will drink almost anything that has sugar and carbonation. I also rebel at paying the same price for a bottle of Desani as a bottle of Coke, if there is no syrup in it should it be cheaper ?? So when I bought multiple bottles of water every day, instead of soda, to quench my thirst and stay hydrated, I again surprised myself.
We also did a lot of walking (and I mean A LOT !!) We averaged 11.1 miles per day of walking over 8 days at WDW. Two days we made it over 13 miles. My fitbit (http://www.fitbit.com/) was an invaluable tool while on vacation for helping my track my walking, and calories burned.
If I can go from using vacation as an excuse to eat anything and everything in sight, to eating sensibly, making good choices with the occasional treat, just imagine what I can do when I apply the same thing to the rest of my life. Those choices I made in WDW had a direct impact on me loosing 15 pounds. Now to make good choices all (well most) of the time !! Wish me luck !!
