OK, back from a week at Norwich! Had an absolutely wonderful time. Norwich is a gem of a city: ancient, beautiful, great restaurants. And a stunning cathedral to sing in.
Speaking of restaurants. I bought some Tesco olive oil as soon as we got into town. I continued on my normal schedule of 3T first thing in the morning, but did not have sugar water in the evening. Since the breakfast was included, I opted most mornings to have a bowl of granola in the morning with some juice. I would then forego either lunch or dinner (or at least have a snack in place). Luckily, the Tesco was within walking distance and had cute £1 packs of sushi. I resumed my love affair with prawn cocktail crisps (the existence of which stunned many of the other choir members). I had six pints of varying sorts over 12 days. Since I did not have access to either a fridge or a microwave, I had to take into account that I would be eating most if not all of whatever I ordered in a restaurant. Basically, I tried to eat as if I were at a maintenance weight. I didn't have access to a scale, so I tried to be careful without being annoying, listening to my body as much as I could.
In many restaurants, the service is generally slow (to an American). This is not necessarily a bad thing from a digestion perspective. As Seth has said before, slowing down the eating process is good for you in so many ways. Once we got used to it, we allotted more time and thought to the dining experience instead of the logistics of eating.
Vis-à-vis drinks. Though it's painful from a commercial and social perspective that drinks (both carbonated and alcoholic) are taxed so much in the UK, this American SLDer found that being able to afford only one lager at a time, and not having free refills was great from a short-term dieting perspective. When I received a 10-oz. Diet Coke in a restaurant, and realized that I had to stretch it out over my whole meal, I did so, and I think that it was good for me.
So, here are the results after 12 days of winging it in the UK. I left at 174.4 (which was 3+ lbs. below my trend weight). I returned at 180.4, which was unfortunate, but not depressing. Over the last four days, back on my regular eating patterns, I have returned to 176.0, which is more than a pound below the trend. So, it's the best of a potentially scary situation weight-wise. Thank you to all who contributed thoughts and suggestions to me for the trip!
