Continental Quandaries--Day 2

The continental breakfast. This hotel/motel innovation is both a blessing and a bane—a blessing, because it means one does not have to dress one's entire family and schlep out to Burger King for breakfast, all before a decent cup of coffee. The bane of the continental breakfast comes when one considers the bombardment of the buffet. Normally, I eat very few of my points before noon—on average, about four. This moderate commitment feels fairly impossible in the face of a line-up of toast, English muffins, bagels, danishes, bear claws, muffins, cereal, eggs, sausage, french toast sticks, and a Belgian waffle machine. Again, a plan is very helpful.

Without a plan, I never would have made it past the continental breakfast on Thursday morning. I had made plans to meet two of my friends for coffee at Starbucks on Thursday morning, and I was going to use my two points from breakfast to have a Light Frappacino. This of course meant, that I needed to pass on all of the goodies on the breakfast buffet. I filled my coffee cup, sat with the family, and resisted the urge to deviate from the plan so early in the vacation. My Frappacino tasted a little better because of it, I think.

After meeting my friends and having a wonderful visit, I went back to the hotel
and enjoyed being with my family. At noon, I prepared the meal I'd planned (we had a small kitchenette) and ate accordingly. While the children napped, I took advantage of the fitness center. For 35 minutes I ran like a crazy woman, and made it almost 3 miles. With nearly 350 burned calories banked, I'd racked myself up an extra 7 points. Those points came in handy about 10:00 that night when I was genuinely hungry, and needed to eat a few extra points to get me through. Because I'd stayed active, I didn't have to feel bad about finishing that can of low calorie soup alongside a glass of milk. So far so good.