Oh hi there ridiculously, ridiculously, good looking people - okay, okay let’s not dance around the proverbial mulberry bush and simply cut to the dirty-dirty chase.

Ready? Ready.

I, Liz (of awesome fame), am notorious for eating poorly while travelling. Like, probably the worst person at eating healthy while travelling that you have ever, and I mean EVER met. Virtual or otherwise.

SO.

Remember how I WORE A BIKINI (<— linked for proof) on a beach in Croatia? Yea, well that was right at the beginning of my trip when I weighed about 147 pounds (66kg). And then remember how A YEAR MINUS ONE (1) DAY later I weighed in at 174 pounds (79.1kg)???? Remember? REMEMBER *shaking your collar as I ask*?!?

For those who aren’t good with math, here the facts:

September 30, 2011 —> 147 pounds (66kg)
September 29, 2012 —> 175 pounds (19.1kg)

This means, in 364 days I gained 28.2 pounds (13.1kg).
That’s an average of 2.25 pounds (1.02kg) a month

Ps I am 5’4” and 27 as I’m sure someone will ask :)

Well aren’t I being honest tonight? #FACT.

Now look, you may or may not believe me, but I truly, with all my heart, believe had I not gone gallivanting all over the world, I wouldn’t have gained it back. Which means the culprit, my culprit, my excuse, my kryptonite, my Achilles’ heel was (IS) travelling.

I Liz, (of not-so awesome fame), have no self control when it comes to travelling.

Why yessssssss, I would LOVE a sugary drink
Why yessssssss, I would love a cupcake
Why yessssssss, I can order the HUGE sandwich
Why yessssssss, I’ll just pop into 7-11 for a gander
Why yessssssss, I can drink all the wine in the world

Why? Because I’m on vacation of course.

False. False Liz. False.

Now luckily I have become wiser with age (phew!), which meant that this time around when I knew I was heading to Perth for a week I became very conscious of not hitting up every carb and/or sugary drink in sight.

I made a goal, I asked for ideas (thank you so much for the comments - totes magotes took them to heart), I (wait, we - Anna and I) made a plan, and I am soooooo happy to announce we stuck to it!!

The result?

Before Perth: 174 pounds (79.1kg)
After Perth: 174.4 pounds (79.3kg)  (0.4 up? that’s A-okay with me)

(And it needs to be noted that Miss Anna LOST a kg (2.2 pounds!!!)

So, how?

It’s rather quite simple (and obvious - as the story goes); we simply looked at Perth as ‘real life,’ because, well, that’s what it was.

We easily bought at least 60% of our meals from grocery stores and always tried to plan ahead. We bought nearly all of our breakfasts the day before, and often ended up enjoying a pre-packaged (cheap!) salad at the end of the day.

We always had lots of fruit on hand (for those long drives), and low calorie rice-cake snacks which were so flavourful (mmm sour cream) that they satisfied those “I want a treat now” evil little bursts.

We also (as per the comments telling us to) ordered salads when we could, or ate at Mad Mex (Australia’s equivalent closest thing to Chipotle) for a cool 450 calories a meal.

And, we both tried to continue to track our food on My Fitness Pal, but I have to admit, as the days went on, this became harder ‘n harder.

Now it needs to be noted I didn’t LOSE weight on this trip (but I was/am seriously SO THRILLED I stayed the same and didn’t gain), and that is because we still enjoyed treats here ‘n there. We both splurged one night and got a MEGA burger n’ fries (although we both left the buns on our plates and some fries), and we ate more cheese and drank more wine than we should have. So overall? I would say it was a good vacation-enjoyment-yet-I-do-not want-to-get-fat balance.

A mixture of the good, the bad, and the delicious from our trip:

AND AND AND AND, then, we also (and I have NEVER done this before on a trip) exercised while we were away. Oh yes. You read that right! We went to not one, but TWO crossfits to sweat some of that cheese out.

A huge (HUGE!!) thank you to Coo-ee Crossfit and Raw Edge Crossfit for hosting us. I can’t exactly say I excelled at either of their WODS (WOD 1 and WOD 2) and if you’re a creeper, you’ll notice there are no reps next to “Liz” (me!) for WOD 2. Why? This is because (and I seriously need to work on this as it happened at both new crossfits), I felt my really old, self-conscious, “I AM SO FAT” self creep in.

It was SO intimidating being at a new CF that I completely let my nerves get to me and my obsession with how I looked (re: fat) get in the way of pushing myself. Thus, I didn’t count my reps - as I was too embarrassed by my (what I assumed would be) low score.

But still, I am happy I went - baby steps folks, baby steps.

We also went for beach walks (seriously, sand = burning legs), and tried to stay active as much as we could (swimming/walking). We were THISCLOSE to renting bikes, but we decided the $28 was better in our pockets.

So, the lessons here, and I truly hope I will take this with me for the rest of my days is this:

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Whether I’m on vacation. Tired in bed. Out with friends for a special occasion. Standing at the fridge and sneaking some ice cream. Or the moment I quickly decide to switch my black coffee for a latte…

It absolutely all counts.

I can cheat myself, lie to myself, forget and move on, but my body is my ultimate food diary, and there is no secret to this crazy obsession I have;

I’m either doing it, or I’m not, and in Perth, I am oh-so-very-happy I (we! thank you so much Anna for helping me!!) did it!