New York City & Not an Apple in Sight : UPDATE!

Vacation be damned!
As of the 3/17 weigh-in, I lost 3.6 big ones!

I wasn't exactly prepared for our weekend trip to New York. Sure, my bags were packed and I had time for a glass of wine before heading to SFO for a red-eye, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is that I wasn't prepared to venture away from home on a vacation during the first month of Weight Watchers.

San Francisco is one thing; while we have thousands of restaurants here, it's not nearly on the same scale. And, because I live here, I don't feel compelled to try them all at once or eat everything on the menu (most of the time), probably because I know I can always "come back for dessert sometime" or try "that new pizza place" when it fits into my Weight Watchers points allotment.

But New York? Entirely different. Not only are there more than 20,000 restaurants registered with the Health Department in NYC, there are places like Chip Shop. And Bouchon Bakery. And Magnolia Bakery. And warm nut carts. And hot dog stands. And bars. And more bars. And even more bars!!

Over the past few years I've made it a habit to get to NYC for a visit at least once a year and, every year, there's always something I crave. For many years, it was the house roll from Haru (sushi). But, for the past two years, it's been the savory, cheesy goodness of aforementioned Chip Shop's wild mushroom mac & cheese and their deep-fried-to perfection fish & chips. Accompanied, of course, by a 22oz Newcastle or two.

While a place that served double-fried cherry pie until it was banned by the NYC health department last year and that STILL serves fried candy bars should certainly not be on the list while one is trying to stick to a healthy lifestyle, I started thinking about Chip Shop about a month ago. (If you're keeping track, that timing corresponds to my join date with Weight Watchers.)

I was plotting and planning points to figure out how I could somehow work the mushroom mac and delicious fish & chips into my allotted dailies, assuming I could borrow from the bonus points, and make it all fit somehow. That would have been fine were it the only thing I tried to "squeeze" into my points allotment.

What I didn't count on was the "we're on vacation!" glass of wine before the flight (and at every possible stop along the way). Or the Ruffles & ranch dip and homemade Buckeyes at the party on Saturday. Those were all just sweet surprises starting with "what the hell!"

But, however bad all this seems, with the help of our NYC blogger Suz, we managed to work some "small successes" into our vacation:

1. We woke up - although jet lagged - and worked out at 8:30am on Saturday morning
2. We attended Suz's WW meeting - led by WW celeb Liz - with her on Saturday morning
3. We walked ... everywhere!
4. We had a "Loreal-approved" dance party that lasted into the wee hours of the morning - surely worth a few activity points?



Clearly, I am prepared for a gain this week. But, it was vacation and I held myself accountable for everything, tracking as best I could along the way. Except for maybe that Sunday morning bloody mary that, I will admit, I chalked up to "what the hell! I am on vacation!" and enjoyed every minute of.