Home again

Sunday:

I'm home! It was a challenging weekend in terms of diet. I think I did ok.

We had McDonalds for lunch on the way to Sydney yesterday. Six nuggets and medium fries. We went to my brother's house for afternoon tea, the main reason for going to Sydney this particular weekend was to get some paperwork regarding mum's estate done. As usual, Darren was annoyingly pedantic (he has obsessive compulsive disorder) but we got it done. We took cake because it was his birthday three weeks ago, I had about three bites of mud cake and a cup of tea.

The weather was closing in fast so we left a bit earlier than we had planned, trying to get to my brother-in-law's house before the storm. But about ten minutes after we left the hail hit! We were stuck on the motorway. Everyone drove very slowly and carefully, the hail was like snow all over the road but at least the individual pieces were only marble-size or smaller so the car didn't seem in danger. We got through it ok. The kids thought it was great fun!

I avoided most of the pre-dinner food, then enjoyed my dinner and dessert and had nothing afterwards. It certainly wasn't an ideal food day, even for a so-called "free day" but kept the eating relatively restrained and I think it compared well to other weekend trips.

During the evening chat with family, my father-in-law mentioned he is planning on moving away from Sydney now that he is wrapping up his business. We already knew that my brother-in-law Nick and his wife are likely to go and live in China for a while soon (Ping is Chinese). My main reason for wanting to move to Sydney was my mum, but she is gone now. It feels like any reasons we had for moving to Sydney are being taken away. Also Tim's allergies flared up as they often do when we visit Sydney - I drove all the way home because his eyes were sore. We are feeling a bit adrift about where we want to spent the next stage of our lives.

Ping and I went to bed early, leaving the boys up to chat. But my father-in-law Des is so loud! I could hear every single word loud and clear. He gets very excited about politics and basically shouts at people even when he is agreeing with them. I wandered out sometime after midnight, when I'd been trying to sleep for a couple of hours, and hinted (with facial expression, I didn't need to say anything) that it was time to end the discussion. Even with Des gone home it was a horribly restless night on that uncomfortable bed that I have ranted about before. We are going to buy a foam mattress to put on top next time, we can just leave it there. It was Ping's parents who chose the concrete slab. All the beds in China were the same when we visited.

And no CPAP. I know I said even travel wouldn't stop me using it, but there is just nowhere to plug it in where I sleep. My fitbit stats show I got some good solid sleep in between 2 and 4 am, so that is something!

Today the diet started off a bit rocky. I was expecting Ping's usual offering of bacon, eggs, fruit, crumpets and cereal, as a buffet - lots of choice and easy to fit into my diet. But today she decided to make French toast for everyone, made with soft white bread so basically pure sweet carbohydrate. My children both tasted and rejected it and I didn't feel that I could. Her toddler was screaming, she was stressed, I wasn't going to ask her to find something else for me or insult her by offering to cook something myself. I know that my health is just as important as not hurting her feelings but sometimes that's a choice you make under the circumstances. I only had one slice.

I tried to get the day back on track and stick as close to my rules as possible, and the rest of the day was fine (high carb day).

Water was a big fail yesterday. I don't like to drink much on car trips because finding a rest stop every 20 minutes is inconvenient and sometimes impossible. I tried to make up for it a bit later but not so much I was running to the bathroom so I didn't catch up very much. Dry sore throat all night. I used to drink that much or less all the time and never felt thirsty! But now my body is used to getting more. Today again very little before/during driving home, worked on catching up when safe in my
own house. Ten glasses, so I should be rehydrated.

I have no idea what the scale will say tomorrow.

Report card:
Diet: Good. I'm happy with how I stuck to my plan, but I think I could do better, maybe taking along snacks next time.
Exercise: Poor. It was a busy weekend, but I made no effort whatsoever to fit in exercise.
Water: Poor yesterday, good today.
Sleep: Terrible.
Mental health: Good. It was mostly a nice weekend.