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This past weekend, I visited a dear friend of mine in Panama City Beach. We had an awesome time, as we always do, but I was very aware of how hard it is to stay focused when you're out of town.

I know my friend does not read this blog (I haven't given it out to people I know in real life), but I still won't mention her name. We'll call her....Veronica. Veronica and I have had similar struggles with weight loss. Even though I'm MUCH shorter than her, we're roughly around the same size. She was very excited about me having the LapBand surgery, very supportive, and is even thinking about getting it done herself. I've noticed that when I'm around people who have weight issues that we basically encourage each other to be bad. I believe the only healthy thing I had ALL weekend was skipping the bacon she made yesterday morning. I got there Friday night and she had a delicious shrimp and crab boil waiting for me. I skipped the crab and just ate the sausage, shrimp, potatoes, and corn. Now, all those things aren't really BAD for you, but I definitely ate more than what I should have. I also had a pina colada, which was my first alcoholic beverage all year (I'm not a big drinker) and I was tipsy after that. Not a great start. The next morning we went to a few garage sales really early (a little tradition of ours) and we ended up going to IHOP for breakfast with her boyfriend and daughter. Not the best place to eat, but there were a few healthy options. Did I make them? Nope. I got scrambled eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 pieces of bacon, and hashbrowns. Didn't finish it all, but again ate more than I should. Later that day we went shopping AGAIN with her cousin and after decided to go to an early dinner. They took me to their favorite Chinese buffet, where I was adamant that I'd make good choices, but didn't. I ended up getting lo mein, hibachi chicken, rice, and a shrimp dish. To make it WORSE, I ended up getting seconds on the lo mein. And had a yogurt cone. What is wrong with me???? I know that the lack of planning leads to bad, spur of the moment choices, but damn! Later that night, we went to this arcade with her daughter and went to play mini golf. A teeny bit of exercise on that - the course we were on required quite a bit of walking. After that, what did we do? Drove by DQ where I got a chocolate dipped cone. Ugh.

The next morning we decided to bake banana bread and I thankfully decided to skip the bacon. We went to the pool for a few hours, got a little sun, and then decided again on a early dinner, since I'd be leaving right after. Where did we go? Back to the Chinese buffet, since her boyfriend wasn't able to come with us the day before. I pretty much got the same thing, but decided to forego a second plate. That was one of FEW good choices I made all weekend.

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with myself. You could argue that they weren't very sympathetic to my dietary needs, but I'm the one who put the food in my mouth. I'm the one who didn't protest against the Chinese buffet (twice). I'm the one who opted to get something at DQ instead of saying, "No, thanks". I made the bad choices. That's how I ended up the way I am. That's how I ended up having a weight loss surgery - to help avoid making bad choices. This LapBand isn't going to cure me. It can only help me. The ONLY good thing I can say for this weekend is that even though I made bad food choices, I definitely ate MUCH less than I normally would have. I would have probably gone back to get thirds at the buffet before surgery. I would have gotten a HUGE dessert from DQ and definitely gotten a much bigger breakfast at IHOP. Not a victory by any means, but it gives me a tiny bit of comfort.

This week, it's back to square one. I'm going back down there in 3 weeks with my family and boyfriend and I DO NOT plan to make the same mistakes again. Time to pick myself up, dust off, and attempt to climb back on the wagon..