Weekly WI: Slight Vacation Gain

Happy Wednesday!

I am popping in a day late with my weekly weigh-in since I wanted to get my trip recap up first.  It was a really great trip and I am still working on getting back into the swing of things here at home.  I have today off and then it is back to the grind tomorrow.

My weekly weigh-in included some weight gain and considering I was away from home for 12 days, I am really happy with it.  I was up 2.0 pounds from my home scale weigh-in before we leave for vacation.

It is also the last weigh-in for the month of March.  I have been pretty solid with staying in Onederland and I was really happy to see that I have had a downward trend each month thus far.  I also went bak to look at my weight record from the end of March 2020 an I am down about 10 pounds.  That makes me feel awesome!

With my in-person studio closed, I wouldn’t have been under 200 at my “official” weigh-in due to the additional of clothes/shoes.  So, I have to work off this vacation weight this week and since I don’t think I’ll be at my in-person studio next week, I have two weeks until I have to step on the “official” scale.  I am going to do all I can to keep that downward trend alive and well.

I always look for photos that I can re-create and there is one photo opportunity each time we visit Vegas.  The only problem is that I can never remember how long ago I took the original photo.  Well, much to my surprise, it was in my Facebook Memories today.  

This photo was in March 2016.  

This photo is from March 2021.

It is hard to see a big weight difference with angles and lighting but I really see the biggest difference in my face.  In 2016,  had pretty much stopped stepping on the scale regularly because I was tired of seeing it continue to go up.  It was in July of 2016 that I said enough is enough and re-gained control.

Here is my weight record from 2016.

Here is my weight record from 2021.

I am so much happier since I re-gained control and started to lose my excess weight.  I am not letting vacation gain get me down because I can see all the wonderful things my weight loss thus far has given me.  It made getting around on vacation easier and much more enjoyable.

Epic Road Trip: Lake Havasu, Arizona

Our vacation was one epic road trip.  We traveled over 2,500 miles and drove through six states: Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.  Despite many hours in the car, it was a good trip.

We started our drive toward New Mexico to drop off some items to my in-laws and spend some time visiting with them.  My Aunt Barb offered us to stay at her place which allowed us some time with her.  I had really wanted to try out a few of the breweries on this trip but there is just never enough time.  My aunt took this photo of us as we rolled out of town.  I rarely have any photos of Kenyon where he is actually smiling!  On this trip, we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.

We left New Mexico a day early with an impromptu plan to drive a few hours that evening to Gallup, NM and then make a quick detour to the Grand Canyon National Park on the Arizona side.  I have never been to the Grand Canyon and even though it was a very quick trip, it was amazing.  Maybe one day we will be able to return.

We finished the drive to Lake Havasu getting in after dark.  I could tell as we were driving in it was a lot larger of a city then I expected and I couldn’t wait to explore.  We woke up to a beautiful view right out of our kitchen window which also included a balcony.  

The Havasu Dunes Resort was amazing.  We really loved every minute of this resort and can see ourselves on a return trip.  The staff was so friendly and we were able to use the pool one of the days, although we should have done it on the hottest day of our trip, which was 82 degrees!

Lake Havasu is this great mix of desert, palm trees, water, and mountains.  It was beautiful and I really loved having a place right by the water.  Our resort was only about 1.5 miles from town and it make getting around really easy.

We tried several restaurants:

Juicy’s and The Red Onion where the two breakfast places.  The wait at The Red Onion was quite long on Saturday so we waited until Sunday for the sweet spot around 1pm.  I really enjoyed the pastrami sandwich and the homemade chips with their Red Onion dip.

Barley Brother’s Restaurant & Brewery is right on the waters edge and has amazing views of the London Bridge.  The beer flight was great and the stuffed mushrooms were incredible.

Javelina Cantina was a restaurant near Barley Brother’s that advertised a tye dye margarita.  When I looked at their website, I spotted $10 fajita Mondays, which was a fantastic deal.  The margarita was really good and they have thin crispy tortilla chips…oh yum!  

We walked along both sides of the London Bridge, which is the actual bridge purchased by the founder of Lake Havasu and shipped to the U.S.  The views are beautiful.  Saturday was the busier day on the water which was also the hottest day and the best weather.

Lake Havasu has a club that maintains replicas of famous lighthouses across the U.S.  they are hard to get to and the cruise that takes you to view most of them was not running during the dates we arrived.  It will have to be something we do on a future trip.

We decided to take the ferry to Havasu Landing Resort & Casino, which was just $2 round-trip.  The ferry gave us views on the water and went really fast…faster than I had expected for a small ferry boat.  It was a really cheap way to see the sights and we managed to play off some casino winnings while we were there.  It is also a smoke free casinos which was an added bonus.

After feeling like we did all we wanted to in Lake Havasu, we headed to Las Vegas a day early.  This allows us to see Phoenix and Stacey a day earlier and I also got to see another friend that was in town the same time we were.  We enjoyed food, drinks, and managed to play off the house money for quite some time.  

Vegas was PACKED over spring break.  It was wonderful to see the return of travelers and with the reduced capacity of dining, restaurant wait times were long and/or often booked up for the week.  

With that, we made the drive home stopping in Lehi, Utah for the night, which also allowed us to stop in at IKEA.  This will be our biggest trip for a while.  We are still waiting to see what will come of causing as we are still booked for October.

March Apple Watch Activity Challenge Complete

Thanks to vacation steps, I was able to complete my March Apple Watch Activity Challenge a few days early.

I walked a total of 90 miles this month. This includes daily activity by counting mileage from steps. I also had a lot of intentional activity this month.

I am always so happy with my decision to lose over 100 pounds. It allows me so much more mobility. I will never take that for granted.

I owe you a trip recap. It’s been a long but also good vacation. I’ll pop in soon with a recap when I have time to sit down and do some typing.