Vacation Diet?

I'm not counting this as an actual diet, but I thought it was interesting that without any regard to what I was eating I managed to lose weight while in Japan

I left for Japan Saturday March 17th. That morning I weighed 184.4 pounds. Because traveling and dieting is too much of a hassle I decided I wouldn't be making any kind of effort while I was gone.

While I was in Japan I basically ate three meals a day. In the morning I would have a juice (or flavored milk), a yogurt, and a pastry. In the afternoon half of the time we got McDonald's and other times we ate in Japanese restaurants. For dinner we typically ate Japanese at a restaurant. The two exceptions to dinner that I can remember were the pizza place and the dinner party at Coco's. Occasionally I would get an extra pastry or candy bar on the road.

I don't normally eat at McDonald's, and I believe I ate more there while in Japan than I had for the entire year leading up to that trip. The problem with McDonald's in a foreign country is it is too convenient to Americans. Not only does it have fast recognizable food, free ice water, and free clean bathrooms.

In Europe particularly those last two things are what make McDonald's so great. Because customer service either hasn't been invented yet or the Europeans are too superstitious about it, free cold water and free bathrooms are few and far between. McDonald's is basically an oasis for the weary traveler who recently had to pay 2 Euro to use a "public" toilet.

In addition to eating basically whatever I wanted I also walked somewhere between 5 - 10 miles every day.

When I arrive home Monday evening I immediately weighed myself and was a little surprised to be 183. That's nearly 1.5 pounds down from when I left. This was more surprising considering how much I had eaten on the journey home. Monday morning I had my typical breakfast. While waiting at the airport I ate lunch. On the plane from Nartia to San Francisco I had a 4 course meal, midnight snacks, and a breakfast (the breakfast was so large I could only eat half of it). Having traveled back in time we arrived in San Francisco on Monday morning (again). For lunch/dinner we had McDonald's.

Tuesday evening after returning I went jogging and when I returned I was 179. I figured I was just dehydrated. The next morning I weighed 179.8. Despite not dieting last week and indulging in a lot of junk food (such as no-bake cookies) my weight stayed pretty much the same all through Sunday. Sunday morning I was 180.2. I was still 4.2 pounds down from before the morning I left for Japan.

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