I had drill this weekend in the National Guard, and it went pretty well in terms of eating. Saturday, I had some BBQ chicken that was actually quite tasty for lunch, and then for dinner I had some more BBQ, but this time it was a little bit of brisket and some turkey breast. What wasn’t so good was the alcohol I consumed Saturday night. It’s just something that happens, and I don’t regret it. What I regret most is that I only got 3.5 hours of sleep that night.

Sunday, I ate carnitas with grilled vegetables for lunch, and for dinner, Sherry made me a plate of the smoked turkey with some mashed sweet potatoes for dinner. I then went to sleep early, and woke up 11 hours later for work this morning. I feel well rested, and the scale wasn’t too nasty: up 3 lbs (which I know will go away by tomorrow or Wednesday just by eating right).

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, or if you’ve taken the time to read old posts, you’ll know that I advocate not missing out on social events, holidays, and special occasions because life is short and it’s worth living. One meal, or one evening of drinking isn’t going to derail you if you’re committed to the long game: being healthy for the rest of your life. Sure, it will set you back temporarily from seeing results on the scale, and in most cases of drinking, it will even make your weight go up. But this is artificial, as most of this is water weight from your body retaining fluids while it continues to process alcohol from your body. I find my body bloats for three days after drinking. Your experience may differ from this.

From my perspective, as someone who is very near my personal goal weight and who is in more maintenance mode than anything else, it’s okay to imbibe from time to time. What I did over the holidays was dumb (cookies, sweets, and hot drinks), but one night a month or so? That’s acceptable.

So, it’s back to the strict diet for me starting yesterday. I’m looking forward to seeing the numbers on the scale shrink again, and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting back into the 170’s later this week or early next week.