Traveling Food, Fun & Fitness – A Great Low Carb Trip!

I’m back from my week in Vancover and White Rock Beach, and I’ve been sleeping A LOT since I returned. I think it was traveling home that wore me out. 😛

I shared traveling meals & trip updates in my last post, and mentioned that Tawnya (my friend there that I stayed with) and I had both lost quite a bit of weight in the last few years. I’ll show you before and after pictures of us today…

I came home weighing 1.6 pounds heavier than when I left, but that’s typical for me when traveling – mostly from exhaustion and water weight.

I also got A LOT of exercise on this trip. Exercise often results in a slight gain on the scales. It’s not necessarily “a muscle gain” but more of a “muscle recovery gain”. It has to do with inflammation, hydration, how much you sweat, etc.

I did step on my body fat scale and noticed I gained .2 pounds in muscle mass. 🙂

Here are a couple of “before pictures” of Tawnya and I from one of our trips to Vegas in 2011. We’ve traveled quite a bit together, and always have a GREAT time! At any weight, lol…

Here is a picture of us together last week… 🙂

BIG difference, right? 🙂 We went through a lot of our old pictures together last week, and some of them were really shocking -lol. Both of us feel tons better, and we’re both really focused on heart health & toning (fitness & exercise) right now. And of course we’re both more blonde. :+) lol…

I mentioned in my last post that I kept it really simple on this trip, snacking on easy low carb foods. I brought my pecans with me, which helped. And otherwise enjoyed things like cheese slices off a mild cheddar block, eggs & salsa, etc.

When we did go out, we walked no less than a mile each time to eat at a local beachfront restaurant on the strip down below her apartment. My favorite meal of the week was at The Boathouse Restaurant. We sat up on the rooftop patio, and had a gorgeous view of the ocean!

I was really torn on what to order for lunch. I was HUNGRY lol. I scoured the menu and decided on the Crab Cobb Salad – because it included a lot of beautiful low carb foods like: crab, eggs, avocado, bacon, goat cheese, cucumber, etc. Then I added grilled salmon to it just to REALLY top it off. 🙂

Delicious! The greens were already mixed with a ranch dressing (very lightly) so it didn’t require any dressing. The different foods & flavors were just too good together to ruin with a “topping” anyway.

The next night Tawnya and I decided to “cook”. LOL, we’re so much alike! We both “make food”, no real cooking, and rarely at that. 😛 She had some marinated teriyaki chicken breasts that were only 2 net carbs each, and I got a cucumber and some feta cheese to make “cucumber salad” to go with it:

It was a simple meal, but filling and satisfying. Easy is good! 🙂 She just baked the chicken, and I made the salad: a cucumber cubed, salted, add 2-3 TBSP of mayo, crumbled feta cheese, and stir it all up.

We had a couple of girl friends over later that night, and all went for a brisk evening walk down the pier and back. It’s a fairly good hill down from her apartment and back up, plus the walk to and down the pier, so it was great exercise!

We got back and lounged with “wine and berries” for awhile, just hanging out and having a great time catching up. I had white zinfandel wine (1 carb per ounce) but didn’t end up drinking it. I did enjoy the strawberries and Brie though. 🙂

It’s nice to just focus on having a FUN time with friends, but still getting in exercise and delicious low carb treats too. 🙂 Walking down to the pier was a fun social thing to do together, a nice way to get out and enjoy the evening and the ocean, but for me it was also about getting in some exercise for the day.

The next day, which was my last day there, we all went to lunch together at . Silver joined us, so there were three of us there that eat low carb – and two carb eaters. 🙂

Vera got the brunch plate (bacon, eggs & avocado in place of the carbs), and Silver and I both got the “surf & turf” meal – with salmon added. It’s hard to be near Vancouver and NOT enjoy salmon!

We were at the Pearl Bistro & Oyster Bar – which, to be honest, I would not visit again. It was pricey, the food wasn’t that great, and the portions were quite small. I was glad I added the salmon to my meal. 😛

I found the food on my plate… all tasted the same. The prawns, beef and salmon were all seasoned alike I think. I prefer just salt on my meats, so I can enjoy the natural flavors of each meat, but everything on my plate tasted exactly alike. 😐 It was okay. I just wouldn’t eat there again. :+) The Boathouse was definitely better!!

We all hung out for the rest of the afternoon, then I went to bed early to get ready for my trip home the next day – which meant getting up at 1:30am. Ack! lol…

I had an early flight out of Vancouver to head back to Tennessee, which would get me home (or back in Nashville) a little after 3pm my time.

I had breakfast at the airport, which was absolutely disgusting. I needed a good meal before my flight though, because I hadn’t eaten yet… and I was planning to SLEEP on the way home. 😛

This was… um, fake hot dog sausage, fake eggs, and limp chewy bacon. I ate less than half of that. 😛 Yuck! It’s better than not eating, or grabbing a muffin or whatever though.

I stopped for a decent meal once I got back to Tennessee, but was too travel weary to eat really – so I brought it home with me, and just rested on and off all weekend. I mentioned I’ve slept a lot since I returned. I’m actually tracking my sleep now, and the quality of sleep too, which is quite interesting.

I’m also tracking my exercise more closely, and took every opportunity to get in a walk or “move” during my entire trip. When we walked back up the big hill to Tawnya’s apartment for example, I did “lunges” up the hill. I’m sure I looked goofy doing that (lol) but I didn’t care. It felt GOOD to work my muscles, and it even felt good when they were a little sore every morning. 🙂

Anyway, I just wanted to share a little “photo tour” of my fun trip with you, and some of the great meals I enjoyed while in White Rock and Vancouver. I had a GREAT time with my friends there, and it was a much needed break I really needed.

Now that I’m home I’ll be back to my usual workouts, plus MUCH more daily walking.

I enjoyed that SO much!

I’m off to shower and head to a delicious low carb lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. I hope your week was great too, and things are going well on your end. I’m happy to be home and have lots of fun updates to share with you this week!

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler

p.s. Stay tuned because I’ll share WHY I’m so motivated to exercise lately, and what I’m using now – that has me so excited and inspired to exercise every single day. 🙂