Fetters Loosened

This has been a challenging past 10ish days, as I've been traveling almost nonstop and have been in a ton of social eating situations with people upon which it is imperative that I make a good impression.

And honestly, I think I handled it incredibly well.  Nearly every day, I ordered and consumed adequate amounts of non-salad foods, had extra treats I probably didn't "need", including everything from wine to brownies.  Some days were pretty active, others were pretty inactive, most were in the middle. My intake did flux with that somewhat but I think overall it was a pretty successful experiment.

I wasn't adventurous calorically (except for maybe yesterday, but we were on our feet and active literally the entire day), but I did really challenge myself with ordering things that made it difficult for me to estimate accurately how many calories I was consuming.  I also tried some new types of food I'd never had before (and had NO clue of nutritional content).  I think that Ethiopian cuisine is one of my new favorites, and it was definitely a cool experience (look up "injera", it sounds weird but is incredibly good).

I think that breaking rules (as far as what food I can consume when and in relation to how much exercise I've done) is actually a lot easier when I travel.  At home (meaning both my house and my normal circle of social interactions around campus, town, etc), I am so entrenched in rules and routines, that it seems incredibly hard to make changes, but in new situations it is as if the fetters are loosened and it's easier for me to shift my habits to what the people around me are doing. It really is all psychological, but it's interesting to observe/experience the shift.

It's also interesting that at time it goes completely in the opposite, as I've also had problems with restricting when I travel, due to the loss of the routines discussed above.  Who knows.  I think that the social factor has a lot to do with it. I'm a lot more likely to shift to the restriction side on a solo road trip and the free-er side when I'm in active social settings during travel.

I think I handled all of it fairly guilt free, too, until today.  I had major morning-after regrets about what I ate/drank at a party last night (I was nowhere near drunk, just as a disclaimer), and it has made me super uncomfortable today, but I suppose I'll survive.  I've also been running on a major sleep deficit for over a week, which always makes those things tougher, so I'm hoping it will blow over.

I'm starting to think that one option for my school choice is starting to rise above the others in my mind, but it's also the one where I'm actually not at all sure that I'll get an offer, for various complicated reasons.  I should have answers within the next 2-3 weeks, and then it's on to the next round of big decisions and milestones to figure out--when to move, whether to buy or rent when I get there, how to make money over the summer, etc etc...

Participatory prompt: Do you notice that it's easier or harder for you to break eating rules when you are away from home and your normal routines?

I am way behind on blog reading/commenting, but have a little bit of a breather before I have to travel again.  I hope everyone has had a great weekend, love y'all!