Hawaii 2016 and part of my 50 and 5 year celebrations- food addiction recovery for the WIN! (part 1 of 2)

Oahu Hawaii, Hanauma Bay Lookout, June 2016

Hawaii was on my bucket list AND I wanted to celebrate these things:  (this is part 1 of 2- the second post will be eating Paleo in Hawaii)

• Turning 50 this year and 
• Getting 5 solid years of food sobriety from food addiction and
• Being a super good personal financial planner with the help from WIFE.org ( a man is not a financial plan, indeed!!!) I've done a lot of work to be a financially solvent head of household. 

Being financially solvent and able to travel with my teen is at the very top of my priorities and values. Travel is right behind eating, cooking, and living as disease free as I can. In fact, being financially solvent is a non scale, positive side effect of weight maintenance. I could write a whole other post about that, and I will later this year.

Anyhoo! Here's some of the best things from a weight maintenance perspective made this a great trip. What is working now:

2016 Oahu, Byodo Temple 

1. My shorts and sun dresses fit from last year. 90% of my shorts from last year fit just fine. All my sundresses fit I think I donated one pair of size 4 shorts from early weight maintenance year. I have mostly size 6 and a few size 8's shorts that I expect to be able to wear for many summers to come. I also added to my summer sundresses so I could stay cool and comfortable.


 1.5  Weight Maintainers "helpers" A couple of lower  body shaper undergarments (Target) helps me deal with my lose skin and the small amount of subcutaneous gain on my hips in sun dresses. Even though I'm still a normal weight, I'll take any extra, inexpensive low risk help I can get. I've decided not to get plastic surgery, so the undergarments are a WIN.


1.75 Swimsuits I got a couple of new swimsuits from Costco, too. Speedo, one pieces. The good material dries fast. Goodbye cold, clammy swim suits.  

Snorkeling Black Rock, Ka'anapali Beach, Maui

2. Travel planning, My meditation (Headspace app)  had me calmly planning and packing in advance. Extra time off for the dentist and errands before the trip helped me stay organized and relaxed. I used the simple Reminders app on my phone to chip away at my packing list and errands.

The meditation benefits were very noticeable on the trip, too. We had 3 travel days out of 8 trip days for flights. (Oahu, Maui, San Diego) We also had 3 partial days of planned, purchased trips (sightseeing, snorkel/ sail, and kayak/snorkel). 2+ days were just explore around town- Maui and more snorkeling, walking around some local cities.

Less stress, more calm planning and travel relaxing. Amazing. I think having an older kid (teens) had a lot to do with it, too. She can get herself and her stuff ready to go. I've been traveling solo with my daughter since she was about 3 years old.

Sailboats, Lania

3. Abstaining from 99% of sugars, all grains, and emulsifiers. Yeah! A trip where I'm not looking for excuses to get sugar high or eat all kinds of junk food- because travel. It's a whole different experience.

 I can enjoy the massive tree out front of the Lahaina Court House, the sail boats along the sea walk.

 Part 2 of the Hawaii post will be eating on my food template (and Paleo, LCHF). So stay tuned for that. The time seeking junk foods on trips and the time feeling ill because I binge ate. That's all gone now.

More time to take in the physical experience now that the food addiction is in remission.  What a gift!



4. More strenuous physical activities at a normal weight

I did lots of kayaking, hiking and swimming while morbidly obese. It was much more painful and exhausting. And I used the exercise to BS myself about massive calorie burn (NOPE!) and earning fudge, muffins, fried foods, and candy. Yikes!

Doing 2X weekly strength training really came in handy for double and single ocean kayaking, snorkeling (3X).  I walked a lot, too, along the beach, sightseeing.

I'm in much better shape physically and mentally at age 50 and food sober than at age 25 and binge eating.  Much better place.  I'd rather have this than moderating all the foods. Not worth it by a long shot. Food sobriety and abstaining from the Standard American Diet for the WIN.

It's safe to say I won't be going back to moderating junk foods. Why go back to that hellish nightmare? Life is sweeter abstaining.

Maui Kayak Adventures- photo credit, Makena Bay, Maui

5. I was in photos on this trip. No hiding behind people or objects. Were all my photos flattering, no! Who cares? Most of the photos from 2006 until 2012 were without me or hiding me. Trust me, you cannot hide food addiction by deleting photos or hiding behind objects or your kid.

What didn't work in the past

1. Buying and keeping  clothing sizes 8-20 and promising myself that THIS was the year I would lose weight.

2.  Not wearing weather appropriate clothing. I could have worn a sundress, or a swimsuit. It's no big deal, I could have picked flattering clothes as a morbidly obese person. But I didn't. And it didn't come off well.

3. Lots of stressing out about travel without a checklist or an extra day to pack.

4. I did a lot of activities- hiking, kayaking- but oh, wow, so painful on my feet, joints, and the end result of eating crap food. And the food addiction cycle began again. Not a good cycle.

5. Hiding in photos or not being in photos. Funny, but I was in photos, other peoples photos. Hiding is not an effective solution for obesity.

I fully expect to be as active in another 5 years, and I expect to be a weight maintainer, too. Onward.

Next up- the answer to the question, is it easy to eat Paleo in Hawaii. Short answer - YES! :)