I’d love to say my Super Bowl weekend has been perfect as far as weight loss and following the program go, but I would be lying. A couple of things happened that show that I still have some work to do on overall lifestyle choices and planning my eating situations.

The first set-back I encountered was alcohol. Some long-time friends my wife and I haven’t seen in a while due to our busy lives dropped by Saturday night for a visit. Then some neighbors came by and before we knew it we had a mini-party underway. I have to be perfectly honest, I was planning on having some drinks from the get-go, but I didn’t expect to have any many as I did.

Knowing I was going to drink, I knew I was going to have to make the “safest” possible selection in cocktails. Beer was straight out because of the high carb count and overall calories involved. I chose to drink Vodka mixed with a Diet Cranberry juice which was low in carbs.

I know a couple of things about alcohol and weight that are key to remembering. Number one, alcohol itself isn’t carb heavy, however the body metabolizes it as a pseudo carbohydrate and reacts in a similar fashion. Number two, while any significant amount of alcohol is in your blood stream your metabolism will slow to a greatly reduced rate, making anything you eat more likely to become fat. All-in-all it is an extremely poor choice to make if trying to diet or lose weight.

Although I had more than enough drinks Saturday night, I managed to steer clear of unwanted eating. Now this sounds like a victory, but I knew I was in for trouble when I woke up in the morning. My favorite cure of a hangover has always been food. In fact, I usually crave starchy foods heavy in carbohydrates. I don’t know if this is something my body does in particular or if it is normal, either way I crave double cheeseburgers, french fries and fountain soda! When I got up, I knew I was going to want to eat, so I made myself a low-carb favorite… an omelet with cottage cheese in it. I know, it probably doesn’t sound good, but they are quite tasty. I got breakfast out of the way and settled in for along day.

By mid-afternoon I had gotten in some Medifast Meals and was doing quite good on the hunger and hangover road. I was beginning to think things were going to be alright. I ran some errands and cleaned up around the house. Before I knew it the time to go to a friend’s Super Bowl party had arrived. Away we went for yet another round of temptations.

I didn’t plan ahead and had nothing to eat for hours going into the party. At one point I realized I would need to eat something, so I just set out to make some decent choices. I have to admit, it was hard. I’m a big fan of bread, especially giant party sub sandwiches! I sucked it up though and I ate some hot wings and a few pizza rolls. I know there were some carbs had there, but not a ton and it was the safest choice.

I guess what I learned this weekend was I will not always make perfect choices and I will not always be able to avoid bad eating situations, but I can certainly plan for them better. I should have been right on target eating wise prior to that last get together, so staying focused is going to be key.

Second, I know that alcohol needs to not be part of my general lifestyle. I know I love to have some drinks with friends a couple of weekends a month, but I need to avoid this until I have finished the program and made some permanent changes to the way I eat.

Most importantly, I made up my mind about “slipping” or “cheating” on my program. There is no sense in letting a mistake or two (or five) derail me from my overall goal. I’m not going to feel guilty or get down on myself over my mistakes this weekend, I will chalk them up to being human and I will learn from them. Having a slip throughout the day is no reason to throw away the rest of the day, or week or to give up on the journey. It is what it is and I will move on unaffected by it other than some determination not to do it again!