I knew last week that my trip to Chicago was going to be a week-long diet battle, and I was right. Over the past month I have vastly improved my ability to make better choices about food in general, but on a vacation to Chicago, that’s just not going to happen. Part of the intrinsic enjoyment of the trip is the wonderful food Chicago has to offer — things like Italian Beef Sandwiches, Chicago-style hot dogs and Chicago-style pizza that you simply cannot get in Oklahoma. And so I ate all those things, and more.

While I can’t say I ate great, I did do some damage control. Instead of two helpings of chop suey, I only had one. I ordered my hot dogs without french fries — they included them anyway, but I only picked at a couple and threw most of them away. I only had dessert at a couple of meals instead of all of them. The best thing I did last week was continued my walking regiment. Except for the days we drove, I walked around two miles each way. My new MP3 player performed like a champ, and with all the albums I copied over to it before the trip I had tons of new music to listen to each day.

I weighed yesterday and I gained less than one full pound last week. Considering all the pizza and other unhealthy (and yet delicious!) food I ate last week, I’d call it a small victory (or at least a tie).

It has been incredibly simple to get back on the train. Susan and I have had lunch the past two days at Hometown Buffet where I’ve loaded up on salad, vegetables and fish. It’s pretty easy to “do the right thing” when you know what the right thing is.