What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. Including getting off the diet track.

Okay, so unfortunately I am not here to report good news. My intentions to maintain Paleo eating in Vegas were far from successful. Do you know how hard it is to find anything to eat under $20 in Vegas? Let alone Paleo friendly food? Vegas is full of fancy restaurants, fast food and buffets. There aren’t exactly a ton of healthy options available in Sin City.

On the first day, we ate lunch at the Fat Burger Bar. This is where I fell off track. I had every intention to eat my grilled chicken sandwich w/ lettuce and tomato sans bun. However, that plan was thrown off track when the food was delivered, on a tray without a plate or any silverware. The Fat Burger Bar is one of those lovely burger places where they serve the burger in a paper wrap to allow for convenient face stuffing without having to mess around with plates and forks. Without a plate, it is much harder to eat a chicken burger without the bun and I had to bite the bullet and go for it. I was really nervous to see how my body would respond to the gluten after not eating ANY gluten for about 5 weeks. Surprisingly, it seemed to not affect me. Other than mentally because the first meal off the wagon would surely lead to many more.

And that was the beginning of the end. The rest of the weekend was full of buffets, pancakes, sandwiches and even pizza. Yikes. It wasn’t without punishment though as I did get sick on Saturday evening. I tried to get back on track on Sunday to avoid feeling sick on the airplane coming home.

I did manage to maintain my weight throughout the trip. I think partially because we got a lot of exercise. Vegas is a big place where you can walk faster than you can take a cab. (Traffic is terrible around the strip.) Our daily average of walking was about 4.2 miles. Needless to say, walking that much in shoes built for looks, not comfort did quite the number on my calves and shins. Ouch! But definitely worth it because I didn’t get a workout in during our trip.

Aside from making poor food choices, Vegas was a blast! The team took home awards in all of their weight classes and we had a great time sightseeing.

We went on the world’s scariest roller coaster, built into the New York, New York hotel. We took a Ferris wheel ride 600 feet above the strip in a space pod. We ventured through Downtown Las Vegas on Freemont Street. We ate at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, Burgr. We saw Tori Spelling on her way to a Jane’s Addiction concert. We zip lined down the old Las Vegas strip. We lost some money. We laughed a lot. And we all became even greater friends!

It was my favorite vacation yet with some truly wonderful people.

I took today off from work to “recover” from the trip. Good thing I did, I spent the whole morning in the kitchen prepping meals. I have been completely committed to the Paleo lifestyle (minus one cheat here and there) until we went to Vegas so I am fully committed to leaving those poor food choices at the Vegas airport. I am back home and back on track now!

What you will see below is:

Lemon-Garlic Chicken Breasts

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Grilled Chicken w/ Steamed Veggies

Ready-to-Go Spinach Salad

 

Now we will be set for the next couple of days with lunches and dinner to get us through until those wonderful Thanksgiving leftovers come through!

I’m really excited because some of my family are on a healthy eating kick with me. My oldest sister, Kel has been trying out some of my Paleo recipes and surprisingly, my niece loves them! My mom has been avoiding sugar and trying to eat healthier. Today, my sister Melissa and I went to visit my mom & dad who are in town from Denver for the holiday. I was really excited for the Paleo meal my mom made for us for dinner.

Tilapia with leeks, onions, tomato and olives over a bed of spinach. It turned out delicious! I welcome any opportunity to eat Salmon, Tilapia or Cod because I don’t get a chance to make it much at home. My husband doesn’t have a taste for fish so I rarely make it. This was a dish that I might have to try myself!

My parents are hosting Thanksgiving this year and we are going to incorporate Paleo friendly dishes along with the traditional favorites. I am responsible to bring Paleo Pumpkin Pie. The only experience I have baking is burning those prepackaged rolls of Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies. Hopefully my new affinity for cooking will translate to baking. Whether it turns out good or bad, you will surely hear all about it!

Take a look below for some fun pictures from the Vegas trip!