Igualito, Tito!

(That's "Even, Steven!" en Espanol, per my in-house expert translator.)

What a pleasant surprise as I stepped on the scale this morning, fully prepared for a 7-10 pound gain, but hoping for nothing more than a 4-5 pound addition. Prepare for the worst, expect the best, as they say.

I weighed exactly the same as I did the morning I left. Down to the tenth of a pound. There IS a God.

I'm not entirely sure how that happened. But I'm taking it and running with it. And being very grateful to this machine that is my new body. It didn't let me down. I didn't let me down.

Trust me, I ate. I ate a lot compared to what I normally eat. I ate three solid meals a day. I ate dinner late at night. I ate three courses, at minimum, at dinner. I had eggs, cheese and fruit nearly every morning for breakfast. I snacked ... sometimes with an apple, sometimes with an ice cream cone and sometimes with pico de gallo and chips. I had beef two times. I had pork three times. I always made more than one trip to the buffet.

And I drank. Never enough to get plowed, but I imbibed in adult beverages every day. Usually at least one before noon. I sucked down my fair share of those fruity, blended, full-of-empty-sugar-calorie things in big glasses with straws.

But I balanced all that with this:

• I skipped workouts the first two days, but walked 4 miles each morning on a treadmill in a very hot (as in temperature, not as in cool) fitness center.
• I drank a lot of Diet Coke and mineral water with lime.
• I made sure return trips to the buffet were heavy on the fresh fruit and vegetables.
• If I ordered something completely decadent, like lobster and shrimp risotto in a creamy, cheesy white wine sauce, I only ate about 2/3 of it, satisfying my desire to taste it and maintaining my sense of portion.
• I watched my carbs and didn't waste calories on something as pedestrian as toast or pasta.
• And while I may have tried one of essentially everything, I only ate ONE. This proved especially difficult with those delicious pan de chocolate pastries. You know the ones, buttery, flaky goodness wrapped around dark chocolate ... for BREAKFAST!
• Plus, I convinced Jim that walks along the beach were a good way to keep me cheerful. And our off-resort excursions were heavy on "activity." We walked through the ruins of Tulum and climbed down from the cliff it sits on to the beautiful beach below. We paddled intertubes down the waterways of Xel-Ha against the wind. (That was more of a workout than anticipated!) We climbed to the tops of 14 zip-line towers to enjoy 40-80 second rides down the cables, strapped in harnesses. (And I didn't have to be embarrased by being asked to step out of the standard harness donning line to get fitted for the "big girl" version.)

Today it was back to my normal routine. Bagel Thin and peanut butter for breakfast. Raw veggies and hard boiled egg whites for lunch. Baked chicken, steamed broccoli and brown rice with a little pesto for dinner. And something tells me I'll weigh more tomorrow than today. But that's OK.

I didn't gain 10 lbs. on vacation.

Maybe this new way of life is going to stick afterall.