One of the hard parts about going to the in-laws, especially when you’ve changed the way you eat, is they still treat you as if nothing has changed, even if they comment on the results.

The other problem is, you pick up bad habits again.

After a week at the in-laws I can say I gained just over two kilograms (about 4.4 pounds). The main culprit was beer. Even though I cut back what they usually try to to serve me, there was still more than I’m used to drinking.

There were also a lot more carbs than I’d gotten used to the previous 140 or so days. For that matter, there was a lot more food. They commented every time I ate carbs without noticing that carbs was all I’d been offered. My choices were carbs or not. One morning I didn’t even get that choice when I got handed handed a bowl of ozoni with a rice cake in it.

I kept up a token daily exercise routine, but because there were always people around, and my usual workout space was being used in its official capacity as a family shrine during the new year, it was hard to follow a regular schedule. Also, my usual sleep pattern has been disrupted which messed with my physical state as well.

That would have been fine, but the last thing that contributed to the weight gain was a combination of boredom and easily available tasty sweets with no healthier alternatives. The boredom came because we didn’t do much this time. We usually go shopping a couple times and then go skiing once, but none of us were in the mood to ski. This time, though, I was mostly just sitting around watching people watch the various new year’s marathon relays whilst Mother of She Who Must Be Obeyed handed out sweets from gift boxes. Unfortunately, this is the first year they didn’t have pile of mixed nuts available and, because we didn’t go shopping, I didn’t have a chance to grab any. This all led to bored eating which didn’t help me maintain my weight.

All this threw off my new eating habits. I now find myself, even when I’ve been working on something, trying to track down easily available sweets. This is complicated by the fact I haven’t had a chance to go shopping and pick up some healthy alternatives.

Today was better, but I found myself reaching for cookies and chocolate more than once. Luckily I only picked them up once.