Last week I took a much needed vacation and went to Switzerland. I got in on a great package deal with some friends and their family and jumped at the opportunity – an opportunity to ski in the Alps, yeah!
You might remember reading about my love of skiing here at Fearless Fat Loss. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times because it’s something that motivates me to stick with my clean eating and exercise plan. After all, skiing is a very physical activity, and I need to be in as good of shape as I can be. Besides that, I love skiing more than anything.
For this trip I was motivated to drop some weight and while I didn’t make my short-term goal before leaving, I decided that I would enjoy the trip instead of allowing thoughts of my weight to hold me back. Nope, no more of that for me – remember, I’m going for my joy now and not waiting until I get to my goal weight before I having fun!
At first I did find myself thinking of my weight when it came time for pictures, but then I quickly decided that the pictures would make great progress photos – just because I’m not at my goal weight now doesn’t mean that I cannot be. 😉
One thing that I want to accomplish before my next vacation is to nail down my emotional eating. It’s true that no matter where you go, there you are, so if you don’t have a super healthy lifestyle at home, you certainly won’t have one on vacation.
Now is it possible to relax a little while on vacation? Sure, if you don’t have any problem getting back on track once you’re home. If you’re addicted to sugar though, that could be a problem. That was the problem I had last year after I returned home from Prague, and I don’t want to have that problem this year.
On To Some Skiing!
So here’s some photos for ya – there I am in the green, skiing at Engelberg. We started out on the easy runs, which were groomed, and at that time of day the sun was out and it was beautiful. These runs were too easy though, however we had no idea what was about to come after riding a few lifts and gondolas further up the mountain to get to the intermediate runs. By the time we got there a snow storm was upon us and it was clear that the mile + long run wasn’t groomed and uh, I’m not an expert skier – I ski in-bounds, groomed slopes, and in control.
“Skiing” The Alps
Here I am skiing the Alps, or should I say, sitting the Alps (lol!).
Yep, I got in over my head and listened to a suggestion from one of the locals to go to a part of the mountain for some intermediate runs, which I ski here in the States. Next time I know to ask if the runs are groomed if I haven’t learned how to ski moguls yet. That’s right, they were all moguls and I don’t know how to ski them. I couldn’t control my speed not to mention the visibility was low. One time I threw myself into a snow bank to avoid flying over the edge. Yeah, it was an experience but I made it out alive.
That’s OK though – I learned a lot and I know what to look for next time. I ended up getting a good recommendation for a different resort that the locals don’t like – Flumserberg. The locals are expert skiers and Flumserberg is too easy for them, but since I’ve only been skiing for 4 years instead of since I was 3 years old, Flumserberg would have been a better choice.
The Sugar Man
I just have to throw this photo in here. This was outside a bakery in Lucerne, one of the stops on the trip. The sugar man is so cute, even though he’s beckoning me to come on in for those sweet sweet treats.
What’s interesting though, is that while there are some great bakeries and chocolate shops over there, you don’t see obese people walking around in Switzerland. I think it’s a combination of all of the walking and also smaller portions.
I wish I’d taken a picture in the grocery store but take my word for it – all of the portions are a lot smaller than we have here in the States. I bet that’s because whatever you buy you’re going to walk home with it, so you cannot load yourself down with too much.
The Long Walk & Climb
One last story to share: I love to visit castles and I got the chance to see Castle Kyburg. The best part was the beautiful walk up to the castle, even though it was a long one. On the way the sun was out but it was cold enough for snow, which it did later in the day.
The castle was fun, too. The people who put the museum together (displayed throughout the castle) had a sense of humor, doing things like hanging a BMX helmet up on a beam lined with 20-30 medieval fighting helmets, and hanging one painting in a group upside down, maybe to see if anyone would notice.
Overall it was a good trip and a good break to have in my routine. And although I didn’t emotionally eat, the trick now is to get back on track and to keep making progress with my emotional eating experiment, as well as my healthy eating and exercise routine. 😉
thanks for sharing this—-I love getting a glimpse of bloggerwriters in the real world.
M.
Love it! Love it! Love it! Beautiful pictures! Oh, I want to go skiing right now!!! (Yeah, moguls are doozies!)
Thanks so much for sharing. It was great seeing you. (And I think you look great, so I’m glad you didn’t opt out of being in any of the pictures. They’ll make for wonderful memories.) 🙂
Hmmmn… Switzerland… clearly, I need to go back! And to ski there would be fantastic! (Yes, probably more than a bit intimidating, but still wonderful.)
@M, sure, I enjoyed sharing it with you guys, too. Made me think I could post some photos on Flickr if anyone wants to see more….I had a hard time choosing just a couple of pics to put in my post.
@Susan, thank you!! 🙂 You are the one who encouraged me to write this, and thanks so much for your compliments!
Yeah, the moguls are something I’ll need to take a lesson on, which I guess I need to if I want to ski powder.
@Merry, yes, the skiing was great, but I did feel a bit like a Huge newbie since I wasn’t born on the Alps….well, it would have been awesome if I’d started skiing as a kid in the States, but I can’t go back and change that (can you tell that I wish I could?! 🙂 ).
Great pics and story! My son would be jealous – he wants to ski the Swiss Alps someday.
john’s last blog post..Back No Worse For The Wear
Hi John, thanks!
Your son must be a good skier too – he’d probably have done much better on the runs I took at Engelberg.
It’s all good though, I just need to take some more lessons so I can learn how to ski the steeps and moguls. 🙂
I think that it is great that you love skiing. I have spent my life skiing and I love how it feels. It is fairly good exercise. As a recommendation , make sure you have really good skis (modern technology) and comfortable, well fit boots, and your skiing will automatically improve.
cheers,
Rick