What is life without a little indulgence? Indulgence is good, right? We deserve it from time to time. This is especially true when we go on vacation. It is easy to overdo it though. We eat too much, drink too much and all too often forget our workout routines all together. It is not uncommon to return from vacation a few pounds heavier than when we left. With a little planning and moderation, it is possible to treat yourself to those decadent baked goods, cocktails, and craft beer and still wear the same size pants when you return home. The healthy side of indulgence is all about balance. 
I learned my lesson on balance between super healthy and indulgence the hard way.
As the Assistant Innkeeper at the Beacon House Inn Bed & Breakfast I am often in the kitchen baking and cooking. At least a few times per week it is not unusual to eat leftovers from breakfast after the guests have been served. This could be anything from Creme Brulee French Toast to Artisan Baked Oatmeal. As you can imagine, I easily consume hundreds of mindless calories throughout the day with bites, licks and tastes as I cook and bake. As it turns out, these little “BLT’s” as I like to call them, add up over time. They add up a lot! Over the course of four years, I gained just shy of forty pounds.
These extra pounds crept up almost unnoticeable over time and when I turned forty-nine, I had a rude awakening. Maybe it was seeing pictures of myself and hating them? Perhaps it was my mortality finally setting in and I realized that I had to do something about my weight. I felt unhealthy, I smoked cigarettes, and most days by early afternoon, I had no energy whatsoever. Diabetes runs in my family so I became nervous about developing the disease and I began to diet. My frustration only grew as I could not shed any of those extra pounds and I was finding out quickly that as we age it becomes more difficult to lose weight.
I have educated myself on how much our bodies change as we grow older. The old ways of getting in shape no longer apply. I needed something drastic, something I had never tried before. That turned out to be weight lifting. With consistent hard work and a regimented schedule, over the course of six months, I had lost twenty-five pounds and I was embracing a completely new healthy lifestyle.Due to the nature of my job, I had to find some balance with food. No amount of working out was going to keep up with daily doses of pancakes and a regular diet of baked goods. So far I have successfully maintained my new weight for over a year and that is where this blog comes in.
Our new blog, The Healthy Side of Indulgence by the Beacon House Inn, is based on a combination of our years of experience in the hospitality business plus our own personal travels. It will highlight some of my personal lifestyle transformation journey as I learned how to live on the healthy side of indulgence. We will now be sharing these tips and more with you so that you too can travel and live healthy while still enjoying life!