Question: How do you diet on vacation?
Answer: Don’t.
Vacation isn’t the time to worry about your diet.
The thing is, your progress isn’t dictated by the few vacations you take a year. It’s dictated by how you handle breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks (the ones that happen day-in and day-out).
The few times you are fortunate to go on vacation is not the time to worry about your progress. That’s the time to enjoy your time with friends and family, live life, and get back on track when you get home.
Question: Will you lose all progress if you go on vacation for a week or two?
Answer: No
Remember….
1. No one ever got fat from eating bad for one week, just like no one ever got skinny from eating healthy for one week.
2. Most of the weight you gain on vacation is not fat; it’s water weight and stomach content. After a week of being back on track, you’ll be back to your usual self.
Now, I’m not telling you to binge for the sake of it.
What I am saying to you is that in years to come, you won’t look back on your vacation and say, “dang, I wish I didn’t eat that donut, pizza, or ice cream.”
You will say, “why was I so uptight?!?”
I recently just got back from a family trip to North Dakota. I ate ice cream, pizza, chips, and other desserts every day and I don’t regret it one bit.
As soon as we touched back down in California, I got right back on track. I meal prepped chicken breast, ground turkey, sweet potatoes and chopped up a bunch of fruit and veggies. I’m back on track and that’s what counts.
But, if you’re worried about disrupting your hard-earned progress, here are a few tips on how to enjoy yourself on vacation without finding yourself back at square one.
Travel Tips
- Pack food. Packing food is a great way to get your travel diet off to a good start. I always pack at least one meal when we fly and 3+ meals when we drive. My go-to is a salad with protein in an old cottage cheese container, so I can just toss it. I also pack fruit, veggies, jerky, rice cakes, and protein bars. So, when all else fails and you’re hungry, you’ve got some pre-packed options that won’t take you way off course.
- Take the stairs and walk every chance you get
- Do some kind of activity every day, even if it’s just a few pushups, situps or squats
- Choose water over a soda
- Make one meal a day carb-less. Listen, carbs don’t make you fat, but it’s easy to overeat carbs, especially when dining out (chips, bread, pasta, rice, etc.).
- Split a dessert or opt for the small icecream. Trust me, you don’t need anything bigger than that.
Bottom Line
As with everything in fitness, balance is the key to success. Using these tips, you won’t have to get “back on the wagon,” because you never got off in the first place.
