Friday, 29th March 2024
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Avoiding weight gain while on vacation

On vacation, make water your best friend; drink lots of water. Water helps flush toxins, prevents dehydration and helps to keep you feeling full between meals. Throw a water bottle in your bag and hydrate consistently throughout the day.

Drink water. Photo: Fit2Win Wellness

It’s summer time for the kids, which means vacation is around the corner for most. Vacations typically include indulgences, relaxation, and letting loose. Once upon a time, my vacations were an excuse to indulge and it always left me feeling guilty and regretting my choices.  Who loves to feel guilty on a vacation? Nobody!  Or how about that dreadful feeling from stepping on the scale and seeing the number has gone up?  That’s not fun either.

The truth is, if you are not careful, these bad habits will follow you home and they can linger for a while. This is why it is important to be mindful of your habits even while enjoying your vacation. Staying on track and preventing weight gain is easy when you focus on healthy compromises and solutions instead of using your vacation as an excuse to indulge. I want you to enjoy yourself but I also want to teach you how to protect yourself from wrecking yourself.

Here are a few rules you can follow:
Adopt the 80/20 rule
A few months ago, I wrote an article on the 80/20 rule. I totally live by this rule and I want you to adopt it too so that you can enjoy yourself without ruining your progress. What you should do, is to balance your vacation indulgences with clean proteins and vegetables that will help to regulate your hunger and sugar level hormones, and prevent low energy, cravings, bloat and weight gain. That way, you can truly enjoy yourself and your trip while staying on track. You truly can eat healthy anywhere.

Wherever you are: hotel, theme parks, restaurants, birthday dinners and the likes, think 80/20. Eat fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins 80 per cent of the time and indulge for 20 per cent. Most importantly, pack healthy snacks with you for the trip, so you’ll always have something healthy and clean to eat. If you don’t, you’ll end up super hungry and you’re more likely to eat whatever is in sight. Remember, if you fail to plan, you’ve planned to fail. Good examples of healthy snacks are; carrot sticks, cucumber slices with peanut butter or hummus dip, a piece of fresh fruit, nuts etc.

Drink smart
“I don’t drink my calories, I eat them.” This has been my mantra from the days I was on a weight loss journey. As strange as it sounds, I didn’t think it made sense to drink calories when I could eat them. On vacation, make water your best friend; drink lots of water. Water helps flush toxins, prevents dehydration and helps to keep you feeling full between meals. Throw a water bottle in your bag and hydrate consistently throughout the day.

Do you know that it would take a 45-minute cardio session to burn off the calories in a margarita? If you’re a cocktail drinker, stick to vodka or clear rum and sugar-free mixers (like water and club soda), like vodka and club soda or ask for 100% agave tequila on the rocks… it has no sugar and about 60 calories per serving.

Exercise
Exercises help boost your energy and endorphins and can actually make your vacation more enjoyable. Plus, it helps to burn the additional calories you’re eating and drinking. Determine what your schedule looks like ahead of time and how much you want to devote (you’re on vacation so try to figure out how this won’t impede your experiences.

If your hotel has a gym, do sweaty cardio for at least 45 minutes every day you’re there. No gym? No problem. Carry a jump rope with you and engage in skipping for 50 minutes, or get your laptop out, search through Youtube for whatever exercise videos catch your fancy. You could also ask the
concierge for recommendations of gyms close by. Most gyms don’t have an issue giving free guest passes. Walking is an easy way to exercise, while exploring new places, and will save you Uber money.

Relax
Get your rest. Try not to deviate much from your normal routine.  The more well rested you are, the more enjoyable your experiences will be. Don’t come back from vacation more stressed out, in worse shape, and needing a cleanse to get back on track. That’s exactly what your vacation should be: you should be more fresh and clear-minded when you come back, better than when you left.

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