Vacation vs. Healthy Me/You: Be Healthy & Still Enjoy Yourself

I recently went on vacation with my boyfriend and a couple of our friends.  We stayed in a place where we had a kitchen, visited another friend and also spent some time riding dirt bikes.  I found many challenges to sticking with my healthy plan.  I find it especially difficult when I travel with others to maintain my healthy habits.  This is something that I think many of us struggle with when we get out of our normal routine and have less control of where we eat.  I found that even in traveling to a place where we had a kitchen the people around me wanted to go out to eat.  Sometimes eating out makes me nervous because there are temptations depending on where we go and no matter where you go there will be temptations. 

This trip was no different I definitely was faced with temptations and some I was able to do well with and others I struggled with, which helps me understand that I still am growing and learning new skills.  The first place we went I tried to eat well but it was hard because they have the best biscuits and gravy and we rarely go there, so I had a few bits of my boyfriends. (Which was better than eating a full plate of my own).  Then we ended up at a bar for dinner one night, I have able to order a chicken sandwich hold the bread, coleslaw (their salad bar was closed) and a potato (which was only a half of potato).  Not too bad, however I did have some beers.  The next day I was able to start fresh with a good breakfast however as they day continued on choices became harder and again I spent another night having some drinks (this was a theme of the whole weekend – do well in the morning and increasing struggle throughout the day and into the evening). 

All and all I did alright, I wasn’t great but I didn’t though caution to the wind.  I did work out a couple time during the trip and it felt great to be able to do that.  I did come back about 5 pounds heavier and then struggled to get it off.  However what was different about this trip is that I was more aware of my choices and paid more attention to how my body was reacting to the less than healthy food choices.  I couldn’t help but notice I felt bloated, experienced more gas (yes increase in farting.J), and felt less energetic.  These things helped me understand how my food choices impacted my body and my body was telling me hey I don’t like how this food makes me feel. 

I learned six major things that I am going to work on the next trip and you can implement as well.

1.      I always have control over my choices and so do you (even if I don’t have a kitchen, I can make healthy choices where ever I go).  It is my choice to have a beer, glass of wine or glass of water.  No one was pressuring me to drink and what to drink.  If you want to drink, it is wise to choose something that you drink a little slower, that way you don’t pack on the extra calories.  For me this means that I will try to choose wine over beer. This also applies to food – no one makes you choose the hamburger and fries, you can always choose a salad with the dressing on the side, drip your fork into the dressing and then add your salad to the fork.  Just make sure your salad has some healthy protein.  Stay away from fried stuff if you can.

2.      Workouts are always possible when on vacation.  There are lots of things you can do that don’t require weights or machines.  This is also a nice change of pace for your body it requires your muscles to do something different, which is always good.  One thing you can do before you go is plan out what you would like to do, and keep simple and less than 30 minutes.  It can be a plyo workout, a sprint session (you don’t need to be at a track to do sprints – just pick two points a good distance apart and then sprint one way, walk back the other way), or even try doing 500 walking lunges (I know crazy but always an option – it should take you less than 30 minutes depending on your fitness level).  There are lots of things to do so just find something that you enjoy!

3.      Plan ahead.  Take the snacks and food that you can eat.  Where you go may not have what you need so if you can take it pack it!!  That way there will not be any questions or excuses of why you couldn’t do it.  Then if you don’t eat what you brought, it is only about a choice you made versus, the excuse of well I couldn’t find it.  Easy things to pack are protein bars, almonds, grapefruits, and apples. 

4.      Choose water as your primary drink.  Yes its vacation and you will likely indulge in more drinks, more eating out (which also means more sodium intake) and more things that you might not normally do.  Drinking as much water as possible a minimum of 8 glasses but preferable 12 glasses or as close to a gallon as possible, will help flush out the sodium and keep you hydrated. Both of these are important for your body to be running at optimal levels. 

5.      Have an eating strategy and give yourself one to two cheat meals (depending on how long you are on vacation.)  I know when I am on vacation I choose foods that I normally wouldn’t eat food with creamy sauces, pastas, alcohol and dessert. However if I eat like that every day I will be sabotaging my hard work.  To help limit self sabotage, give yourself permission to have a cheat meal or two and eat anything you want. (try to keep it max two cheat meals per week, so if vacation is less than a week – limit it to one cheat meal). The other nights try to stick with a lean protein and veggies, especially in the evening.  Swap out the rice or potatoes for an extra side of veggies.  You will feel better in the morning not only physically but also mentally because you won’t be saying to yourself “why did I do that….I can’t believe I did that….what was I thinking… now I have ruined everything….Oh I did it again, I am horrible….I can’t do anything right what is wrong with me.”  These statements don’t help you at all so give yourself permission for a cheat and the rest of the time make healthy choices.

6.      Practice awareness of your choices and only make a choice for right now. Much of the above suggestions rely on your ability to be aware of your choices and to make each choice in the moment.  Remember it is important not to give away all your future choices (this will create more self sabotage) and you can enjoy things in moderation.  Moderation is not “Oh I am on vacation therefore I can through caution to the wind and eat whatever I want because I only do it once a year.”  Moderation is making choices about where and when you will indulge and doing it because you want to not because you are on vacation.  If you do the latter you might feel worse about yourself and your choices later, especially when you get home and reality slaps you in the face.  It is okay to indulge but awareness of your choices is a critical component of the equation to being healthy and happy. Without awareness it is harder to reach your goals and stay on track.  When you are aware of your choices and plan out your indulges, you will in turn be kinder to yourself and kindness to yourself is a necessity to sticking with your healthy choices.

On your next vacation or even this coming weekend (this could be applied to weekends too) try to follow these six suggestions and see what happens.  Note how you feel about yourself both physically and mentally.  You might be surprised that you don’t feel deprived and you don’t feel bad about your choices when you return home.  Remember give yourself grace, this is a journey not a destination and we are continuously growing and learning.  Use each vacation as an opportunity to practice making the healthiest choices for you.  The more you practice the better you get, even the best athletes have to practice every day.  Remember you can do anything you put your mind too with awareness and control over your choices!!  Good luck and let me know how your next vacation or weekend is after trying these 6 suggestions!!