As with many people, vacation is often my downfall when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. The combination of letting your guard down, being in strange places, and eating on the road can be deadly. We just returned from a challenging vacation, and I wanted to share some thoughts with you.
For starters, when I say “challenging,” I mean it. As much as people are tempted to let down their guard over the weekend, vacations are even worse. And what’s worse than a “typical” vacation? I’ll tell you what…
A cruise. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know that the opportunity for over-indulgence is everywhere. Food and drink are plentiful, and “smart” eating/drinking decisions often involve things like getting one daiquiri with double rum rather than having two daiquiris to save a few calories.
So how did I do in terms of weight control while we were on the high seas? Not as bad as I had expected. The following graph from PhysicsDiet.com shows the past 30 days. The open circles and upward trend just to the right of center correspond to our weeklong cruise.
The consistent upward march of those open circles is a byproduct of interpolation while we were away. I didn’t have access to a scale, so I didn’t weight myself on those days, and PhysicsDiet assumes a linear change in the absence of real data.
As you can see, I experienced a moderate reversal of the weight loss trend that I had established in the week or so preceding our trip. As soon as we returned, however, I picked up where I left off, and my moving average is once again heading sharply downward.
It’s also worth noting that you typically see a lot of seemingly random up/down fluctuations when tracking your weight on a daily basis. The whole point of PhysicsDiet is to smooth out those bumps in the rood to give you a more realistic sense of your weight loss trends.
While I have little doubt that I gained weight while we were away, it’s quite possible that March 14th (my 1st post-vacation data point) was a bit on the high side. Because of the way that PhysicsDiet estimates missing data, this point would have had a disproportionate effect on the blue trend line.
How to prevent vacation weight gain
So what did I learn from all of this? For starters, it is possible to indulge and enjoy yourself without totally destroying everything that you’ve worked so hard to accomplish. Here are some tips.
Keep exercising
As much temptation as there was onboard the ship, it also had a fantastic fitness center. My wife and I were thus able to get enough exercise to prevent a complete meltdown. I ended up doing three elliptical sessions totaling just under three hours (not including warmup/down), and I also lifted weights twice during the week.
Aside from that, we did a four mile self-guided walking tour in one of our ports-of-call, and we had a blast. It was way better than any of the “official” excursions, self-powered, and totally free. With four kids in tow, we weren’t exactly power walking, but that four miles is about four miles more than most other cruisers walked that day.
While it’s awfully hard to use exercise to burn of junk food or other caloric indiscretions, staying active does help to offset some of your excesses.
Enjoy yourself, but don’t be a pig
I gave myself permission to enjoy all of the wonderful food onboard the ship knowing full well that I’d gain a bit of weight. But that doesn’t mean I had to scarf down every huge platter placed in front of me. Instead, I tasted a variety of things and, most importantly, did my best to scarfing when I started feeling full.
Related to the above, if you’re presented with equally (or nearly so) enjoyable food options, pick the one that’s healthier. Yes, you want to enjoy yourself, and if a certain treat will make a huge difference, then go for it. But be conservative where you can. You won’t regret it.
For example, I frequently chose things like a delicious salad over a rich and creamy soup, or a reasonably healthy chicken dish over a much richer (and saucier) main course. Being on vacation doesn’t mean you have to lose your head entirely.
Get back in the groove immediately upon your return
One of my biggest challenges when it comes to travel is getting back on track when I return home. After all, what’s one more day when I’ve been slacking off all week? The trouble is that days can easily turn into weeks, and your hard fought progress will rapidly slip away.
I can’t even recall the number of times that my efforts have been derailed by a vacation mindset that lingered well beyond the end of vacation. No matter how tired, relaxed, etc. you’re feeling, do whatever it takes to get yourself back on track right way.
For me, this meant jumping back on our rowing machine and working my way through a 10km piece the morning after we returned. Admittedly, this was made easier by the fact that we hit the road when I was one workout shy of one million lifetime meters, but even then it was hard.
But guess what? I did it, and immediately found myself back the groove, both mentally and physically.
What about you?
Do you have any tips/tricks for keeping your momentum when you’re on the road?
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Getting back into the groove is the hardest part for me. But I’m getting better at it!