Enjoy Your Vacation To The Fullest
It’s no secret that when vacation hits, so does temptation to stray from our diets and exercising habits. Whether you’re traveling abroad, or just relaxing by the pool, it’s sometimes easy to throw caution to the wind, and our progress along with it. Our thinking is that we’ll simply pick back up where we left off when we get home.
But the truth is that is an extremely difficult thing to do. It takes a long time to develop good habits, but it only takes a few days to erase them. Luckily, there are some things you can do to ensure that you stay committed to both your diet and your exercise regime while also enjoying your vacation to the fullest. Let’s take a look at a few ideas to get you started.
Eat This Not That
One of the biggest temptations is straying from you diet. This is especially true if you’re traveling, either because you want to try more regional cuisines or you’re just not cooking for yourself. Here are some strategies for conquering temptation over vacation.
Bring your own: If possible, bring your own food from home. Pre-pack your meals and put them in a cooler or refrigerate them if you have access to one. This will help ensure you always have something healthy on hand to eat.
Be flexible: Look, we get it. It’s vacation and you don’t want to be as restricted as you might normally be at home. And that’s okay, as long as you indulge in moderation. Give yourself a little slack (but not too much), maybe pick a single meal every other day, or even an afternoon treat for a snack, where you don’t follow your diet as strictly. For all other meals, though, maintain your usual regime!
Make healthy choices: Even if you’re letting yourself indulge a little bit, that doesn’t mean you have to go full-hog when indulging. For example, if you go out for ice cream, maybe you get sorbet or frozen yogurt instead of ice cream.
Don’t stress: You’re on vacation to relax, not to be stressed out. As such, don’t beat yourself up for straying from your diet. At the same time, be aware of your own decisions, and make an effort to do better at the next few meals.
Keep Up The Exercise
One thing that many of us struggle with when on vacation is keeping up our exercise routines. Maybe we’re used to going to the gym on a regular schedule, but the irregular schedules of vacation can throw our routine into chaos. And once we get back from vacation, it can be a real chore to get back into the swing of things. Here are some ideas to help you stick to your routine, even if you’re far from home.
Find somewhere that has a gym: If you’re a gym rat, then going on vacation can be really disrupt your routine. If you’re traveling, consider finding a hotel that has an exercise room. Additionally, some gyms are part of a network of gyms around the country, where you can use any facilities in the network. Ask your gym if that’s the case. Or, as a last resort, find a gym near where you’re staying and ask if you can buy a week-long pass. You might end up paying a premium for that, but isn’t your health worth it?
Modify your routine: Did you go on vacation just to spend it all exercising? Well, maybe, if you’re into that. But most of us want to spend more time having fun or relaxing, not sweating it out. As such, vacation is a good time to evaluate your routine and mix it up a little. Consider removing a few exercises, or keeping things to a bare minimum. Get your work out done quickly, and then move on.
Stay active: Vacation is a great time to do things you might not have time to do at home, and that can include physical activities, too. For example, you might try mountain biking, or rock climbing, or even you might go swimming more. The key is finding activities you can do that are both fun and give you a good workout.
Schedule an appointment with one of our health experts. We’ll work with you to create a personalized diet and workout that works for you, even over vacation.