2 Week Vacation- How do you eat?

EsmeWinchester

Alright, so I'm going on vacation for two weeks starting this weekend. It's a remote island, so I will not have any access to cell or internet to log food and most if not all meals, aside from breakfast, will be eaten at a restaurant or on the go. Heaven forbid I'm going to let myself ruin this 25lb loss. I've never been so motivated as I am now I mean, I can handle the log in streak starting over on MFP, but I will not gain weight.

What are some tips you all have for eating well while on vacation, but not feeling deprived or that you are restricting yourself?

Thanks in advance!

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

I eat like I'm on vacation while I'm on vacation. Even if you gain, it'd just be a few lbs, most of which will be water weight.

Do lots of swimming, beach walking, or moving around in general. Don't eat until you're stuffed. Otherwise, just enjoy yourself and try not to worry. Your food diary will be here when you get back.

lichic25

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »

I eat like I'm on vacation while I'm on vacation. Even if you gain, it'd just be a few lbs, most of which will be water weight.

Do lots of swimming, beach walking, or moving around in general. Don't eat until you're stuffed. Otherwise, just enjoy yourself and try not to worry. Your food diary will be here when you get back.

Solid advice. Enjoy yourself and don't feel guilty if you decide to indulge.

middlehaitch

Rely on what you have learnt losing the 25lb.
Eat everything in moderation and use portion control.
If it helps keep you accountable, write down what you have eaten and the portion size.
You could even take your food scale with you.
Keep active.
Cheers, h.

jemhh

As long as you are mindful about your eating, you will do fine. Some meals you will splurge and then you will likely feel less hungry at others. When we went to Disney last fall I enjoyed "big eating" the first couple of days (dessert was included with every sit down meal in our meal plan) and then by the end of the third day I just wanted a simple salad and grilled salmon and no dessert. So I would say enjoy the food as vacation should be about letting loose a bit but also pay attention to your body's signals.

3dogsrunning

I love trying food when I am travelling so I don't restrict.

Generally, I try to have a "good" breakfast and lunch, ie within my typical calorie range. I've been doing this long enough to have a good idea of what to eat. I pretty much stick to things I normally have. Then I eat whatever I want for supper. I mean, if there is something I want during the day, I'll have it. I don't restrict too much. Plus I tend to be very active while travelling and I continue to do my normal exercise.

Mycophilia

This article might be helpful: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

cwolfman13

part of a good vacation for me is enjoying the local fare...i've been on a few islands too, and most of the food is pretty darned healthy...lots of grilled fish, vegetables, etc.

honestly, i've never gained any actual fat weight on a vacation...i eat good meals, but i rarely snack and i'm moving a whole hell of a lot more than i do at home given i'm stuck behind a desk most days. i actually will often lose a bit of weight on a vacation.

ChrisM8971

How much damage can you really do in 2 weeks? I am off on holiday for 2 weeks myself and will be eating, drinking, swimming and walking. I would consider it a bad holiday if I wasn't looking at having to lose an extra 5 or 6 lbs when I get back.

Try to make the best choices you can and try to moderate your portions but other than that have a fantastic holiday

Capt_Apollo

when out at restaurants, try to limit appetizers and breads and chips. try to order healthy meals with some salad. try to limit drinking, as that can be a source of a lot of empty calories. at breakfast try to have something healthy, like fruit, or complex carbs. find healthy snacks to munch on like fruit.

try to get in plenty of walking and hiking and swimming and whatever.

but it's your vacation! enjoy!!

Unknown

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Mapalicious

Oh my god please don't restrict during vacation. Try to be reasonable - maybe maintenance? You will really enjoy it, and be motivated to get back to it when you return

Good luck - and have a flipping excellent time!!

04hoopsgal73

It depends on your goals and how you can live (accept yourself) with obtaining them later rather than sooner. You have to be comfortable to accept and be accountable for your actions whether it's vacation, a work day, or a day off.
Also, you know your body best and how it responds to the choices you make.

~~~~If you will be beating yourself up after your vacation then I suggest you do your best to follow what you do daily on non vacation time......If you won't beat yourself up after vacation, then live it however but accept the consequences of how it may change your goals....

~~Know thyself Guideline: Here is a comparasion of my experiences. Both week cruises with pre and post stays adding up to 2 weeks vacation.
>Cruise A: I ate as if I wasn't on vacation, I exercised 3x/strength, 3x Cardio in the ship's gym, was active on excursions, use the ships' stair 75% time. I lost 5 punds.
>Cruise B: I ate in moderation which for me was allowing a few days with desserts and the other days with 2 glasses of wine. I exercised in the ship's gym 3x/strength, 3x Cardio, was active on excursions, used hsip's stairs 75% time. I maintained....For me I can not go past 14 days in moderation else I start to gain.

~~Results: Whatever choices I make I live with them, No excuses or whining allowed, I'm accountable for my actions.

I hope this helps you.

iLoveMyPitbull1225

3dogsrunning wrote: »

I love trying food when I am travelling so I don't restrict.

Generally, I try to have a "good" breakfast and lunch, ie within my typical calorie range. I've been doing this long enough to have a good idea of what to eat. I pretty much stick to things I normally have. Then I eat whatever I want for supper. I mean, if there is something I want during the day, I'll have it. I don't restrict too much. Plus I tend to be very active while travelling and I continue to do my normal exercise.

I second this! I think its about finding a balance between using your healthy eating strategies that have worked for you (congratulations on your success, by the way!) and enjoying yourself a little. That's why I like the "1 bad meal a day" idea. I will eat like I normally do for most of the day, and as this poster suggested, eat what you want for dinner.

Have a good time!

yeahfatty

I have a lot to lose, like 100+ pounds. I have just been on vacation in the US for a month & I actually ended up losing 18 pounds. It was a roadtrip so even though there wasn't a TON of walking, it was a lot for me!
I tried to log my food while I was there but I'd have good days & bad days with logging so essentially what ended up happening is I ate a very calorie light breakfast and lunch. E.g. continental breakfast at the hotel (such as two pieces of toast with jam & one glass of milk, perhaps an orange) & then typically subway for lunch. Tried to keep snacking to fruit or healthy low-cal options but there were days where I had coldstone ice cream.
Dinner was usually when it came tumbling down & I had In-n-out or Carl's Jr. or some other fast food burger option.
Just try to keep it to one out of control meal a day, if you can of course & you should be fine. Plus take the option to get a bit of walking or another exercise in when you can, especially swimming!

Hope you have an amazing vacation! (:

PS- you can still log your food offline, MFP has a huuuge offline database. That's what I did.

Asher_Ethan

I just got back from a vacation and I know the struggle. Hopefully the island has things to do to keep your mind off food! I found keeping me distracted helped me the most not think about food.

snowflakesav

I just got back from vacation. We ate like royalty at very special restaurants. We walked quite a bit and I raced a darn fast 10k. The scale spiked up by 3 pounds... Now up less than a pound. Totally worth it and was easy to get back on track. Have a plan for getting back on track.

arv51862

Eat like you are on vacation, only in moderation... I expect that you will be burning more calories each day than you normally would (???), so a few extra calories would be MFP approved ! If you want to stay connected, ask about available wi-fi networks, Otherwise just enjoy your trip, we'll be here for ya when you get back ! =o)

hbrittingham

I generally am much more active on vacation because at home, I have much less time to exercise. Because of that, I can eat more than I do normally do, but I still don't start eating too much. I do have a weakness for ice cream, and I do indulge in that when I am on vacation, pretty much daily.

cmoll520

I just got back from 11 days of vacation. I set my calories to maintenance and averaged about 300 calories above that with a couple really poor days (3000 calories- darn alcohol). I did my best to keep active all day long. I actually came back down 2lbs- so try not to stress! Enjoy! And even if you gain a lb or 2 you can lose them quickly! My goal was to not gain more than a pound and that really helped me not stress.

lemonlionheart

I just got back from a 2 week vacation. I did pretty well, in that I still attempted to log every day (you can do this with a pen and paper if there is no internet) but I also didn't deny myself having fun. In the 2 weeks I ended up going over my calories on about half the days, and being under the other half, which was pretty good by my standards. I got a fair bit of exercise from walking, and in the last week managed a couple of sessions at the gym. Had a great time. I don't really weigh myself often anymore, but I reckon I may have gained like one kilo, which I'm not mad about. Worth it

Machka9

I started here mid-Feb with a goal to lose as much weight as I could on a NET 1250 cal diet by mid-June ... 4 months. I didn't really have a weight number in mind until I got to about mid-May and knew what would be possible.

I stuck firmly to that goal and lost 15 kg.

And then, mid-June ... I went on holidays.

While I was gone, I ate whatever I wanted to eat, and lots of it. But I also exercised a whole lot. In 3 weeks, I cycled about 390 km, including riding a century one day (161 km = 100 miles). I walked about 64 km, including a 9.5 km hike to the top of a mountain. And I went sea kayaking!

Losing the weight prior to going on holiday allowed me to do those things much more easily than I would have if I had not lost the weight.

I hoped I would not gain more than 5 kg, and I estimated that I might gain 2.5 kg, which would be all right. The day after I arrived home, I had gained 2.5 kg, but the next day I dropped 0.5 kg, and the following day I dropped 0.6 kg ... so I think some of that was water weight. A total gain of about 1.5 kg is not bad at all. And since mid-Feb, I have still lost 14 kg.

Now I'm taking a couple weeks to ease back into it again, and in a couple week's time, I'll be back onto a NET 1250 cal diet until the end of September when I'll reassess the situation.

Bshmerlie

I go on a lot of vacations so I try not to over do it when I'm gone. I now have a pretty good idea of how much I should be eating everyday so I try not to have any huge meals. If I know I'm going over I try to be more active. I'm not gonna turn down having icecream with my kid but I only get one scoop now in a cup vs a cone. I just tone it back a little bit while still having a good time. I've taken 3 weeks of vacation since I started in April and I've still been able to lose 35 pounds in that time. I'm going on a cruise in a couple of weeks and I will still have a good time. All you can eat doesn't mean you have to pig out. That's part of training ourselves to be more responsible eaters.

Kalikel

If you're flying, you may retain some water,so don't wig out too badly if the scale has gone up a few pounds.

If you're eating out, all you can do is try to pick the healthiest stuff on the menus.

Have a good time!

tschlach

I'm currently on a 2 week vacation. We are on the go daily. I eat cereal in the morning and take plenty of water when we leave our resort. Then we hike, bike ride, sight see throughout the day. I usually eat a late lunch always a salad with a entree. Fill up on salad then add protein. Later at night I'll have a snack of some sort usually cereal. Yes I eat plenty of cereal. We went on another vacation 3 weeks ago and when I got home I weighed myself and list 4 lbs. I'm hoping the same happens this time. Best of luck.

simonelatoya

When eating the local fare, eat in moderation. Have light protein packed breakfasts so that you can have more energy and spare more calories for dinner and alcohol. Eat 'local fare snacks' in between your activities. Still allow yourself a couple cheat days where you aren't counting calories. You'll probably end up losing weight considering you'll be more active during your trip. I'm certain that because your mind is already programmed to eat right, you'll do fine.