Vacation and diet

sooozi1

Over the past 3 months I have lost 39 pounds in preparation for a big 2 week holiday to New York and Orlando. I've done so well but starting to panic that I'm gonna put it all back on as soon as we land in New York. I'm still over 200 pounds so really can't afford to put anything back on. Wondering what other people's experiences have been. Should I just enjoy myself and get straight back on it when I get back, or is it possible to diet while I'm there with all that nice food around!! Confused!

bezza666

I'd say don't worry and enjoy your holiday! !! Diet when you get back, but simple rule; everything in moderation. No eating a whole 12 pack of Crispy Kremes like I did.

sooozi1

Haha that's the problem bezza, I'd probably eat the 12 too

Mystical64

Congrats on the loss! But enjoy your holiday.

Monsterdog1114

I usually try and be reasonable for breakfast and lunch. And 'enjoy' myself a bit more at dinner.. Also, I usually do lots of walking to offset the dinner fun!.

eldamiano

There is something else to lose here.... dignity

SweetestLibby

Congrats on what you've lost so far! Enjoy your vacation!!

I went on a 8 day cruise to the Bahamas almost 2 weeks ago. - I enjoyed myself, ate, and worked out/ was as active as I could be. I came back 5ish pounds heavier but after about a week back to normal Idropped the weight that I "gained." You may come back up but it won't be permanent as long as you get back to what you were doing before.

Francl27

Just don't waste your calories on crappy foods (like Disney World chicken nuggets) or things you can have any time. And splurge on the stuff that's REALLY worth it.

honeysprinkles

One of my favorite parts of a vacation is experiencing all the good food! I usually come back about 5 pounds heavier from trips, but I'm sure you'll be doing tons of walking too! I would try to be a little reasonable but still let yourself indulge here and there!

astrange1

I say have fun but with moderation. Yes, you will gain some weight if you eat and indulge in EVERY temptation, so try to eat sensible a couple of meals a day and let your evening meal be the big splurge or enjoy what ever and cut back at meals. It will only take you a few days to get back in the routine you were on and you will quickly lose it back and begin again. Have a fantastic trip.

Katleskin

Well done on your loss. I'm in a similar position - I had to change my lifestyle to counteract all the cruise food! One thing I noticed when I went on holiday *after* I'd lost quite a bit of weight was that, even though I allowed myself to be 'off' my diet, I didn't (over)eat in the same way as I would have done previously. I still put some weight on, no doubt, BUT not as much as in the past and not because I 'denied' myself either, just because I was more mindful. I also make an effort to walk more and use the gym on board the ship. It's not an 'either/or' situation (either be on a diet or eat everything in sight!) - you can enjoy your holiday without allowing your eating to get out of control. It's all about balance. Life is for living after all. Enjoy yourself. Even if you do put a bit of weight back on, you now possess the skills and knowledge to get it off again.

nordlead2005

My strategy has been to eat at maintenance every time I go on vacation or a business trip as a diet break. There may be individual days where I eat over maintenance, but odds are the next day breakfast/lunch will end up being lighter. I then get right back on the weight loss plan the day I get back.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

CaitlinW19

Monsterdog1114 wrote: »

I usually try and be reasonable for breakfast and lunch. And 'enjoy' myself a bit more at dinner.. Also, I usually do lots of walking to offset the dinner fun!.

This. Totally. Don't stress too much about it. You really can't gain everything you've lost back over a short vacation...If you really had fun you might see a 5 lb gain or something, but likely it would drop right off as soon as you get back on track. Our recent vacation we walked a ton and made breakfast and lunch, not feeling like we needed to go out for a big meal 3 times a day. Gained a bit, but only a pound or two over a week.

honeysprinkles

Francl27 wrote: »

Just don't waste your calories on crappy foods (like Disney World chicken nuggets) or things you can have any time. And splurge on the stuff that's REALLY worth it.

I definitely agree with this. I used to live in Orlando and the theme park food really isn't very good. I'd keep it simple there and save the splurges for the restaurants. If you happen to be near downtown, check out Pom Pom's Teahouse and Sandwicheria, it's my favorite place in Orlando! It's a cute place with good prices, great tea and my favorite sandwich in the world is the Mama Ling Ling's Thanksgiving sandwich complete with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a side of gravy!

Orlando is pretty spread out but it has a lot of chain restaurants, especially in the touristy areas. My favorite touristy place is the t-rex café in downtown Disney but I don't know that I'd go out of my way to go there!

saylorkw

I'll be honest with you, I did the same thing, in preparation for a cruise last November. Diet and exercise for 11 months, lost 85 pounds. I decided that I wasn't going to worry about it and "just have fun" on my vacation. The week of vacation (2nd week of November 2015) on the cruise extended into Thanksgiving. Then Thanksgiving extended into Christmas. Then Christmas extended into celebrating birthdays (wife and daughter in Jan. mine in Feb). All of that to say I have put on about 15 pounds. I can't seem to find the motivation that I had last year. I am struggling to get back "into the groove".
Long story short, It's too easy to fall back into bad habits. Enjoy your vacation but, I "sort of" agree with @bezza666, Moderation, moderation, moderation. NOT deprivation. Some people can do moderation better than others. I apparently cannot! Portion sizes at restaurants are always way too big. Split with SO (significant other) still get to taste all the goodies but maintain some level of control.

take it or leave it just MHO (my honest opinion)

King_Spicy

I've always been successful with continuing my normal routine when going on vacation. You might have to change your diet, but just control quantities to make up for it. When I stayed in Thailand for 3 months, I lost weight and got in shape while eating pork, duck, and rice everyday. Not exactly the healthiest I just made sure to continue to exercise in my mornings. Just did a jog through the streets every other day, and calisthenics in my bedroom on days between. Eazy breezy

Francl27

saylorkw wrote: »

I'll be honest with you, I did the same thing, in preparation for a cruise last November. Diet and exercise for 11 months, lost 85 pounds. I decided that I wasn't going to worry about it and "just have fun" on my vacation. The week of vacation (2nd week of November 2015) on the cruise extended into Thanksgiving. Then Thanksgiving extended into Christmas. Then Christmas extended into celebrating birthdays (wife and daughter in Jan. mine in Feb). All of that to say I have put on about 15 pounds. I can't seem to find the motivation that I had last year. I am struggling to get back "into the groove".
Long story short, It's too easy to fall back into bad habits. Enjoy your vacation but, I "sort of" agree with @bezza666, Moderation, moderation, moderation. NOT deprivation. Some people can do moderation better than others. I apparently cannot! Portion sizes at restaurants are always way too big. Split with SO (significant other) still get to taste all the goodies but maintain some level of control.

take it or leave it just MHO (my honest opinion)

Yeah I was at my lowest before my vacation... in July 2014. I gained 2 pounds and never lost them (I'm 3-4 pounds over my lowest now). Just couldn't get back into it, been hungrier as a whole too. Totally sucks. And I still restricted myself 90% of the time and hit the treadmill every day.

My rule at restaurants is to only splurge in the high calorie stuff if it's something I haven't had in a while and really want and can't make easily at home to fit my calories. Otherwise, I go for grilled meat and veggies (well, when it's even offered on the menu. SIGH). My downfall is dessert but I'll only go for my favorite desserts (which are pretty rare to find, honestly) or something I have been craving for a while. And I don't drink my calories ever.

And yes, make sure to stay active too. In the end though I always end up eating too much because 1) I'm always hungry at breakfast, and options are not always very healthy (or the healthy stuff tastes horrible like carton eggs or cardboard oatmeal), so I end up eating more than I'd like to be actually satisfied 2) lots of places don't really have much in term of 'healthy' options and after 2 days of eating side salads I just say 'screw it' and try to pick the 'least worse' options on the menu, but that often still has more calories than I'd like.

I think my new reality is that vacations are just not as enjoyable for me anymore now... They were always very much about food for me and now it's just an exercise in frustration to find places that have healthy options other than salads. I'm actually not even taking a vacation this year (between that and the horrible behavior of my kids last year, I'm just done).

songbird13291

New York is a wonderful city for walking. I used to work in lower Manhattan, and very easily met my step goal just by getting from place to place. Enjoy the fabulous restaurants here, but use your common sense. A pastrami on rye at the Carnegie deli is easily an entire day's worth of calories for some people, I think they put a pound of meat on that thing. Enjoy the pastrami, but don't eat the whole thing. Their cheesecake is incredible, but one slice of cheesecake can easily be dessert for 3 people, so if you want to indulge, split a slice with someone else. And do the same thing with every other restaurant you visit. Don't deprive yourself, but use common sense.

King_Spicy

If you just walk to your destinations in Manhattan instead of using the metro, you can probably eat as much as you want My feet had never been so tired from so much walking. I went from Chinatown to Upper Manhattan is back down and around on foot.

Smccabe8

I lost weight last time I was in New York. I enjoyed the food, but we also had a hotel in Times Square and walked EVERYWHERE. We walked to the Empire State Building, all the way up 5th Avenue, through the Park. I used a step tracker and we did 12 miles one day just walking. And I ate a ton of delicious food. Authentic Chinatown Chinese food, New York hot dog, Pretzels, etc. Just a little of everything in moderation. Split dessert, split giant portions with other people... and walk a lot. You'll save calories and money!