how much weight will I gain on a week-long vacation?

FaryRochester

I'm talking about how much actual fat (not the crazy water weight thats sure to pile on) is it possible to gain in one week if I really let loose? not binging, just giving myself the freedom to eat what I want without counting calories.

Also I know the whole 3500cal=1lbs rule but even if I binge everyday, there is a certain amount of fat that possible for your body to deposit in a short one week!


Thank you in advance for advice on how to maintain a healthy diet on vacation and still have a good time btw! I realize I could do that but I don't want to. I just need to know how big of a damage I should prepare myself for!

Rusty740

Not much, maybe 2 lbs. I've been camping a lot lately, eating chips, pop, hot dogs, nuts basically all day for 3 days over the weekend and I'm up maybe a lb, but plenty of that is water due to high salt, but by the end of the following week it's still maybe 1 lb up.

Your body will do it's best to hold on to all that food even after the one week, maybe 9-10 days and store it as either fat or muscle, but I wouldn't be concerned at all if I were you.

peaceout_aly

At most, 1-2 lbs. unless you go completely bezerk and stuff your face every day LOL. I usually opt for a grilled meat, steamed veggies or a salad for dinner to keep that minimal if I know I'm going to be drinking all day (or want room for dessert). Whatever you gain, you'll be able to get back on track as soon as you get home. It's a week. It won't be detrimental to your fitness lifestyle in any way.

Packerjohn

What are you going to do? I was on a week vacation, ate/drank whatever and lost a couple pounds. Of course we did 4+ hour of hiking in the Rockies half the days.

madwells1

I just took a 2 week vacation to France. I was totally worried about the same thing...but guess what...I lost weight!!

I didn't stay on track over the entire vacation, but I still logged everything I ate--regardless if it went over my calorie goal or not.

I enjoyed the food I ate...and tried not to eat mindless stuff. For example, I love bread in France. Instead of having a random snack out of nowhere (i.e., crepe on the street), I would have baguette with butter and jam at breakfast (totally off my plan but so worth it)!!!

I noticed I ate about twice as many calories on vacation as I normally do. However, I also noticed that I walked more (instead of 10,000 steps I was walking 20,000) so that helped even everything out.

Vacation is for enjoyment. Sometimes savoring the treats you have and not taking things OCD seriously is good for you!!!

FaryRochester

Packerjohn wrote: »

What are you going to do? I was on a week vacation, ate/drank whatever and lost a couple pounds. Of course we did 4+ hour of hiking in the Rockies half the days.

its an all inclusive cruise! so unfortunately, the temptation of food will probably win out against the boring physical activities offered on the cruise. hiking in the rockies sounds amazing by the way!

janjunie

I went on vacation for about a week and put on 2 lbs. I was very happy with that because I had been to a buffet three times and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I was semi active during that time getting anywhere from 7500-15000 steps a day.

janjunie

FaryRochester wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

What are you going to do? I was on a week vacation, ate/drank whatever and lost a couple pounds. Of course we did 4+ hour of hiking in the Rockies half the days.

its an all inclusive cruise! so unfortunately, the temptation of food will probably win out against the boring physical activities offered on the cruise. hiking in the rockies sounds amazing by the way!

That's awesome. I'm jealous (in the best way of course). Personally I'd eat, workout and eat some more. Whatever gain I'd worry about later. Enjoy the yummy food

lorrpb

If you are going to eat whatever you want without even roughly counting calories, it could easily be 5-10 lbs. Cruises are the worst for exposure to food, because it's always there. Drinks, snacks, dinner rolls, pasta, and desserts add up fast. It would be easy to eat an extra 3,000 calories per day.

middlehaitch

FaryRochester wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

What are you going to do? I was on a week vacation, ate/drank whatever and lost a couple pounds. Of course we did 4+ hour of hiking in the Rockies half the days.

its an all inclusive cruise! so unfortunately, the temptation of food will probably win out against the boring physical activities offered on the cruise. hiking in the rockies sounds amazing by the way!

I have never gained more than a pound or so on a 14 night cruise booze included.

Make good choices with food- know your personal portion sizes.

If it doesn't taste good- don't finish it.

The buffets have tones of light cal choices, as well as high. I like to do high breakfast, low lunch or low breakfast, high lunch.

The evening meal can be up to 5 courses- don't feel obliged to eat every course. You can have 2 appys, no starter, a main, and desert or you can have 2 mains and desert, or appy, starter, main, and skip desert. have done appy, starter and desert often- I love deserts.

I tend to stick to light beer in the day, then switch to gin and 0 tonic at night. Those wonderful fru-fru drinks I save for early evening and just have one or two as the are calorie bombs.

Shore days are usually active enough to work of a lot of the extra calories.

Go have fun, eat lots and explore.
(You will eat too much if it is your first cruise- don't worry.)

Cheers, h.

Where are you going and which cruise line?

sijomial

How much you gain depends on the level of gluttony you go for counter balanced by possibly increased activity/exercise opportunities.
It's not compulsory to load your plate up or go back to the buffet multiple times every meal.

I can gain 1lb a day ( see http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10579708/anxiety-about-weight-gain-on-vacation#latest ) but I can also gain a fraction of that if I choose to and I'm not restricted by an injury.
More typical for me would be about 3lbs in a week - half probably water weight.

AnnPT77

It's very individual. I maintain somewhere in the low 2000s, but can readily eat/drink at least 5000 in a day if I go for maximum hedonism. Many people I've read here say they can't do this sort of thing without feeling sick. Sadly, I can. I think I could probably do it for a solid week, if I didn't put the brakes on.

So, I'm guessing that in 7 days I could gain at least 6 pounds of fat, if I just went wild. (And this is at 5'5", 61 y/o, maintenance weight in 120s, BTW.)