Dieting On Vacation?!

EarthFHS

I'm about to go on vacation for almost a week. I'll be eating out a lot and my routine will be super varied and unpredictable. Any advice on how to maintain a low calorie count??

RadishEater

1) Try to make breakfast a healthy high fiber, high protein meal. Physically and emotionally this always helps me feel good because I am starting off the day on a good note
2) When eating out, order a salad with dressing on the side.
3) Identify what you are craving the most, and skip eating the excess. i.e I eat the hamburger without the buns, fajitas without the tortillas, for me the carbs aren't worth the extra calories
4) Lastly, let yourself enjoy at least one high calorie meal and not feel guilty. I like to have one big treat night like ordering chicken fettuccini alfredo something that cooking the low calorie version at home isn't worth it to me.

of course if you are going somewhere like paris or greece, I'm more with the mindset of eat everything and just try to walk it off

orangegato

Sometimes I just don't. Instead, I reset my calories to a maintenance level instead of losing 1 lb/week or whatever rate. The way I am able to relax and enjoy myself more and then get back on track when the vacay is over.

Averagechick2015

Yeah I definitely agree with kballsocc! Have a meal but skip something with it that you probably won’t mind like the example given eat the awesome burger and pass on the buns or have say have a salad instead of the fries. But don’t stick to your diet the full time your away! Eat some food, enjoy some wine/beer, relax! Don’t feel guilty, your going on holiday! One day of indulgence won’t totally blow you off track!

WinoGelato

I’m also of the mindset to relax on vacation, eat at maintenance for a week, and enjoy your time. I try to get in exercise as normal, and try to focus on the meals or food that I really want and not just eat mindlessly because it’s there.

I’m heading out this week to an all inclusive in Mexico and since I’m already in maintenance, I’m sure I will go over, but I’m not really worried it’s a few days and I’m comfortably at the low end of my maintenance range so I have wiggle room.

dsboohead

Have late breakfasts and early dinners. Keep meals reasonable and if you want drinks...have them!

concordancia

Having been at a 2lb/week level, I just changed to a 1lb/week level for my vacation. That is probably pretty close to what my eventual maintenance will be and will feel extravagant after sticking to the larger deficit for a couple of months. If I were already at a lower rate of loss, I would probably switch to maintenance.

L1zardQueen

Just have fun! When you get back, start logging your intake.

EarthFHS

Thank you all!! These replies are really helpful

1985mattie

Choosing a meal out in easy steps:
1) Choose your lean protein - nothing high fat like mince or stewing meat.
2) Choose a meal that’s cooked right - not fried or sautéed in butter.
3) Avoid heavy sauces - Anything with cream, baked with cheese etc.
4) Fill your plate with some complex carbs- choose vegetables not fries!
5) Ask to swap items or withhold sauces to -make a healthier meal.

Don’t drink calories with your meal, water is the way forward.

WinoGelato

1985mattie wrote: »

Choosing a meal out in easy steps:
1) Choose your lean protein - nothing high fat like mince or stewing meat.
2) Choose a meal that’s cooked right - not fried or sautéed in butter.
3) Avoid heavy sauces - Anything with cream, baked with cheese etc.
4) Fill your plate with some complex carbs- choose vegetables not fries!
5) Ask to swap items or withhold sauces to -make a healthier meal.

Don’t drink calories with your meal, water is the way forward.

Meh - it’s vacation, not prison... even when losing and eating out I broke most of these rules, lost weight and kept it off.

Sparkeysworld

Why would you do this?
Just enjoy your vacation, lose the excess weight when you get home.
If you do have to do this, stick to a keto style protein only diet and just drink the spirits (vodka diet coke is my favorite).
You could also use the gym if your location has this.

TonyB0588

EarthFHS wrote: »

I'm about to go on vacation for almost a week. I'll be eating out a lot and my routine will be super varied and unpredictable. Any advice on how to maintain a low calorie count??

Your question title speaks of "dieting", and that's really part of the problem. If you approach it as "lifestyle change" instead, your new way of life is going to go with you wherever you go. You won't have to think about it so much.

WinoGelato

Sparkeysworld wrote: »

Why would you do this?
Just enjoy your vacation, lose the excess weight when you get home.
If you do have to do this, stick to a keto style protein only diet and just drink the spirits (vodka diet coke is my favorite).
You could also use the gym if your location has this.

Agree with the advice to enjoy vacation but curious about your “keto style protein only” diet. Keto isn’t protein only, in fact protein is moderate st best on keto- it’s very low carb and high fat. Secondly, do you think that would make for an enjoyable vacation to try an extremely restrictive approach?

CaliMomTeach

I am also going on a week vacation, and I am going to just eat and drink whatever and deal with the weight gain when I get home. I will bring clothes to work out, but last year when we went on a similar vacation, they just stayed in my suitcase. In 7 days, there is only so much weight you can gain. I'm planning on gaining so it doesn't surprise or upset me when I get back. I'll give myself about 3 weeks to take it off through logging, working out, and staying at a deficit. I'll try to choose some lighter menu items at times, but after paying for an all inclusive, I can't see denying myself what I really want. Plus I just can't think about how many calories are in those Pina Coladas, lol. I have decided that I want to enjoy myself more than I want to keep my weight at a certain number for now. If you decide that keeping the weight off is important to you during your vacation, then order food accordingly. If I were you, I'd just plan on taking the vacation weight gain off when you get home.

estherdragonbat

I'm heading into an 8-day Jewish holiday next week. I'll also be at my parents' house in Montreal, with no access to my strength-training equipment. (Going to bring in a couple of pairs of dumbbells, but I exercise with a variety of different weights and it won't be feasible to bring them all). My cardio is generally long walks, so that's still in. Plus, because the holiday involves certain foods being off-limits PLUS changeover of the kitchen (different pots & pans, dishes, utensils, can't cook for the holiday in year-round pots and pans, don't want to get stuff mixed up...) There will be a lot of takout and restaurant meals during the days leading up to the holiday.

Among other things:

• With the exception of matzah and its byproducts (e.g. matzah meal) nothing made from wheat, oat, rye, barley, or spelt.
• No other grains except for quinoa (so no corn products, including cornstarch, corn oil...)
• No legumes
• Certain seeds are also verboten, which eliminates various oils (sesame, sunflower, canola/rapeseed) and spices (mustard).

There ARE substitutes available made with permitted ingredients, but the nutritional profile isn't guaranteed comparable. Oh. I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian. Which... pretty much means that my protein sources are going to be eggs, dairy, nuts, quinoa, and the gram here gram there in certain vegetables. This tends to do a number on my satiety levels.

My current strategy pretty much boils down to, "With the leadup to the holiday and the holiday itself, this is only two weeks. Do your best, but don't get too stressed.":

• With the takeout food before the holiday, stick to items that I can ballpark in the database. (Pizza. Vegetarian sushi. Try to eyeball the rice in the Chinese takeout and stick to steamed/braised/etc)
• Preplan what to eat at the holiday meals. Some things are non-negotiable. For religious reasons, I "have" to eat 3 boards of matzah and drink, over the course of a 4-hour meal or so, 4 3.5oz glasses of wine. I'll make a vegetarian main and figure out which sides to have and eat light during the day.
• Consider a maintenance break, but I took one just over a month ago. I'll decide by the time I have to.
• Walk every day. Come up with a strength-training workout that's heavier on body-weight and uses the dumbbells I'm bringing with me.
• Whatever happens on holiday? It is not going to put all 102.6lb lost over the last 16 months back on! If, despite my efforts, I do put on a couple of pounds? April 8th, everything goes back to normal. I've come a long way. I'm not losing it all and I'm not giving up because of one potential minor setback.

EarthFHS

So I decided to go with maintain weight! And then I gave up on that.... And I feel terrible! I've only lost 8lbs so far and I'm not ready to gain it back. Feeling stressed and down on myself I want to diet but it's really hard when I'm away from home and my amazing relatives keep offering me food! I want to keep losing weight, but it's hot here so exercise is hard (though I can walk) and there's so much tempting food. Anyone have support to offer? Feeling bad

RadishEater

Do your best to sample the food but not take full portions of everything and eat something healthier with your samples. Or just pick one or two things and not everything.

I do this at Christmas time, I don't need to taste all the Christmas cookies, the breakfast coffee cake, drink many glasses of wine offered in one day. I'll have a glass of wine, a cookie, and a nibble of the coffee cake.

WinoGelato

EarthFHS wrote: »

So I decided to go with maintain weight! And then I gave up on that.... And I feel terrible! I've only lost 8lbs so far and I'm not ready to gain it back. Feeling stressed and down on myself I want to diet but it's really hard when I'm away from home and my amazing relatives keep offering me food! I want to keep losing weight, but it's hot here so exercise is hard (though I can walk) and there's so much tempting food. Anyone have support to offer? Feeling bad

Again - perspective. You’ve lost 8 lbs, that’s great! You’d have to eat an extra 28,000 calories above your maintenance level to gain it all back. That’s all but impossible in less than a week.

As others have said - pick and choose what you really want to eat. Try the things that look amazing, say no thank you to the ones that just look ok. Get out and take those walks whenever possible. Take the stairs, take the long way around, ask your family members if they want to walk with you so you can talk without distraction of screens, etc.

When you get home, drink lots of water and get immediately back on track. Wait a few days wo weigh yourself to let the water weight gain go away and you can assess the true impact.