Vacation

My husband and I are traveling to Key West for the first time in a few days.

I want to enjoy my vacation, but I also don't want to gain a lot of weight.

Prior to Covid we traveled 2-3 times a year, but this is our first time going on a week long vacation since December, 2019. I'm a bit nervous as I'm leaning towards taking a diet break.

I started my weight loss journey in January, 2020. I have lost 88lbs and have 15 to go. (Even when I plan to indulge it's because I have stored exercise calories. I also log those days.)

Do you continue to use myfitnesspal on vacation, or do you just take your vacation and enjoy yourself then get back on track when you return home?

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Replies

  • mel941980
    mel941980 Posts: 49 Member
    Thank you all for your insight; I truly appreciate it. I'm definitely going to look into a refeed, @cmriverside
  • mel941980
    mel941980 Posts: 49 Member
    edited May 2021
    if it was my first holiday in 18 months I would be eating all the food, drinking all the drinks and giving zero kittens.

    And then get back to the deficit the day I got home again :wink:

    LOL! That's what my husband suggested, too.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    I don't try to stay in a deficit on vacation. Any "weight" uptick always goes away after a week or two being back home and back to my routine.


    There's a lot of walking in Key West.

    Enjoy.

    Amen. The Keys are a trip! I say that loose "tracking" mindfulness, is ok. Just take it easy on Duval Street. That "crawl" to the mile marker can be rough.....
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,387 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    I don't try to stay in a deficit on vacation. Any "weight" uptick always goes away after a week or two being back home and back to my routine.


    There's a lot of walking in Key West.

    Enjoy.

    Amen. The Keys are a trip! I say that loose "tracking" mindfulness, is ok. Just take it easy on Duval Street. That "crawl" to the mile marker can be rough.....

    You talking a pub crawl? One needs a certain amount of lime juice and maybe coconut in order to arrive at the "Southermost Point." :)
  • helen_goldthorpe
    helen_goldthorpe Posts: 340 Member
    While I was losing I'd log loosely - quantities would be guesswork but I'd at least have a record of the sort of things I was eating. I'm now maintaining and on a holiday at the moment, and I'm experimenting with not logging. I'm being pretty active anyway and just eating to hunger, logging one thing a day to maintain my streak but not worrying about the rest. It will be interesting to see what impact it has, but at the moment I can afford to gain a pound or two anyway so it wouldn't be the end of the world.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,387 Member
    While I was losing I'd log loosely - quantities would be guesswork but I'd at least have a record of the sort of things I was eating. I'm now maintaining and on a holiday at the moment, and I'm experimenting with not logging. I'm being pretty active anyway and just eating to hunger, logging one thing a day to maintain my streak but not worrying about the rest. It will be interesting to see what impact it has, but at the moment I can afford to gain a pound or two anyway so it wouldn't be the end of the world.

    You don't have to add anything to your food diary to maintain your streak - just log into the app. If you pop in to read the forums, you won't lose your streak. Nothing at all to do with logging your food.

    Even if you do lose your streak you can reset it:


    From "Help" (at the top of any page)

    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032624931-My-login-days-in-a-row-counter-is-incorrect-How-do-I-fix-this-
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    I don't try to stay in a deficit on vacation. Any "weight" uptick always goes away after a week or two being back home and back to my routine.


    There's a lot of walking in Key West.

    Enjoy.

    Amen. The Keys are a trip! I say that loose "tracking" mindfulness, is ok. Just take it easy on Duval Street. That "crawl" to the mile marker can be rough.....

    You talking a pub crawl? One needs a certain amount of lime juice and maybe coconut in order to arrive at the "Southermost Point." :)

    https://duvalcrawl.com/ >:)>:)
  • Beverly2Hansen
    Beverly2Hansen Posts: 378 Member
    So I can easily consume 3000 calories a day with food and alcohol on vacation in a week. I have to plan and log both my food and exercise. In 2017 I went up 10lbs from a week long vacation in Vagas. I think a normal person would be fine I personally can out eat most large men and did just that.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    I don't log. If it's a relatively sedentary vacation I will be somewhat careful. If it's my usual, outdoor activity centric, vacation I will eat anything that comes near me. In most cases it's somewhere between. But in no case am I logging anything.
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  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,164 Member
    When I go on a multi-day river trip, I just use a "recipe" that I created. I call it "Rafter's Rations." It's made of 100 grams protein, 100 grams fat, and 500 grams carbs. It comes to 3300 calories. It's about double my MFP goal before exercise. I am very active on river trips. It's really just a place holder.

    I do also log beers. I know how many I have because there's limited room on my raft. I know how many I take per day, so I can add them to the rations.

    If I have access to the internet, I still enter a decent guess about what I eat each day, but I don't feel any guilt about going over my goal for every damn day I'm on vacation. I still log. It gives me data to help continue to fine tune what I'm doing because if I "eat intuitively," I will probably go back to the weight I was before I actively started to track calories and get to a healthy weight.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
    Depends on what your idea of vacation is. I usually lose weight during vacation more than "regular life", because my vacations tend to be city vacations with tons of walking around. I don't log on vacation, except maybe a guesstimated one day sample to see what I can expect in terms of calorie intake and deficit.

    I also usually don't weigh in until several days after my return from vacation, just to eliminate extra stress about bloating related to diet and flying.
  • Antiopelle
    Antiopelle Posts: 1,184 Member
    My holidays are always extremely active, therefor I would not log in the past, coming back home at +- the same weight. The result however is that I continue that way of eating when I'm back at home. I find it extremely difficult to get back on track after a week of two of indulgence, and the weight starts creeping back on AFTER the holiday (same high cal intake, but a lot less activity).
    For me, the best way is to track even if it is not as accurate at home. But everyone is different and we all have to find out what works best.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,954 Member
    Vacation to me just means I don't have to work. So I still adhere to working out daily, but I'll ease up on my calorie restriction. I may gain a few pounds after, but I expect that. Once I'm back, I go back to regular routine.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    I log loosely just to keep myself on track and overall try to make healthy choices and not stuff myself, but I'm not overly worried about it and expect to gain some weight. Since this is now a "lifestyle" for me, I don't use it as an excuse to eat no-holds-barred, though.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 911 Member
    Unless your vacation is like a month long --- do not worry about logging or dieting or anything on your vacation. Any 'weight' you gain will most likely just be water weight. One week (typical vacay length) isn't going to ruin anything.

    Have. Fun. Enjoy it - Key West is super cool/fun.
  • mel941980
    mel941980 Posts: 49 Member
    edited June 2021
    @cmriverside, thank you again for the diet break suggestion. I read up on it and followed your advice. I chose to hit at least 10,000 steps a day and logged fairly loosely in Key West, but I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted for ten days. Pure bliss. Key lime coladas should be illegal. Lol! While I gained 8lbs, 3-4lbs was actual fat, if my math is correct. That said, I took the weight off in 2 weeks and I'm feeling re-energized! I appreciate your insight. Have a great weekend.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,387 Member
    :)
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,349 Member
    edited June 2021
    We did a week in SoCal with our daughter. The vegan food she made was super high calorie. Mind blowing to me. I thought it would be healthier than that.

    We were home a couple days and immediately left for three weeks in Germany, including our other kid’s wedding. Our AirBnB was next door to a fabulous bakery, our AiBnB host kept leaving us holiday (Christmas) foods to try, and we had a fabulous traditional Swabian wedding dinner, in addition to other celebratory meals.

    While there we walked a lot, and I ran around the Aassee (giant lake in center of town) every chance I got. I also made sure to attend some yoga classes- and walked to them as is my habit at home.

    I came home nine pounds up. Because I continued exercising while there, I didn’t break that habit. I fell right back in to the food habits I developed hete, and the weight was gone in a couple months. And boy, did I have a good time sampling and eating baked goods and schnitzel.

    The takeaway for me was, a short break didn’t upset the apple cart, don’t go all whiny and panicky and derail permanently, return to plan and you’ll be fine- and know that four weeks of unfettered eating = 9 pounds (ie, it’ll pile back on really quick if you don’t create lifetime habits!) )