Falling off the bandwagon after vacation

Victoryanrose

So I've been pretty consistent for the past 2 months my diet and exercise routine is one I'm supper proud of which has produced results. However I've come to realize I fall off and get into a slump when mini vacations happen I don't come back as hard with the same intensity prior to that vacation. I slack a little on my diet and I may take me a few days to a week to get back into the swing of things. Weight wise I've plateaued because the mix between health food and junk foot. My question is do I avoid vacation all together or how can I better manage my new lifestyle habits without giving up my leisure time? (p.s I typically go out of the country to all inclusive food and alcohol resorts for 5 days as often as every 3-6 months)

csplatt

a “plateau” in the way you are describing means you are MAINTAINING your weight during your vacation, right? sounds like a healthy break.

Retroguy2000

Every 3-6 months is a good time for a short diet break anyway. If you enjoy yourself, and you get a mental and physical break from dieting, and you maintain your weight during the break, that's all good.

AnnPT77

The vacations aren't IMO much of a problem, especially if weight holds fairly steady. The problem is if - as it sounds like? - you don't get back on your regular healthy routine once you're back.

The first thing is to avoid doing things in your "regular healthy routine" that are very unpleasant or impractical logistically. Those are not durable habits for the long term. Yeah, during weight loss there are some sacrifices, but try to find the ones that work with the least possible need for motivation, willpower, discipline, etc. I can't keep up motivation forever, and managing my weight is forever, realistically. I need sustainable habits. (I'm in year 7+ of maintaining after substantial loss, BTW.)

Maybe you already have a reasonably tolerable routine. That's great.

But it'll be important to get back to it as immediately as possible on your return home. Vacation is over, routine habits need to start in again full strength. You presumably don't go to work every day on vacation, maybe don't sleep your normal hours, maybe do different things socially on vacation. Betting that most of those kinds of habits snap back into place pretty automatically post-vacation.

Psychologically, put your eating/exercise habits in that same category: Not things you "decide to resume", but that are just the routine resumption of normal daily life. (I'm not saying this is necessarily easy, but it is a self-talk thing to work at.)

If your weight has plateaued because there is a little weight up-creep on vacation, maybe plan (long term) to accommodate that. Maybe make it a habit (in maintenance) to under-eat maintenance calories by a tiny amount, aiming by vacation time to lose the number of pounds you typically gain.

Personally, I like the occasional indulgence - a meal to a couple of days, but more frequently than every 3-6 months. I "calorie bank" maybe 150 calories most days to eat substantially more once a week or so. Same concept. I wouldn't recommend some routine big deficit forever, but over the course of 3 months, you wouldn't have to have much of a daily deficit to lose a very few pounds over that time period.

Just a thought. Like all strategies, these things won't suit everyone. All we can do is suggest things for you to think about, maybe try.

neanderthin

A few days to a week to get back into the swing of things or forego vacation 2 to 4 times a year, interesting analysis. Cheers