Do you log on vacation?

blgerig

I've done trips where I have logged and trips where I haven't. When I went to Mexico last summer there was no way I was going to log. But usually I go on smaller long weekend type trips and I do log. I feel best on vacation when I still try to get some workouts in and eat what I want within reason. I don't stress about going over if I want a few extra drinks or snacks, but I don't use it as an excuse to binge the entire time either - mostly because I don't feel well doing that! Enjoy your trip

ndj1979

I try to log but I realize that it will be off ….

enjoy your trip and try not to worry about it too much …if you have a chance to make some healthier choices then go for it, but do not stress over it...

kayms13

I don't log on vacation. Try to make good choices, but enjoy the great food. Don't beat yourself up when you show a gain (because you will, but some of it will be water retention). And get back on track when you get home. Have fun!

jackjackattck

Like most people here have already said, enjoy your vacation! You work hard all year long in so many ways, including your weight loss journey. If I were you, I would forget about MFP and the scale and just enjoy yourself.

I went to Germany for 3 weeks over the holidays this year, and I indulged every chance I got. Even though I knew I was not only eating unhealthy food but I was over eating, I didn't care too much. The last thing I wanted was to regret skipping that pretzel and beer, or that juicy sausage with mustard, just because of the carbs and calories. I ate what I wanted to and immersed myself in the culture.

Sure I did end up gaining a few pounds in that 3 week period.. but they were well worth it to me. It only took a few weeks to get back on track and lose the weight I put on. IMO, although it may derail your journey for a few weeks and a couple pounds, in the long run those will not matter.. the memories and fun you had on vacation will!

kitlynnJ

I am going away at the end of the month. I plan to aim for maintenance, and if I am a bit over I won't beat myself up about it. I don't want to go crazy, but I don't want to spend all my time worrying about food either. I guess I'm going to try for a good balance that is a bit heavier on the treats than it would be at home.

lkw0311

Thanks. I actually dont want to get too far off track.
I dont mind maintaining, but I dont want to gain. I'm going to try to be active and not overdo it...

dancingj2

For me logging is just part of who I am. I try to keep logging even if its been a bad day or if I am on vacation. It can help keep me from going too crazy if I know I only have 17 calories left and still have not had dinner.

I know you may not have exact nutritional information, but I suspect that inputing something will still help give you some idea of how you are doing.

On my last vacation I enjoyed my vacation but did a mediocre job at logging and ended up gaining 5 pounds :frown: It took months to get rid of it.

And I thought the correct saying was: Eat ALL the food!

sfbaumgarten

Yes.

carliekitty

I say go on your vacation and enjoy yourself. My husband loves cruises so i went on two last year. I used the gym and ate what i wanted. I gained about 10 lbs from the week. I drank alcohol also. After about 4 days back i lost 7 lbs of the weight i gained because it was mostly water weight.

UpEarly

Nope!

But most of my vacations are hiking trips, so I burn way more calories than normal. I try to eat as much as humanly possible to compensate. I still always come home a few pounds lighter.

Pangea250

I've done it both ways. I have a family vacation every years with easy-to-log food, so I log. But cruise food is difficult to log. I would skip the logging, be relatively sensible while eating, exercise your *kitten* off (super easy to do on a cruise...never take the elevator, limit your "lounging around" and do lots of walking, take advantage of those superbly-placed treadmills in front of the window overlooking the water), and have a great time! Go expecting to gain a few lbs, don't sweat it.

angieroo2

I do. It helps me to keep as on track as possible. I don't stress if I go over, but I make sure I am aware of it for when I return.

Pr1ncessWarrior

Im heading to Mexico and I am going to try log just to make me aware of what im eating. I know it wont be accurate but I know I worked really hard to get where I am now so I dont want to spoil it too much.

maria_stafeler

I am new here only 65 days but on vacation it would be harder to log especially if you are in a foreign country

Alidecker

I have done both, but on a cruise, I did not log. I ate many things and tried many new things. At the same time, I was active and I even made a few trips to the fitness center on board. Even eating dessert and drinking alcohol whenever I wanted, I gained a half pound.

Deipneus

I'm going on a cruise at the beginning of May and starting to plan how to handle the food. Not sure if I should try to log, or just be careful while relaxing and having a good time. Tips? Thanks

It's not for me to tell you what you should do but I always log, even on vacation. It just seems like it's always something, if not vacation, the holiday, my birthday, someone else's birthday, anniversary... I just plow through it all and log the best I can.

m_wilh

The last time I went on a cruise, I didn't log. I just ate slowly and sensibly and enjoyed everything that I wanted to eat. When I got home, I was 9.5 pounds up on the scale but I didn't overeat once and did LOTS of walking which absolutely shocked me! Five days after my return home, all of the weight was gone, plus another pound. I don't eat a lot of salt and the food must have had loads of sodium in it. Enjoy your vacation and get right back in the saddle the day after you return home.

m_wilh

Forgot to mention . . . you don't know what is in the food so it would be extremely difficult since you can't weigh it and know all the ingredients that are used. It was be a guesstimate at best.

asdowe13

You will never eat better food then on a cruise!

Eat it, enjoy it, relax, get back into logging after.

It's one week, I am sure you won't over eat and pack on ten pounds (35000 extra calories)

UmmSqueaky

I went on a 5 day vacation to Florida last week and checked into MFP every day (didn't want to reset my streak!). The first 2 1/2 days, I tried to log as accurately as possible and made consciously healthy food choices - blackened fish instead of fried, steamed vegetables instead of french fries. I still allowed myself indulgences - hush puppies and beignets, nom nom nom - but with lots of walking, kept myself under my calorie goal.

For the other 2 and a half, I didn't log, but didn't overindulge. I had a butter beer at wizarding world of harry potter (delicious, but much sweeter than I'm used to so it made me sick) and a lot of blah, not worth it theme park food. I should have done it the other way around, and had fried fish on the coast and stuck to salads at the theme parks. I estimated that I ate at maintenance, with all of the walking.

And, when I got home, I found that I had lost half a pound. That was victory enough for me right there

So now my vacation philosophy is this - if the food is delicious, eat in moderation, and eat dessert. If it's ho hum, save your calories for something fabulous.

Katleskin

Haven't been on holiday since I started using MFP but, having just booked a cruise, I was wondering about this too. I never go 'online' at sea but if I just guesstimate calories and add them on my phone app (without connecting to the Internet), will that still count as 'logging'? I'd be sad to see my (currently 70odd day) streak reset.

On our 1st cruise I 'only' gained 4lbs but that's because I was mindful of needing to fit in my wedding dress in the 2nd week. On the 2nd cruise I clapped on 7lbs in a fortnight. Having said that I ate like a pig in Barcelona for 5 days but was 2lbs lighter when I got home - I put it down to the heat and a LOT of walking.

I'm hoping that the sensible eating (and exercise) habits I've developed over the last few months will stand me in good stead on board ship. Given the amazing food that's going to be available, I'd be daft to eat nothing but salad and egg white omelets so, while I won't be ordering 3 starters in one go (I've seen it done!), I probably won't be refusing dessert either! Most ships have a Promenade Deck, a couple of miles each morning and evening is a lovely way to relax as well as counteracting the extra calories.

Enjoy your cruise. I'm counting down the days until mine! :-)

starsandowls

I always log. For me, it keeps me honest. Otherwise, my scum bag brain has tendency to forget, when someone offers me dessert at lunch, that breakfast consisted of a waffle the size of my head, covered in syrup, with half a pound of sausage and a fruit salad. It's also like one of the previous posters said - it's always something, someone's birthday, holiday, or a work meeting (I'm in one of those professions where most the members reluctantly gave up the three martini lunch but you will have to pry their filets out of their cold, dead hands.). I try my best to estimate based on what's on my plate and some hints from the menu. It seems to work out for me most of the time.

I probably wouldn't be willing to pay for online service just to log, but before MFP, I used to keep a spreadsheet in Excel with the things I ate most frequently and an entry for each day, so the idea of offline logging isn't crazy to me.

The bottom line, though, is that this is *your* vacation, so if logging would make it less fun, don't log and try to keep your portions and choices in a solid "C" range instead of aiming for "A" on dry land. If not logging would increase your stress because it's habit you've come to find comforting, then log.

257_Lag

I log very loosely but ONLY to keep my streak going. Realistically you can't do much damage in a week and it's vacation! Enjoy it!

In January I had been fairly stuck for 2 months and decided to go crazy for a week on vacation. Over by at least 2000 a day with very loose logging. I came back at exactly the same weight as when I left and two weeks later the loss picked back up again.