Need Pre-Vacation Advice Please!

pelleld

A little background on me.........I'm a 48 y/o female, 5'3" tall, joined mfp last February at 143 lbs. By May I was at goal of 125, continued dropping weight while trying to maintain, appear to have settled in at 115. Since November I've fluctuated within a pound of 115 in either direction (except for right after New Year's when I went up to 117, but I'm back down again). My maintenance calories are 1400, plus I eat back my exercise calories. While my family thinks I am now too thin, my doctor says this is a good weight for me, I am healthy and feel great. She did say I shouldn't lose any more weight.

I'm leaving for a 10 day vacation in 5 weeks, to go to Captiva Island Florida for 10 days with my Mom. I've been doing this for almost 10 years. The resort we stay at has some wonderful food and since we are creatures of habit I can already tell you almost every meal we will eat I plan to go to the gym on the property (I workout at Cardio Express 5 days per week now) and walk the beach as well. I will not be able to log my food while I am there, though I can do some estimates before I go so that I will know what my typical meals will look like. I do not intend to obsess about the extra calories, but I don't really want to gain either.

So, here's the real question................I've been thinking of dropping my calories back to 1200 (plus exercise calories) for the 5 weeks prior to vacation. That's only 200 lower than I'm eating now, and I figure it might help me to drop a couple pounds before vacation so that if I gain during vacation I can come home at 115 (or pretty darm close to it). Is it bad to go back to 1200 for these 5 weeks? Is going down to maybe 113 prior to vacation a bad thing to do? Or am I starting down a slippery slope where then I'll want to be at 113 always instead of 115? I know I'm over-thinking this...........advice please??

BigDaddyBRC

Simply put. Make the same smart choices about your daily intake and exercising

cmriverside

NO. Do not lower your calories thinking that's a good plan.

You will be doing yourself no favors to starve for five weeks and then overeat for 10 days.

Keep it steady.

Enjoy the vacation, walk on the beach, I never gain weight on vacation. I'm so much more active on vacation that it all works out.

pelleld

NO. Do not lower your calories thinking that's a good plan.

You will be doing yourself no favors to starve for five weeks and then overeat for 10 days.

Keep it steady.

Enjoy the vacation, walk on the beach, I never gain weight on vacation. I'm so much more active on vacation that it all works out.

I won't be particulary active on this vacation, its a beach resort, not much else to do besides sit by the pool/beach and read, which I love to do. Its a very relaxing vacation, though I will go to the onsite gym this year. If I did go to 1200 I won't be starving. It is only 200 less than I've been doing on maintenance, plus I do eat back my exercise calories. And for the 10 days I won't be overeating per se, just eating a bit differently than I do at home. I plan to make healthy choices, Mom and I split a number of the meals and I eat a lot of fresh fruits and salads (totally yummy in season fruits and great salads!) Its just that I'm just so worried about gaining .......thanks for taking the time to reply.

DonnaLFitz

I would recommend staying at the 1400. Must lower, and you aren't getting enough nutrition.
Enjoy your vacation. Work it off slowly when you return. You won't gain that much. I'm betting you can't finish an entire plate of anything at this point anyway. Just do the best you can.