I Survived My Vacation -- Here's How

kls13la

I made it through a 10 day vacation – and it appears that I’ve actually lost a pound.

I found MFP and started logging here on May 22. I’ve logged religiously every day, every bite of food. I’ve also worked out 5-6 days a week. Although my workouts have gotten slightly less intense than they were in the beginning, I feel like a new person. Since May, I’ve lost approximately 18 pounds. I started out at 146, and this morning weighed 127.5. I’m pretty much at goal.

I was really worried about going on vacation since I’ve gotten into such a great routine. I see a lot of posts about vacation and travel, and thought I would throw in my two cents because for the first time, I realized that this is a lifestyle change. It isn’t a diet. It’s how I eat now. And I feel so great that I was able to go on this trip and come back no worse for the wear.

What did I do?

In the past, I would’ve used a vacation as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted – as if I wasn’t doing that anyway. “You’re on vacation,” everyone says. Well, sure. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a glutton – or that you have to deprive yourself. I feel like I ate what I wanted, for the most part. However, there was a big difference in what I used to do versus what I do now.

Before: I would’ve chosen whatever sounded good without any thought to the calorie content. (Usually this involved a lot of sauce, grease, and cheese.) I would’ve eaten ice cream several times a day “because I’m on vacation.” I honestly would not have thought at all about calories. I never did before May of this year.

Now: I think about what I really want to eat. Sometimes it is the huge, calorie laden dish. If that’s the only thing, then I get it. However, usually I can find something else on the menu that sounds just as good as that one, but is much lower calorie. So, I choose the lower calorie one. I ate a lot of mahi mahi and grouper on this trip! I’ve really realized that for me, I just have to think about it. Sometimes you don’t have much of a choice, if you are pulling in to McDonald’s or wherever for a quick bite to eat, but even at those places you can make better choices. Sometimes you want the French fries, sometimes you can live without them. (I replace with salad or veggies usually, because to be honest, I don’t like to eat French fries so often anymore.) If I want ice cream, I have it – once a day. But I don’t get the sundae or the Blizzard – I get the small chocolate cone. For me, that’s all I need to satisfy the craving. I really just think about it -- how badly do I want this? Will something else fulfill this craving? Is there something else I can get? Am I just ordering this because I'm starving and it's easy? No more mindless eating!

In other words, I don’t feel like I ate particularly well (healthwise) on this trip, but at the same time, I don’t feel like I ate particularly badly. It just kind of felt like what normal eating should feel like, minus some of the French fries and ice creams. (Ideally I like more fruits and veggies! ) I’ve proved to myself that I can go to restaurants and make smart decisions, even multiple days in a row. And even when I make not so smart decisions, it all balances out somehow.

The stats (good and bad) for a 10 day trip:

Number of times I ate French fries: 5

Number of times I ate McDonald’s, Taco Bell, or Burger King: 5

Number of times I ate ice cream: 5

Number of times I ate at iHop or Waffle House: 3

Number of days I drank alcohol: 7

Number of days I worked out (running): 5. In addition to actually working out (which I equate with putting on tennis shoes and my HRM), we walked everywhere. When we stayed on the beach, we walked for several miles each day on the beach. We walked to town for lunch and dinner. We walked all over Disneyworld, Disney Village, and Animal Kingdom. In the afternoon, I would take a break from the beach or the pool and just go for a walk for a half an hour or an hour. Most vacations I’ve been on lend themselves to a lot of walking.

Number of days my calories were in the red: ALL. By anywhere from -200 to around -800. Oh yeah – I logged everything. I had to do a lot of estimating, so it’s possible my estimates were off. It took two minutes to log a meal on my phone, so I didn’t find this to be a hardship, even on vacation. I wanted to know where I stood each day. (I’m kind of addicted to the logging!)

And the end result is that I didn’t gain any weight – if anything, I lost. (My sodium was through the roof, however.)

I’m sorry this post was so long, but it was just such a revelation to me that I could go on vacation like this and not gain any weight back. (I know it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound, but I could easily put away 3000 calories or more a day, if I put my mind to it!) I’m just super proud of myself, and for the first time really see eating healthier as a complete life change.

(By the way – the chicken and vegetables less than 600 calorie salad at Cracker Barrel is delicious!)

FitFabFlirty92

Thank you for posting this! I'm on vacation right now and it's so encouraging to know someone else did it and made it through without any weight gain. I've been doing pretty much the same thing you described -- I log everything and I'm usually way over, but I need to know where I stand. I'm always conscious of portions, but I don't deprive myself of anything. Plus my hotel has a gym, so I worked out tonight and burned off some of the damage. Reading this let me know I'm not alone and will push me to keep going.