Vacation Strategies

baileysmom4 · April 2013

I need help! I went on a weekend getaway and found it so hard to eat healthy and keep the salt consumption down. I thought, if I can't do this for two days what am I going to do when I go on vacation in Vegas for a week next month! I've done so well eating and working out and I don't want to blow it. I plan on getting some fresh fruit and such to have in the hotel - we are actually going to be doing a lot of hiking in red rock canyon, thank God!

Can anyone give me some tips on how to get thru that week without blowing up like a balloon! I try to stay at 1500-2500mg sodium for heart reasons.

Thanks for your input!

billr42 · April 2013

Go to a nicer restaurant and tell them about your dietary constraints, they will help you.

BeachIron · April 2013

If you're staying in Vegas, you should be fine. The food choices are quite varied and there should be plenty of healthy choices. It's just going to be a matter of self control.

Oh, and if you're doing any serious hiking, then you're going to be sweating like crazy, so drink plenty of water. You have heart problems so I won't say "don't worry about sodium" as I normally would, but if you are sweating and drinking plenty of water because of exercise, particularly in such a hot and dry climate, you will need more sodium than normal.

baileysmom4 · April 2013

Good point on the sodium. That eases my mind! My heart is healthy but I had supraventricular tachycardia (fast heart rate that would get stuck) and had to have a procedure done to my heart to fix it. All good now! YAY! Enough of a scare to do everything possible to keep my heart healthy!

ackeebee · April 2013

Though i have not done it myself, if you have very strict dietary requirements perhaps you could also consider staying somewhere that allows self catering. It's probably not the ideal holiday though. Personally I take about 5 weeks holiday a year and consider that time to let my hair down and eat what I want (within reason of course).

darrensurrey · April 2013

Choose salads. Vegas is warm so it won't be a miserable experience.

Or do a 5/2 approach.

Or eat only half the carbs you'd normally eat.

Or just enjoy yourself, know that you will put on weight but don't beat yourself up over it. Call it a diet break (but not a challenge to see if you can eat everything in Vegas - what happens in Vegas will be brought home). It'll help psychologically if you've been really good until now. Then crack on once you come back.

I saw a great motivational pic on Pinterest a while ago: I watch what I eat between 26th December and 24th December.

alpine1994 · April 2013

Just from personal experience, it's harder at first, but the longer it has been since eating healthier, the easier it gets. For me it was because I was used to eating a good amount of veggies, fruit, and lean meat every day so when I went away on vacation I didn't stray too far from that because I would feel crappy. Don't get me wrong, I still love fried New England seafood and ice cream every now and then but if I ate like that every day for a week straight, I would be HURTING.

So just enjoy yourself, don't go completely nuts but don't restrict yourself too much. It gets easier, promise. Enjoy Vegas! I'm jealous!

katy84o · April 2013

Vegas is notorious for buffets. Do you plan on eating at a lot of the buffets? If yes, they usually have nice salad and fruit bars that you can fill up on. Just choose olive oil and vinegar as your dressing. As another member said, if you are at a nicer restaurant let them know and i'm sure they can accomodate. You can also cook for yourself if you have a kitchen, at least breakfast and lunch. Have fun at red rock canyon. It's gorgeous, sunset there was awesome and driving back to the strip at night is really cool.

cappri · April 2013

When I went on vacation to Hawaii a few weeks ago the first stop, ok the second we did eat a meal first, was at Costco. I loaded up our hotel fridge with lots of produce, fat free greek yogurt and water. It helped to have some healthy options to snack on or make a meal with.

Restaurant food is high in sodium, I just tried not to look at the red in that column during vacation. I have high blood pressure so I do normally try to keep it low.

Even with this and working out every day while on vacation I still brought home a 10 pound gain that it took two weeks to get rid of.

missADS1981 · April 2013

seeing as i was just in vegas for five days i will offer some advice.

every morning hit the hotel gym, do not skip workouts during vacation cause you just have a harder timementally getting back into your routine when you return. we went every monring and then we felt great.

the thing with eating out is even if you order healthy options you have no clue how they prepare it, what was on the pan or skillet before yours etc. I ordered alot of meats and no real carbs. lots of seafood too like shrimp, salmon, chilean sea bass. Cant go wring with veggies either. tell the server you are allergic to butter and want them only with some light olive oil. bring mrs. dash with you in a bag

dont drink lots of sugary drinks by the pool. you get dehyrated and have you ever seen how much sugar is in a mojito?

drink TONS of water, not only bc its hot but it will help keep your digestion going and flushout anything you may not really want to be eating.

pack your favorite protein bars (mine are quest) and some healthy snacks (i zip locked some raw almonds) and then other kinds of sancks to eat on plane bc airport food is just awful. i love ostrim jerkey snakcs. they have lots of protein and only 80 calories and me and the fiance love those.

sushi is always a great option too

baileysmom4 · April 2013

Thanks all! We are actually staying at a resort/spa type place in Henderson so I wont' be in vegas more than a day or two. I'm hoping to get lots of exercise hiking my butt off! And hoping the hotel has nice seafood!

Vacation Strategies

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