Maintaining on Vacation

I find that I can listen to or feel my body wanting more food. Try to feel how hungry you are. Make as many healthy choices as you can when you can. Don't worry about dumping fries in the garbage can. The most important part is to have fun! Don't stress too much over the food.

Bumping to also look at tips. I'll be in the Philippines for 2 weeks at my grandparents' so an abundance of great food and temptation will be around.

Staying hydrated is definitely a priority. I take an insulated water bottle with me just about everywhere. If you have the option, stop by a local grocery and stock up on healthy snacks and foods that you can eat before you go out to restaurants. If Disney still allows backpacks into the park, take food, water and ice with you. The money and calories that you save not buying $3 bottled water and $10 hot dogs at the park can be better spent at the local pub downing Captain and Coke Zero or one of those neon colored drinks with the umbrella! :drinker:

Jogging on the beach or swimming in the ocean are surprisingly good workouts. Many hotels have some sort of exercise room as well.

Most of all, you can watch what you eat/drink, but do not obsess over it. This is an awesome opportunity with your family; enjoy it!

I just got back from a nice vacation a couple of weeks ago. It was the longest vacation I have been on since maintaining and the location is known for their great restaurants so I was a little nervous!

What ended up happening was I ate a couple of small snacks during the afternoon (a homemade protein or homemade granola bar, nuts, fruit etc.) and a large well-balanced early dinner. Despite of all the activities I did during the day I was never hungry.

Lastly I walked a lot on my trip (averaged about 12 miles per day), I used the hotel's weight room as well and I still kept track of what I was eating. Actually I lost a couple of pounds while I was there!

This worked so great for me, but I do IF so I can go a while without eating, but this might not work for you if you need to eat in the morning.

Edited to add - I hope you have a wonderful time!

I'm also leaving in 2 days for a 14-day Florida vacation!! We go there twice a year and I've learned how to manage my calories. I found that MFP has lots of restaurant info loaded in, so many of my meals are already in there. Also, since it's Florida in December, we do a lot of outdoor activities, so I am on the move all day long. I have a fitbit and it's generally pretty acurate about calories burned.

I am an early riser, so I usually get in a good walk by myself before everyone else is up and going. That helps too. Most importantly, don't stress if you go over in calories. Just log it so you keep track. And enjoy yourself!!

I've been maintaining for 7 months or so...I don't log anything anymore save for a spot check here and there. The secret is knowing what a portion for you looks like...whether you're having it at home or out at a restaurant....if you track well you should know roughly what that looks like. This is of course much more difficult if you practice deprivation dieting rather than portion control and moderation.

But really, it all comes down to portion control, moderation, and self control and being mindful of what you are putting into your mouth whether you're writing it down or not.

As a previous poster said, If you go to Disney or Universal for that matter, you will do a lot of walking. If you have any kind of pedometer, you should wear it, because you will be shocked by the amount of ground you will cover and calories you will burn. Enjoy yourself. Most of the weight you will gain (if any) will be from sodium in fast food and restaurant food, so remember to hydrate. That kind of weight come off as quickly as it comes on.

My family has gone to Disney World for a week vacation for the last three years. Every time I go I eat anything I want, basically. I really just eat what sounds good, period. I'm not usually a big sweets person, but at Disney I indulge in Mickey Bars and churros and am a sucker for an apple cobbler at the resort snack bar before bed. I am certainly eating WELL OVER what I would at home.

According to Fit Bit, I also walk over 20K steps a day, and include swimming on top of that.
Every single time I come home weighing a pound or so LESS than when I left. What they say must be true - calories don't count at Disney. :bigsmile:

It was easy at Disney honestly. I maintained there easily for 4 days eating whatever I wanted for breakfast (hear chocolate chips pancakes with syrup), and in 4 days I had a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs, a German hotdog, two pieces of some god-awful pizza (never order from that place that advertises at Disney. Yikes), and a French pastry. The rest of the time I was eating salads with dressing on the side, salmon with veggies and rice etc. Most of the restaurants over there have healthy options honestly (it's not always great, but what can you do). But we did so much walking that 1-2 'bad' meals a day was not a problem at all. I brought in Quest bars and ate one a day between meals, and that was it for snacks.

I'd be more worried about the home meals if you're staying with family, lol.

I just returned from a 1-week vacation to Mexico. I stayed at an all-inclusive resort, which meant I could eat or drink anything I wanted. When I came home, I was at the top range of my maintenance weight and back down to the bottom within 2 days. These two things worked for me:

1) Stay active! Walk, swim, play beach games, shop, dance..whatever! All of this activity builds up.
2) I did not log at all. But - I kept my "calorie budget" in mind. I ate a lot of vegetables and lean meats, drank a lot of water, etc. Also, I did not really eat extras like bread with dinner because I would rather "spend" those calories on dessert or wine. Think about the foods you really enjoy and save your cals for that. If you are in maintenance mode, you should be at a point where you have a sense of the rough number of calories in most food. Just keep this in mind.

Have fun! Don't stress too much over it - just stay active and eat what you enjoy within reason

I take a jump rope with me on vacations and try to squeeze that in even if it's only a few minutes at a time. I also head out for a quick run early in the morning at least once or twice while there. If your lucky a family member may care to join you.

This is great advice. Find ways to keep active on vacay and use that fuel.

With the food, I take a cue from Michael Pollen's, The Omnivore's Dilemma–

"Americans are amazed to learn that some of the cultures that set their culinary course by the light of habit and pleasure rather then nutritional science and marketing are actually healthier then we are–that is, suffer a lower incidence of diet-related health troubles.

The French paradox is the most famous such case, though as Paul Rozin points out, the French don't regard the matter as paradoxical at all. We Americans resort to that term because the French experience–a population of wine-swilling cheese eaters with lower rates of heart disease and obesity–confounds our orthodoxy about food. That orthodoxy regards certain tasty foods as poisons (carbs now, fats then), failing to appreciate that how we eat, and even how we feel about eating, may in the end be just as important as what we eat. The French eat all sorts of supposedly unhealthy foods, but they do it according to a strict and stable set of rules: They eat small portions and don't go back for seconds; they don't snack; they seldom eat alone; and communal meals are long, leisurely affairs. In other words, the French culture of food successfully negotiates the omnivore's dilemma, allowing the French to enjoy their meals without ruining their health.

Perhaps because we have no such culture of food in America almost every question about eating is up for grabs. Fats or carbs? Three squares or continuous grazing? Raw or cooked? Organic or industrial? Veg or vegan? Meat or mock meat? Foods of astounding novelty fill the shelves of our supermarket, and the line between a food and a "nutritional supplement" has fogged to the point where people make meals of protein bars and shakes. Consuming these neo-pseudo-foods alone in our cars, we have become a nation of antinomian eaters, each of us struggling to work out our dietary salvation on our own. Is it any wonder American's suffer from so many eating disorders? In the absence of any lasting consensus about what and how and where to eat, the omnivore's dilemma has returned to America with an almost atavistic force."

–Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma