vacation nightmare

You should be able to eat enjoyable foods and still meet your calorie goals as long as you don't get ridiculous about it. Look up IIFYM and use a TDEE calculator to figure out your maintenance calorie requirement. If you want to stay your current weight, then eat the number the TDEE gives you. If you want to lose weight, eat 500 calories less than that number. That's all there is to it.

To gain back the 80 pounds in two weeks you would need to eat 20,000 calories a day.

I don't think that eating a giant cookie and a bunch of other yummy junk is going to undo your progress. Drink a lot of water to stay full, try to be active/moving around a lot, and don't eat if you're full, unless it's ice cream.

Boot camp will probably un-do any weight you gain during vacation right?

You are in excellent shape and will not gain a lot of weight if you enjoy yourself and eat reasonable portion sizes.

Log your food if it makes you less anxious. I always do because then I don't have to worry about what I 'might' have done.

It doesn't matter what you do. Navy boot camp will sort it out once you get there..

I'm leaving for Navy boot camp in about 2 weeks so I went yo go visit family in another state. Since its a vacation I've been not really caring what I eat and not really exercising as much as I probably should. Now, I know its my choice and everything to act this way, but now I'm feeling anxious. I don't wanna gain any of the 80 lbs I lost over the last 2 years, but I do wanna enjoy the time and good eats with my family. Should I stop obsessing or should I be more careful? Cause I did eat a cookie as big as my head and ice cream and pie all in the same day... I'm 5'8" and about 130lbs, 18 years of age. Let me know what you think.

Boot camp will burn it off of you. I was 120lbs and 18 when I enlisted in the Army. Without fail everyone in my platoon lost between 10-20 pounds during the 8 weeks. I lost 12, and I was in pretty good shape to begin with (and went from a size 6 to a 2 because of all the damn pushups). At 5'8", and 130, you are well below the maximum of 170lbs. I don't think you will gain 40lbs in the next 2 weeks.

I'm not saying eat cookies as big as your head at every meal, but I wouldn't sweat it at this stage of the game.

Just don't worry about it and don't obsess about it. Enjoy the time with your family and enjoy the foods and activities you want within reason. I am not saying to totally go all out and overdo it with eating but. A week or so of more calories and/or treats isn't going to all of a sudden put 80 lbs back on you! Example - I went on a two week island vacation with my hubs and we stayed at an all inclusive place. Do you think I honestly cared much about what I was consuming? There was no way I was not going to enjoy the wonderful bounty of fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood, meats and yup, desserts and sweets while being in a foreign country! I literally threw caution to the wind and oddly enough, for the most part I made the right choices. Pretty much everything I had was extremely healthy but I did go over my calorie target almost every day. I didn't track it... but I just knew. Guess what, I only gained about 3 pounds as a result and I do believe it was the alcohol LOL! After about a week I was back to normal

Good luck in boot camp and thanks for your service!

I say be careful. You know how easily those pounds can creep back up if you're not. Have fun, eat what you want but by now you know what you should and shouldn't eat so make smart choices. You know what they are. Don't over do it, everything in moderation. Have a cookie or the ice cream or the pie or cake but don't have it all, not all in the same day.

Slipping back into bad habits is not a good idea. You will regret it when vacation is over. Eat healthy and be proud of what you have done already. Vacation should be having fun with your family/friends not a overeating session.

With that said an occasional treat is fine if you include it in your maintenance plan. Have a fantastic vacation

It is possible to be mindful of what you're eating and get in a little exercise without obsessing...you can still enjoy yourself too. It's not an all or nothing proposition. This is kind of where proper portion control comes into play.

I have been maintaining for over a year without logging...I can assure you that in order to do this I have to be mindful of what I consume both in terms of quality and quantity...but I obsess about nothing.

Find some balance.

Stop obsessing. I went to Navy bootcamp and lemme tell ya its no picnic. IF you gained a lb or 2 or more on vacation you will lose that plus about 10 - 15 more at bootcamp. Just enjoy the rest of your time before you head up to Great Lakes.

That is a very good weight! You could even gain 10 pounds and still be WELL within BMI standards. Enjoy your vacation.

I was on vacation last week, ate exactly what and how much I wanted. This is a lifestyle change not a diet with an end date. Vacations, Birthdays, Anniversaries, arbitrary nights out are going to happen. You can eat exactly what you want, just don't do it all the time. Log your meal, Enjoy your meal, and move on.

The weight battle is a lifestyle thing. The hardest thing to do is to eat more than usual at a wedding or special celebration and not just continue to eat and eat and eat! My advice is to eat until you are comfortably full and stop. This is the real challenge! It is OK to eat a larger, great meal for this occasion. It is not OK to eat all you want whatever you want for hours. Even if boot camp will get the weight back off, you are reinforcing a very bad habit. We tend to think the enemy is the scale. The real enemy is mindless eating. You are young. You don't need to go to extremes either overeating or undereating. The best to you!