How do you stay on track when on vacation?

I was on an all inclusive holiday two weeks ago. I just made sure I ate plenty of fish, meat and salad, and stuck mainly to melon and fruit for dessert. I had a few Baileys, and a couple of ice creams, but did a lot of swimming and walking, and when I got home I'd maintained my pre-holiday weight, so I was really pleased.

I'm sure if you ask in restaurants they'll do you a salad or veg instead of fries - a little forward planning can go a long way, but enjoy your holiday whatever you decide!!!

As @debubbie suggests, I aim to eat around maintenance. Well, now I'm maintaining in general, but when I was losing weight, my goal on vacation was maintenance.

I stick to a light breakfast, such as buttered toast, or a bagel—half a bagel if they're those monstrous ones—with a little cream cheese, and coffee. For lunch, a sandwich or a salad. At dinner, I eat slowly and if the portions are huge, decide in advance how much to eat. I also try to find a place to stay with a kitchen; on my last trip, to Berlin, I ate out several times but also stocked up at the grocery store and cooked some meals in my AirBnB apartment.

I think it's also a good idea to avoid snacks, unless you need to eat regularly to keep your blood sugar up. I know there are people who advocate frequent snacks so that you're not ravenous at mealtimes (such as Dr. Yoni Freedhoff in his very smart book The Diet Fix), but I find that I have trained my stomach to simply not expect food between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and my pre-dinner aperitif. If I do get hungry between meals, it often goes away in a few minutes.

Almost all restaurants these days either offer fresh vegetables as sides or will let you substitute something for a veg. Decent to nice restaurants will also almost always allow you to buy just a plain chicken breast filleted in two with minimal seasoning. Ive worked in restaurants forever (generally high end ones) and its not uncommon for someone to either modify a dish for health reasons or to add specific things like a chicken breast that isn't on the menu as a complete item. Now.. Avoiding amazing sounding house specialty dishes and substituting them for a simple clean meal you can make at home is the hard part!

I don't log or restrict what I eat while on vacation.

I look for the lower calorie options on the menu. If a meal normally comes with bread, you can ask them to hold the bread, so you won't be tempted to eat it. And asking for a to go container and dividing the meal in half always works.

I'm going to.Paris for 2 1/2 weeks soon. I.know I'll be walking alot, but plan.on eating and drinking whatever I choose, but hopefully in moderation. If not, I'll get back to.my regular eating and exercise plan when I get home.

seltzermint555 wrote: »

I mostly take vacations with a LOT of sightseeing and/or hiking so the problem works itself out. With that said, I'm not really tempted to go nuts on vacation anyway. "Treats" like ice cream and alcohol are things that I eat very regularly so the special, new, enticing ones on vacation just take the place of whatever "treats" I would have at home. I do know there are people who really "blow it" by going on vacation and considering it a free for all with food and eating nonstop convenience store snacks in the car and then eating according to a whole different mindset than usual (ie, getting an app AND dessert AND entree at every restaurant when they might normally order just a light entree in their non-vacationing life). As long as you don't do THAT you will probably be just fine. Even if you have to "lose" a couple of pounds when you return, it's nice to have a fun trip!

Well said!

Going on holiday doesn't mean you have to turn into a pig.