Best strategies for eating on vacation?

Here is what I do (and I appreciate that this is not for everyone). I fast from waking to my evening meal - This leaves me plenty of calories for my evening meal and drinks.

I only exercise if I feel like it but I usually get in a few early morning runs - great way to take in the scenery.

This is just me, but vacations come around so infrequently for me that I don't bother. I just do whatever I want and deal with the aftermath when I come back. I know how to lose weight so I don't worry about the 2-3 pounds I gain when I'm away. Life is too short.

emdeesea wrote: »

This is just me, but vacations come around so infrequently for me that I don't bother. I just do whatever I want and deal with the aftermath when I come back. I know how to lose weight so I don't worry about the 2-3 pounds I gain when I'm away. Life is too short.

This. I get one vacation a year....I make the most out of it.

Fast food and chain restaurants all publish the nutritional information about their menus, so with a bit of planning you can find the healthier choices on their menus. The MFP app now has a location function, it gives you menus and nutritional information about restaurants in your area. There's an app called "HealthyOut" , I haven't used it yet, but it also gives restaurant information, and it has a different database than MFP. For restaurants that don't publish their nutritional information, use your common sense.

Don't feel you have to deprive yourself. Order what you want, within reason, and you should be OK.

emdeesea wrote: »

I_Will_End_You wrote: »

aim_3 wrote: »

@aditarose
Great advice, thanks!

@emdeesa, @I_Will_End_You
I appreciate the input.

I wouldn't say I am overly worried about gaining. I would just like to keep it to 1 or 2 pounds max. I am hoping to maintain, but I can handle a small gain. It wouldn't be the first gain I've experienced since starting this.

I find that most of the "weight" I gain on vacation is water weight and is gone within a week of returning. I tend to move more on vacation, so it offsets the higher calorie days some.

Yep. It's been my experience that the first day when I come back after vacation the scale will initially read something ridiculous like a 10 pound gain. And I've done this long enough to know that's simply not possible. Whether I've flown or driven somewhere, doesn't matter, the reading is mostly water weight and it will be gone in about a week. Then I'm left with the REAL weight gain, which is usually something like 2-3 pounds. No big deal.

I got back from a week's vacation yesterday and the scale said a 6lb gain yesterday which has already dropped to a 1lb gain by today. It's so bizarre.

I've gone on three 'vacations' since I started MFP... One was a traditional one, a week in DC; the second just flying out to meet my husband as he moved back home from a work assignment so a very rushed road trip really; the third was a week in the snow at our family cabin.
I lost a little weight on the first one and maintained on the other two.
1. Get it straight in your head: your 'maintenance' wont show up on the scale for about the same number of days you've been gone. Sitting on a plane or sitting in the car both seem to contribute to water retention for me. So ignore the first weights you get upon returning home.
2. Aim for maintenance calories. Deficits are harder on trips. If you travel for business, sure, you need a deficit game. But if you are spending your money and your time on a personal vacation why would you deliberately make it less pleasurable? That seems weird to me.
3. Match your meals to your activities. I find that if I'm sitting on a plane or in a car all day the last thing I need are three squares. I like either a protein rich breakfast or lunch but not both, one healthy snack, and then a regular dinner. I now think of that as my travel day routine. You're unlikely to get a headache since you are doing less.
4. Up the activity! It's your bloody vacation. Schedule lots of walking, lots of biking, lots of hiking, snowshoeing, whatever... So at home in my regular life I plan for deficit eating & my workouts are primarily fitness related and happen on the margins of my work and family commitments; on vacation I invert that completely by upping my calories to maintenance and then adjusting my vacation activities to maximize my time off. If I'm flying I check in nice & early and do a large walk through the entire airport several times to get 10k steps. Some airports offer yoga rooms now too. If I'm driving all day I schedule a hike either first thing in the morning or midway through the drive. If I'm sight seeing I walk if it's under 10 miles or rent bikes, weather permitting, if it's under 40 miles. If there's a pool, I swim. If there's a gym, I go. Because it's vacation! I have all the time in the world! It's hardest when you're with family, but scheduling time to work out is what i think of as a healthy boundary. You'll get better at it with practice.
5. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. You probably won't get another for several months. Vacation is like gold to me. I don't like to feel like I have wasted it dithering over details. If I eat over one meal or walk under what I targeted I just move on.

I can't just say 'it's just one week' personally because it's been hard enough to lose my last pounds lately without adding more to lose. That being said, I've gained 2 pounds during my last two vacations (those stayed for a couple months, so not just water weight) when we had a lot of driving and ate out pretty much every time.

Basically, my rules were... no drinking calories, only splurge on something I really want and isn't available everywhere (so, depending on where you go, lobster rolls, BBQ, poutine, whatever, lol). Otherwise, stick to the lower calorie option - it often still sucked, frankly, it's crazy how many places don't even have veggies and how more expensive it is to order some grilled chicken with veggies than a burger or sandwich and fries - so that's how I ended up gaining weight in the end anyway.. after 2 days I just couldn't stomach another 'side salad' substitution...

For me sadly I need a good breakfast, and that was often the problem - the places we stayed at didn't really have healthy options or it tasted awful (1 star hotels for you), so I basically ate too many calories at breakfast in order to not be starving all day. Then I'm often hungrier at lunch than dinner too so I ate more at lunch and had a light dinner or skipped it a couple times too (300-400 calories for dinner is normal for me but good luck finding something filling for those calories at most restaurants)... Hopefully you don't have that issue so it will already be much easier!

If you can, pack your own snacks instead of grabbing at the gas stations on the way. That's one of my major problems! ^_^; Plus, if you're walking around with a couple of snack bars in your bag, you have something on hand to stave off hunger, which means you won't feel the need to grab random snacks as you do things.

Also, songbird is correct, a lot of restaurants have menus online, and many will have nutrition info. Planning what you want to get before you go helps you stay on track. Yeah, the group may want to split an appetizer, but at least you'll know (about) how much your meal is going to be so it's easy to keep track of.

Just remember, it's ok to indulge in things as long as you do so in moderation. Split treats with people if you can, and remember it's also ok NOT to finish meals in restaurants!