How do you stay on track when you're on vacation?

Keep tracking. We were on vacation for a week in July, so we were eating out every day. But I did not want to loose momentum, so we packed a lot of our own snacks (we were staying at a water park resort, so most of our days were spent onsite and I could go back to the room if I wanted). I ate breakfast in the room every morning instead of going down to the buffet. Kids ate pop tarts, bagels and cereal in the room, as well. On our last day we did stop for breakfast on our way out of town and I had 3 egg beaters, turkey bacon and toast that was filling and pretty low calorie. When we did eat out, I made sure to avoid fried foods and the bread basket. I had grilled chicken and shrimp, rice, baked potatoes, veggies, steak and salad with low fat dressing. All the dressings I ordered on the side, as well as butter. I went over on my calories only one day and still managed to loose a bit of weight. I am not going to lie, it wasn't easy! I wanted nachos at the water park with everyone else, but I got a bland soft pretzel cause I read that is one of the best choices at snack carts. I wanted those fried cheese curds with my family at the brew house but had salad instead. I would have loved to have a big frozen cocktail, too, but didn't. In the end, I was very proud of myself. I stayed on track while still enjoying some foods I would not have had at home. If you don't have it, get the MFP app. It's free and easy to use on your phone. It will look up restaurants near to you using GPS and find menu items with calories counts, if available. It also has a nifty scanner that you can use to scan any food packaging with a bar code and it will automatically give you the nutrition info for it.

Just as Victoria_1024 said, I don't log much on vacation. I don't like to estimate calories and unless the restaurant has nutritional information in their website and it is easy to find in the database, I will not bother logging my food. I also need a break from weighing and logging.

I try to cook and eat breakfast in and sometimes even log it; that it is easier to do when I am staying in a condo. I don't do fast food; neither my husband or I like it. I don't binge or eat large amount of food, I try to keep my protein up and control my sodium and carbs intake. I drink in moderation and sometimes days go by without a drop of wine, which is the only alcohol that I drink. And since I don't have a sweet tooth, I can eat deserts in moderation too or nothing at all.

I also try to stay active, however I am having knees and lower back issues, so I had to reduce my activity level while on vacation. I got back also from a three weeks road trip last week, eating most of my food out and with only a 1/2lbs gain. While I was at my sons' house I managed to cook breakfasts and some lunches and dinners too, but I didn't weigh my food or even log it.

In my opinion one can relax and have a great time without over indulging in food. It all depends how motivated you are and what is important to you. If you gain some weight , you can get back in the saddle when you get back home. Have fun!

Keep a mini goal In mind with a timeframe that happens after vaca. For instance... I want to be able to wear that whatever it is to that special event after vaca...... I fell prey to the mental trap of using vaca as a goal then reaching the goal and feeling "done".

I keep active (we walk loads every day on vacation), I still watch my portion sizes just as I do at home and make good choices. I keep the breads on offer to a minimum as I feel they are wasted calories.
I also find when it comes to dessert, I'll usually share one with hubby or I'll eat half of the portion I've been given.
We cruise twice a year and never gain on holidays doing this.

I don't log my food any longer and I have never logged food while on vacation - I treated it as a break from the whole process and also that let me see I could go it alone and not need to log.

I've just come back from a fortnight (2 weeks for non-Brits!) away in Cyprus. I lost a pound whilst away.

My tactic was to keep on doing what I was doing! Logging, making sensible choices - lots of salad, not so much bread, very little alcohol - and interspersing my holiday delight of reading in the sun with active time.

I had pizza one night, ice-cream a few times, and 3 beers. Do you know what? That was enough. Although eating and drinking are usually a big thing on holiday the new normal was just fine too. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. What I ate, especially the hellim/halloumi done on the charcoal BBQ each night, was delicious. Fresh salads, olives, juicy peaches - all very satisfying.

I don't. It's a vacation. I make smart choices, but I'm not going to spend my vacation angsting about food.

I always bring my own snacks (a Quest Bar and Cave Man bar - enough to have one each every day). Then only eat out for my 3 squares. I pretty much only eat protein during the day, but then for dinner I have a satisfying meal: appetizer, main meal, dessert. This way, I don't let go completely, but I can still enjoy myself. Of course, I exercise every day. If there is not a fitness room where I"m staying I scout out a local gym and pay the guest fee. There are also tons of free on line videos you can do. Good luck!

I don't, but I don't take 3 week vacations, either.

Vacation is for what reason? Enjoyment. If can't enjoy yourself (don't be over excessive with food and drink), than what is the vacation for? To see if you can just hold out?
1 week may get derailed but OVERALL consistency during the year is what matters.
You can have a bad day, a bad week and even a bad month, but if you're consistent, you shouldn't have a bad year.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I guess it depends on what type of vacation for me. I live in the uk and I've found that when I go to the US, I gain a lot of weight

I went on vacation to China for 2.5 weeks and came back having lost weight without trying or even really wanting to. I didn't even try to log since a good bit of the time I really wasn't sure exactly what I was eating (menus were not necessarily translated or not well). I was lightly active the first half of vacation and then extremely active the last week (2 days of almost 30,000 steps, including one day with 76 flights of stairs!) it helped that the meals had lots of vegetables and very little sweets.

jps2222 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be having about half my meals at restaurants and about half at people's houses, so am hoping it won't be too onerous, and I think I'll definitely keep logging because I find it really helps me keep perspective. And hoping it's not too hot to stay active! Appreciate everyone's insights and strategies.

At restaurants you can order healthy choices. Eating at other peoples houses is awkward because you don't want to offend by refusing stuff. The key here is to take small portions of whatever is offered.

On vacation, or whenever eating out, I try to have just one carb portion per meal. If I want the dinner roll, skip the potato. If I want the risotto, go for it and pass on dessert. It's not foolproof and portion control is part of it, but it helps.