How to not gain weight on vacation

sosteach
sosteach Posts: 260 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and need some tips for being on vacation and not undoing all the hard work I have put in.
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Replies

  • prettygirlstorm1
    prettygirlstorm1 Posts: 721 Member
    you may not be able to track the food as easily as you do now unless you have the nutritional facts. Enjoy yourself on vacation. I'm sure you will be doing a lot of walking and other activities that will burn off calories. I would pay more attention to portion size. Have fun. You can get back on track when you get back!!!!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    tcunbeliever wrote: »
    use the mfp app and track your food just like you would when you are not on vacation

    Pretty much just this. Just eat/drink as you would normally (as much as you can).

    No tall drinks with umbrellas in them and pass on the 2 cups of rice and spam commonly found in local Hawaiian take out.

    Otherwise, just enjoy the scenery - - the beaches, ocean and mts - - and, if you're a guy (or a girl so inclined) and aren't w/an SO that will be offended, the girls in bikinis.

    Enjoy your vacation! :)
  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
    I lost 2.5lbs on my recent holiday. I swam every day, tracked my food and had just one "cheat" day. Have fun!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've never gained weight...as in actual fat on a vacation. As food goes, I tend to have a couple meals per day on vacation and that's it...too busy and on the go to snack and whatnot.

    I'm also way more active on vacation than I am at home...out and about seeing this or that...swimming, hiking, etc. At home I'm sitting behind a desk all day...on vacation, I'm on the move.

    Going to Tanka Verde Ranch this weekend for the MM day holiday...yes, I will do some lounging around the pool and whatnot, but I'll also be mountain biking for a few hours daily as well as horseback riding and a whole bunch of other fun stuff.

    Also, when in doubt just do the math...You'd really have to go completely nuts to actually do much damage in the limited amount of time you're going to be on vacation. Most vacation weight gain is attributable to water weight and bloating from air travel.
  • SafioraLinnea
    SafioraLinnea Posts: 628 Member
    Find physical activities to do - swim, hike, walk a bunch, etc - and be mindful of intake. Log your food if you can, and keep portions reasonable. Drink water as much as you can (my BFF got super dehydrated in Hawaii last July because she wasn't used to the heat!) and have FUN!!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    edited May 2017
    I'm currently on vacation. Not tracking my food, but trying to make better choices (sort of). My FitBit is really impressed because my daily steps have at least doubled. It will take a week from my return for the airplane fluid retention to be gone, and then I'll have a good idea. I lost during my last three vacations, but they were to developing countries, so food was limited.

    At the end of the day, I am enjoying my vacation and that's more important. I'll focus on diet when I get home. It's about choices. If you feel that you need/want to count calories, you certainly can. I suspect it will be a fair amount of guesswork, depending on where you eat, but it can be done. Enjoy your trip!
  • mpat81
    mpat81 Posts: 353 Member
    Hawaii is a great destination if you want to sample the local foods. Depending on your goals, try to have lots of fresh seafood and fruit, go easy on the sauces and sugary cocktails and enjoy yourself. Like everyone above me said, you'll probably be really active and able to reconcile any extra calories with exercise.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Eat tons of fish!!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    OBTW, I'm currently on day 4 of a 5 day wine tasting trip and have lost about 2#.

    Still logging and weighing myself daily; driving and brought my bathroom scale w/me. My GF and I share a tasting (which reduces the cost and the amount of wine consumed) but doesn't reduce the fun. Only thing that I haven't done is exercise but, after a year, my body could use the break.

    Hit about 15 tasting rooms in 3 days, drank a lot of different wines and have eaten well. So, watching what you eat/drink on vacation doesn't mean that you can't enjoy yourself and still stay on track.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,110 Member
    I'm also going on vacation. I leave for Vegas tomorrow. I made a plan. I know I won't be eating as well so I have banked some calories. I also know we will be walking a lot, will be swimming laps every morning, and have my SWORKIT app to do mini workouts in my room.

    Just make a plan and enjoy your trip
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    Track those calories! You can do it, I believe in you.
  • midlomel1971
    midlomel1971 Posts: 1,283 Member
    I have no advice. I'm just worried about my own vacation in August to the beach. Lots of eating and drinking. It was last year that I had been making awesome progress losing and working out and one week at the beach derailed me until this past spring. So, I'm really nervous about my upcoming trip.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Use your best judgement, eat what you want within reason, and don't worry about it. It's vacation, for most of us it happens rarely. Eating out for a whole week or so is going to mean tons of sodium so you're going to gain 3-5lbs just from that anyway. Once you realize that in a solid week if you wanted to gain 2lbs of actual fat (which is hard to do) you'd have to eat 7000 extra calories or more. That's 1000 calories a day OVER maintenance. Trust me, have fun, don't weigh in until you've been back on your logging for at least a week, then see where you are. My guess is you won't gain much at all.
  • jbirdgreen
    jbirdgreen Posts: 569 Member
    edited May 2017
    • Select active activities to do that require you to walk, swim, etc. That way you burn calories to offset your splurges.
    • Make use of the hotel gym
    • Choose your restaurants and eating experiences wisely - don't just eat junk because you are "on vacation." Make the meals you choose to splurge on count, and eat as healthy as you possibly can otherwise. Like maybe one day have a really good dinner at that one place with the high reviews, but have fruit and yogurt from continental breakfast and a light lunch salad for your other meals.
    • If you drink, don't go for the sugary cocktails. Look up lower calorie cocktails and drink swaps. If you can, always drink water, sparkling water, or something without sugar.
    @Spliner1969 offers great advice as well.

    I went to Hawaii on my honeymoon and came back thinner because we were so active -- we hiked and went on lots of walks, and we ate very well but not in excess.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Work hard. Hike. Swim. Rent a mountain bike.

    Second this suggestion.

    If you like laying on the beach, pick up a cheap pedometer if you don't have fitbit type one. Even a cheap one will motivate you to do more walking.

    Also, don't torture yourself and not enjoy some drinks and food. Maybe just target eating at maintenance level.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Stay active. Don't binge eat because you're on holiday.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    I never gain weight on vacation mainly because I am very active...moving all day. Also, while I eat whatever I want at meals, I almost never snack on vacation since I am never sitting around watching TV.

    Just stay active and don't worry about it. Unless you are stuffing yourself at buffets for every meal and stopping constantly for snacks in between it probably won't be an issue.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Don't overeat
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    My thoughts?

    Don't worry too much about weight management and enjoy your vacation. Don't eat everything in sight, but enjoy. Sample things, but don't eat whole platefuls of everything.
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
    I have not done it so I have no idea. My past two vacations I gained. I did exercise every day and did a lot of walking but I did give myself permission to go off the grid. I would not say the best idea but I did.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    edited May 2017
    I just got back from a 2-week vacation where I stopped logging entirely, paid no attention to what I ate apart from making sure I got at least one dessert every day, and ran what felt like only a portion of my usual distance only 2 days out of the 12. Yeah, there were days when I did a lot of walking, but there were also days when I did nothing but sit in an arena watching a sporting event while drinking beer. I came home to find I'd lost 2 lbs. Go figure.

    The way I think about it, a vacation is a vacation. It's limited in time, and unless you REALLY focus on stuffing yourself you're unlikely to undo all your hard work. Maybe only some of it; maybe none of it. But a vacation is for letting go and not worrying. I suggest you do that.
  • bernadettenz
    bernadettenz Posts: 252 Member
    I've just come back from a weeks holiday in China (from NZ). When I travel I have a holiday from MFP as well with the knowledge that, just like my job, I have to restart when I get home. It's no biggie. I eat what I want and enjoy it.
    Four days after returning I was back to the weight I was when I left. All good :smile:
    Will have to rethink it if I go on holiday for longer than a fortnight though.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    If I were to go to Hawaii I would probably lose weight. There's all kinds of activities you can do there. If you're going to just sit around one has to wonder why you are spending money to do what you can do at home.
  • jo_nz
    jo_nz Posts: 548 Member
    ccsernica wrote: »
    I just got back from a 2-week vacation where I stopped logging entirely, paid no attention to what I ate apart from making sure I got at least one dessert every day, and ran what felt like only a portion of my usual distance only 2 days out of the 12. Yeah, there were days when I did a lot of walking, but there were also days when I did nothing but sit in an arena watching a sporting event while drinking beer. I came home to find I'd lost 2 lbs. Go figure.

    The way I think about it, a vacation is a vacation. It's limited in time, and unless you REALLY focus on stuffing yourself you're unlikely to undo all your hard work. Maybe only some of it; maybe none of it. But a vacation is for letting go and not worrying. I suggest you do that.

    I just came back from a 2.5 week trip too. One week of that was a cruise ship - WOW, all the fooooood! It was amazing and I enjoyed every minute of having other people cook for me and clean up after me!!

    I tried to keep my portions fairly reasonable. And actually other than the big mealtimes, I was so busy that there was very little snacking in between.

    And plenty of walking, plus swimming at times.

    I put on a pound. It was worth it.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    Move, track, and don't get redonkulous with your food. Not every single meal needs to be a calorie bomb.
  • spiffychick85
    spiffychick85 Posts: 311 Member
    I tend to put my weight loss on hold on vacation. I'm there to relax and enjoy my family...I eat if I'm hungry, my damage is always minimal. Maybe it slows down your progress by a week, but in the grand scheme of things it isn't that bad :)
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited May 2017
    I don't go on vacation very much but when I do I like to do things that are active (like hiking). So I am burning plenty of calories. Personally I wouldn't log my food on vacation but that's just me. I'm there to relax and take a break from every day life.

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