Dieting On Vacation?!

1) Try to make breakfast a healthy high fiber, high protein meal. Physically and emotionally this always helps me feel good because I am starting off the day on a good note
2) When eating out, order a salad with dressing on the side.
3) Identify what you are craving the most, and skip eating the excess. i.e I eat the hamburger without the buns, fajitas without the tortillas, for me the carbs aren't worth the extra calories
4) Lastly, let yourself enjoy at least one high calorie meal and not feel guilty. I like to have one big treat night like ordering chicken fettuccini alfredo something that cooking the low calorie version at home isn't worth it to me.

of course if you are going somewhere like paris or greece, I'm more with the mindset of eat everything and just try to walk it off

Yeah I definitely agree with kballsocc! Have a meal but skip something with it that you probably won’t mind like the example given eat the awesome burger and pass on the buns or have say have a salad instead of the fries. But don’t stick to your diet the full time your away! Eat some food, enjoy some wine/beer, relax! Don’t feel guilty, your going on holiday! One day of indulgence won’t totally blow you off track!

Have late breakfasts and early dinners. Keep meals reasonable and if you want drinks...have them!

Just have fun! When you get back, start logging your intake.

Choosing a meal out in easy steps:
1) Choose your lean protein - nothing high fat like mince or stewing meat.
2) Choose a meal that’s cooked right - not fried or sautéed in butter.
3) Avoid heavy sauces - Anything with cream, baked with cheese etc.
4) Fill your plate with some complex carbs- choose vegetables not fries!
5) Ask to swap items or withhold sauces to -make a healthier meal.

Don’t drink calories with your meal, water is the way forward.

Why would you do this?
Just enjoy your vacation, lose the excess weight when you get home.
If you do have to do this, stick to a keto style protein only diet and just drink the spirits (vodka diet coke is my favorite).
You could also use the gym if your location has this.

Sparkeysworld wrote: »

Why would you do this?
Just enjoy your vacation, lose the excess weight when you get home.
If you do have to do this, stick to a keto style protein only diet and just drink the spirits (vodka diet coke is my favorite).
You could also use the gym if your location has this.

Agree with the advice to enjoy vacation but curious about your “keto style protein only” diet. Keto isn’t protein only, in fact protein is moderate st best on keto- it’s very low carb and high fat. Secondly, do you think that would make for an enjoyable vacation to try an extremely restrictive approach?

I'm heading into an 8-day Jewish holiday next week. I'll also be at my parents' house in Montreal, with no access to my strength-training equipment. (Going to bring in a couple of pairs of dumbbells, but I exercise with a variety of different weights and it won't be feasible to bring them all). My cardio is generally long walks, so that's still in. Plus, because the holiday involves certain foods being off-limits PLUS changeover of the kitchen (different pots & pans, dishes, utensils, can't cook for the holiday in year-round pots and pans, don't want to get stuff mixed up...) There will be a lot of takout and restaurant meals during the days leading up to the holiday.

Among other things:

• With the exception of matzah and its byproducts (e.g. matzah meal) nothing made from wheat, oat, rye, barley, or spelt.
• No other grains except for quinoa (so no corn products, including cornstarch, corn oil...)
• No legumes
• Certain seeds are also verboten, which eliminates various oils (sesame, sunflower, canola/rapeseed) and spices (mustard).

There ARE substitutes available made with permitted ingredients, but the nutritional profile isn't guaranteed comparable. Oh. I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian. Which... pretty much means that my protein sources are going to be eggs, dairy, nuts, quinoa, and the gram here gram there in certain vegetables. This tends to do a number on my satiety levels.

My current strategy pretty much boils down to, "With the leadup to the holiday and the holiday itself, this is only two weeks. Do your best, but don't get too stressed.":

• With the takeout food before the holiday, stick to items that I can ballpark in the database. (Pizza. Vegetarian sushi. Try to eyeball the rice in the Chinese takeout and stick to steamed/braised/etc)
• Preplan what to eat at the holiday meals. Some things are non-negotiable. For religious reasons, I "have" to eat 3 boards of matzah and drink, over the course of a 4-hour meal or so, 4 3.5oz glasses of wine. I'll make a vegetarian main and figure out which sides to have and eat light during the day.
• Consider a maintenance break, but I took one just over a month ago. I'll decide by the time I have to.
• Walk every day. Come up with a strength-training workout that's heavier on body-weight and uses the dumbbells I'm bringing with me.
• Whatever happens on holiday? It is not going to put all 102.6lb lost over the last 16 months back on! If, despite my efforts, I do put on a couple of pounds? April 8th, everything goes back to normal. I've come a long way. I'm not losing it all and I'm not giving up because of one potential minor setback.

Do your best to sample the food but not take full portions of everything and eat something healthier with your samples. Or just pick one or two things and not everything.

I do this at Christmas time, I don't need to taste all the Christmas cookies, the breakfast coffee cake, drink many glasses of wine offered in one day. I'll have a glass of wine, a cookie, and a nibble of the coffee cake.