Cheat meals on vacation

I'm going on vacation Thursday. I'm going to track and eat in maintenance.

To be honest one of the best things about cruises is that you can eat as much as you want as often as you want. One week will not set you back if you get back on track when you get off. I would enjoy a lot (while making some smart choices along the way while you can) and stay active. The ship will have a gym as well as some sort of running/walking track. Make good use of both and eat for pleasure. Vacations should be enjoyed.

Like others have pointed out, the ball really is in your court. That being said, if I'm on a (very rare for me) vacation, I'm probably going to enjoy some good food. Sure, I'll try to make decent choices (at least sometimes), and watch portion sizes, but I also will often accept that I'm going to put on a couple pounds and will just have to work them back off. I think losing them after that is easier than trying to lose them the first time.

In the big picture, I find the enjoyment I get far outweighs the couple pounds I might gain, and a few weeks to get them back off is worth the enjoyment.

But, that's me.

You may feel differently, so do what makes you happy. It's going to be up to you to avoid all the buffets, fit in the workouts, and control your portion sizes (sometimes asking for a to-go box, even if you won't eat it, and putting part of your meal in it at the start can help if portion sizes are generous).

I recently went on a 10 day vacation and ate everything in sight. I decided I just wasn't going to worry about what I ate while on vacation. I did keep track of everything - and it was ugly. Got home. Gained 10lbs in 10 days! Ugh! But, according to my TDEE calculations, I should have only gained about 2lbs. Sure enough, within a week I had lost 8 of those 10 lbs. High Sodium and high carbs = a lot of water weight. Sure, I probably set my diet back a few weeks, but it was a planned diet break. I'm not worried about it. Same thing happened over Christmas break.

I'm on week 39 of my diet. I've lost weight on 31 of those weeks. Not bad. The few planned "diet breaks" caused me to be probably about 5lbs more than I would be now if I hadn't had done them. When you have a lot of weight to lose, 5lbs is nothing. Currently down 60lbs with 40 more to go.

I say lighten up on the diet while on vacation and enjoy yourself. And, you might want to wait a week or so after you get back to weigh.

I went off my counting for a 5 day cruise. I had more calories for lunch than I was used to and had no clue what was in my dinners and evening desserts. I waited 2 weeks to weigh myself once I got home and back on a deficit. I hadn’t gained at all! I was shocked. I bet if I had weighed immediately after the trip my weight would have been up. The food for me is a part of the cruise experience. If I was on a different vacation with grocery shopping needed, I would have been more motivated to stay on track.

I have a holiday/vacation plan that is foolproof, can't fail, guaranteed to work.

It's called the "I'm gonna enjoy myself and gain a bit of weight because in the long run it not that big a deal" plan.

It's easy! All you need to do is realise that putting on a little bit of weight every now and then isn't the end of the world and that relaxing and enjoying yourself is more than worth the few lbs/kgs you might put on.

There's nothing you can do in the few weeks of vacation/holiday time that can't easily be addressed during the other 48-50 weeks each year that you're not celebrating/relaxing/partying or whatnot.