Holiday trip

What to do as far as eating and exercise: Just go back to your normal, healthy pre-trip routine. Don't try to "make up for it": That almost always ends badly, IME. I'd say the same whether you've been maintaining weight or losing weight before the trip.

If you're asking about weigh-ins and what to expect, that's a longer answer (sorry).

It would be normal to see a pretty big scale gain (multiple pounds), most of which will be water weight. The water weight part of it will take some time to dissipate. Absent any other factor in the picture that might add or sustain water weight longer, that would probably drop off in anything from a few days to a couple of weeks.

How long it takes is somewhat individual. For a woman who's adult and not in menopause yet, the timing of this water weight and the regular monthly hormonal water retention can sort of conspire to make it take even longer for the water weight to stop messing with scale weight.

Personally, I would always want to weigh myself the first morning after I got home (just like I always do every morning, after using the bathroom and before eating/drinking anything, and in the same state of (un)dress every day). That is because I know most of the scary scale jump is water weight, and because I look at weight management as a fun science fair experiment. I want to understand how my personal individual body handles weird water weight situations. I'm totally calm about this, no stress.

After doing that for years now, I can pretty much predict how long it will take for water weight from various causes to drop off, which is calming and useful knowledge. (It helps that I'm in menopause.)

If someone is super-stressed about fluctuations in scale weight, it may be a bad plan to do what I do . . . but they are giving up a potential learning experience.

So, what should you do? It depends on how stressful weigh-ins are for you.

Start weighing daily and learn from it, or wait for a week or so (up to a whole monthly cycle) if weigh-ins are too stressful.

After the water weight seems to be out of the picture, there may be another step. If you'd been maintaining your weight before the trip, and you end up a pound or two higher on the scale after the water weight leaves, you may want to cut back a bit for a few weeks to lose the pound or two. If you were losing before the trip, that won't be necessary.

It'll be fine, either way. Don't worry about it. It's great that you had fun on your trip: Don't put regret, guilt or self-recrimination in the picture. That's pointless, and feels icky.

Best wishes!