Travel seems to increase during the summer months when kids are out of school and the weather is amazing. I often hear from people that they are unable to reach their goals because of vacation. When I dig deeper and ask them to explain more, a lot of times they say “well, I’m on VACATION. I can eat whatever I want”, or “all I did was lounge on the beach/by the pool”. Here are a few tips to avoid more weight gain than you might expect or to *gasp* maintain or even lose weight on vacation!
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Plan activity into your trip.
Whether it be extra walking, planning a biking tour, or using the hotel’s fitness center, make it an expectation as part of your vacation. If your hotel doesn’t have a fitness center, bring a resistance band along to do moves in your room. Even if you are on a cruise, look for fitness classes. They offer them because you are not alone – not many people are looking to gain weight on vacation.
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If you are road trippin’ it, pack food to eat along the way rather than stop at fast food.
You might even be able to find a nice park to stop, eat, and stretch out the legs a little bit. It’s a great way to break up a long trip and avoid extra grease and calories. By the way, don’t Google images of “roadside picnic”. Not sure what’s going on there but it is not what I was looking for.
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Make smart choices when dining.
Don’t forget that you can ask for substitutions! Ask for grilled chicken instead of fried chicken. Ask for the sauce on the side so you can control how much is used in your dish. Ask for steamed veggies instead of fries. OR just don’t eat all of the fries. It’s better to be wasteful than waist-ful. Get it? And don’t forget about salad as an alternative to the all mighty burger. It wouldn’t kill you to eat a salad. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to ask for water rather than a Coke.
These are just a few ways to help stay on track during vacation. Don’t treat vacation as a break from your goals. You’ll only set yourself back and feel guilty later. Stay on track and you’ll have great memories from your trip AND a trimmer waistline!