Sharing my experiences and top tips for how to stay on track with weight loss on vacation in a realistic and enjoyable way, so you can feel better before, during and after!

How to Stay on Track with Weight Loss on Vacation

Making healthy work in real life is a must if we want lose weight, get healthier, AND maintain it. Even if in the beginning we have set normal routines that don’t change (unlikely, lol!) At some point, traveling, vacations, late work nights, etc are all likely going to happen. When we embrace this and strategize around it, and know it’s totally possible – that’s when we can actually create and maintain lasting health changes.

In the past, I would use vacations, traveling, etc. as a reason to not follow my plan (at all), because…

• How could I?
• Why would I…I’m on VACATION!
• Aren’t we supposed to relax?!

These were great easy excuses to bail on all of it..even though I KNEW I could maintain some of it. And our brain likes easy!

Check out a few of my related Tiktok videos:

What I used to do – full Vacation Mode!

In the past, I used to go into full on “vacation mode” and check my healthy habits with my bags – I was all in or all out. The second I got into the airport my brain was already looking at all the fast food places and I was thinking about where I could (over)eat, because, well, I was on vacation. I didn’t work out, I don’t even know if I ate a vegetable. My weight loss goals were something for me to think about when I got back..

Not only did I likely gain a few pounds (which is NO big deal, and likely water weight) but I didn’t feel great about my choices, I felt bloated, dehydrated and out of control, and wasn’t maintaining any consistency or momentum which makes it hard to pick right back up when you return.

What I do now – Intentional “Maintain and Indulge”

So a couple years ago I decided – no more. I started practicing what I call “maintain and indulge.” This means I maintain SOME healthy habits going into the trip, while leaving room to intentionally indulge as well.

It’s going from the all or nothing thinking to somewhere right in the middle.

Shortly after this my husband and I went on a trip to Mexico, and we actually decided to workout a couple days while we were there, not overstuff ourselves and not drink ALL day, EVERY day. (Even at an all inclusive 🙂 )

We felt SO MUCH BETTER before, during and after. And I haven’t looked back since.

You can also use these same tips when you’re going to be away from home for a few days/week, traveling for work, staying with friends, etc. – any time you will have less control of the environment and food/drinks and there will likely more temptations, and you want to have fun and enjoy yourself

Why it’s so hard to stay on track with weight loss on vacation

If we think about it, it makes complete sense!

• It’s an easy excuse! “I’m on vacation” “There’s no healthy food” “That’s where they wanted to eat” “I didn’t have anything else to eat” “There was no gym.” Our brain gives us an endless list of reasons to skip, and they are believable. The key – not believing everything we think, and questioning those reasons.
• Habitual thinking, feeling and acting. Many of us relate vacation to relaxing and freedom, and relaxing and freedom to food. We have a subconscious thought patterns that are driving feelings, actions and results we don’t even realize or know how to break. I know I did!
• Increased food temptations. There are more tempting foods around and likely more people around eating them.
• Times of higher emotion and more distractions
• We feel like have less control over when and what we eat/drink. Usually we’re planning with and/or around other people, so sometimes where to stay or eat isn’t completely our choice. However, we still have a choice what we put in our mouths and if we move our body (in some way) throughout the day!
• It takes more effort, and our brain doesn’t like effort. When we’re out of our routine it takes more effort to develop a new one and we’re fighting against our own brain over whether to put in the work. Our primal/survival brain is wired to seek comfort, avoid pain and conserve energy, so we’re naturally going to feel a little resistance and pushback. Luckily, with the right thinking, tools and strategies we can work with this and override it. Related: 3 ways to rewire your brain for a better life

How to stay on track with weight loss on vacation: My 10 Top Tips

1. Watch and question your thinking

From my own experience and in in talking to family, friends, clients – the thing that derails us the most is the seemingly lovely and simple thought “but I’m on vacation.”

When we say that we often use it as an excuse and a reason to let everything go for a period of time. But I would encourage you to question, IF you actually want to! What would you like “being on vacation” to look like if it also took taking care of yourself into consideration ; If it meant you could enjoy it more, before during and after – how would it look different? Question that thought and if you want to keep repeating it. Is it serving you in any way?

2. Decide to make healthy choices a priority and commit to it

Yes, even on vacation, traveling, etc. This for me comes down to knowing what my end goal is and WHY. I want to feel good during and after my trip so I can actually enjoy it. So getting some movement in, making some healthy food choices is still a priority to me regardless where I am. I encourage you to ask yourself – is it for you?

3. Look at Maintaining (some) healthy habits as self care

Remember we CAN have a great vacation, and still take care of ourselves! I’ve learned RELAX doesn’t have to = feeling like crap 😂 This does not mean we can’t or don’t have cocktails, wine, cookies, pizza etc. (I absolutely do!) It just means we can enjoy ourselves on a trip and relaxing without only focusing on OVER consuming those things.

4. Make a plan, plan ahead and follow it

• I take a look at our week or the days on our trip and vacation and evaluate:
  • Where will I be able to fit in some type of exercise?
  • Will there be a gym or somewhere I can have an actual workout or how else can I make it work? When there’s a will there’s a way, we can make it work if we have our arms and legs anywhere! I’ve worked out in a hotel room, airbnb, backyard, at a pool, etc.
  • I look at where/when we’re planning to eat/go out, and plan my snacks and meals similar to home around that. I keep 1-2 meals the same or similar to what I eat at home everyday, leaving less room for the dreaded bloat and dehydrated feeling that sometimes comes from eating out all day every day, but stil leaves room for enjoying and experiencing fun restaurants!

5. Follow an eating template

I follow the above eating template as much as I can, especially for the meals I want to keep similar to what I eat at home. This was created to follow anywhere and everywhere – and I have! If we choose too, we could find most of these components from even a fast food place or gas station. For example – my quick go to breakfast from a grocery store – kale chips, dried fruit, nuts, protein meat stick like a Chomps stick or Epic bison bar. Sounds wierd but totally works!

6. Watch the alcohol consumption

This is a boring one, but really helps. While I still have my cocktails, I do limit them, especIally the sugary syrupy ones to a couple a night. When I find myself going to order another..and another…I ask myself – why? What’s my reason? And I make sure I like it. I also alternate my alcoholic drinks with water, or. at the very least, order a water with them!

7. Pack healthy snacks

Airport food is mediocre at best anyways, and this is a great way to save so MUCH MONEY. I try to avoid breakfast in an airport if I can ever help it. I pack Chomps sticks, Epic Bison bars, kale chips, Mary’s seed crackers, collagen powder and chia seeds in a bag (to add to oatmeal in a pinch), dried fruit (check the ingredients), Hemp powered protein bars, Kind bars, etc.

8. Keep drinking your water

For some reason when I’m not at home I forget about this unless I’m super intentional – but it’s so important! Have a water goal and stick with it regardless of what you’re eating. Travel can come with a lot of extra bloat from eating out, flying, sitting, and this helps us both detox, stay hydrated and minimize water retention. I bring my reusable water bottle and fill it in the airports and order a water out everywhere I go.

9. think about obstacles and strategize beforehand

Is there something you really don’t want to eat or drink (even on vacation) or an amount you don’t want to go over? Think about that beforehand and then consider the situations where this may feel challenging. Strategize and visualize beforehand – what will you think, feel and do in that situation to follow through?

Alcohol is my challenge – I love my wine and cocktails but know they also put the logical portion of our brain to sleep, leading to poor food choices, late nights and feeling awful the next day – so I usually decide a certain number beforehand and limit the sugary drinks to 1-2.

10. Watch for mindless eating

See my full blog post on Mindful Eating here. To get started with this make a practice of paying attention to what’s going in your mouth, question why, and make sure you like your reason.

For me – I primarily like to eat because I’m hungry or it’s a rare occasional food experience (food tasting festival, etc.) but not for comfort, to get rid of an emotional or out of habit or mindlessly. You get to decide your own reasons and then commit to sticking to them 🙂

11. Get back to your normal routine ASAP

This is something I like to decide before I go – when will I get back on track with my “normal” routine? Otherwise it can be really easy to extend vacation eating a couple days, weeks or months, especially if we haven’t maintained any of our healthy habits. Usually I like to start back up the morning after I get home so I make sure to have groceries at my house by the time I get home or plan a trip to the store shortly after – no excuses! I’ve even ordered instacart on my way home from the airport or car. There’s always a way to make it work!

Need help figuring out what your “normal” healthy habits or eating should look like? Let’s talk and create your custom healthy lifestyle plan or grab my eating for weight loss guide below!