5 Ways To Avoid Weight Gain On Vacation
Are you tired of that weight gain on vacation? First, let me see if this sounds familiar to you…
Yes! Finally!
Flights booked, suitcases packed, hotels reserved.
Time to finally have a nice, stress-free vacation.
But wait.
Except you have been working so, so hard on staying consistent with diet and training.
And now you feel like you’re going to lose all of that hard-earned progress.
Next thing you know, your dream vacation starts to become an anxiety-ridden trip away from home.
Lucky for you, I’m going to show you my best proven to work tips and tricks on how to not gain weight on vacation.
(Hint: It involves not eating like an asshole.)
So let’s dive in.
1. When In Doubt, Protein
As discussed in my other article The Complete Guide On How To Track Your Calories And Macros, protein is the most filling macronutrient and also aids in maintaining muscle mass.
Which are two things we really want if we are looking to maintain your progress.
We want to be full so we don’t unnecessarily overeat on the extremely tasty stuff.
But we also want to maintain our hard-earned muscle mass to look our best and feel confident and proud on the beach as well as maintain the increased metabolism that comes with having muscle.
Alright, so now that we know the ‘why’, what about the ‘how’?
If you know that there is going to be a lot of tempting food during your stay, you can load up on protein in two ways:
- Have a solid serving of protein with every meal and/or snack (20-40g)
- Bring protein-rich snacks with you (especially if you know that you’re going to be busy that day)
Some easy ways to do this are building your meals around your protein sources when you eat out and even buying some snacks like eggs, meat, protein bars/shakes, etc. to keep on you while you’re on the go.
Lastly, I do want to say that this does not mean that you should stay in your hotel room like a hermit munching on protein bars all day while your friends and family go out and enjoy all of the food and fun without you.
The goal here is to leverage protein to help you enjoy your food in moderation.
While we don’t want to be eating every single thing in sight, we also don’t want to be depriving ourselves to the point that we’re detracting from the vacation experience.
2. Beating The Buffet
I did want to include this in the previous section, but I thought this topic deserved its own entire section.
I can almost guarantee that for most people, going on vacation means visiting a buffet at least once (if you’re going to be vacationing with me, you can bet on it).
This is an understatement, to say the least, because there are plenty of resorts that offer buffets for every single meal which you can quickly rack up tons of calories and end up in a very high surplus.
Then of course especially with the typical mindset around buffets, you always feel like you want to “get your money’s worth.”
Which sounds like an oxymoron because “getting your money’s worth” and “low calorie” aren’t necessarily synonymous.
However, with that being said, there are certainly ways to get your money’s worth and minimize the number of cheap filler foods you’re eating.
Do your research
If you want to be getting your money’s worth and being more calorie-conscious, you should not be simply grabbing a plate and going down the line.
In fact, most buffets actually put all the cheap filling foods in the beginning of the line to tempt you so that they can increasing their profit margins (which is actually very smart on their part, but I’m confident that you can be even smarter).
Before you even pick up a plate, make sure to do a thorough walk around and scope out all of the dishes and the foods they have.
Once you have gotten a chance to see all of your options, then you can develop a game plan of what you’re going to be going to town on for the rest of the meal.
Fill up on protein
Yeah, yeah I know this is the exact same point repeated, but hear me out.
If you ever catch me at a buffet, I will always be in line at the carving or steak station piling up the meat.
First off, because who doesn’t love delicious, juicy carved meat and steak?
Secondly, similar to the first point, protein itself is very filling and difficult to store as fat.
Thirdly, I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked at the grocery store, meat is extremely expensive.
Therefore, you’re totally getting your money’s worth camping at the carving/steak station and piling on the protein.
But the protein train doesn’t just stop there.
Make sure to take another pit stop by the seafood section (my personal faves are crab legs, scallops, lobster, shrimp, and salmon).
Seafood is typically low in calories, very high in protein, and relatively pricey.
Again, this checks all the boxes. Full belly. Full satisfaction. Full-ish wallet.
Skip the carbs
Before you say it, no, I’m not telling you to be a “carbo-phobe.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with carbs.
However, if you’ve ever noticed simply through shopping at the grocery store, carbs are often the cheapest items there.
This means that restaurants are likely getting them at an even cheaper price so these are often one of their highest profiting dishes (because they fill you up without costing the restaurant much).
Also, next time you head to a buffet here’s something to think about…
You’ll likely see the carb-heavy dishes being placed first in line because you’re most hungry at the beginning and you’re more likely to grab what you see first.
One of the many psychological trickeries businesses use to take advantage of you, but hopefully, now you know better 🙂
3. Pass On The Complimentary Breakfast
Let’s be honest.
Did you fly all the way here for bacon, eggs, and burnt toast?
Or did you come here for an authentic local breakfast experience?
If the place you’re staying at isn’t offering anything outside of your standard eggs, bacon, and toast, skip the complimentary breakfast and save your calories for something that is going to enhance your experience there.
Intermittent Fasting
Now, I am neither against nor advocating for intermittent fasting. If you want my complete take and experience with intermittent fasting, it is explained in my other article here.
However, for some people, because we’re not necessarily trying to make progress on vacation and we simply just want to maintain our progress, intermittent fasting can be an option to consider.
The main reason being is that you are able to have meals with higher calories because you’re eating less frequently.
This gives you more flexibility in terms of food choices.
Just think about it in terms of budgeting.
Whether you prefer to take smaller trips a few times per year or you can save up for an all-out expenses trip once a year, as long as your total spendings and savings are equal, you don’t have to worry going off track.
And just like spending habits, eating habits depend on personal preference as well.
For some, they may need more frequent, but smaller de-stressing trips. For others, they may not mind putting off vacation and going on a one-time vacation splurge.
For some, intermittent fasting works wonders in terms of calorie management and enjoyment. For others, intermittent fasting doesn’t help manage calories at all. In fact, it could even leave things worse off.
Speaking from personal experience, intermittent fasting could just simply leave you even hungrier by the time you break your fast.
This leads to you eating way more calories than if you were just eating your normal number of meals which defeats the whole purpose of intermittent fasting as a way to control calories.
4. Stay Active
Get Your Steps In
If you’re flying to your destination, then chances are you won’t have access to a car.
If that’s the case, this is the perfect opportunity to take it slow, enjoy the area, and get your steps in.
Now, obviously, I’m not saying that you need to be spending several hours walking to every single one of your destinations, but just simply making the effort to walk more than you normally would around the place that you’re staying at or opt to walk when the drive itself is only several minutes.
Even though walking doesn’t sound like anything crazy, it really does add up especially considering how much walking you can accomplish during the day without accumulating too much fatigue throughout your body.
Depending on how much you’re walking, you can actually end up burning over several hundred calories over the course of the day without driving your appetite up compared to if you were to do a hard cardio session.
So whenever you get a chance, walk.
Resistance Training
Another major key in maintaining your hard-earned muscle is doing some sort of resistance training.
However, before we dive into it, I do want to say do not freak about losing muscle if you can’t do resistance training.
Most of the research suggests that muscle loss doesn’t occur until about after 4 weeks of complete inactivity.
(And yes, even walking around and moving your body counts as activity.)
This means that you likely won’t lose muscle unless you are bedridden for over 4 weeks.
You will likely lose strength because strength is more of a skill that needs to be practiced, but muscle mass will be retained as long as you’re using your muscles.
But if you do want to do any sort of resistance training during your stay, know that it doesn’t have to be anything crazy.
Most of the research also points to that muscle maintenance doesn’t require nearly as much intensity or volume as muscle building.
This means that even doing bodyweight exercises are enough to maintain muscle.
If you want some ideas on how to put together your own vacation training program, check out my other article here that tells you exactly how you can do that.
5. Just Enjoy Yourself
Above all else, enjoy yourself.
The purpose of a vacation is to enjoy yourself and not stress about the worries of everyday life.
It’s for you to take a break and really allow yourself to relax and have an experience you normally wouldn’t get at home.
Similarly, while on vacation, would you constantly be worried about answering work emails? Or what your coworkers are up to?
No, of course not. You would say vacation is time away to relax and enjoy the present moment.
Why?
Because you know that you have the power to flip the switch back into ‘work mode’ once you get back into vacation (and yes I know that it can be difficult and you don’t want to, but you still know that you can).
If we just simply use this same thought process with fitness, you will realize that you can just go back into ‘fitness mode’ and get right back on track when you’re home.
Final Thoughts On Avoiding Weight Gain On Vacation
All in all, vacation is a time to relax, enjoy yourself, and not worry about things you typically need to worry about in your everyday life.
Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you are okay with completely taking a complete break from fitness.
Because truthfully, unless you’re planning to vacation for well over a month, you’re likely not going to lose any progress in terms of muscle loss.
You could gain some fat while on vacation, but not to a significant degree unless you’re eating a buffet every single day for every single meal.
Personally, I would still be integrating some fitness into my vacation plan just because I actually find pleasure in doing it.
In the end, it’s totally up to you and how much time and effort you want to be dedicating towards fitness while on vacation, but I really hope this helped you make a more informed decision 🙂
Just know that regardless of the decisions you choose to make on vacation, you are always in control of your next decision to getting right back on track.
As always, reach out if you ever have any questions on this at all.
Until next time,
-Aus
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