I think we can all agree that we indulge ourselves when on vacation. Whether it be food, drinks, or that little dessert every night. I am guilty of doing this because I try to soak up every beautiful minute of vacation. The problem lies when we get back into a regular routine after a vacation. The biggest struggle is getting back into healthy habits that you may have formed before you left. Maybe you were meal prepping on Sunday so you were prepared with healthy meals for the week. You may have gotten into a good routine with your eating schedule, but now vacation has thrown you for a loop. Don’t throw in the towel and think that all your hard work has gone down the drain. I have some solutions for you below!
Get Back Into Your Normal Routine
Most people on vacation are not performing their daily routine like they do at home. Vacation is meant to be full of fun activities that will shake up your normal routine. This can be super fun because you get out of the mundane routine that you go through every day. The thing that usually suffers when your routine changes is your diet unfortunately. Our bodies thrive off of routines because it knows what is going to happen next. When you don’t have to guess what’s coming next in your day, your body’s stress levels go down, your sleep is usually better, and your diet may get better. Going on vacation is exciting because you get to change up your routine and everything is new and different. When you get home, the most important thing is to fall back into a routine again. If you hate your morning or nighttime routine, then change it up! You don’t have to suffer in a daily routine that you hate, but allowing your body to get used to whatever routine makes you happiest allows it to gain the benefits of a routine. The reason that your diet is affected by routines is because when you don’t have a regular routine you are usually grabbing for whatever is closest or easiest. For example, if you wake up late and don’t have time to make your oatmeal and eggs, you might stop at McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich. This is a form of your routine getting changed and your diet suffering because of it. If you’re struggling with your eating habits after a vacation, maybe consider meal prepping.
Consider Meal Prepping
Meal prepping is the idea of preparing meals ahead of time. Many people will choose one day a week to prepare all their food for that week, couple week, or month. It’s most often seen that people prepare meals for a week. Meal prepping brings in a sense of routine even when you don’t feel like you have one or you’re struggling to find a regular eating schedule. If you have all your food prepared for the week there is almost no excuse why you wouldn’t eat what you made. If you’re in the same situation where you’re waking up late and can’t make your healthy breakfast, your meal prepping will save the day. You can grab your healthy food and take it to go. Meal prepping is also a great way to stick to specific portions when eating. It’s so easy to make a giant batch of food and keep going back to fill up your plate because it’s there. When you meal prep, you have the food that you made and that’s it. You don’t have the temptations of other food sitting there staring you down. Preparing a week’s worth of meals ahead of time can be overwhelming. If you don’t want to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week, then just choose the ones that are most difficult to stick to. If you constantly are running late in the morning and stop to grab fast food on the way to work, then prepare breakfast. If you have the temptation of other unhealthy food choices at work, then prepare lunch. If you never make it home in time for dinner and have to stop somewhere to pick food up, then prepare dinner. Sit down and be really honest with yourself about your daily occurrences. Realize where your diet may be lacking and use meal prepping to help get you back on track.
Hydrate
If you’re being honest with yourself, how much water did you truly drink on vacation? That does not count how much water could have been in your drinks. On vacation it is quite normal to not drink enough water, but try your best to get in at least half the amount of ounces you need daily. Most people don’t realize the importance of water and suffer the consequences. If you are flying to your vacation destination, you will be extra dehydrated. The air pulled into the aircraft at high altitudes is much drier than we are used to breathing. You are exhaling moisture rich air and breathing in dry air, which leads you to feel thirsty. Your body is begging you for water on and after your flight because a lot of it is lost just through breathing. Make a conscious effort to drink enough water on vacation, and if you can’t reach those goals make sure to drink extra water when you get home. When you get home, set a goal for yourself to be consistent for a week to drink a specific amount of water. Once you drink enough water for a week, it will feel easier to reach those hydration goals and you might be able to keep it up for multiple weeks and reap the benefits. Tracking your water is a great way to make sure you’re accomplishing your goals. I have a water tracker made that you can easily use on your phone, tablet, or computer to reach those hydration goals:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1247100336/daily-water-tracker
Allow Yourself to Enjoy Those Indulgences
After reading this blog post, I don’t want you to feel like you did everything wrong on vacation. Don’t hold back and not enjoy vacation because you’re worried about ruining your progress. I promise that your progress is not going to just disappear after a week or two. It takes a long time of indulging yourself to completely ruin what you have created. Maybe you don’t feel great because you had way more food than you usually eat or way more drinks than you usually drink. This doesn’t mean that you can’t go back to feeling fabulous after your vacation. Soak up the beautiful days that you are able to get out of your normal routine. Allow yourself to fully enjoy what you are eating and drinking. Once you come home, you can figure out what steps you need to take to get back into routine with your diet. Be gentle with yourself and realize how lucky you are that you got to experience such a wonderful vacation.
