Staying on Track during Vacation (or Getting Back on Track Quickly when You Return!)

Almost every woman who’s gone through my program has asked how to handle eating, drinking & working out while traveling. Can you relate? Maybe vacations are one of the many reasons you keep giving up on losing weight or eating healthier. I mean, are you honestly going to sit there empty-handed and watch everyone else eat s’mores or all the local delicacies? Are you going to stay up late enjoying your friends or family but set an alarm to workout at the crack of dawn every day so you can “be good”? Let’s not forget that the adjustment home can also be rough, and then suddenly weeks have passed and you’re not eating well or working out like you were before your trip. I’ve been there. But this is actually very easy to remedy. Here are some tips that my clients and I have used to stay on track during travel and ease right back into healthy habits when we return.

1. Before leaving for the trip, make it easier for your return. I try to make sure my house is clean and there will be clean clothes and healthy food in the house.

Some of my favorite ways of always having plenty of healthy foods on hand are:

• online frozen food subscriptions so my freezer is stocked. Daily Harvest is my very favorite. We also recently started trying Butcher Box.

• other subscriptions that I can schedule for right before we return, or have someone bring them in the house if I’m having someone pick up our mail or water the plants. Some of my favorite subscriptions are Your Super (super food mixes), Simple Kneads (gluten free bread), and Hu (dark chocolate bars).

• even having dog food on subscription is helpful because it’s one less thing for me to have to do

• schedule a grocery pickup for as soon as I return, and be sure there’s some healthy staples in the house before we leave

You’re going to have enough to do when you get back, so save your energy for all that laundry, readjusting to your routine and catching up on work. Otherwise you’re more likely to go for fast food and skipping workouts.

2. Make sure you are on your priority list. . .

As women, we notoriously focus on making everyone else happy and taking care of them. To our own detriment. Then we constantly go back and forth between this aching longing to look & feel better vs. our guilt / societal pressure to be a certain way for the people we love.

You are allowed to have a vote about where to eat dinner, what to eat for dinner, what foods & drinks go on the shopping list for the beach house, and what activities are on the agenda. It doesn’t mean you turn into a tyrant, but if anyone you loved needed to eat a certain way for their health you’d be the first one making sure to support them. Do the same for yourself.

3. Pack your favorite healthy snacks.

Even though it’s getting easier and easier to find healthier-ish options at almost any gas station, airport or convenience store, you might get caught in a hangry situation that leaves you more susceptible to eating impulsively and regretting it later. So bring your own snacks.

Check out my On the Go Snacks list here.

4. “Anchor habits & Always foods”

These are two things I’ve created and teach in the program. In order to make healthy habits literally just as easy as unhealthy ones, you put them on autopilot. You don’t have to think about them or take any extra effort. You know what to do and it’s just what you do.

Anchor habits are sort of like brushing your teeth. They’re the few bare minimum things you’ll do even when life is completely wonky. You don’t negotiate with yourself about doing them, you just do them, and they bring a lot of stability and rootedness to your life, instead of feeling out of control every time things are off schedule (hello Covid). Anchor habits will help you most when you get back from your trip, not so much on the trip.

The key is choosing the right anchor habits for our age group and for permanent, sustainable healthy living. Not dieting. My free “Start the Right Diet” download will show you exactly what those are.

Always foods are based on the reality that people tend to eat the same group of things over and over. You already have things you “always” buy and cook and order. They’re either keeping you in cravings and weight struggles or food freedom and health. So when I’m on vacation I still basically know I’ll always eat my always foods, and sometimes I’ll choose something that’s not so healthy. No biggie. Then there’s not a struggle when I’m looking at the menu, sitting beside people eating s’mores, or deciding which local delicacies I want to try.

The key is knowing which foods to put in the Always category for our age group and healthy living. Again, be sure to grab “Start the Right Diet” to find out more!

5. There is no need to be perfect, or excessively restrictive. Be intentional.

The more you’re focused on meeting specific calorie goals or being the poster girl for willpower, the more it takes your focus off of the actual experience of traveling. And you’ve likely saved for and waited for this trip for quite some time. When food or the scale are constantly running in the background, you’re not enjoying yourself and weight loss feels like misery, which sets you up for falling off the wagon yet again. It’s also not a healthy way to find a healthy weight or lifestyle.

These tips from my post “How to Eat Healthy While Traveling” give you specific ways to be intentional about choosing when to eat the less healthy foods instead of being caught off guard, overly restrictive or derailing.

Thoughts? Which of these would help you most?

to your freedom!
♥ Debbie

p.s. Make sure to pass this on to someone you’re traveling with!