Tips for Avoiding Weight Gain on Vacation
Many people seem to go on vacation and return with more than they left with. I’m not referring to material possessions, but rather body mass. As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, I have many times heard folks tell me about their upcoming vacation plans, including how much weight they anticipate gaining. It’s like they were resigned to it. It doesn’t have to happen that way. It is very possible to be avoiding weight gain on vacation.
One trick in avoiding weight gain on vacation, is to remember how it is that people gain weight in the first place. It’s several things, depending upon whether we’re talking about excess water weight, or actual fat weight. In my carbohydrates essay, I wrote of how ingesting carbs can lead to water retention. In my essay on hydration, I wrote of the importance of adequately hydrating your body on a daily basis. This also included how people need to make adjustments for altitude, heat, physical exertion, dietary considerations such as extra sodium, and anything else that could deplete, or deprive the body of an adequate water supply.
Gaining fat over a short period of time is a lot less likely than putting on some excess water weight. Of course, if you take a prolonged vacation and eat with reckless abandon, you will be putting on some fat as well. Avoiding weight gain on vacation needs to be approached with a strategy as well as a resolution. If you’re going on a once per year extended weekend trip, and are otherwise very strict with your nutrition and exercise, one would be hard pressed to argue that you shouldn’t eat and drink as you feel like, provided, of course, you aren’t in training for an imminent athletic event. If you are going away for a week, and are serious about avoiding weight gain while on vacation, do some homework. Look and see if where you are going will have a gym. If not, is there a decent one you can access nearby? If not, there are plenty of strategies you can implement. One such strategy is the hotel room workout blog I posted a while back. Basically with a little imagination, you can get by just fine with some body weight movements such as push ups, squats, dips, static towel curls/holds, etc. As for cardio, simply open the front door of wherever you’re staying, and go. If you’re a treadmill runner and there are none available, a long brisk walk on an empty stomach will help keep the unwanted pounds at bay. Use your imagination if there are no immediately available facilities.
Another key component to avoiding weight gain while on vacation, is to eat responsibly. This doesn’t mean to stuff your bags with rice cakes, protein powders, and BCAA pills. It simply means to have fun on vacation, but hold back a little on the gluttony. A nice meal is a wonderful thing, and you should absolutely enjoy some on vacation. That said, however, don’t let every meal be filled to the brim with sodium, fats like those found in cheese, etc. Making healthy, or relatively healthy choices, while interspersing them with indulgent, and well deserved vacation meals, is going to keep the scale pointed in a southerly direction.
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Andy
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