How to Plan a Guilt-free Vacation:
“Stay within your calorie and financial budgets (no calorie-counting involved)!”
The vacation season is coming up, and I want to share some tips on how you can fully enjoy your vacation (because you absolutely deserve it) while not gaining weight. The number one reason why the vacation fun evaporates so quickly after we get home is the unpacking and the five baskets of dirty laundry (right, moms?), but that can be fixed within a day. The bigger and longer-term reason is the weight gain that we “bring home” with us after enjoying all the food, desserts, wine, etc.
So here are my Heavenly Body tips for how to have fun and not gain weight, so your good vacation vibes last way past your vacation.
This is what my general “vacation schedule” looks like:
1. I let the “getting in shape” mindset go completely. I don’t go on vacation to lose weight. My goal is to come back with ‘ZERO.’ Zero gain, zero loss. This takes all the guilt off my shoulders every time I eat something that I don’t usually eat at home.
2. Morning — I dedicate my mornings to MYSELF. While I drink my coffee, I go outside or sit on the balcony and do some journalling, listen to a spiritual YouTube video, or meditate. After that, I either go for a walk/run or use the Fitness Center at the hotel. I don’t exactly know why, but there is something different (magical energy) whenever I go for a walk/run or do my own workouts in new places. Anyway, I finish my morning with some feel-good stretching. This morning activity has nothing to do with getting my body into shape; it is all about setting myself up to FULLY enjoy my day. When I start my day like this, I have much more energy, I feel great, and I let my spirit take over my mind for a whole day.
3. Lunch — By the time I am done with my “ME Morning,” take a shower, and get ready for the day, it is 11:00 am. It’s time for my second cup of coffee and my favorite protein bar (Think Thin Chocolate Brown Crunch), which I always bring with me. As you may have noticed, because of the busy morning I completely skip breakfast, and since I have a protein bar and some almonds around 11am, I usually don’t eat lunch until 1 pm. If we are at the pool, the lunch consists of protein-packed appetizers like chicken wings, a cheese plate, and fruit. Or if we are walking around town, I grab a light salad.
4. Dinner — After a full and active day (and pacing my eating), I look forward to a fun dinner without any restrictions: pizza, fries, steak, fish, dessert, wine, etc. It really doesn’t matter — I eat whatever I feel like eating without any guilt. I don’t feel guilty about eating “not the healthiest food,” since I am not overeating or crossing the line when I feel stuffed. Usually, we are done with dinner around 8 pm. We always get dessert somewhere else, not at the same place where we had our dinner, so we have to walk to find it. This allows us to space out the dinner and dessert, and also to walk off the dinner a little bit. And we always have fun walking back from the dessert place; that way, we don’t go to bed completely full.
5. The NEXT day — Here is the kicker! Because, once again, I start the day with my ME Morning, basically, my first meal the next day is not until noon. So, let’s say I finished my dinner at 8 pm and then I don’t eat until noon the next day — that is a full 16-hour break for my digestion. And that is like unintentional Intermittent Fasting!
On top of that, because of my morning time physical activity, I burn off my calories from the night before (I have only my coffee beforehand), and that’s how I stay within my ZERO weight gain and $$ CEO budgeting vacation. By skipping breakfast and having just a very light lunch, you are saving both calories and money in one shot.
I know that all vacations are different, and you might not be able to apply all of my tips to your particular situation — but maybe just one idea might inspire you to try something different so you can enjoy your vacation without getting off the path to your Heavenly Body.
Please let me know your tricks for fully enjoying your vacation without feeling guilty afterward.
Email me at: heavenlybodyafter40@gmail.com
