How to take care of your figure and body weight during holiday trips? |

Vacation is primarily about relaxation and de-stressing, so it is not worth packing excessive worries related to compliance with the diet in your holiday baggage. Statistics [1,2] are inexorable and show that during the summer rest, most people will gain weight, and additional worrying about this fact is not conducive to rest. Research shows that mainly obese people tend to gain weight during holidays, although this is probably not the rule.

So what can be done in such a situation? Accept the fact that we will gain some holiday kilos and not let the surplus be too large. A kilogram, two or even three more after the holiday reset is not a drama. You can safely throw it off after returning to normal operation in the work – home mode.

However, if you are one of the people who regularly gain weight during the holidays and have problems with getting rid of excess weight on vacation, you need to learn a strategy to prevent such unpleasant surprises. Provided with the right tactics, you can indulge in the holiday madness without the stress that your post-vacation weight will make you depressed.

Find out about 5 ways to avoid gaining weight during your vacation

1. Let activities other than just eat be the priority and highlight of your holiday!

Feeling summer freedom and the wind in your hair, you can easily fall into the rhythm of self-indulgence. Travels to unknown places, exotic countries, all inclusive holidays – all this helps to change our food preferences. We often test new dishes, we like to enjoy dishes and desserts that are not our daily bread. With too many delicious dishes to choose from, it’s hard to resist the urge to overeat.

It is not worth giving up all the delicacies that we have been waiting for a whole year, but you should keep common sense in this holiday, culinary paradise. Eating and feasting together is an important element in celebrating a holiday, but it should not become its overriding point.

Think about what other attractions besides cooking are interesting for you and plan your vacation so that pampering yourself with food does not become a priority of the vacation, but an interesting addition.

2. Planning of the distribution of meals during the day in terms of the amount of calories

No, it is not about carefully weighing food and calculating its nutritional and caloric values ​​during your vacation. Who is so madly determined during the holidays, admit it 😉

Most of us have a general understanding and knowledge of what foods and products “fatten us”. In this point, the idea is to plan your meals during the day in such a way as to minimize the caloric surplus.

If you do not intend to give up summer pleasures such as ice cream, waffles, drinks or a variety of fast food, you can focus on reducing the energy value of the next meals.

So instead of packing high-calorie bombs several times a day, you can eat them once or twice a day, but let the rest of your meals during the day be the infamous dietary “salad”.

3. Limiting snacks and guaranteeing yourself at least one very full meal

If you are a snack type and tend to be constantly looking for something to eat, read this point carefully.

Looking at the snack lover from the side, it seems that he is not consuming much in one sitting. However, summing up all the micro meals during the day, it turns out that it easily exceeds the daily caloric balance, which in the long run leads to weight gain.

Continuous snacking throughout the day is a dangerous way to eat because it ignores the basic factor that prevents weight gain, i.e. the feeling of fullness. While constantly snacking, you will never achieve the full satisfaction that accompanies a properly composed meal.

If you provide yourself with one or two meals a day very well-balanced in terms of nutrients and eat to your heart’s content, you can easily eliminate the need for constant snacking.

4. Remember about protein

It is very easy to fall into the holiday mode Fri. “Loose blues” 😉 There is nothing wrong with that, after all, when on vacation, you should rest and recharge your batteries. However, many of us forget about the basic principles of healthy eating and introduce too much slack in the diet.

Feeding yourself from morning to evening delicious delicacies, which are usually high-calorie and low-nutritional, may seem like a holiday privilege to some, but unfortunately it will result in hiccups in the form of remorse and a shock during post-holiday weighing.

Therefore, do not forget about optimal protein consumption during your vacation! Research shows that eating protein with meals reduces hunger and appetite, increasing the feeling of fullness [3, 4]. With the addition of protein, you will eat less and prevent the tendency to overeat with desserts or junk food.

In each healthy meal, include from 25 to even 40 g of protein (depending on how many such meals you intend to eat during the day). If two – then you increase the amount of protein per meal, if several – the amount of protein may be lower.

5. Practice of mindfulness in eating

A vacation is a great opportunity to slow down and look at yourself closely. It is especially helpful to use mindfulness when eating. If we have eaten in a hurry so far, distracted by TV or smartphone, holidays are a great time to eat without distractions.

It seems very simple – to be aware of what you are eating, but many of us underestimate this simple method of being 100% present in every activity.

Eating with attention is a way to awaken the pleasure of observing yourself, observing the food on your plate, your feelings, noticing the variety of tastes and smells.

Thanks to mindfulness in eating and observing our experiences, we will establish better contact with our needs, perhaps thanks to this we will eat better, without compulsions and without the feeling that food rules us and we have no control over it.

So slow down and eat on vacation CAREFULLY!

Summation

The holiday season has started in full swing. Hurrah! For some of us, this means a total break with the diet and weight loss regime. Vacation carefree and freedom give a sense of comfort and satisfaction. However, it is worth considering your holiday plate and not letting go of your belt too enthusiastically, so as not to fall into a serious depression after the holiday.

There are definitely more ways to prevent gaining weight during summer holidays than those listed in the article. Each of us has our own patents, which we implement more or less effectively. In theory, most of us are good, but putting the knowledge into practice is what counts.

If you’re afraid of gaining weight while on vacation, try these tips. Maybe you’ll be able to come back from your holiday in the same size this year, and maybe even lose some weight.

However, the most important thing is that you focus on rest and regeneration. After all, holidays are a slow time, so make sure you feel good and pleasant. Have a nice vacation 😊

Questions for the reader

Are you one of those people who put on weight during summer vacations or are you losing weight? Do you use any methods to prevent holiday weight gain, or do you just take it easy and do not care about this aspect at all? The holiday “diet break”, that is, a break from the slimming diet, suits you, but do you prefer to have your nutrition under total control during your holiday?