Staying Fit on Vacation

Posted on January 1, 2014 Updated on January 20, 2014

This time of year everyone seems to be away on their annual vacation. One of the biggest problems people have when going away is trying to stay in shape (not gain weight) while they are away. This may seem inevitable but there are several things you can do while you are away that will help you maintain your weight and at least not lose your fitness level. First off, you should walk as much as you possibly can. Depending on your vacation there is probably an opportunity to get a lot of walking in. Whether you go on hiking trails or walk through museums you will be on your feet for the majority of the day. If this describes you vacation take full advantage of it and walk everywhere you go. If not you can plan this type of vacation for your family in the future. Walking all day does two things; it burns a lot of calories and it gets you exhausted which means you will most likely go to bed earlier at night. Going to bed earlier will keep you from eating more especially late at night. Another thing that you can control while you are on vacation is the portion sizes you eat. I know that when you are away you want to enjoy yourself and eat a lot of good food. You can still do this but what you should try to control is how much of this “different” food you eat. If you can limit that to just one meal throughout the day and limit the size of that meal, you should not have to worry about excessive weight gain while you are away. For example, if you can eat your normal breakfast and lunch and have some “good” food for dinner (with a reasonable portion size) you should make out fine.  Another tip is do some sort of exercise while you are away, just to keep your metabolism going. When you are away everything that your body is exposed to is different. Different food, schedule, daily activities and so on. If you could get some sort of workout in the morning, you are bringing some normalcy back to your body. This will keep your metabolism going throughout the day and throughout your vacation. There are several body weight exercises you can perform if you do not have access to your normal workout equipment, or you can just go for a walk in the morning (sight see) before you go about your day. Finally if you know that you have no self-control while you are on vacation and can not get yourself to follow any of these tips then there is just one thing left for you to do, go on a shorter vacation. This will limit the damage done and is cheaper in the long run. You can still go on multiple vacations during the summer but if you limit the one ten day vacation to two or three smaller ones, you will not put on the weight you normally would. If you have any questions or comments on any of this information feel free to do so below. Your vacation should be something you enjoy and remember, not something you regret when you get home.