Providing a boost to your health before you head on vacation is always worth the effort, especially if you have concerns about whether you’re going to pile on the pounds during your vacation. After all, when we go travelling, there’s so much great food out there that it would be a crime not to indulge on occasion. But the problem is when we do nothing but indulge. Maintaining our health and a healthy weight involves finding the middle ground. You don’t need to have salads all of the time, but you also don’t need to overeat. Let’s show you some approaches that can help.
A Healthy Journey Always Begins at the Airport
You don’t have to wait until you get on the plane to eat. You can take advantage of the situation and control what you eat by picking a healthy meal at the airport or taking it on board with you, rather than feeling at the mercy of what’s available on the plane.
Also remember, the airport is a solid lesson in maintaining your physical health based on your step count. You will always make a lot of miles around the airport, but you can look at tracking calories. When we go to the airport, the temptation could be to start as we mean to go on by having an alcoholic beverage or something really fatty before getting on the plane. But there are two approaches that we can take here.
Firstly, you could find ways to help reduce your fat intake. Medications like Orlistat work by stopping your body from digesting a proportion of the food you eat, or secondly, you could work on limiting your calories. We want to enjoy yourselves and we don’t want to be constantly counting calories either. Luckily, most menus have the calories listed and we don’t want to constantly feel like we are counting. If you accidentally go over, don’t beat yourself up about it, because the next point is going to make a big difference here.
Fitting in the Right Exercises
Exercise is always a key part of our vacation. We shouldn’t feel like we need to slip into a sedentary way of life, but rather get into the habit of doing something before we head out for breakfast. You can do some gentle movements, or if you are in a villa with a swimming pool, this is the perfect opportunity to get a high-quality body workout without it impacting your joints.
If you plan on walking a lot, this is going to have a positive impact on your calorie intake because it will help you to lose weight, but you can always get a head start on the day by swimming for 20-minutes at high intensity. That way, you don’t need to feel guilty when you hit the breakfast buffet!
Being Mindful of Your Food
When we’re on vacation, the temptation is to have everything at our disposal! Instead of overconsumption, you could benefit from being a bit more mindful about what you eat. For example, if you are going for an amazing three-course meal, do you need to have a second slice of bread?
It could be amazing, but while you shouldn’t feel guilty, realize that if you’ve still got amazing food left to come, why should you waste your digestive efforts on that slice of bread? A lot of us want to carry on eating food even though we are beyond the point of bursting because it’s so delicious. You can benefit from choosing one meal as your indulgence and opt for lighter choices the other times of the day.
For example, if you wake up and you are ravenous, your breakfast can be extremely indulgent, so you can enjoy this to the utmost and get the most from the experience. Because if you focus on enjoying your food, this usually means you end up eating less and not overcompensating.
Be Kind to Yourself
You may want to overindulge, but if this means you’re going to feel guilty afterwards you’ve got to think of the bigger picture. A healthy lifestyle doesn’t just involve diet or exercise but involves consistent sleeping cycles, mindset, and so much more. The reality is that you are on vacation for a couple of weeks, and everything is going to be out of sync. Therefore, you are going to struggle to lose weight if you are jet-lagged or not focused. This is why you need to keep things in perspective. Ultimately, a vacation is a perfect time for you to be with the people you love. Rather than obsessing with food, it requires a combination of efforts and finding the middle ground.
