I went on vacation and I didn’t track my calories. Not even once. I know there are some professional health gurus out there that will strongly disagree with my calories shmalories vacation mentality. I am not writing this as a fool proof “how to stay on track with your diet while on vacation” blog. I’m writing this to tell someone out there, it’s okay to not be rigid 100% of the time and vacation, for me, was one of those times.
Let me start with this: I gained weight, I knew I would and quite frankly, I don’t care.
YIKES STRIPES! Did I, a fitness professional, really just say that? Ya bet ya bottoms I did.
I had an amazing week with my husband and our 3 littles. We spent countless hours lying on the beach, swimming, paddle boarding, basking in the sun and playing marco polo until the words marco polo started sounding foreign. (Seriously, say Marco Polo 2,000 times and you will know what I mean). We laughed, watched movies, searched for crabs, snuggled in bed…this family vacation was what dreams are made of.
I didn’t pull up myfitnesspal (my favorite food tracking app) one single time. Nope, not this week! However, I did have a game plan on how to tackle the day so that I still physically felt good! So, now that I have spilled all my calories-shmalaries-fatty-fat secrets let me tell you what I DID do.
My hubs and I worked out, or went for a run every morning, to simply spend time with one another. No other motive than to just be together doing what we love. Exercising is fun quality time.
I was mindful of what produce I was consuming. Fruit and veggie trays made great go-to’s, instead of processed and prepackaged snacks. I took time to decipher if I was eating because I was hungry, or eating out of social habit. Just because everyone else is standing around munching on chips, doesn’t mean I have to…..but sometimes I did, just because I wanted to.
I was also mindful of my alcohol consumption. Trulys are my go to! They’re 100 cals, 0 sugar. An easy swap for the high calorie, high sugar margaritas we all love to sip pool side.
I was mindful of what made me FEEL good. Excess fried foods, chips, crackers, sugary drinks, heavy sauces all make me feel terrible. I choose to not waste my calories there. Yes, even though I wasn’t tracking calories, doesn’t mean the calories don’t exist. So if I am going to splurge, I’m going to splurge on things I love and don’t make me feel awful.
Lastly, if I REALLY wanted it, I ate it, guilt free. On my birthday, my kids brought me the most delicious chocolate donut with sprinkles to eat in bed. I ate every single bite, and I had and still have ZERO regrets. Life is short. Take the vacation, eat the donut, wear the bikini and do it with zero guilt. The few pounds I gained on vacation will come off, but the memories are forever.