Often, when we go on vacation, or even to a business event, we use the change in geography as an excuse to eat whatever we want. I know I've been guilty of this many times.
But, then what happens? We come back to "reality" feeling worse then when we left. We feel fatigued, sluggish, bloated and possibly addicted to sugar and carbs again.
Worse, we feel possibly even feel guilt or regret over the choices we made and how they will hamper our progress towards our health and fitness goals.
A vacation should not set us back, nor be a source of guilt. We should come back refreshed and if anything given a leap forward towards our goals.
Not to digress too much, but the notion of a "cheat meal" always bothered me too. "Cheating" is when you bend/break the rules in order to win --> take a short cut to meet the objective in a shorter or easier way. However, when we talk about "cheat meals" we mean a meal that will hinder our progress. Never made sense to me.
Anyway, how can we get more out of our vacations?
1 - We need to set an intention for, and a realistic expectation, of what the vacation is for. A vacation is for us to escape the daily grind, temporarily, not too check out and sabotage everything else we have going on.
2 - Do your best to unplug. Besides the obvious distraction and stress from constant social media and email alerts, the continuous connectedness to things (and people) externally limits our time and opportunity for introspection and personal reflection
3 - Have a plan -- Have the logistics of your vacation planned out ahead of time. Do your best to avoid the stress of needing to make on-the-fly decisions. At the same, accept that not everything will go exactly to the letter, and that's ok.
4 - You don't always have to be doing something. When was the last time you just sat in a park...just sat on a bench...for hours
5 - You can indulge without going overboard
6 - Listen to your body. It is constantly giving you signals as to what it needs: rest, water, food, touch, movement, etc. Whenever possible, listen to it and give it what it needs.
