Ever since I was a little kid, I have been obsessed with travelling the world, and my husband and I try to go somewhere exciting and overseas at least once a year. If I had money, it would go to travelling (oh and a walk-in pantry that is stocked with healthy food), but when travelling, it can be harder to eat healthily.
Months of hard work in terms of exercising regularly, practising portion control, and eating a diet that is free of processed foods and low in sugar can go down the drain after a week of eating whatever and how much you want. If only calories really did not count while you are on vacation.
Luckily, my rather restrictive diet does not allow me to eat just anything I want (some foods are just not worth the consequences). But while I am on holiday, I do not usually care about how much I am eating.
My super supportive (sometimes too supportive) husband also makes it easier for me to be healthy. He is very disciplined and he helps me to eat healthily as well, whether we are just at home or on holiday.
He will put in the effort to make sure that I do have foods available that I can eat that are good for me and that I still enjoy.
There are exceptions to my diet rules, however. I will never say no thank you to cheese, a macaroon, or a chocolate truffle while on holiday. I do keep my gluten intake to a minimum, but I usually allow myself to still have one croissant.
I normally do not eat dairy, but I just love cheese too much, and you should indulge a little while on holiday.
We are going to the Netherlands in a few days, so I have been trying to lose some fat over the last few weeks, and have been rather successful. There are only a few days left, so over the next few days, I have to be more disciplined.
Why I Try to Lose Weight Before Going On a Holiday
Weeks leading up to a holiday, I like to try and lose at least 2 kg, as I can easily gain that amount while on vacation. In fact, I have gained 5 kg in two weeks while on holiday. I could see by the way people were looking at me when I came back that my holiday sins were clearly visible.
That was when I decided that I would try to lose weight before going on holiday the next time.
That way, even if I do gain weight on holiday, I will just be back to my normal weight. If I do not gain weight, or even lose some weight in the process (which I did on our last two trips), that is a bonus.
In fact, I am actually hoping to lose some fat during this trip.
This strategy has helped me a lot with not having to fight to lose weight again after going on holiday. It is much easier to do it beforehand, as after being in a holiday mindset and eating in excess and whatever you want for a week or two, it could be hard to just go back to your normal healthy eating patterns when back home.
It may just be my own personal experience, but if you have struggled to lose the holiday weight in the past, you can consider trying this strategy.
How I am Losing Weight Before Our Trip
One thing that I did before this trip was to start practising only eating two meals a day.
This is because eating less frequently throughout the day can help you lose weight by reducing insulin spikes. There are also fewer opportunities in the day to overeat if you do so.
I also thought that it would be a great way to save money and be more efficient on our trip. If I only eat twice a day, and Jonathan can easily do so too, then we would not have to stop exploring to eat as many times throughout the day. Although, I do plan on still making enjoying food a big part of the trip, but we can do that twice a day and then do it properly.
By eating less frequently, we could even end up saving money on food.
Training myself to only eat two meals a day has helped me lose about 1 kg, which is a lot for my body.
I also did two rounds of the fasting mimicking diet before the holiday. Once a month, for three months, I only ate 800 calories a day for five days, which also helped.
How I am Going to Lose Weight on Holiday
I am actually really excited about this holiday, because I am hoping to lose at least another kilogramme. I plan on doing so by:
- Only eating twice a day.
- Using bicycles as our main source of transportation. My Fitbit is going to be so happy! We are probably also going to walk quite a bit, which will help.
- Still meditating in the mornings before we go exploring. I believe that stress and anxiety are some of the reasons why I have struggled so much to lose my belly fat over the years. Meditating can help reduce anxiety and stress, which can help with weight loss.
- Enjoying my holiday. I feel most relaxed on holiday, obviously, but it is a huge difference from how anxious I feel in general life. Being relaxed on holiday will help my body relax enough to start releasing more fat.
- Still eating as healthily as possible. We still plan on staying on our low-sugar diets, although I might make some exceptions for pretty much any kind of cheese. Staying mostly low-carb should not be that difficult.
My final weigh-in will be in a few days, on the morning of our trip. I will do a follow-up article after we have come back in which I will share my results.
