If you’ve been working on improving your nutrition or losing weight, are you worried that your holiday might de-rail your progress? The best thing to do is have a plan before you go based on how you want to feel afterwards. Think about how you’ll feel if you keep all your good habits going whilst you're away, versus if you just relax and don’t worry about it for a week - how will each option affect your holiday experience and what will the results be when you get home. What’s most important to you? There’s no right or wrong answer, and it might vary depending how far along you are in your journey and how confident you feel about adapting your habits back afterwards.
How about taking a middle ground approach? Sticking with balanced meals for the most part but enjoying a drink, a great meal out or an ice cream on the beach? How about choosing the treats that you’ll really value and enjoy, the ones that will add to your holiday experience and saying no to the rest? If you’ve been eating in a calorie deficit for weight loss, then continuing to eat well but adding in a few treats that you’ll really enjoy can be a good approach to maintain the progress you’ve made so you’re not faced with a big weight gain when you return home.
Number one rule should always be to make the most of your holiday, we’ve all missed out on so many experiences in the last 16 months after all, but does that necessarily have to mean lots of food and drink over-indulgence? Or can it be more about the experiences, the people, the break from the everyday routing, exploring new or favourite places, and savouring getting away.
If you don’t have a weight loss goal, then the same principles could apply - what will your happy middle ground look like?