Diet And Exercise Plan While On A Vacation!

• You are all set for a long and well deserved vacation and worried about whether it will jeopardize the diet schedule and exercise regimen which you have been following since such a longtime.
• If we have a plan already with how to go about with diet and activity during holidays, then it will not worry you much about the weight gain.
• Hence enjoy your favorites in the vacation, do not allow the thought of having high caloric diet and dearth of activity dampen your spirits.

Pack your bags, pack your lunch, reservations done and you are set to go for a joyful vacation with your family. Its fun and a much needed break. But does going on a vacation be an excuse for you to put your diet and exercise plan off the track? If the vacation is only for 2 to 3 days, then getting a little loosened up in the plan is fine but a weeklong vacation can put off the balance and send us back to square one. So what to do we do now? Cancel the vacation? No way. There are certain tips that can be incorporated in the diet as well in the physical activity that can help you to be in good shape even during the vacation.

When we have many choices of food to explore and lots of avenues to travel and enjoy, taking care of diet and exercise goes a back seat. Sitting up late in the night, drinking alcohol, untimely travel schedules,visits to restaurants to explore and to gorge on king size meals can make us difficult to tackle the weight gain during vacation.

Thus before the situation goes out of hand, we can take care of certain loopholes and control the situation well. Before we proceed for a vacation, plan in advance what would you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, whichrestaurants are available in that place where you are planning to go will always help.

If planning to go by train and you need to carry the meal for the train journey, make a point to carry your lunch and dinner rather than depending on the railway catering service. The load of carrying these foods in a journey is high but atleast you can assure that you are having a well hygiene food with proper calories and nutrients consumed.

If the journey is by flight and if it is a short journey then inflight meals can be brought from home (like vegetable roll, sandwich, idlis or poha). For longer flights, you can carry one home packed meals and prefer inflight meals like rice and beans or vegetable pulao instead of baked foods like cookies or muffins, chips or packed juices from the flight.

Some Of The Important Tips To Stay Fit While Travelling

1. Carry Healthy Portable Snacks

Carry some easy to carry snacks like fruits, trail mixes, nutrition bars, flaxseeds or chia seeds to munch on during the journey. Waiting for the train on the platform, or waiting for check in or upon arrival in airports or rather checking into the hotel takes a long time. These procedures make us famished and hungry. Having these snacks in handy keeps our hunger pangs in bay and would not make us dull.

2. Opt For Lighter Meal Before Leaving

The excitement and anxiety of going on a holiday or travelling does not make us feel hungry. But reaching your destination will take time.  Hence before you leave for the travel, have a light meal at home instead of completely skipping the meal so that it doesn’t result in indigestion or avoid to consume too many calories in the next meal.

3. Drink Plenty Of Water

Consume more amount of water in order to avoid dehydration. You tend to feel twice hungry when you are dehydrated leading to increased intake of fat and calories. A mild dehydration can slow down the metabolism by 3 %. Keep a bottle of water handy wherever you go and you can also fill at junction points so that you are not short of water intake. If you are having craving to have an unhealthy food but worried about if you will eat too much, drink lots of water before you eat as water helps to suppress the appetite.

4. Don’t Forget To Treat Once In A Day

How can you resist a Dal Baati, if you are in Rajasthan? How can stop from having strawberry crepes with cream if you are in Paris? The answer is no; you don’t need to refrain from it totally. You can enjoy your treat once in a day, provided you can have healthier option in the rest of the day. You can enjoy the treats and also be mindful towards healthier options later to avoid increased calories.

5. Prefer Grilled Or Poached Rather Than Fried Or Oily

Check the menu and go through the list. Look out for grilled, sautéed or poached vegetables rather than the fried ones. For desserts opt for options like fruit salads, or ice creams with fruits. Prefer poached eggs, grilled fish or if ordered for pizzas then accompany with salad. Opt for whole crunchies or fresh vegetable sticks rather than chips or wafers.

6. Consider Walking As The Best Way Of Maintaining Health

If you can reach a destination by walking then do so without a second thought. If there are treks in the agenda, be the first to be game for it. Walking has been the first mode of burning fat and the easiest way of exploring new places. Keep your walking shoes with you wherever you go for a vacation.

Improve upon the water intake: Keep water as a major source of fluid intake that keeps the system working well. Avoid carbonated beverages or sweetened drinks in the travel. Prefer more of coconut water, lemon juice with added salt or just plain unsweetened soda as the fluid diet.

Just as we need to take care of the diet while on holiday, it is necessary to even consider the physical activity quotient too.

7. Walking On The Beach

If beach is your holiday destination, then never lose the opportunity to walk on soft sand. Its a killer cardio workout and burns twice calories as compared to walking on flat ground. But be safe by wearing shoes for the workout and start with lower pace to get used to it.

8. Swimming Or Surfing

If the hotel provides with swimming pool, make a point to carry your swimming costume and fix a schedule where you can include few laps of swimming in the agenda. You can do it in the morning before the breakfast or later in the evening. Surfing is another full body workout that can challenge every muscle in the body. You paddle to the waves or you fall off, you still are doing a good workout.

9.Leisure Bike Rides

If the place of visit is quite far off to go walking, you can still ditch the taxi and take a bike for long rides which is an effective cardio. If you are on a leisure mode and take all day riding, the amount of calories burned is magnificent.

10.Workouts Can Be Done In The Room

If you are not the exploring kind, or the ones who go hiking into the wilds, then a simple 20 minutes’ yoga session in the room in the morning or repeated Surya Namaskar can always be the best way of toning your muscles.

11.Do It In Groups

When we enjoy our vacation in a group like with friends or family, we can also involve them too in your workout regime. This will motivate you as a group activity and encourage you to enjoy your holidays actively and positively.

Hence considering fewer pointers to take care of while going on a vacation, we can have a gala time during our holidays without feeling bloated or lethargic and having a very energetic and healthy holidays ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions On Diet And Eercise Plan While On A Vacation.

Q1) What workouts can be done in the hotel rooms?

Ans. Even if you don’t have equipment with you and you don’t like to go to the hotel gym, you can still do exercises in the room that can improve your lean body mass and strengthen the muscles. Certain exercises like pushups, squats, Russian twists or high intensity interval training like tabata can be done in sets for about 25 to 30 minutes. Do ensure you do a proper warm up and end with proper cool down stretches of 5 minutes each. Have a fruit or nuts before the workouts for better metabolism.

Q2) Are there any diet changes after the vacation or if we come very heavy and tired from the holiday?

Ans. If you tend to get heavy after the holidays, you can do a detox like have more of raw foods and soups the next day.  Increase the intake of water also by adding coconut water or lemon water or green tea. Even chamomile tea has been beneficial for reducing the stress and soothing down the brain. Any recreational activity like swimming, badminton or tennis can be added into the exercise regimen.

Read next- Best Motivators To Start Diet and Exercise!