Winning Your Vacation

This post is coming to you LIVE from the Texas highway. Currently me and the hubs are taking a few vacation days to road trip out to College Station, Texas, to see his sister graduate from Texas A&M (Go Aggies!). We are about three hours away from Austin which is our destination for the evening. The light is slowly changing from a bright blue sky to a dull grey as we are driving into the thunderstorm that proceeded us this morning. With any luck we won’t catch it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for a good thunderstorm while we are here.

Just because because you are on the open road doesn't mean you have to completely ditch your routine.

Vacation is always so wonderful. We are of course looking forward to the few days where we get to shirk our usual responsibilities, but also spending time with family, celebrating this momentous occasion, and of course, especially being in Texas… THE FOOD. Some things that I don’t love about it is it throws off my usual routine, especially since we are pulling really long road trip days. We love road tripping but with hitting the road before 5 am, and then stopping for the night to just eat some dinner and crash hard, there isn’t much time for working out or meal prepping. Which is ok- it just messes with my OCD. Vacation is meant to be a time for unplugging from your usual routine and not being bound by your regularly scheduled programming.

That being said, there are ways to help you feel good while on vacation and feel like you are maintaining some sort of semblance of your routine and still working towards your goals.

Get some movement in when you can. No, you might not be able to follow your usual training program but that doesn’t mean you can’t do SOMETHING. An air squat tabata, 100 burpees for time, go for a walk and be a tourist. The point is that getting a little bit of movement in when you can will not only help you work out those traveling kinks, it also boosts your immune system, fighting off all those pesky germs that your body is unaccustomed to.

I feel like I’m normally pretty good about getting my movement in while on vacation. I REALLY dislike taking unscheduled rest days so carving out 30 minutes to work out normally isn’t an issue… the issue is the FOOD. Whether it’s because we are going out to BBQ and I find it irresistible, or because Mimi’s cooking is just too darn delicious, there are lots of reasons to indulge. What I try and do is really think about WHAT I want to indulge in. Is the McDonald’s breakfast sandwich really what I want to “cheat” on (or even put in my body for that matter)? For instance, when it comes to meals or snacks on the road, you might as well try and keep it as clean and healthy as possible. We packed fruit, Epic jerky bars, cheese sticks, and Rx Bars for breakfast and for us to snack on in the car, making those tasty gas station treats not nearly as tempting. When it comes to my meals I try to save special indulgences for just that- something SPECIAL. French fries that taste the same everywhere? PASS. Fast food? PASS. Graduation cake? INDULGE. Chain BBQ? PASS. Authentic BBQ? INDULGE.

Make sure that what you are putting in your face is worth it basically. Especially if you have been eating clean for a while because those indulgences might hit your digestive system a bit hard causing you to have an intimate relationship with the toilet for the evening.

Also remember portion sizes. When choosing what to indulge in you are also in charge of how much you have. Maybe having just a few bites of that mac n’ cheese will satisfy that craving, rather than shoveling a plate down. But maybe not and maybe you need (want?) more than that. The point is to be in control and not just eat till you hate yourself. I think you’ll find that the more you handle yourself with self-control and restraint, the prouder that you will be as you tuck yourself into bed that night. That feeling of knowing that you made good choices throughout the day that will better your health and performance is irreplaceable. It’s sort of like that saying you never regret a workout that you DID, right? Whenever you take steps towards being the person that you want to be it feels good and cannot be satisfied by any other craving.

I'm gonna enjoy EVERY BITE of this...

So let’s go over what I am saying and what I am not. What I am saying is to make good choices when you can, and try to make it a point to move a little bit (or if time allows- a lot!) each day. Allow yourself the well-worth indulgences and come home from vacation feeling like a champ. What I am NOT saying is that you shouldn’t allow yourself anything and that you should sacrifice this quality time that you have off for the sake of your fitness and/or nutrition program. Now, if that’s you, and you know that mentally you feel best being super strict, then go for it. Everyone needs to be true to themselves and respect what they need.

The best and most general piece of advice I can give you is before you do anything, ask yourself, “Will I regret _______?” Will you regret skipping your workout? Will you regret eating that? Regret signals that you know it’s not a good choice for you so that’s the line that you need to tow.

For instance, we are just pulling into Cooper’s in Llano for lunch and dadgummit I’m about to have some good barbeque with ZERO regrets. I hope this helps you prepare for your future vacations and maybe helps you understand yourself better and what parameters you need for YOUR happiness.