Prevent Overeating on Vacation: 3 Simple Steps to Keep You on Track
Summer is here, and as States here in the U.S. begin relaxing Covid-19 related stay at home orders, many are making vacation plans.
Often my clients express concern about their ability to stay committed to their weight maintenance food plan while on vacation, and with that, fear gaining weight and sabotaging all of their previous efforts.
I will teach you how maintaining your weight while on vacation is no different than maintaining your weight any other time of the year.
The answer is simple…keep doing what you’re doing, and I’ll share 3 simple steps to explain to you exactly how to do this.
Your goal to maintain your weight long-term on vacation requires the same decision making, planning, and commitment as any other day in your life.
This means making decisions ahead of time and honoring your plans.
So I can hear your push-back…
”I can only get this food special to this location.”
“I want to enjoy the local cuisine.”
“I will be faced with food and beverages all day and night at my resort.”
“My routine is off during vacation…how can I plan?”
“I don’t know what food will be available…how can I plan like I do at home?”
I hear all of you, and I want to assure you that no matter where you are or what kind of schedule or lack of schedule you’re on, it is completely possible to honor your weight maintenance commitment to yourself.
Our brains are geniuses at creating excuses and coming up with thoughts that have just enough accuracy to look and smell real, but this does not make them a fact.
They’re just thoughts, not facts, created by our clever brain.
Most of these beliefs come from thoughts of deprivation, or fear of what our weight maintenance goals require of us.
For many of my clients, vacation historically was a time to ‘cut loose’ and overindulge in food, alcohol, and spending.
Many felt this was their “reward” they earned for working so hard the rest of the year.
I’m all for rewarding yourself, but rewards can come in so many other flavors that support our goals and desires instead of sabotaging them.
So how do you, “keep doing what you’re doing?”
Three simple steps:
1. Decide
2. Plan
3. Commit
First, “keep doing what you’re doing” means to decide what results you are committed to, and the kind of person you’re committed to becoming in order to achieve the results.
It’s important to acknowledge and own your new identity, the thin woman who behaves in new ways in familiar circumstances.
Your brain will forever attempt to remind you about your old identity and behaviors, and try to convince you about how much better it is.
It desires to return to what’s familiar and easy.
Your brain is well intended—it has been programmed to be efficient in order to allow you to be able to process the constant information it is being fed by the world around us.
If you haven’t already read my article, “How Your Beliefs About You Are Causing Weight Gain, and 5 Steps to Creating New Beliefs That Produce Weight Maintenance Success,” I highly recommend you check it out. It explains how important it is to create a new identity for the new you, the thin woman who keeps commitments to herself, and has built great trust with herself.
Aligning with your new identity will ensure you don’t slip back into behaviors, attitudes, or a quality of life that is far below what you deserve.
Ignoring this step is making a conscious decision, so harness the power to create what you truly desire by deciding what result you are committed to and acknowledging and owning your new identity.
Examples of decisions that are available to you:
I have decided I no longer overindulge in food and/or alcohol on vacation no matter what everyone else around me is doing.
I have decided the short-term pleasure received from eating the fresh baked bread served with dinner, and breaking my commitment to myself to not eat flour, is not worth the long-term feelings of shame, guilt, and disappointment for not having my own back with my decisions.
I have decided rewards come in forms other than food while on vacation (or any other time)—sitting on the beach or sitting in front of a gorgeous mountain view with a good book, enjoying a massage, pedicure and/or manicure, watching a great movie, listening to my favorite music or podcast, and sunshine, to name a few.
Second, “keep doing what you’re doing,” means planning all of your meals at least 24 hours in advance.
It is important to make the plan in advance so you use your prefrontal cortex, your highest brain, to make conscious, purposeful decisions about what serves your weight maintenance goals.
When we don’t plan and leave ourselves having to make decisions in the moment, it is much more difficult to make choices that align with our goals.
This is because our primitive brain makes ‘on the fly’ decisions, and one of the primitive brain’s main goals is to seek pleasure.
With that, giving into urges for foods that aren’t a part of our weight maintenance food plan is much tougher to avoid.
Examples of decisions surrounding planning that are available to you:
I have decided to plan meals at least 24 hours in advance while on vacation.
I have decided, to help myself with planning, that I will check restaurant menus online to choose where and what I’m going to eat 24 hours in advance.
I have decided if choosing a restaurant or viewing an online menu isn’t possible 24 hours in advance of a meal, that it’s a very safe bet that most restaurants will have multiple protein items, vegetables, and fat options on their menu, and I will select only these items.
I have decided to plan any “exception” food and drink items such as sugar, flour and alcohol at least 24 hours in advance, noting exactly how much I will consume.
Third, “keep doing what you’re doing” means committing not only to your new identity, but also committing to your end goal to maintain your weight.
Your commitment is driven by your answer to the question, “why?” you desire your goal—your compelling reason to achieve this result.
Your answer must be more compelling than instant gratification in order for you to honor your commitment.
Whatever your reason is, it’s not a random choice.
It is connected to something that’s important to you—something you value.
If you think, “I can’t make a commitment to myself because I know I will break it,” that will continue to be what you experience.
What you’ve done in your past—even the past moments, has nothing to do with what you are capable of doing now.
Examples of decisions surrounding commitment to your goal that are available to you:
I have decided I want to be proud of myself for keeping my commitments.
I have decided I want the satisfaction of knowing I can do hard things.
I have decided I am willing to be uncomfortable in order to uphold my commitment to myself during times when others around me are overeating and overdrinking because I know how much better this is and how worth it it’s going to be.
I have decided to honor my commitment to myself that vacation is no longer about overeating and overdrinking.
I have decided I am someone who keeps commitments to myself no matter what is going on, or where I am.
You are always in control.
I love the anonymous quote, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
The solution is simple.
Decide, plan, and commit.
Enjoy yourself, the new you, no matter what you decide to eat or drink because you know how much better this is and how worth it it’s going to be.
Reward yourself—acknowledge how kind and good you’re being, and have been to yourself.
The strong, trusting relationship you continue to build with yourself is priceless—there’s no goal you can’t set for yourself that you can’t accomplish when you realize you can count on you.
Decide, plan, and commit.
It really is that simple—the rest is just drama.
If things don’t go 100% to plan, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
In my next post I will address how to handle post-vacation guilt and shame when your weight management plans don’t go exactly as you had designed.