Hi everyone. I'm on Day 5 of our 8 day vacation in Mammoth. Our 8 day vacation will now be shortened by a day as my oldest son, Jacob, fractured his elbow snowboarding today. Well at least the first 4 days were great.
There are a couple of other Forever Fitters up here this week, Trish Wood and Sharon Fornaciari. We have had amazing snow and beautiful weather.
Vacationing is probably one of the toughest tests we can go through when trying to live a fit and healthy lifestyle. And, the longer our vacation, the weaker our resolve becomes, later in the week. That's because we have a limited amount of will power at any one time and if it is exercised frequently, we eventually don't have enough to make the right choices. There are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself. Here's what I've found that works:
1. Vacation with "like minded" people. If you are spending most of your time with people who also want to eat healthy and stay active, it really isn't too hard to stay on track. It's tough when everyone around you is eating pizza and fries and you're eating a salad. We vacation a lot with my parents and it's great because we all like to eat healthy meals, get lots of exercise (my parents insist we walk a mile to and from the ski slopes each day) and we keep the snacks to a minimum.
2. It's great to be on an active vacation with the family. If I had to sit around the cabin for 7 days, I would surely begin to make less than optimal nutrition choices, simply out of boredom. Being on the ski slopes for 4 to 6 hours a day, keeps me out of the kitchen and spending quality time with my family. Oh yeah, and I'm burning lots of calories. Whether you are in the mountains, New York city or a beach destination, find as many physically active things you can do as possible. It makes vacation fun for all! These are the things that you are going to remember years after the vacation is over, not what you ate while you were there.
3. Whenever possible, stay in a house, condo or apartment where you have access to a kitchen. Go to the grocery store and load up on many of the same foods you would eat at home. Keep eating out to one or two meals of the vacation. This is key! Remember, most restaurants just don't care that their food is too high in calories, fat, sugar and sodium. They want you to love your food so much that you come back. Take back the control and soon restaurants will show a little more responsibility in what they offer on their menus.
4. When you do have to eat out, survey all of your options first before making a decision, and make special requests when you can. Vacation is about enjoying everything, and that includes a couple of your meals. Instead of splurging on every meal, decide each day how you will organize your meals to meet the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time eating the foods you SHOULD eat, that are high in nutrients, and 10% of the time eating something that you WANT to eat just because you love it. If you are having an active vacation, you can have a little splurge every day, just keep the 90/10 rule in mind and make sure that your choices are WTC (worth the calories).
OK, have to go help my mom make the salad for dinner tonight. Hope you are all doing well and have found some fun workouts to do this week. I look forward to seeing everyone next week at bootcamp.
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