(For our original tips on staying lean on vacation, click here.)
When going away during the summer, it becomes easy to let yourself gain weight.
While you can still enjoy yourself and have a good time, there are some sensible, low-stress ways you can follow to stay lean during vacation.
1. Opt For Lower-Calorie Options of Meals and Drinks
This may be a no-brainer, but in practice, many of us fail to follow this rule. But if you take the time to slow down and think about your food decisions, it can make all the difference.
Let’s take hamburgers for example. It’s easy to load them up with cheese and extra patties, and knock out 4 or 5 burgers in a single sitting. This can total upwards of 2000 calories or more.
A lower-calorie alternative would be to simply make a burger with a single patty, single slice of cheese, and add a bunch of lettuce and tomato slices. If one doesn’t fill you up, you can have a 2nd, or even a 3rd, and you’d still ingest less calories than usual.
When dining out, choosing grilled / baked versions of food over fried / sauteed is a way to cut back on some calories. Going with large helping of veggies over starches (pasta, bread, potatoes, etc.) is another example.
Drinks are no exception either. Swapping out IPAs with light beers, and mixed drinks with straight liquor, can really save you some calories in the end.
2. Follow the “One Plate Rule”
If you have unlimited food sitting in front of you (e.g., buffet or barbeque), you may feel compelled to eat until you can no longer even look at food.
For the majority of us, this is completely unnecessary. Seriously, you don’t need that much food.
An easy rule that you can follow to avoid going overboard while still enjoying the food available to you is the “one plate rule.”
Take a single dinner plate, fill it up with however much food you want, and that’s all you’ll have. While this may still be a lot of calories, it’s surely a lot less than two or three dinner plates worth. And you have the benefit of still eating a generous of amount of foods that you feel like having.
When dessert comes out, do the same thing: fill up your small dessert plate with whatever you want, and leave it at that.
3. Remind Yourself Why You Went on Vacation
What’s the whole reason behind you going on vacation: A) to unwind and have a good time, or B) to stuff your face?
If you wanted to stuff your face, you could’ve have done that at home.
You probably went on vacation for reason A. And to relax, destress, and enjoy yourself, you don’t require copious amounts of fattening foods.
Sure, eating may be enjoyable, but so is hanging out on the beach, laying out in the sun, walking out on a nature trail, and swimming in a pool. All of these are more than adequate enough to have a great, relaxing, fun vacation.
