How to vacation and still lose weight
Many of us look forward all year to traveling, relaxing, and indulging in delicious food on vacation. If you’re on a weight loss journey, you might be wondering: how can you go on vacation and still lose weight? The great news is with a bit of planning, you can enjoy your vacation and STILL lose weight. Finding Balance on Vacation Vacation is a time to unwind, explore new places, and create lasting memories with loved ones. It doesn’t mean you have to give up on your healthy habits. In fact, a balanced approach will help you feel your best both physically and mentally when you return home. Here are five helpful tips to prioritize healthy foods and stay hydrated while enjoying your getaway: 1. Stick to a Routine: While it’s tempting to completely let go of your routine, maintaining some consistency in your meals can make a big difference. Start your day with a nutritious breakfast, such as yogurt with fruit, oatmeal, or eggs. Having a healthy foundation sets a positive tone for the rest of the day. On my most recent trip to Costa Rica, I brought my vitamins to take each morning as well as protein powder to ensure I was keeping my protein intake on target. 2. Prioritize Water: Staying hydrated is crucial, especially if you’re in a hot climate or doing lots of activities. Carry a reusable water bottle with you and sip water throughout the day. Not only does it keep you hydrated, but it also helps control hunger and reduce the chances of mistaking thirst for hunger. I have a special water bottle that is strictly for travel. It has a flip-up straw that means it is perfect for throwing in my bag without worrying it will leak. 3. Choose Wisely at Restaurants: When dining out, look for menu items that are grilled, baked, or steamed rather than fried. I generally enjoy one indulgence per day, which means one fried item OR one sugary treat. Enjoy your favorite indulgences, but balance them with healthier choices to ensure you can continue to lose weight while on vacation. 4. Pack Healthy Snacks: Bring along some healthy snacks for the journey and your daily adventures. Nuts, seeds, fruit, and whole-grain crackers are great options. Having nutritious snacks on hand can prevent you from reaching for less healthy options when hunger strikes. I often pack myself containers full of oats, chia seeds and protein powder to prepare easy overnight oats. I also use snack sized Ziplock bags to put individual servings of protein powder so I can keep my protein intake up even on vacation. 5. Enjoy Mindful Indulgences: Part of the joy of vacation is trying new foods and indulging in treats. The key is to do it mindfully. Savor each bite of that gelato or pastry. Choose the treats you really love and enjoy them without guilt. Balance indulgent moments with nutritious meals to keep your energy levels up and regret at bay when you return home. Remember, vacation is about more than just food. It’s a time to connect with loved ones, explore new places, and create unforgettable memories. One of my most memorable moments on my Costa Rica trip had nothing to do with food. I had the pleasure of ziplining above the canopy of their rainforest! The views were absolutely spectacular and it was truly a humbling moment when I realized that at my highest weight I would have not been eligible to do enjoy that activity. Here are some ways to focus on the joy of your trip: Stay Active Incorporate physical activities you enjoy, such as walking, hiking, swimming, or biking. Also look for new activities to try like ziplining, parasailing, banana boat rides or horseback riding. It keeps you active and makes the vacation more fun. Connect with Others Spend quality time with family and friends. Share stories, laugh, and enjoy the experiences that make the vacation special. Our trip to Costa Rica was a group travel experience and it was a lot of fun getting to know the other people. Even vacationing with my family, it’s a lot of fun trying new experiences and foods together to see what each person likes or dislikes. Capture Memories Take photos, journal about your adventures, and cherish the moments spent together. These memories are far more lasting than any meal. Creating a balanced lifestyle means enjoying all aspects of life, including food. When you plan ahead and make mindful choices, you give yourself the freedom to enjoy your vacation without guilt or regret. It’s not about restriction; it’s about making choices that support your goals while allowing you to indulge in the things you love. Your Vacation Plan: Nutritious Choices: Start your day with a healthy breakfast to set a positive tone. Stay Hydrated: Carry a reusable water bottle and sip water throughout the day. Smart Dining: Choose grilled, baked, or steamed options at restaurants and balance them with your favorite indulgences. Healthy Snacks: Pack nutritious snacks to keep you fueled during your adventures. Mindful Indulgence: Savor your treats and enjoy them mindfully. Enjoy your vacation with confidence and joy. Embrace the freedom of planning ahead and making balanced choices that let you have fun and stay on track. Here’s to a fabulous getaway! Safe travels and happy adventures! Your Coach, Andrea
How to stay on track over the weekends
For so many of my clients, weight loss seems to be easier Monday through Friday. There is structure and routine. During the week, it is easy to be focused but once the weekend comes, routine goes out the window! Here are five ways you can stay on track over the weekends: Make a plan While Saturday and Sunday might look different from the workweek, you probably have a general routine. Maybe you don’t wake up as early but you still get up around the same time every weekend. If you’re like me, you have kids that have sports the same time each weekend too. If you take five minutes at the start of each weekend day and brainstorm your commitments, where you will be for each meal time, and available options for food, you’ll be off to a good start in making a reasonable plan for yourself. Another important part to remember is making sure you stay hydrated over the weekend so make a plan for that too. Will you carry a water bottle around with you? Will you fill multiple water bottles and stash them around the house to remind you to drink water? Remembering to stay hydrated over the weekend will help you feel your best, have more energy and prevent snacking due to faux hunger (thirst). Anticipate the unexpected Weekends are more flexible and sometimes spur of the moment changes happen. That’s OK. You can be spontaneous and still make progress towards your weight loss goal. A spontaneous trip for ice cream doesn’t mean you have to order the largest sundae with extra chocolate fudge and whipped cream. In fact, a spontaneous trip for ice cream doesn’t actually mean you have to have ice cream at all. My 90 pound weight loss definitely included ice cream but sometimes it also included just loving the joy on my kid’s faces and being present in the moment without having any ice cream. Think about the past few months, what came up over the weekend that you threw you off your weight loss game? Make a plan for how you would ideally handle that if it came up again. Chances are those same challenges will present themselves again in the future. When you mentally rehearse for them, you’ve given yourself the instructions on how you want to handle it so you are better equipped for next time. Create a back on track plan Maybe you went face down into a pepperoni pizza and didn’t come back up until it was all gone. Maybe you’re feeling like you messed it all up and so you might as well eat whatever you want for the rest of the weekend. But hold on! Getting back on track is as much of an option as throwing in the towel is. You are a human being and sometimes you are going to make choices you wish you hadn’t. That’s OK. But don’t dwell there. Create a plan for yourself that helps you get back on track quickly. For me, I love to drink a glass of water and then go for a 15-minute walk. The hydration and moving my body really help to clear my mind. Plus it is two quick wins that I can feel good about! To create your back on track plan, think of one or two things you can do no matter where you are to help get quick win and get your head back in the game. Think something new So many of my clients like to say that the weekends are just harder. But says who? Sometimes we are just committed to the idea that they are harder simply because that’s what we always believed. How could they actually be easier? On the weekends, you may not have the structure and routine of the week but you might have a lot more time to workout, make a food plan or eat more slowly and enjoy your meals. Asking yourself how the weekends can be easier opens your mind to find more evidence that it actually IS easier. Encourage yourself to find ways that losing weight is actually easier over the weekends. Be patient with yourself If weekends have been a struggle for you, please be patient with yourself. Like learning anything new, these things take time. You won’t miraculously start going through your weekends flawlessly. You might still forget to drink water, make a food plan or move your body. That’s OK. The goal is progress, not perfection. If you do one thing better than the weekend before, cheer yourself on! Yay you! Then build on that winning momentum the next weekend. When you feel like you are winning, you keep trying. When you feel like you are losing, you quit. Look for your wins. Keep trying. And eventually you will learn to stay on track over the weekends and meet your weight loss goal. Your Coach, Andrea
Creating consistency in weight loss
Action is the currency of weight loss. You can’t do the same things you’ve always done and expect different results. And you most certainly cannot take different actions only once in a while and expect consistent results. If you want to reach your weight loss goal, you must be consistent. Consistency is what I coach clients on the most and so I have put together this list of five things you need to know for creating consistency in weight loss. Consistency is NOT perfection My clients often say they are not able to be consistent, when really they are being pretty consistent. Let’s say the goal is to drink 64oz of water each day and they are only doing it five days, instead of seven. Hate to break it to you but that IS being consistent. That is consistently meeting the goal for five days. There is a difference between wanting to increase the number days you meet the goal and being consistent. Too often we believe we are not being consistent in weight loss when we aren’t perfect. But that’s not the case! Consistency does not equal perfection. In fact, thinking you are not consistent because you aren’t perfect is defeating and causes you to quit. So recognize when you ARE being consistent and that will increase your desire to continue to be consistent as well as take more positive action towards your weight loss goal. Only make small, doable changes I get it. Being overweight can feel terrible. There is likely an urgency to want to be thinner NOW. But when you try to change everything about you, your routines, the foods you eat and the life you live, it takes a lot of energy and won’t last for long. Too many weight loss journeys fail because they are trying to use willpower to muscle through changing everything about themselves and their lives. Don’t do that to yourself. The greatest gift you can give yourself is acceptance of where you are. Take the pressure off of needing to be anything else. You can accept where you are and still make positive change. The best way to make that positive change is to make the changes small and level up when you get really good at that change. Small, doable changes make weight loss feel really manageable and allows you to collect tons of wins. And when you are winning, you know what? You feel like taking more action. And taking more action leads to more weight loss. Use multiple ways to measure your success The scale is not king of your weight loss journey. The diet industry has brainwashed us all by using the scale as the number one measurement of success. But you’re setting yourself up for defeat if that is the only way you measure your weight loss. Scales are a lagging measure of the actions you take. It may take weeks for the scale to reflect the fruits and veggies you’ve been eating or the workouts you completed. I highly recommend using a habit tracker to measure your actions and use that as a sign of your weight loss progress. You can also track your moods, body measurements, clothing fit and use before and after photos too. Expect to not feel like it Consistency often wains when we “don’t feel like it.” But what if “feeling like it” wasn’t required? What if you could take action anyway? Well, you can! It’s great to feel motivated and excited when you first start a new diet or exercise plan, but once that wears off and boredom sets in, it can feel difficult to keep taking action. It has taken over 3 years for me to reach my weight loss goal. There have been a lot of times that I didn’t want to work out or eat the food I planned. And you know what? I was still able to do it. When motivation wains (and it will), you have to be able to rely on commitment and discipline to see it through. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is to remain committed and disciplined through that time. As you continue to take action, even when you don’t feel like it, that motivation will return and this time with a giant side of pride. Remain focused and keep going no matter what When you focus on the problem on your weight loss journey, you’ll find more of them. When you focus on the solutions, you’ll find more weight loss. Recognize when you are being inconsistent and figure out what you can do to become more consistent. Focusing on how to be more consistent creates more consistent action and more consistent results in your weight loss journey. When I started my weight loss journey in 2019, I simply decided that I was going to figure it out no matter what. When I overate or missed a workout, I got curious with myself and figured out how to move forward. You can choose the same. There is no need to beat yourself up for being inconsistent. Remain focused on your weight loss goal and allow yourself to be curious and find a different way going forward. After all, if you continue to do the same things, you’ll get the same results. What’s getting in your way of being consistent? Your Coach, Andrea