Is it possible to maintain your weight while on holidays?

Hi there everyone, the reason for my inactivity the last four weeks has been because of my trip to Greece.  I visited the beautiful city of Thessaloniki with an approximate population of 1 million people. The city was built in 315BC making it one of the oldest in the world with a history that has spanned many cultures. also making it one of the most diverse. I stayed in an apartment within a 10 minute bus trip into the city center. Sleeping in a built up area took a little getting used, in fact I don't think I did get used to it at all,  it didn't help having a school  directly opposite the apartment. Needless to say, I had no trouble doing what the locals do, and that is, getting some shut eye at around 3 pm each day, the 90 minute siesta was heaven.

This holiday was one that included a lot of sightseeing and catching up with friends, so plenty of walking, compared to my job anyway that requires me to be seated all day. I thought the fact I would be walking much of the time would counter act the extra calorie intake I had during the trip. It didn't quite work out that way, More on that later. 

After returning and overcoming the jet lag, I had been avoiding the dreaded weigh in. I knew I had done some over overindulgence on my trip, nothing too serious I might add but you always know when you have added those extra pounds, it's just a question of how much.

Before I go into how much weight I put on I would like to lay out some excuses that make it almost impossible to maintain your weight while on holiday. 

For starters your routine is out the window, there is no routine. You arrive at your new destination with excitement and an impending sense of adventure, not knowing exactly what you will encounter when you get there? Some questions that roll through your mind are, will the accommodation be nice?  will you meet any interesting people? did you pack the sunscreen etc. When you arrive at your apartment you either do the next thing that pops in your mind which for me would be to head down to the pool or whatever tours you have pre booked. The last thing on your mind would be to prepare that healthy lunch or dinner you would usually have done back home. 

Another reason it's so difficult to maintain your weight is the fact that wherever I looked there was food, for breakfast, for dinner, for lunch, not to mention all the sweet shops. A stroll through the center of town would add a couple of pounds just by smelling all the beautiful food around you. The food is so wonderful you want to try one of each. The foods served up for breakfast are a dieters nightmare, things like, spanakopita, tiropita, bougatsa, koulouria (they are all so yummy) and more, each ready to leave it's mark. I was surprised I didn't see more overweight Greeks, maybe the key is the amount they eat, not what they eat.   

Your all wondering by now how much weight I put on, as I said it was not  over the top but bad none the less. I put on 7 pounds which may sound a lot, but I thought it was good considering the temptations I was surrounded by and the fact I didn't hold back too much.

I did learn that walking is not enough exercise when you are eating more calories than you normally would, to properly off set the extra calories I would have needed to do some high aerobic workouts on a regular basis, but who wants to do that on holidays right!

My view is, you go on holidays to enjoy yourself and let your hair down for a while and get away from the hum drum of everyday life and the pressures that go with it, and let's face it keeping your weight under control for some can be a stressful affair. 

My conclusion to the whole holiday thing is, when on holiday, enjoy yourself,  if it means eating foods that you would not normally eat or having an extra serving of something that tastes so good, then so be it. We put enough pressure on ourselves to do the right things by our bodies, but there are times we can shelve it for a time and be ourselves and enjoy the moment for what it is. I understand many would have a different view but that's what makes this world such a wonderful place to live in.

 

If you have not already done so, you can get my free ebook titled 'Learn my 7 step approach to a healthy lifestyle' here. This will get you back on track in no time if you've also recently been on holidays or just want to lose weight and/or get fit and healthy.

If anyone would like to share a weight gain or weight loss experience while holidaying feel free to share it here. Our readers would love to read it.