Diary Adventures of LagosMums: DALM | Can You Lose Weight During Your Vacation?
My big question used to be can you lose weight during your vacation?
You know those summer months – It is a long holiday, children are home from school and perhaps you travelled for the summer. For a long time travel and vacation meant lots of eating and piling on the weight. I always told myself I would deal with the weight when I returned to Lagos. In reality what used to happen was i would eat out almost everyday, pile on the pounds but when I got to Lagos, the weight refused to leave!
Imagine this continuing year in year out, eventually you have all the weight combined and do not know who to blame anymore. Is it the baby fat or is it summer weight?
I finally got wise a few years ago when I decided i no longer wanted to come back from the summer showing my vacation on my body! I would rather have the memories and pictures to remind me about the wonderful holiday.
How To Lose Weight During Your Vacation
I have done this several times now and wanted to share some of my tips with you mums. It is okay if these tips are too late for this summer, keep them till your next holiday.
Plan Your Eating Out
Summer includes eating out, it would not be fun if you did not. The difference now is that when I eat out I plan it. First of all I do not eat out everyday. Secondly I plan it. If I know we are going to eat out on a particular day that would be my only heavy meal for the day. I would therefore fill myself with fruits and vegetables for the rest of the day. I like to think about calories as a total per week than per day.
Make Wise Choices
When I do eat out I make wise choices. Instead of a large portion meal, I would sometimes share with my husband or I would get a lunch size portion. Food in America is double size and you will pile on the pounds if you finish those portions every time! Instead of fries as a side I could order a healthier alternative live vegetables. As for deserts, I would share with others on the table and have a few bites versus finish my own huge bowl of apple pie and ice cream.
Walk Around A Lot
This is one of the easiest times to walk around a lot and all those steps do count. I get myself a pair of comfortable sneakers and walk around as much as possible. This definitely helps with getting some low impact exercise. Those 10,000 steps that seem unattainable usually get done. Walk around the malls, visit museums or explore the city by foot when possible.
Pack healthy Snacks
Being on vacation many times means being on the move, out and about. What tends to happen is that when you are out and get hungry you would eat whatever is available and this might just be burger and fries. So I would pack healthy snacks like an apple, banana and some almonds. These usually fill me up as I snack on the go..it has saved me many times from eating something i would regret later.
Lots of Fluids
Drink lots of water! Water is good for you. Interestingly many times you are hungry, you are actually dehydrated. Instead of soda or juices drink water. The other recommended drink is a cup of green tea. I drink at least two cups of green tea per day. It is also a good idea to drink a cup of warm water with lemon as this helps with digestion.
Run around after your children
Yup usually the vacation means that there is no help around and you do more chores than when in Lagos. This definitely helps with moving about. We happened to stay in a house with a basement with our room in the attic – so several times a day I was going up and down four flights of steps.
These are some of the tips that worked for me. I not only stayed the same size but actually lost some weight over the summer vacation!
Read more in the Diary of LagosMums Adventures – How Are You Using Your DP?Â