How I managed not to gain weight during vacation

One of my fears before leaving for vacation was gaining weight. I’ve been having success reducing my body fat, weight and jeans size over these past few months and I didn’t want to gain it all back. No one wants that to happen, for sure. I would be so disappointed to take out my big jeans again from where I’ve buried them. No more digging for those big waisted stuff!

Japan is food haven. Having lived there for more than ten years, I love the food and I miss it while living in Dubai. Sure there are lots of Japanese restaurants here but they can get expensive. The thought that we can enjoy those authentic Japanese food at half the price in Japan is enough to make my mouth water. While food thoughts sends happy signals to my brain, I’m aware that naturally, excessive consumption will mean weight gain, especially if I eat the wrong kinds of food. I might be charged for “extra baggage” at Narita airport when I leave!

And so we left for Japan on October 1st and stayed there for two weeks. There were food, plenty of food and I didn’t have access to the gym, free weights at home nor did I have the time to do exercises as I’ve written in my journal. I’m embarassed to say, I wasn’t able to stick with my program for reasons other than the vacation bug (a.k.a. laziness). I got sick (Pristine too) since it’s still hot in Dubai when we left and cold in Japan. The weather slapped us in the cheek and knocked us down. Despite being sick for a week in our mere TWO weeks vacation, food was always there. I didn’t diet or fast but here are my damage control measures I did without feeling deprived, enjoyed my food without gaining weight:

• Stick to natural, whole, unprocessed food – Sure there are plenty of food around but luckily, Japanese cuisine includes a lot of natural, unprocessed food. The fruits and vegetables in Japan are organic (since we stayed in rural Japan where there are plenty of fresh produce from the neighbors) – the fruits and veggies didn’t have to travel so much, unlike the ones we buy in Dubai. It tasted soo much better! Natural and unprocessed food can make you feel full immediately and gives a feeling of satisfaction. A whole food is just what it sounds like – a food that you eat whole, just the way nature intended. When foods are processed they are often stripped of nutrients and filled with additives, and so you want to eat things that are as close to their natural state as possible. Fruits and vegetables are perfect examples.
• Limit liquid calorie intake – Liquid calories are the silent culprits that creep their way to make you feel  and look bloated and increase waist size. I stick to plain water which we can drink from tap in Japan and lots of green tea – and it’s not an effort at all because I’m used to drinking green tea even in Dubai. I stayed away from soda, alcohol and sugar added juices.
• Eat lots of fresh produce – Autumn means harvest time. We wasted no time buying the fruits of the season, especially Japanese apples and pears I missed so much. In all our (almost) three years in Dubai, there’s nothing compared to Japanese fuji apples. Nothing. There are days I would eat apples for breakfast, lunch and again for dinner. Because of that, I would only consume little of all the other food because I am already full.

At the Fuji apple plantation in Matsumoto

For exercise, I walked a lot and did the following interval training at home when I wasn’t sick: power jumping jacks, mountain climbers, pushups, burpees and plyometric lunges. That’s exercise? I see eyebrows rising but yes, these are enough to raise my heartbeat to 80% of the maximum. And it only takes me 20 minutes each exercise session, without going to the gym or using free weights.The links to each exercise will take you to a how-to videos so you can see it’s so easy to follow and you only need your own body weight.

ready for our morning walk (while we stayed at a friend’s house located on top of a hill!)

our walking trail. Aaah, fresh air!

Now I know I won’t have to fear vacation time or connect it with weight gain. I’m even surprised people are asking me, “have you lost weight?” when I came back from vacation. I still fit into my jeans, thank you very much. You can also incorporate these simple exercise and diet techniques to be able to enjoy your vacation without putting your fat loss progress to waste and regretting anything later.

What do you do to keep fit during vacation?

Tagged as: diet, Fitness

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