Vacation!

Me at the Indianapolis Zoo dolphin show &
My husband at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

This past weekend my husband and I went on our version of summer vacation. Sadly, it was only a 3 day weekend... but we had a wonderful time!

Here are a few of my tips to having an enjoyable, yet healthy vacation:

Food Tips:
1. Pack food that you normally eat at home. When you're on vacation, you may find that the hotel breakfast bar doesn't have oatmeal or yogurt, bring some along so you don't sabatoge your calorie count.
Example: I packed yogurt, fruit, and carrot sticks.
2. Allow yourself to have more calories than normal, but still count, and make sure you're not eating more than you're burning.
Example: I try to eat 1200-1500 calories a day at home, on vacation, I bumped it to 2000, because that is around how many calories I burn in a day.
3. Try to eat 2 regular meals per day, and have one meal where you are a little indulgent.
Example: If you eat a big hearty pancakes and eggs breakfast, have a salad with dinner when you go out.
4. Alcohol is something that will need to be cut way back, or out, when you're trying to lose weight. I've never been a big drinker, but especially now, I only drink 1 beer or glass of wine, and I nurse it. Tip: Drink your beer with water, if you have 2-3 glasses of water with 1 beer mixed in, it will last longer.
5. Don't get dehydrated!!! You'll think you're hungry when you really just need to drink some water. Always keep a cooler with you stocked with ice or if you have to, bring bottled water (make sure you recycle those bottles!)
6. Don't bring any extra food, and don't bring extra cash! When we were at the race, the couple next to me was very large, and ate the entire race. They constantly were pulling things out of their cooler. JJ and I only packed water and Coke Zero, so we didn't give outselves the opportunity to overeat. Also, at the ballpark, I was watching people walk by with ice cream, but I didn't bring any extra cash so I could not buy an ice cream.


Remember, just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want all day long. I had ice cream at the Zoo, but I had a veggie wrap for lunch to even it out. At the race, I had some nachos and a beer, but then for dinner I had a citrus chicken salad.




Fitness Tips:
1. Incorporate fitness into your vacation. Sure, everyone loves to lay on the beach, but lay out for half an hour, then play some sand volleyball or throw a frisbee.
2. Go places that require lots of walking - if you're staying in a city, book a hotel that's not so far from what you want to see that you can't walk. We walked to dinner, the ballpark, and did some sight seeting all without the car!
3. Book a hotel that has a fitness room, and use it! If you normally run in the morning, get up and go run in the morning before the day begins and you get too busy to work out.