4 Ways to Enjoy Vacation Without the Guilt

Vacations should be fun. Why bother taking them otherwise? But many people spend them either completely going off the rails or obsessing over every small thing. Then they come home feeling worse than before they left, desperate for a "reset" just to get back to baseline. The vacation is supposed to be the reset!

I put together a free Vacation Plan guide that you can save to your phone or print out and take with you. It covers everything in this post and more. Grab it below.

Here are my top 4 tips to truly enjoy your trip and come back better than when you left:

1. Make a plan before you leave.

Decide how you want to feel both throughout the trip and when you get HOME. Enjoy the foods, but don't sabotage yourself by eating too much or by not eating any of the fun stuff.

Pack protein snacks so you're not at the mercy of airports and gas stations. You need enough protein every day. It's a clock that resets every 24 hours. You can't just have a lot one day and not enough the next.

"I'll get back on track Monday" is a trap. Don't screw your future over. Don't let one week take precedence over what you truly want for your life and your health.

2. Eat well, not perfectly.

Do your best, not your perfect. You already know I want you to get your protein in. But if the point is to feel good and enjoy yourself, that's hardly possible if all you eat is carbs, sugar, and fried foods. Balance it out to enjoy yourself more, not less.

High protein, high veggie, enjoy the rest. If you're really trying to reach a specific body composition goal, the best strategy is to aim for lots of protein and veggies and then leave room to enjoy the fun stuff like desserts, apps, etc. This way, you shouldn't feel ravenous or have a difficult time preventing yourself from overeating. Smaller portions, eat slowly, actually taste the food. Isn't that why you're eating it after all? For the taste?

One meal won't wreck anything. If you did "blow it" at some point, recalibrate. Do your best not to let it ruin the rest of your trip. Audit what you did, what you can learn, and what you can do differently, and then take care of yourself. The "damage" is reversible.

3. Move your body without making it a thing.

Walk everywhere. Walking is a highly underrated form of exercise. It's low-impact, simple, and accessible. Take advantage of it.

Something always beats nothing. A 10-minute bodyweight workout will always be better than nothing. Notice when you're dipping into the all-or-nothing mindset with exercise. And if you feel like you need a vacation from exercise? That's a red flag in and of itself. Exercise isn't always the most fun thing, but if you enjoy your vacations specifically because you don't work out, we need to rethink something there. That's an unsustainable way to live.

Try something new. Being out of your normal element and away from your community can make it easier to try things you might have been afraid to try. This could include going to a local yoga or group fitness studio in the area where you're vacationing, trying a water sport if you're by the ocean, etc.

4. Give yourself permission.

Restriction is what makes you spiral, not the vacation food itself. No foods should be "off-limits," because that's only going to make you want them more. Let yourself have what you want, and when you truly believe that it's okay to do so, you'll have an easier time not overeating. But this takes time. There are no "good" or "bad" foods, but do you really understand that when I say it?

Decide ahead of time what "enough" looks like so you're not winging it. You might not know exactly what you're going to eat or be served, but try to think ahead. For instance, when you're getting ready to go out to dinner, you can think about how you want to try the dessert, but you're going to eat only half of it, go slow, and really enjoy it so you can sleep well and wake up in the morning ready to enjoy another day instead of dealing with a food hangover.

The more you plan and prepare, the better life and vacations become. It might seem tedious or ridiculous to put so much thought and effort into maintaining a certain level of health and fitness, but the outcome is always better. Vacations are more fun, you can stay more present, and you can finally get that damn good sleep you've been missing!

I made you a free Vacation Plan you can screenshot, save, or print and throw in your carry-on. It's got everything we talked about here in a quick-reference format so you don't have to remember all of this on the fly. Grab it below and actually use it.