It’s always funny being away and getting the looks and comments from other people.
Like … “How do you eat like that and stay so fit?” Or, “I’m surprised you ordered a banana daiquiri, I would think you’d get something with less calories.”
Our vacation diet wasn’t exactly ‘perfect’
Mel and I definitely eat and drink freely on vacation. We have been known to require extra tables for the amount of food we eat lol.
We probably had 4-6 drinks per day.
So, maybe it is surprising for other couples to see us crushing food and alcohol while still remaining fit.
And, I can relate because I used to be the one who would judge others and wonder how they got so “lucky.”
It’s probably their genetics …
They probably don’t have any fun on vacation …
They’ll probably end up in the gym for hours or starving themselves when they get home …
All things I used to say when I was struggling with yo-yo dieting.
Now … I’m the one getting comments.
It has nothing to do with luck
We aren’t starving ourselves today or tomorrow or any day, for that matter.
In fact, I’ll be eating approximately 2500 calories/day this week and then increasing to 2800 next week.
Mel will be eating 1500 calories this week and then 1700 calories next week.
Our workouts will remain the same … 4 days per week for me and 5 days per week for her.
And, our body comp will be unscathed.
How?
Want to know the secret to success?
It’s actually quite boring …
We have built a really strong foundation.
That’s it.
We don’t do any extremes and we don’t have to change much. We just execute the basics over and over and over.
It’s a part of us. It’s just what we do.
There is no “on or off plan.”
We drink water. We get steps. We train consistently. We eat our veggies. We eat enough protein. We sleep. We manage our total calories.
And, it requires very little thought or planning because it’s just what we do.
There’s nothing restrictive in our daily lives.
We still go out to eat when we want to and have a drink on occasion.
We still enjoy ice cream or cookies or whatever else we’re in the mood for without worrying about derailing progress.
Therefore, the 5 days we’re away are irrelevant to our overall progress.
What you do when you’re NOT on vacation is more important
The issue is when the “norm” is extreme and restrictive and unsustainable.
I used to come back from vacation and immediately slash calories. I would diet so hard that I would eventually reach my breaking point.
Then, I’d binge.
So, it wasn’t just the vacation days that were causing the issue … it was my non vacation days.
That’s what most people struggle with.
We are so accustomed to always being on a diet that we never actually build that rock solid foundation.
It’s boring AF.
But it works.
And it allows for more freedom.
Now, I do want to mention that we didn’t just sit on our asses the whole time (although plenty of that was done).
The resort didn’t have much of a walking path so one lap around was about 800-1,000 steps. We still hit close to 10,000 steps per day (rather than using that as an excuse to not get steps in).
The resort didn’t have much of a gym (heaviest DBs were 25 lbs) but we modified and made it work (rather than using that as an excuse to not get our workouts in).
We also ate two meals per day instead of 3 (which was more than enough food based on how much we ate lol).
And, we did our best with drinking water (to go along with the copious amounts of alcohol).
That’s it. Nothing special.
So, when we received those little comments from others … we just smiled and nodded. Yup, we’re super lucky. 😉
Just remember …
It’s what you do MOST of the time that matters
If you’re constantly restricting, dieting, and taking extreme measures … well … it’s going to be really difficult to build that foundation that serves as the real secret to success.
