According to a University of Georgia study, adults gain an average of one pound when they go on a one- to three-week vacation – and that weight does not go away even after six weeks of returning home. While a pound may not seem much, remember that an average person only gains around one to two pounds per year.
However, you don’t need to feel too guilty, as there are a lot of ways to get rid of the fresh flab and reboot your diet.
In this article, we will provide valuable tips to help you resume your healthy eating plan and go back to your better-body self.
1. Get back to your normal routine
Have a shower immediately you return home. Unpack your traveling bags and set your morning alarm. Also, ensure you drink a cup of tea before going to bed. To help your body get back into its slimmer, fitter self, you need to set yourself up to be able to do things you normally do every day.
Our tip: unpack at the earliest!
Although you may be extremely tired from the journey, unpacking your bags on the day of arrival will help clear your mind, ensure you have clean clothes to wear in the coming week, and save you from the stress of unpacking later on.
Plus, it is an excellent way to remind yourself that the vacation is over.
After you have done that, make sure you go to bed at the exact time you normally do when not on vacation. Researchers have found that people who maintain the same sleep-wake cycles are generally more relaxed and are less likely to have their diets ruined by exhaustion-induced munchies.
2. Shop for groceries
If you have been away for some days, you probably won’t have much food remaining in your fridge when you get back home. Instead of taking the easy way by ordering takeout, conjure up the willpower to visit the grocery store. Having fresh, healthy foods in your fridge when you first return home will ensure you adhere to your eating plan instead of continuing on the indulgent path you took while on vacation.
Better keep it simple
Your first meal upon return does not need to be anything crazy – it can just be what you normally eat on busy weeknights. And if you do not have one, don’t worry. You can take roasted veggies along with marinated chicken breasts.
3. Prioritize fresh produce
Your days of taking beers and buffets are over.
Making sure you have plenty of healthy items in the fridge when you return home will make it easier for you to reboot your diet by encouraging you to make smart, healthy choices. Aside from helping reset your diet, it will also help you overcome bad eating habits.
A simple trick to reboot your food choices
Keep a bowl of fresh fruits on the counter, stock precut vegetables with hummus in your fridge while hiding treats, such as chips, candy, and cookies on a high shelf, so you cannot easily see them.
4. Don’t grab the remote
It’s normal to want to relax when you just return home after a long journey. But that does not mean the first thing you should do is switch on the TV and start watching movies – especially not if you are hungry.
A University of Houston study shows that people who watch too much TV tend to make more unhealthy food choices. Although it may seem like a great way to relax after a hectic weekend, a few hours of TV watching can set you back even more calories after an indulgent weekend.
Keep yourself busy to limit TV time
Even if you want to watch a TV when you return, try to limit it to 30 minutes max. But if you are looking for other ways to remain busy, refer to the first tip above and do things that will help you get back to your normal routine.
Unpack your bags, shop for groceries, and rearrange your kitchen. You can also read a new book, listen to music, or play a board game with your friends or family.
5. Avoid added sugar
The consumption of sugar-dense foods, such as Pina Coladas and Crème Brule, while on vacation only pours fuel to the weight-inducing inflammation fire in your body.
The reason is that table sugar – which consists of equal amounts of glucose and fructose – increases inflammation in two different ways. When taken in excess, glucose can raise the levels of pro-inflammatory messengers known as cytokines. At the same time, fructose is the sugar molecule that readily produces Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) in the bloodstream.
AGEs are harmful compounds produced when fructose makes protein molecules bond together, forming cellular junk that the body tries to remove by raising the levels of defensive receptors and inflammation markers. Although this may be difficult to do, avoiding sweet foods when you return home is a good way to burn those unwanted fats around your belly.
Clearly, nixing added sugars and flour-made foods can help you return to the weight-loss track since it will prevent you from adding fuel to your inflammation fire and make you consume healthier foods, which can lower inflammation.
Swap with healthier choices
A simple swap is substituting high-glycemic-index foods (which raise blood sugar level) for low glycemic ones, such as whole grains and foods containing protein, fibers, and healthy fats.
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition discovered that a diet with a low-glycemic index lowered the levels of the C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker in the body.
6. Ensure you hydrate frequently
Drinking on vacation and flying back home can result in dehydration, making you hungrier and causing poor blood circulation. As a consequence, you will probably feel bloated and very sleepy. There are many other things that occur to your body when you don’t take enough water. So, set an alarm or a reminder to remind you to drink water every few hours of the day.
Moreover, a report from WebMD, showed that after drinking 17 ounces of water, men and women saw approximately a 30% increase in their metabolism, further aiding in weight loss.
Try to drink half of your body weight in ounces per day. You will probably feel rehydrated after some days of following this regimen.
A cup’pa water in morning…
The simplest way to hydrate is to take a cup of water when you wake up. A study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found that people who raised their water consumption by a single cup per day reduced their daily energy intake by up to 205 calories and sodium intake by 200 milligrams.
So, drinking an additional 8 ounces in the morning will not only help prevent overeating but will also increase your energy levels and help your body eliminate salt and leftovers in the colon.
7 & 8. Restart – and amp up – your exercise routine
Resuming your exercise routine will be a big help in getting rid of those unwanted post-vacation pounds.
A lot of us don’t remember to take our gym clothes and sneakers along when going on vacation, which leaves us with few options for continuing our daily exercise routine. While taking a week break from exercise will not make you lose all your strength and endurance, it can reduce 50% of the improvements you have made in the previous weeks, making it appears like you have reached your weight-loss plateau.
To avoid this, make sure you return to the gym and start with more intense workouts than you were previously doing to gain new muscles and burn more calories.
According to fitness experts, the most effective workouts are those that are highly intense and combine a bit of weight training and cardio.
Consider classes such as boot camps or cardio-boxing, which are usually held at gyms, although you can also find them in online videos.
Keep in mind that, even though no amount of fitness exercise will undo an unhealthy diet, resuming your weekly exercise routine and incorporating in more intense drills will help fuel your diet-centric weight-loss efforts.
Introducing new, high-intensity exercises in your fitness routine is also an essential step in ensuring that you don’t gain back the weight you have already lost.
9. Catch up on sleep
If you are the type that does seem to sleep well except it is your own bed or if you are exhausted from all the sun beatings you have taken over the last couple of days, you may get back home feeling wiped and a bit bloated. But why?
When we are feeling drowsy, the production of leptin (the hormone that lets us know we are full) reduces, which can result in overeating and, consequently, weight gain. To shed that weight, make sure to sleep for about 6 to 8 hours every night when you return home.
TV right before sleep is a bad idea
Do you really want to get back to your more slim self?
Then you need to stop your nightly TV session one hour before going to bed. This will help reduce your exposure to melatonin-disrupting white light and eliminate stimulation that prevents your brain from shutting down.
10. Give your immune system a boost
Travel is highly demanding on the body. That is because managing schedules, packing your bags, and leaving home – all cause stress. Moreover, wandering in the sun the whole day, hiking around town, and inadequate sleep deplete the body’s energy stores and jeopardize your immune system.
Food is medicine
It is better to medicate with vitamins from whole foods included in your diet than taking medications when trying to reboot a weakened immunity system.
To make up for the lack of cold-fighting-ability, make sure to incorporate more veggies, fruits, and legumes in your meal to improve your immune system. Also, avoid calorie-rich foods, extremely-processed foods, and animal products. This will help you raise your consumption of fibers and aid detoxification.
One of the best options for boosting your immunity is blueberries.
A recent study by Oregon State University researchers examined more than 400 compounds for their ability to improve the immune system. It was found that a compound known as pterostilbene – which is present in large amounts in the little blue fruits – stood out.
11. Repair your gut
Lack of exercise, sleep, and healthy foods and consumption of too much fat and sugar-dense treats and alcohol on vacay can result in a damaged gut. That is because all these unhealthy activities are known to disrupt the gut microbiome.
To be specific, all the sugar you may have been consuming is fuel for disease-causing bacteria, yeast, and fungi – all bad microorganisms that can overcome and reduce the levels of good bacteria in the body. When that occurs, you’re more likely to experience poor digestion, weight gain, and high levels of inflammation.
While it is highly unlikely that you have done significant damage to your gut within such a little period of time, improving your belly biome after a diet break can help you get back on track.
This is because a healthy gut helps control your hunger hormones, boosts your immune system, and improves your sleep quality and quantity.
Try probiotics
Go for probiotics such as onions, legumes, spinach, oats, and artichokes, to feed the beneficial bacteria in the guts, as well as probiotics that serve as reinforcements, helping eliminate the bad microbes.
12. Stop drinking
Stopping alcohol consumption can be great advice after having too much to drink while on vacation.
Alcohol, which contains 7 calories per gram, can increase your daily energy intake by up to 100 calories. Eliminating these calories will aid your weight loss after vacation.
Moreover, sipping dehydrates can reduce your inhibitions, which can cause you to eat foods that are not so diet-friendly (such as fries, burgers, and pizza) and sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
Aside from taming hunger, ditching alcohol also has other benefits, such as helping you lose weight and improving your sleep.
So, giving up the booze is a win-win.
Instead of taking a bottle of beer, drink a cup of green tea or cranberry juice. Both are rich in anti-inflammatory antioxidants that can help lower inflammation and keep your body hydrated.
13. Consume more magnesium
Your fun vacation may start falling apart when you realize how much work has piled up since you are away. However, when you are trying to get back on track after a diet break, the additional stress can ruin any effort to reboot your system.
To lower your levels of the stress hormone called cortisol, take 250 mg of magnesium every day. Magnesium helps with relaxation and boosts lipolysis, a process through which the body breaks down fat in the adipose stores. Reduced stress levels will also help keep emotional eating at bay.
Again, food is a better choice
You don’t need to take a magnesium supplement to get the daily recommended dose. Just incorporating one cup of cooked spinach into your omelet can give you more than 150 milligrams of magnesium. You can also obtain the same amount from 1 oz of pumpkin seeds applied on top of your oatmeal or yogurt.
14. Ditch the buzz – go for caffeine alternatives
Your holiday was full of buzz – all the alcohol and stimulants – so give yourself a break. This means avoiding any food that may contain caffeine (that includes tea, coffee, as well as soda). But if these drinks are part of your everyday routine, which may be important for returning to your slender self, then go for a caffeine-free alternative.
Examples of caffeine-free options include herbal teas, like rooibos. Aside from being devoid of stimulants, red bush tea can also help you feel more relaxed. Since it is very rich in flavonoids – and, specifically, a stress-relieving compound known as aspalathin – sipping rooibos can help lower stress hormones that induce hunger and storage of fat.
15. Take some Guac
Your kidneys and liver can do an excellent job of detoxifying your body without any juices and concoctions. However, some foods help reduce the side effects of a booze-filled weekend by protecting your detoxifying organs.
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that the fatty acids in avocados help lower liver damage caused by a toxin known as D-galactosamine. Cilantro, the herb responsible for the unique flavor of guac, has geranyl acetate and linalool, which may help relax GIT muscles to soothe a disturbed stomach.
If you want to detox your body after an indulgent weekend, there are many foods you can eat to cure your hangover. These foods improve liver function, boost your immunity, and replenish lost electrolytes, which will be beneficial to your body even after the throbbing headache is gone.
These were just 15 easy but effective tips to get you back on track after a long, care-free vacation. If you are still finding it difficult to return to normal, healthy routine or worried the trip has taken a further toll on your diet and body, simply schedule a complimentary consultation with our nutritionists to learn the best course of action.
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