Ever since I started helping others with their training and nutrition goals, client retention has always remained high. Clients stick with me for several years, which means I’m guiding them through many different aspects and experiences of their lives. One of the most common life experiences I guide them through is vacation, as many of my clients take yearly trips. Of course, since they’re committed to weekly training sessions and nutrition tracking, they never fail to ask this question:
‘How should I handle my nutrition when I’m on vacation?’
My Answer
I’m going to get right to the point with this one and my recommendation is straightforward. In my opinion, you should not let your nutrition and training goals hold you back from relaxing, letting go, eating out, getting dessert, having a drink, and doing whatever else you want on vacation. I tell this to every client who asks this question.
Do you want to go out to eat every day? Go for it!
Does a beer with lunch sound good? Bartender!
Do you want to order whatever and not worry about it? Feel free!
Big Picture Reasoning
Time and time again, the people who make the best progress and maintain the greatest control of their body are those who aren’t afraid to eat off track now and then. These people have a healthy relationship with food because they understand this golden concept:
When you eat on track the majority of the time, the things you do the minority of the time have very little impact.
By understanding this rule and that vacation represents the minority of your time, you’ll surely see how the decisions you make, while away, will have very little impact on your health and body composition.
To sum this up, vacation spans a relatively very short period of time and not focusing on tracking for a short period of time doesn't break progress or control in the long run. It just doesn't.
The next time you book a trip and feel apprehensive about how you’ll stick to your regular habits when you’re gone, just remember that you don’t have to! The golden concept from earlier has been proven time and time again, so let it calm your nerves.
Repeat after me; the effects of my minority nutrition decisions will never erase the effects of my majority habits.
Please, listen to my vacation advice to stay balanced in life, have fun, and make continual progress. You’ll be able to do what you want without hesitation, making memories along the way. To me, that’s 10x more rewarding than being able to say you took a trip and stayed on track the entire time. Do you agree?
Before I go, let me ask you a question. Does your nutrition coach insist you should stick to your plan while on vacation? If the answer is yes, in my opinion, that’s a bad sign. If your gut feeling agrees and you’re on the hunt for new guidance, fill out my nutrition coaching questionnaire or text NUTRITION to 919-671-8585 for more information on my coaching.
Thank you for reading!