Weight Loss Holidays: Change Your Preconceptions

What does a vacation mean for you? For most people, myself included, a vacation is a time to relax- and let go. It’s not surprising then; most people find it particularly problematic to lose weight during the holidays. But is it unavoidable?

No. But it’s easier said than done.

The problem is often precisely what we opened this article with: holidays are times for us to relax – and let go. Eating is a pleasurable experience, and it’s perhaps the most affordable of luxuries. No wonder we often choose to pamper ourselves with food.

But a weight loss holiday is not impossible. There are plenty of ways to celebrate holidays without making the food the center of everything that has to do with your vacation. Here are a few things you could try instead!

Read: 10,000 Steps towards a Healthy Lifestyle – How it Boosts Weight Loss

Go on an adventure! – mountain climbing, surfing, walking tours of cities you’ve never been to, or whatever else catches your fancy. Physical activity is the best route to better fitness, and these kinds of weight loss holidays combine new or fun experiences with a lot to keep your heart pumping.

But still, you have to eat. Make sure your itinerary includes some good food, but go for quality instead of quantity – and don’t make the food the whole point of your trip.

Learn a new skill! – if you have time, enroll in a class during your holiday to keep you preoccupied. Even if you don’t cut back on food (which you should if you’re overweight in any case), the added activity should keep you from getting a bit too lazy on your time off.

Don’t go for online courses. Try to take a class at a local community center and walk or bike to type if you can. The whole point is to keep some level of physical activity during your downtime while learning a new skill. A class that teaches you healthy cooking is sure to be a win-win situation that will pay dividends over time.

Do volunteer work! – This is something more people should be doing in any case. Volunteer work involving physical activity is a better choice for weight loss, but that would be a pretty selfish reason to do volunteer work. Just go with something you believe in and put time and effort into it.

Use it as an opportunity to start everything right – While most of us fail to follow through on things like New Year’s resolutions, it’s still much better than not getting started at all. To be blunt, the reason why so many of us fail at weight loss and maintenance is that we take it on as a project, and not as something that requires constant upkeep. Use holidays and weekends as a time to reflect and remind yourself where you are and do a little something to keep yourself in line.