The busy moms guide to staying on track while on vacation this summer

Vacations are one of the best parts of summer with our kids but what isn't the best? Feeling sluggish, bloated, and feeling like you went overboard.

You don't have to choose between enjoying your vacation or keeping your progress. When you learn how to eat the foods you love, in moderation, these out of normal environment situations don't become such a big deal.

The problem is treating vacation like a free for all or saying "when I get back home I'm back on my diet!" when you should be building a lifestyle change where you make choices because they make you feel good.

This episode will change the way you approach your next vacation with mindset shifts and five tangible tips you can implement to enjoy your next vacation without guilt, restriction, or overdoing it.

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Transcript

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Hey friend, welcome back to Stronger Within, the podcast for women who are done chasing quick fixes and are ready to build real strength and lasting change from the inside out. I'm your host, Christy Magri, and here we talk about becoming stronger within in your body, your mindset, and the daily habits that shape your life. If you're ready to build a body in life you feel confident in for good, you're in the right place. I feel like we should do an unofficial poll for which season is the best, which I am a mix between spring, summer, and fall, which I know that's literally three out of four of the seasons, but I do love summer. I love the warmth, I love being outside, the days are longer, vacationing in the summer, all the things. And actually, growing up, I hated summer, so I had seasonal depression summer edition. Because I mean, most times when you think of seasonal depression, you think of when it's cold outside and being from Connecticut, the winters are very cold and very long here. And so I would actually get the opposite of that because I hated summers for two main reasons. Reason number one was I hated wearing anything other than baggy clothes that like fully covered every inch of my skin. Um, like shorts, tank tops, bathing suits, dresses. I wanted nothing to do with any of those sorts of clothes, and obviously, summer means kind of wearing those clothes. So that was the first reason why I always hated summer. Second reason being we lived, my mom and I, it was just her and I. I grew up with a single mom, no siblings, so it's literally just the two of us. But we grew up on a second floor of a condo, and we had no air conditioning for many years. We were not allowed to put in like the air conditioning units because of just the rules the condo association had, and then our central AC was broken. I think it was probably like seven or eight years it was broken, and so I just remember every summer actually dying. So I had one of those, I think I actually had like two of those big box fans that I would try to sleep at night just with like having it right on me, but it was so miserable, and I would dread every summer for that reason. Now that I have central AC, it's like the biggest blessing in the world. I'm like, I love summer now, and now I love to wear dresses and all the cute things. So, anyways, what's your favorite season? I would love to know. I know you can't answer me here right now, but I want to talk about vacations today because vacations, in my opinion, are like one of the best parts of summer. Um, and I'm actually going on vacation next week to our annual vacation spot, which is Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. My husband's family actually grew up going there, and now it's become our little family tradition. We probably won't go yearly anymore since we're moving further away, but we're taking advantage while we still can. And it's only like three and a half hours from where we live in Connecticut. So I wanted to talk about vacations today because you know I know that vacations and a lot of just things going on during the summer can be huge struggle points when it comes to reaching your goals, not losing progress, and maybe you've even felt like coming home from vacation, you needed a vacation from your vacation. I sometimes feel that way, but that's because I have two young kids and breaks don't exist for me. But I'm not talking about in that sense, I'm talking about the fact that you probably ate all the things, you drank more than usual, you skipped your normal routines because you were out of routine and now you're feeling bloated, you're sluggish, you're guilty, the scale's up, and you're convinced that you've undone months' worth of progress. So I want to talk about that today because we don't have to choose between enjoying our vacation and maintaining our progress. I want to talk about exactly how I approach vacations and what I teach my clients so you can come home feeling refreshed instead of coming home feeling like crap, feeling like you're starting over and just being stuck in this constant start-stop cycle. And from what I've found in working with moms over the years, most moms go into vacation with one of two mindsets. It's either mindset number one, I'm gonna try to be perfect, where we try to eat as little as possible, we avoid all the treats, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and this will usually last for maybe part of the vacation, but then eventually your willpower gives in and you want to enjoy the same food as your family, you want to be able to get ice cream, things like that, and so then you feel guilty, and now you're overdoing it on food and coming home feeling like crap, which was exactly what you were trying to avoid in the first place, hence you eating as little as possible, avoiding certain things, etc. Mindset number two is you're like, I'm in vacation mode, baby. All bets are off, I'm eating anything I want, I'm gonna snack all day, I'm gonna drink more way more than normal. And then we think the problem with staying on track is the vacation, right? But really the problem is treating vacation like a free-for-all because we're like, I'll get back on track later. When in reality, the way that I like to look at our fitness journey, and I talk about this all the time, but our fitness journey really should be a lifestyle change, it shouldn't be a track, right? That we have to start and stop from. And I always say staying on track just because that resonates with y'all, but it's like it shouldn't be something that we need to pause from, if that makes sense. Like it should be something that, sure, we pivot, we enjoy ourselves more than normal when we're on vacation, but it's not a big deal, it's not a free-for-all. Because this is what happens when we're at home too, right? We're not just talking about vacations, we're talking about the holidays when our kids are sick, a busy sport season, or whatever it is that tends to throw you off track. It's this big, you know, I'm either all in or I'm all out. And we've been taught as moms, especially like we have to go all in, we have to be perfect to see results, we have to be extreme, we have to be restrictive when really that just does not support our life as a mom. And so we need to understand how to approach these moments, especially something like a vacation with having boundaries. I talk all the time about I'm never the coach that's gonna push you, can't have this, you have to restrict this. But we do have to have boundaries, we have to have structure, and we can create those for ourselves going into our vacation so that you know you can enjoy yourself, but not at the cost of coming back home feeling like crap. So I want to go through top my top five vacation tips. These are all tips that I use in my own journey and have been such a game changer for me in, like I said, being able to enjoy vacation, but also coming back home not feeling like a ball of hot garbage. I don't know if that even makes sense. I'm not cutting that out, I'm leaving that in there. So let's just get right into the tips. Okay, tip number one is have what you want, add what you need. So we always want to look at the glass half full instead of half empty. So instead of coming at your vacation from a restrictive place, what should I avoid? What do I have to cut? What can't I have? Instead, let's look at where we can add quality. So instead, it's what can I add to feel more satisfied? What can I add to fuel myself? What can I add that has more protein? So I want to share a few examples of how I do this. So, number one, I bring some of my own food, which I actually talked about this in last week's episode. But whenever I'm going on vacation anywhere, literally, we went to North Carolina in April, we went to Lego Land in May, and then we're going to Hampton Beach this month. I'll treat it the same way with traveling to move next month. I bring as much of my own food as I can. So some of my go-to is I bring protein shakes, the ones that are already made. I don't have to mix them. I all I have to do is drink them. I like to bring the Kirkland beef sticks. I will usually wash and cut some fruit to bring. Um, sometimes I'll do homemade uncrustables. I'll bring overnight oats already prepped, ready to go for an easy breakfast. And then what I try to do, and I'm not always perfect with this because I'm a human, not a robot. Like sometimes my husband wants to go out for multiple meals. I try to stick to one meal out and then maybe a snack or because we'll be somewhere on a boardwalk, so there's lots of like different options. You could just leave the beach right there and then go and grab something. But I try to stick to one meal out per day, which is usually lunch or dinner. Breakfast is where like I feel we usually do one breakfast throughout the week, one or two, but it's not every day. Typically, we'll gravitate more towards lunch or dinner. But um, I will pick one meal out and then the rest I'm trying to eat my own food on vacation. When you are eating out multiple times a day, it can add up really, really fast how many calories you're eating. Not only that, but also like the cost of eating out at some of these places can be insane. So to save myself both calories and money, it's just easier for me to bring my own stuff. And being on the beach too, like sometimes I don't want to leave the beach midday, so it's easier to just eat lunch there or with kids. You know, it's not always doable to go sit down and eat something. But I always make sure to choose if an if it's an option, um, an Airbnb that has a kitchen, so I can make my own meals there. So typically when I get there, I'll find a grocery store. I know there's a Target nearby, so I'll probably go grab the kids like dino nuggets and then I'll grab myself some things while I'm there as well. Um, but if that is an option, I would suggest that. And then when I'm actually eating out, I always look at what better choices I can make. So for example, typically on vacation when I go out to eat, I only drink water. Maybe I'll get a Coke Zero or a zero calorie soda, but I do not drink my calories when I'm on vacation. That is just personal preference. And this is where it comes down to what is most important to you, what is a priority to you, what do you want to be able to enjoy? Maybe you're somebody who you like to have an alcoholic drink here and there. And so you'd rather, you know, have that than a dessert. For me, I'd rather have a dessert all day, every day, ice cream. But that is where you have to decide, like, okay, what can I go without? What don't I really care about? Um, kind of like what sacrifices can I make? It's it's not that we can't have those things, but we have to kind of like pick and choose. Um, another thing I like to do when I'm eating out is I'll always look at just where I can make a smarter choice. So, for example, let's say I'm getting a chicken sandwich. Instead of a fried chicken sandwich, maybe I get a grilled chicken sandwich. Really easy swap there. If we are getting dessert, maybe you know, we're stopping to get ice cream, maybe I get a small ice cream, or I just share a few bites of my kids' ice cream because typically that's all I want. It's really just like a few bites to satisfy me. I don't need the whole dang thing. Instead of getting my own really large option and then feeling like crap after because I just ate 800 calories worth of ice cream. So again, I'm never the coach that is going to tell you you can't enjoy a meal out or a dessert, but it is just about how you do it. And in the past, I would really overdo it on vacations because I was in this mindset that as soon as I got back home, it was back to diet mode, which for me usually meant misery. And so I'd spend that time away out of my routine overdoing it on all the food that I could because it was this mindset of okay, once I'm back home, it's back to diet mode. I can't have this, I can't do this, and now that food isn't a big deal to me, I don't feel the need to do that anymore. It's like I can eat at a restaurant without finishing all the food on my plate, or have just a few bites of dessert and feel satisfied because I know that when I'm back home to my normal routine, ice cream is not off limits. It's not a big deal. It's like I can have it whenever I want it, and so I don't feel the need to eat it in excess. All right, jumping into tip number two, and that is to move your body daily. The great thing about movement on vacation, and I also touched on this in last week's episode when I talked about the best why summer's the best time to, you know, make a lifestyle change and make momentum toward your goal, is that movement on vacation doesn't really feel like an intentional workout. So, like I said, specifically, we will be near a boardwalk on the beach. So we have the walk to the beach daily, walking to and from the Airbnb, walking to restaurants, walking to the arcade, walking to the shops. Like there's a lot of walking involved. I personally do not do any intentional lifts or workouts while I'm away on trips typically. Um, it really depends. Like when I traveled to North Carolina, I was really looking at different Pilates studios in the area. So I did work out while I was on that trip. Um, when we went to Legoland, there was a gym in the hotel, but we were there for a night. So I was like, I'm not going. And it was like a tiny little hotel gym. I just didn't want to do that. Um, this one, there's not really any options that I know of nearby. So for me, I just I focus on overall steps, which actually feels pretty easy because you're moving a lot. You're doing family walks. If you're staying at a hotel gym, you could do like a quick 20-minute workout if that's what feels best for you. But the more we can keep you anchored to your healthy habits, the easier it'll feel to stay in flow with the food part, which I know is the hardest part for most of y'all. And the goal here is to feel good. So keep moving your body, not from a place of punishment or needing to burn calories or anything like that, but literally just because that's what makes you feel good. Tip number three is to not skip meals to save calories. I used to do this one literally all the time, and this one can really backfire. Now, I will say that intermittent fasting can be useful in these types of situations, but most people do not have the basic foundation covered to be ready to move on to something more advanced like intermittent fasting. Everything has a time and place. But for most people, this actually backfires, and this backfired for me back when I had a bad relationship with food and I tried to do it this way where I would hoard all my calories until later in the day, and then I would be starving by the time I finally ate, so I would overdo it, and then it was like once I started eating, I couldn't stop eating. And so this is kind of like a personal preference thing. It depends on your relationship with food, your goal, your dieting history, all kinds of things like that. But what I would suggest on something like a vacation is really fueling your body, paying attention to your hunger cues, making sure you're eating enough protein throughout the day, keeping your blood sugar stable. So really focusing on those main meals, not snagging all day, making sure that everything has protein in it. You will be able to make much better decisions if you are fueling your body constantly throughout the day with good food rather than skipping meals for the first half of the day, and then the second half of the day you're like ravenous and now you're overdoing it. You're better off just fueling yourself well throughout the day rather than waiting until it's too late, not being able to stop eating because you were starving and just kind of keeping yourself in this binge restrict cycle. That is the cycle we want to get you out of. So fueling your body all day consistently in a way that supports you is really important, especially when we think about energy levels as moms. We want to be able to have the energy to keep up with our kids, especially on something like a vacation. So that becomes super important as well. Tip number four is to slow down. By slow down, I mean a few different things here. First of all, slow down when you're eating. I used to be so guilty of this one, and honestly, it is still something that I'm trying to work through myself, especially with kids, because I'm just go, go, go. There's not enough hours in the day. I'm like eating, I want to get this done as quick as possible. But especially on something like a vacation, really take the time to slow down and enjoy your food, especially if you're at a restaurant or something, savor every bite, really be fully there instead of rushing through. And this is important for several different reasons. Top two that come to mind are number one, it can take our body a while to realize that you're actually full. And so if you don't give yourself enough time to eat your meal, you might think that you're still hungry when you were actually full several bites ago. You might keep eating just out of habit because you haven't slowed down enough to ask yourself, am I actually hungry? That's number two actually. By slow down, I mean three different things. Number one was slowing down when you're eating. Um, and then number two was slowing down enough to ask yourself, am I actually hungry before eating? Because sometimes I will find that on vacation, for example, my husband will want to go get a snack or something midday. And, you know, out of habit in the past, I would go along with him and I would get something well because he's getting something. Like, don't I deserve to eat something too? I should be enjoying myself. Or it's like, why can he and I can't? But I've had to really teach myself to slow down and ask myself, am I actually even hungry right now? Or am I eating just out of habit? Am I eating because someone else is eating? Am I eating because it tastes good? Especially as moms, there are other members in our family, our kids, our spouses, whoever else. We cannot just go based off what they're doing. They're not walking the same journey as us. We have to choose to do things differently. And so, yes, the food tastes good, and yes, it feels amazing to get something along with them and to enjoy it, but actually, I find having some self-control feels way better. Um, and this works the same for meals out too, and really stopping at the halfway point to see, am I actually still hungry? Which is why anytime I get a meal out. So, for example, the other day we were in Rhode Island and I got a um hot honey chicken sandwich. It was so good, but I cut the sandwich in half when it got to the table because I'm like, all right, let me see if I'm full at the halfway point, and I was. Versus if I had just had the whole sandwich there, I easily would have eaten the whole thing without really thinking twice about it. Instead, I stopped at that halfway point. I wasn't hungry, I took the rest to go. So again, this is a perfect example of I'm not depriving myself, I'm eating what I want, but I'm having some boundaries with myself. I'm checking in with myself. Am I eating out of habit and am I eating because it tastes good? Or am I actually hungry? Right? And then lastly, we need to slow down enough to ask ourselves what does enjoying myself really mean? Right? Is it eating whatever you want whenever you want? Are you actually enjoying yourself if those things are making you feel like crap and keeping you stuck in a body you're not happy in? And we need to get honest. Like, are those few minutes of dopamine from the food you're eating worth feeling like crap the however many other hours in the day in your body? That's something to really think about because we are such a I mean, we're addicted to dopamine as a society. I know I am. I am not someone who is above that. Like, I really struggle, like I'm constantly looking for dopamine hits all day long. I think most of us struggle with that, but especially when it comes to the food, we really have to slow down enough to ask ourselves like what is gonna feel better, this quick instant dopamine hit from the food, or knowing that I had some dang self-control and actually feeling good in my body. And the hard thing about this process is when you can stay consistent enough, when you can build the lifestyle change to get to that point where you've reached your goal, or you're on the way to reaching your goal, you're making progress and momentum, you're like, holy crap, this feels so much better than just enjoying the random food, whatever it is that you know you're gravitating towards. But most moms cannot get past that initial point where it feels really hard to get to that other side and feel that and experience that. But I will tell you firsthand, it is so worth it. So then my last tip here is tip number five, and that is to focus on memories, not macros. I want to give you a permission slip that you are allowed to enjoy vacation. You don't need to track perfectly, you don't even have to track at all. Literally, the goal is just to be present, enjoy the ice cream with your kids, enjoy the dinner date with your husband, enjoy the experiences. Just don't turn every meal into a free-for-all and don't make food such a big deal that you are constantly stressing about it all vacation. Focus on controlling what you can control, and I promise you that will be enough. I know personally for me, I don't want my memories of vacation to be me stressing over food. I look back to the beginning of my journey when Carter was a baby, and a lot of my memories around vacation or holidays are centered around food, what my body looked like, how stressed I was about food, eating too much that I felt physically sick. And those are the memories I think about, and I'm like, holy crap, like in 10 years, I don't want my memories to ever be of food or like overdoing it or feeling sick on that day because I couldn't control myself. So focus on controlling what you can control. Do not stress it. Have those memories be laughing with your kids, enjoying ice cream with your kids without guilt, and really just being present. I have worked so hard to get to the point where I have a better relationship with food. I don't obsess over every decision anymore. I feel good in my skin, I feel free from that toxic dieting cycle. And as someone who struggled with the same thing for so long, I want you to know that the same thing is possible for you too. And lastly, I want to talk about the vacation recovery plan. Do's and do nots when you come home from vacation. Do not immediately jump on the scale because the scale will likely be up. That does not mean that you gained fat, okay? It's water weight. So I would just stay away from the scale until you are back in your normal routine for at least the same amount of time that you were away on your trip. Do not over-exercise, cut calories, punish yourself. You don't need to undo anything, okay? Instead, what I want you to do within 24 hours of when you get back, get back to your normal meals, meal plan, go grocery shopping, load your fridge up with all the healthy options you need, get back to prioritizing protein, drinking water, getting in your steps, focusing on sleep, all of those core foundational habits and the basics. And again, as moms, we have been taught that to see progress in our journeys, we have to be perfect and we have to always be on it, and we have to be restrictive and we have to be extreme. And that type of mindset in approaching your fitness journey in that way is exactly what's keeping you stuck. What really matters is what you are doing most of the time. I really want to reiterate that. It is not going to be the one week away on vacation that's gonna derail you. It is giving up every single time something pops up that doesn't feel like it's within your control. So the faster you can return to your routine, the faster your body will settle. You don't need to undo anything. A few days of enjoying vacation with your family is not going to ruin anything. And what I have learned too through my years of working with moms is the moms who maintain their progress are not the ones who don't enjoy vacations. They are the ones who know how to enjoy vacations without giving up on themselves. Vacation really should be a part of your journey. It's not a setback. It is something that you should be able to navigate with ease somewhat, depending on where you are in your journey. But view it as an opportunity to see how you can handle this lifestyle in the future. Because a big mistake that a lot of moms make is it's like diet mode. I can't have this, I can't have that, I have to be perfect. And then it's like the second we're out of our normal routine, all goes out the window when really what we should be focusing on is building a lifestyle change that we can carry those habits to some capacity through every season, through every moment, etc. Before we wrap up today's episode, I want to remind you that today is the last day to lock in my current one-on-one coaching rates before the investment increases tonight at midnight. I am speaking to the mom who knows she's ready for more support. She knows that change is important to her. She's done trying to figure it out all on her own, done starting over every Monday, every vacation, every holiday, every busy season. This is for the mom who wants a clear plan, accountability, and someone in her corner helping her succeed. You've probably listened to several of my podcasts, saved the posts, consumed a lot of free information already. At some point, the difference is not learning more. It's having the support to consistently implement what you already know. Inside my one-on-one coaching program, this is exactly what we do together. I will teach you how to lose fat in a way that works through every season of motherhood, whether it's a vacation, a sick kid, busy sport season, whatever it is, it makes the difference having that support in your corner rather than continuing to navigate this on your own, throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping it sticks. Um, and inside of my one-on-one coaching program, you will have that support every step of the way. So if you've been thinking about coaching and you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. Enrollment at my current rates close tonight, and any future clients will be enrolling in at my new investment. So send me a DM with the word coaching and we can chat about whether it's the right fit for you. But thank you so much for spending this time with me. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love if you shared it with a friend or left me a review. It helps this message reach even more women who need it. Until next time, keep becoming stronger within.