How I Handle Vacations, Travel and Life Throwing Off My Routine

In this episode, I’m talking about how I handle vacations, travel, and any season of life that throws me out of routine. I share the four anchors I focus on when I’m out of town, why I don’t try to be perfect, and how I get back into my routine immediately instead of dragging out the reset. We also get into the bigger lesson here: consistency is not about never getting thrown off, it’s about becoming the kind of person who knows how to return quickly. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Because if you're constantly letting every single time that you go out of town or out of your routine to throw you off course, it's going to be very hard for you to actually maintain a physique that you are happy and confident in. Welcome to the embodiment lab. My name is Addy. And today we are talking about how I handle being out of town, being on vacation, being out of my routine, and how I get back on track after falling out of routine. I am definitely someone who has a lot of experience in this area because, for example, I just moved here to Florida from Texas in January. But before that, my boyfriend and I were doing long distance for about a year and four months. We'll just say year and a half, whatever. And so every month that meant that I was out of town for at least a week, a week and a half at a time. And whether I was coming to Florida to visit him and his family or we were going to weddings in a different city, I was out of my routine and out of my normal everyday life for about a week out of every single month for a year and a half. So with all of that, obviously I have a lot of experience and I have a couple things that I want to share because this is a very normal thing with life. A lot of times people will go out of town or things will come up in life, and maybe work gets busy, life gets busy, there's different stressors going on, and for whatever reason, you fall in and out of your routine. So this is very normal, and this is something that you do have to learn how to navigate in order to be successful in your fitness journey. Because if you're constantly letting every single time that you go out of town or out of your routine to throw you off course, it's going to be very hard for you to actually maintain a physique that you are happy and confident in. And you'll probably feel like you have to start over in your fitness journey every single time. And that's really exhausting and frustrating rather than learning how to maintain the progress that you've made throughout all areas of life and continuing to see progress if you're right smack in the middle of your fitness journey, which for a lot of us that is the case. So here's how I handle all of that. So, first of all, I just want to make the point that it is very normal to fall in and out of routine. Okay. So I know there's a lot of guilt that comes around being out of routine, maybe not being like 100% all in on your fitness goals and your protocol and all the things at all times. And I just want to start off by just removing that guilt because you are a human being, you are allowed to live your life and you are not going to be 100% committed and all in 100% of the time. So when you go out of town and you're on vacation, and maybe you're with friends or family and you're trying to enjoy just time with other people in your life, that is not the time to be stressing out about calories and workouts and all the things. That is not necessary. So first things first, remove the guilt. But that also doesn't mean that you go balls to the wall absolutely crazy and you do whatever the frick you want. That's also not what that means. So for me, when I go out of town, I have about four anchors that I follow and that I stick to that help me to not feel so shitty about myself and also help me to make sure that when I do get back from vacation, I'm not like completely off track and having to round myself up to get myself back into routine, if you know what I mean. So I call them anchors because they help me to just stay the course without feeling strict or restricted by them or feel any type of way. So the four anchors that I have, and I'll go through them one by one and why I have them, are breakfast, high protein snacks, water, and movement. So we'll start with breakfast. Now, a lot of the times when you are out of town and you're on vacation, your meals can be kind of all over the place. Most likely you're eating out a lot more. Maybe you're relying on other people for like when you eat your meals, or maybe even like you're the kind of person that just lets the day just kind of take you where it does, and you know, you're just going with the flow. I'm also kind of that person on vacation. Like, you know, you'll sleep in a little bit and then it'll get really late in the day before you realize that you haven't even eaten anything, and then you're like feeling kind of shitty because now you're like way behind, and then you're gonna go out to a restaurant, you're gonna eat kind of crappy, and then you feel even more crappy. So I just eliminate that. And I start with a good high protein breakfast, and I try to keep this like as normal to my breakfast as possible. So I'll have like eggs, turkey bacon, toast, fruit, like really good whole foods, really good quality foods, definitely a focus on protein. That way you're starting the day off strong with a good source of protein. This also helps for later in the day when you do go out to eat, or maybe you're around like different sweets and stuff, to make sure that you are getting your protein in the morning so that you don't have the incredible urge, incredibly overwhelming urge to just eat absolutely everything in sight. So this will help to anchor you. It will help with your digestion, it'll help with your energy, and it'll help with your satiety so that you don't feel like you're gonna go absolutely insane and eat everything in sight. So a lot of the times, you know, lunch and dinner are kind of all over the place in terms of like going out to restaurants or whatever. At least start the day with a good breakfast. Because if you start the day on the right foot, then it helps to set you up for success for the rest of the day. So that's my first anchor. My second anchor is protein snacks. And I like to do a fruit and protein combinations, like a carbon protein combination. That way you're still getting your fiber in. So, like, think bananas, think apples, think berries mixed with a protein. So it could be like peanut butter and yogurt or cottage cheese, you know, whatever your favorite combination is. And this is a great thing to have in like that mid-afternoon time when the snackies start coming up in your brain, when you start getting a little hungry, getting a little bit like, I want a little fun, something, some. Have a nice high protein snack. That's another great anchor to have throughout the day, especially in between your lunch and your dinner. So when you have these two anchor points with your food, it helps you to have a little bit more freedom with the other foods that you eat and enjoy while you're out of town. I don't know about you, but my digestion gets completely thrown out of whack every single time that I go out of town. Meaning sometimes constipation is a thing. And so when you make sure that you have like a fruit and protein combination kind of snack in there, you're getting in your fiber that helps with your digestion, that helps to get everything moving again, which you want that. You don't want to feel kind of crappy when you're on vacation, obviously. Another thing that will help with that is my third anchor. Make sure you're getting in your water. And this is like dumb cliche advice like drink your water, but like, no, I mean it. Get up in the morning, first thing in the morning, drink water, like chug that shit. Okay. Drink as much as you can. That way you're staying hydrated and you're helping with your digestion. You're doing all the things. Keeping up with your water is a non-negotiable for me. So highly, highly recommend making this one of your anchors as well. And then the final anchor that I have is movement. And I don't mean workouts. Now, sometimes when I go out of town, I will get in maybe one or two workouts, but I'm also not the kind of person that's gonna stress out over and be like, I have to get in my workout, otherwise, I'm a failure. I have to be that person that works on a vacation. No. Sometimes when I'm on vacation, I don't even want to think about it. I just want to enjoy my life. And that is okay. Taking a couple days off the gym is not going to ruin your progress. It's not going to make you lose any progress. You will be fine. I promise. What I mean by movement is basically don't be a lump of a human for an entire week that you're out of town, right? Go walk. Get some steps in, get some movement in. It could be like 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the evening, whatever. If you want to try and walk like after your meals, especially when you go out to eat, that will help with your digestion. So then you're killing two birds with one stone, movement and digestion. So don't stress yourself out to get your workouts in while you're on vacation because it's it's really not that serious and it's not gonna make or break you. It might help. You definitely can, but I would not stress yourself out to get those workouts in because it's not that serious. So those are my four anchors. They help me to not feel so shitty on vacation. They also help me to not come back from vacation and feel super bloated and like I have all these problems that I gotta fix to get back into my routine. So that's what I stick to. Now it depends on how long you're out of town for and how frequent you go out of town. So, for example, for me, I was out of town every single month. I had a client at one point who traveled for her work every single month. That is a situation where you can't treat every single time that you're out of town as a complete free for all. Otherwise, you're just not really gonna make any progress. You're gonna like go out of town and have a free for all and then get back on track when you get back home and then you're back and forth and back. That is not going to make you actually progress and move forward. That's a situation where you have to be more accountable to getting in your workouts when it's realistic, making sure that you're actually grocery shopping and having food at wherever you're staying, your hotel, your Airbnb, whatever, that's easy for you to assemble, throw together, and eat. So you're still hitting your goals while you're out of town. But that's a little bit of a different story. That is like frequent work trip, whatever versus vacation. So those are two different mindsets. But when you are on vacation, if you're out of town maybe like two or three days, or maybe you're out of town for seven days, either way, you can still grocery shop and pick up a couple things for those days rather than eating out every single meal. I hear the excuse of like, oh, well, it's just for a few days, so that there's no point in going and getting groceries. Well, actually, there is a point, and it's called your health. And if you want to not feel shitty, then eating foods that's not at a restaurant is helpful for that. So just hold yourself to a higher standard, go grocery shopping, get the things that you need so that way you're set up for success. Okay, so that's why you're out of town or out of routine. What do you do when you get back? I'm gonna tell you what you don't do. You don't restrict yourself immediately when you get back into town. You don't do some weird cleanse. You don't do some weird detox. You don't start cutting carbs, you don't start fasting, you don't do any of that. You don't go to the gym and do an hour of cardio, you don't double up on your workouts. Oh my gosh, I had a client who did that who like fell behind on his workouts and he like did two or three of the workouts in one day. I'm like, oh my gosh, are you insane? No, don't do that. Do not do that. Okay, don't do that. You don't have to be absolutely insane to undo everything that you just did on vacation. You want to know what you do? It's simple. You know the routine that you followed before you went out of town, the routine that you felt good in, the routine that was working for you. You challenge yourself to see how fast you can get back into that sucker. Okay. So if you get back, let's say on like a Sunday, maybe you get back Sunday evening, shower, unpack, make a good nourishing dinner, go to sleep, get a good night's rest, wake up the next morning and just press play. Eat a good breakfast, eat a good lunch, have some snacks, eat your dinner, go to the gym, do a normal workout, get in some walking, incline walking, whatever. Drink your water, literally get back into your normal routine. That's it. If you notice that you're a little bit bloated, or you have some like digestion issues, or you notice the scale's up a couple pounds, there's no need to freak out and do anything crazy or absurd to fix that. Simply getting back into your routine, eating normally will help you and help your body to recalibrate and move forward. Likely, the weight that went up on the scale is water weight. Actually, not even just likely. It is for sure water weight. I can promise you that. You did not gain fat, you did not gain weight, you gained water weight. It's water retention. You're a little bloated, you have a little extra food sitting in your in your digestive system, not fat. Okay. And getting back into your routine will help to regulate that and bring you back to normal. And then you can just continue making progress. That might take two, maybe three days most, and then you can just move on with your life. That's it. It's literally that simple. So, first of all, don't make yourself feel guilty for being out of town and being out of your routine. And second, challenge yourself to see how fast you can get back into routine. That's it. So simple. And then, of course, use discernment if you're somebody who's going on vacation versus you're frequently traveling once a month for a work trip. Use discernment to see how free that you can allow yourself to be on either one of those trips and then stick to your four anchors. This also takes a little bit of an identity shift. You have to decide that you are the kind of person that gives a crap about their body on vacation. And you also have to decide that you are the kind of person that will continue to fall back on their routine and not slack just because you went out of your routine. This is a very common thing that people fall into where they say they want to get fit, they want to get in shape, they want to start getting healthy, and they start it when life is calm, it's peaceful. It's the ideal scenario for them to get into all of that and start working out, start making better choices with their food. But then they do go out of town or work gets a little busy, and whatever happens in life, like it inevitably will. And then they allow themselves to fall out of that routine because they feel like they messed up. And if they messed up, then what's the point? They just like undid everything that they just did, they feel guilty, all the things, and it's a spiral. And then they go weeks, months, years before they get back in the swing of things, and then the process starts all over again. And what these people don't realize is hey, life is gonna life. Things are gonna happen, stress is going to come up. And so when you learn to have a routine that you can fall back on when life gets messy, and challenge yourself that every time you have a day or two or a week or whatever where you fall out of it, challenge yourself to see how fast you can come back to your routine. Your routine is something you fall back on. That is what helps to anchor you and what helps to create results. And if you stick to that without the pressure to be perfect or to be 100%, but to just keep going no matter what, because you are the kind of person that commits to themselves, that doesn't let themselves just like fall off track and continue to fall away from their progress. Because honestly, that is probably why I am somebody that's been able to be consistent with food with the gym for the last 10 years of my life. Because I am the kind of person that works out. I am the kind of person that is fit and in shape and cares about how she looks. I'm the kind of person that prioritizes nutrition. I am not the kind of person who doesn't regularly work out. I'm just not. I'm not the kind of person that's gonna wake up tomorrow and be like, you know what? I'm gonna start eating Pop-Tarts for breakfast because fuck health. You know, that's not the kind of person that I am. The kind of person I am is the one who does what she says she's going to do and who takes care of herself. And it's having that mindset that helps you to stay consistent and make this something that is just an automatic part of your lifestyle. It's not something that I'm forcing, it's not just a phase that I'm going through, it's not like a chore, it's literally woven into who I am. And the good thing is that this can be the case for you as well, because you have the power over your thoughts, over your life, over your actions, all the things you are able to do this as well. So I hope this was helpful. I hope this gives you some insight as to what vacations should look like, what falling out of your routine and then getting back into it should look like because it's it doesn't need to be this like big stressful thing to go on a vacation. It doesn't have to be this big free-for-all thing while you're out of town, but it also doesn't have to be this big strict thing when you're out of town. And also, you don't have to do anything crazy when you get back. Literally press play, get back into routine, keep going. That's it. It's that simple. So I hope that you enjoy this episode. That is it for today. If you enjoyed it, feel free to let me know on Instagram. Dude, it means the world to me when y'all message me telling me that you love the podcast. Like nothing makes me happier. I get so excited. Like I kind of squeal a little bit because I'm just like, oh my gosh, people are listening to this. That's insane. So yeah, definitely message me if you enjoyed it. I would love to hear all the things. But that is it for today's episode. I think I've said that three freaking times now. Addie, hang up. Oh my gosh, it's like a phone call that just like goes in circles and circles and never ends. But okay, anyways, I'm gonna go. Bye.