28: Scared Vacation Will Ruin WEIGHT LOSS? Here's What I Tell My Patients [ASK DR. ANNA]

Does vacation always have to mean weight gain? In this episode of ASK DR. ANNA, Dr. Anna breaks down why vacation itself isn't actually the problem — fear, perfectionism, and winging it without a plan are what turn a fun trip into a rebound.

Dr. Anna walks through the three most common vacation weight gain traps and shares a simple Mediterranean approach that helps you stay full, steady, and happy while you travel — without obsessing over every meal or coming home to a setback.

Listen in to learn:

• Why all-or-nothing vacation thinking is one of the fastest paths to quick regain
• How over-restriction on trips backfires and triggers bingeing later
• Why travel days sabotage good choices when there is no plan in place
• How to build a simple travel snack pack so you are never stuck in desperate eating mode
• How to use the perfect meal formula with protein, healthy fats, and fiber even while traveling
• Why giving yourself permission to enjoy treats actually prevents the after-vacation spiral
• How more sleep and lower stress on vacation can genuinely support fat loss
• Why the scale jump after a trip is usually water weight — not fat gain

If this episode helped you feel less stressed about your next trip, send it to three people you know who are also trying to lose weight. 

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Transcript

Will Travel Ruin Your Progress

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Will vacation ruin your weight loss? That's the question I'm answering today. Hey, if we haven't met yet, I'm Dr. Anna. I'm a medical doctor trained in Italy, now practicing in the US, and I've helped thousands of adults over 50 achieve permanent weight loss and reverse chronic diseases using simple Mediterranean strategies. Now, here's why I'm uniquely qualified to answer this question today. I spent six years living in Italy, constantly traveling back and forth between Europe and the US, airports, train stations, different countries, different foods. And I never let it derail my weight or my own health. So today I'm gonna show you three reasons that most people gain weight when they're on vacation. And then I'm gonna give you three very simple strategies that I teach to my own patients to avoid this. So you can actually enjoy yourself when you travel and keep the weight you worked so hard to lose off for good. And make sure you stick around till the end of this episode, where I'm going to reveal how a vacation can actually help you lose weight if you learn this really key unlock. So first let's talk about why this is actually a way bigger deal than you might even realize. You see, patients tell me all the time, Dr. Anna, I don't really trust myself when I'm on vacation. Or when I travel, I really get scared because I don't want to regain all the weight that I just lost. Now that is very real fear, right? That fear is about much more than just the food you're eating. It's actually the feeling that once you step out of your routine, you lose control and everything just falls apart. And then you undo all that progress. Possibly you even gain more weight than you even lost in the first place. And then what happens? Well, you'd have to start your weight loss journey all over again. And it's that setback that is the most painful thing of all. But here's what I noticed that most people don't actually realize. You see, it's not the vacation itself that causes weight gain. Meaning it's not the croissants in Paris or the pasta in Rome. I'd argue it's actually how you approach travel and vacation overall. And by the end of this episode, I am telling you, you will have strategies to never feel stressed about your vacation

The Real Fear Behind Vacation

SPEAKER_00 2:14

again. So let's just start with the three reasons that most people are gaining weight on vacation.

Three Vacation Weight Gain Traps

SPEAKER_00 2:18

So reason number one, they go into this all or nothing mindset. They start thinking, hey, I'm on vacation, so the rules just don't apply to me. I'll eat whatever I want and deal with all these consequences later. Then they eat everything, they drink everything, they upsize all their meals and get all the double and triple scoops and the double shot espresso frappuccinos, and they max out and don't hold back at all. So by the end of the trip, yeah, maybe they have gained five, eight, ten pounds. Now, reason number two, I see this a lot. Folks are restricting themselves too hard and then it backfires. What do I mean? Let's say you go on vacation and you're so scared of gaining weight that you end up trying to be perfect with every decision you make. So what would happen is maybe your family's eating an unhealthy meal, so you skip that meal, then you avoid certain foods and you're stressing about every single bite, then by day three, four, or five, you crack. And then what happens? You give up and you binge and you gain weight anyway. Now, reason number three I see people gaining weight on vacation is that they go in with absolutely no plan. Most people don't think about eating on travel day until they're at the airport and they're starving. Why? Well, maybe they've been up since four o'clock in the morning, standing in long lines at the security gate in the airport, and then ultimately there's really nothing healthy around in airports anyway. So they grab whatever's there, maybe it's a muffin, a cookie, a bag of chips, a sugary soda, and then they do that every single day of their trip. They just kind of go at it rogue, and what happens? It's hard to make healthy choices that way. So here's what I need you to understand vacation itself does not ruin weight loss. What ruins weight loss is going into vacation with zero plan. But if you have the right approach, you can enjoy yourself and keep your progress. Now, real quick, if you're listening to this and you're thinking, I really need a way to lose weight that actually fits my real life. Well, you're in luck because I host a free webinar where you can learn a very easy approach to lose weight and keep it all for good. And this is so you can travel stress-free, live life on your own terms, feel stronger and more capable in your body than ever before. And that's all without having to follow a diet for the rest of your life. Now you can register for that free webinar by clicking the link in the description below, or if you're watching this from a TV, go ahead and grab your phone, open up the camera app, and scan this QR code on screen, and the link is gonna pop

Pack Smart Snacks For Travel

SPEAKER_00 4:52

right up for you. Now, let me give you these three strategies that I teach my patients because this is not all doom and gloom. I am here to set you up for success for your next vacation. So, strategy number one is to pack smart snacks. Now, the first thing I tell my patients to do when they travel is to pack what I call a travel snack pack. Why? Well, let me tell you how I learned this lesson the hard way for myself. You see, once I was traveling and I didn't bring any snacks, and I thought I'll just deal with it when I get to the airport, I'll find something healthy somewhere. So I got there. I was absolutely starving, and I bought a salad from one of those airport restaurants, thinking, okay, I'm making the best choice I can. And what happened? Well, it totally backfired on me. Not my fault, but I ended up getting really bad food poisoning and I was sick the entire plane ride, vomiting, and my sister was next to me, literally rubbing my back for five hours straight. So I felt really horrible for days after that. And I realized, you know what, I was trying to be perfect and maybe it was just not the right approach. So I was also talking to somebody recently in my online community, and they told me that they were traveling and they didn't prepare anything either. And I immediately thought of my own experience and I thought, oh gosh, I hope what happened to me didn't happen to you. Well, they told me that they got stuck in a situation where all they had access to were vending machines for about 24 hours straight. They had a long day of travel, two days back to back, really, and there was just no real good food. It was just junk everywhere. So what did they end up eating for dinner? It was Oreos, chips, and a beer. And because that was literally all that was available, they actually had to eat it. They had to eat something. Look, I'm not judging. We've all been there. But this is exactly why packing snacks matters so much. When you're stuck at an airport on a train and you're starving, maybe your travel is delayed and it's gonna take longer than you anticipated. Well, if you don't have anything prepared, you're going to be forced to make desperate decisions. And you're gonna just grab whatever's in front of you. Most of the time, it's the worst possible choices. It's a bag of candy, it's a lot of chips, sugary drinks, pastries, crap, etc. So I recommend bringing something easy that's going to last for several days. It's not gonna spoil your bag, like a mix of nuts and dried fruits, maybe some hard-boiled eggs up front, maybe a piece of whole fruit like an apple, something hard, not a banana, that's gonna get smushed up, but maybe some dark chocolate, as long as you're not traveling in the middle of the summer and that's gonna melt on you. A couple of protein bars is never gonna hurt you. So if you have these snacks with you, then it's really gonna hold you over until you find your next real meal. Now, what I tell my patients is this I'm okay with you actually eating some processed food when you travel, because things like protein bars, even a diet soda here or there, it really is not gonna kill you and it's not gonna sabotage all your weight loss progress because it can be really hard to find fresh whole foods in airports these days. But eating some processed foods on travel days is really not going to just make you gain back all the weight you lost. It's not gonna make you gain 30 pounds overnight. It really is just not. So we don't need to be so afraid of it. We can use it as a tool. Plus, some people do have more sensitive stomachs, and when they're eating food that they're not used to, they just don't digest it well. So it's really a legitimate concern. Sometimes that means you have to bring some packaged foods with you just to make sure that you're not gonna get sick. But I do tell my patients, if you have to grab something that's not ideal, like a burger and fries, totally fine. You might as well enjoy it. Ideally, it's not from the fast food chains, it's like a really good quality one from one of those sit-down bar and grills, but you do what you can. Not everything is in our control when we travel. So let's talk about strategy

Build Balanced Meals Anywhere

SPEAKER_00 8:32

number two. So we packed our snacks, and now what are we gonna do? We're gonna use the perfect meal formula, even imperfectly. What am I talking about? So, if this is one of your first videos from me or your very first video from me, let me introduce you to this thing that I call the perfect meal formula. I teach all my patients to use this every single day, whether they're at home cooking for themselves or they're traveling, or they're at a restaurant, or they're at an event, et cetera. So this is my formula for making sure every single meal is balanced and it should have the healthy trifecta, which is protein, healthy fats, and fiber. Protein keeps us full and it protects our muscle, it stops our hunger, and it's the thing our body really needs to help boost our metabolism and keep our muscles strong, et cetera. Then we have healthy fats, which also help keep us full. They slow down our digestion and they ultimately reduce our cravings. And then we have fiber from real whole foods, things like fruits and vegetables or whole grains. This really feeds our gut bacteria, but ultimately it helps keep us full and it keeps our blood sugar steady. So when we're traveling, we really don't know ideally when maybe the next meal is gonna be or how big it's gonna be, or if we're gonna get a delay in our travel plans. So we really do want to fill up as much as we can from our food. So recognize you're not always going to have access to a meal that satisfies the entire healthy trifecta. When you're traveling or when you're on vacation, you can still look for as many of these three components as possible. So that would mean if you're at a restaurant looking for a quality source of protein, grilled fish, chicken, a steak, some beans or tofu, maybe the fiber is going to come from vegetables or fruits, like I mentioned, some healthy fats like olive oil, avocado oil, or nuts. It's really not that hard to put these things together, and you might even have to kind of put them together yourself rather than in one well-organized plate from an actual restaurant. The idea here is that you're not really out to count calories. You're out to satisfy your body's desire for getting full. So it's just making sure the meal has balance. Even when you're eating at the airport, you should still be thinking about this. You're looking for your protein, you're looking for your source of fiber, a vegetable, a piece of fruit, some kind of a whole grain or a whole form nut. Something that's just gonna keep you full. And consequently, your energy is gonna be more steady. And we really need our energy up when we're traveling, and maybe there's delays, and maybe we're up all night and we're dealing with something like jet lag. You don't have to deal with crazy cravings and hunger pangs on top of all the other chaos of travel if you stick with a healthy meal formula. Now, quick reminder: I host a free webinar where you can learn an easy way to lose weight and keep it off for good, what I call permanent weight loss without actually dieting, which is key, especially during travel, because nobody wants to sabotage their amazing memories from their trip with a diet. Again, there's the link below or the QR code here on screen to sign up for it. We're ready for strategy

Enjoy Treats Without The Spiral

SPEAKER_00 11:30

number three. And in my opinion, this is the most important one of all. Let yourself just enjoy your trip. Now, I know this sounds counterintuitive when you're trying to lose weight, but when you go on vacation and you try to restrict everything, when you say no to every dessert, every drink, every special meal, you end up miserable and missing out on key and potentially life-changing experiences and memories that will be with you for the rest of your life. These are the things that bring families together and they make life worth living. So you don't want to miss out on an incredible opportunity. The riskiest thing of all is that when you get home, you would then be so deprived from your trip that now you're binging. And now is really when you're gonna cause that weight regain because you felt deprived. So here's what I tell my patients all the time eat well most of the time. Use the perfect meal formula for most of your meals. Make balanced choices when you can. Try this for at least one or two meals of the day. But if there's a special dinner or a dessert, have it. If there's a local dish that you want to try, try it. And if everybody's having wine with dinner, have a glass of wine if that is what you so desire. Now, vacation is a very small amount of time in our lives. The whole point of losing weight is so that you can go live your life the way you want to live it. It's not so you can spend the rest of your life afraid of food. Now, when you give yourself permission to enjoy, you don't go crazy. You don't binge, you enjoy the experience and then you move on. But when you restrict and you fear everything, well, that's when we lose control. And so this is the thing we want to avoid. So my rule is this please enjoy yourself, experience the culture, taste the food. If I never did this, I would not have been introduced to some of my favorite things I've ever had in my life, like pretzel croissants in Austria. If you've never heard of that, oh my goodness, they're amazing. It's basically the baby of a perfect German pretzel and an amazing flaky French croissant. Absolutely brilliant. But back to the point that when you get home, you can get back to your normal routine.

The Vacation Unlock For Fat Loss

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Now, here's the bonus unlock that I promised you at the beginning of this episode. Vacation can actually help your weight loss in some ways. Now let me explain. Think about this. When you're on vacation, aside from the jet lag and the airplane time and some of those annoyances of having to travel from one place to another, many of us end up getting more sleep when we're on holiday. And better sleep helps with weight loss a lot. There's a ton of research about this. Often, we're also less stressed during holidays and travel than during our normal working life. And lower stress also leads to weight loss. There's also a ton of research about that. So it's silly to assume that losing weight is just all about food when it's really not. It's about the whole picture put together. And what happens if you do actually gain weight on vacation? Well, you might have gained a pound or two, first of all, just from water weight or excess sodium, which is actually ultimately causing water weight because water likes to follow salt. But that's not real weight gain, meaning that's not gaining fat. It's not the same thing. Just because the number on the scale says something doesn't mean you gained true fat on your body. This could be completely temporary, especially for some of you who deal with swelling when you travel on in altitude or when you go up in an airplane, for example, and you're sitting for a long period of time. Just be aware that some of this is going to totally come off within a few days once you get back to your normal routine. So don't be afraid of vacation. Don't avoid travel because you're scared. Just go in with a plan, enjoy yourself because weight loss that lasts has to include you living your life on

Share The Episode And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 15:13

your terms. So here's what I want you to do right now. If this episode has helped you feel less stressed about your next trip or vacation, send it to three people you know who are also trying to lose weight. This could be a friend, a family member, someone who's planning a vacation soon. You might actually be the reason that they stop stressing out entirely. And when you're done with that, drop a comment below and let me know what is your favorite travel food trick or snack that you bring with you. I would love to hear what works for you guys. And if you want to learn my full approach step by step to how to lose weight for good, don't forget to register for my free Mediterranean weight loss webinar. Again, the link is in the description below this episode. And when you're ready to keep your weight loss going, jump into the next episode right here. You're going to love it, and I'll see you in there.