heya

so, i've been maintaining nicely for a month or so now... but now a really difficult period starts

first off: two friends are visiting tonight for a week--which means we'll spend time sightseeing, being out, eating out, etc etc.

after that week is up,

we're all going back to greece together where i'll be staying for 3 weeks, which means again.. even less control--- lunches/dinners with family, outings with friends.. etc etc..

i want to enjoy my vacation time but i want to continue my maintenance. the good thing is that i'll end up doing a lot of walking which will be a nice calorie burner, but

but..

i am SCARED.

really dont want to gain.

any tips?

Well gosh, I think you know what you'll have to do, don't you? You'll need to pay attention to what you're eating. You'll have to make some trade-offs and choices. You can't have ALL the food and ALL the alcohol (if that's part of it) and ALL the desserts and ALL the snacks and ALL the appetizers. But you know that, right?

And you are going to have to make sure that you get that walking in, and that if you're somewhere you can swim, you actually swim and don't just bob around in the pool. You'll need to make sure you do something physically active every day of your trip.

You're right, this is a critical test of your maintenance. It's also the kind of challenge you'll face for the rest of your life. So, plan now! Have an idea in mind of what your strategies will be.

Good luck!
Jay

i can easily not have any alcohol, nor any desserts and i can easily choose the healthiest looking meal as well.. it's the sense of lack of control that's scaring me :/ ...
i won't be able to know 100% how many calories are where and who's cooked what with what.. so i won't be able to know if one day i have 2000kcals or 1800kcals..

but i suppose, i keep thinking i'll be constantly going over.. whereas in real life i suppose people sometimes go over and some times go under and it all evens out.. maybe :/

It's impossible to live the rest of your life knowing the exact calorie count of every bite you put in your mouth.

It is important to be accountable on a consistent basis. It is impossible to be "perfect" all the time. As a perfectionist and control freak myself, this was a hard concept for me to wrap my mind around. I wanted to be perfect ALL THE TIME or why bother? Which, in the past led to thoughts like "well, this day is just ruined, I will eat whatever and start again tomorrow (or Monday or New Years or whatever)"

I have now been maintaining for 5 years. I still do a running estimate in my head every day, but it's an estimate. When I eat a treat meal in a restaurant, I estimate the best I can. If it's not a treat meal, but an onplan meal in a restaurant, I make the healthiest decision possible and eat a reasonable portion of what is served (I don't HAVE to clean my plate).

Three weeks on vacation is very tough, but what a wonderful problem to have - 3 weeks in Greece! If it were me, I would do the best I could, do a TON of walking and commit to being honest with the scale when I got home (but I wouldn't weigh myself the first 1-2 days I got back, vacation sodium + air travel = massive scale fluctuations which will flush out in a couple of days, why face something so icky and unnecessary?)

I would remind myself I didn't get fat because of a 3 week vacation, I got fat because I ate poorly for 10 years and the scale just kept going up.

Keep reminding yourself that it is impossible to be in control of everything. It is about consistency, not perfection. Do the best you can (don't rationalize bad behavior because "I can't count this") but don't obsess. Enjoy this amazing experience and have a plan for when you get home to self-correct any scale bobble!

glory,

your post has really really helped me. thank you. i am a perfectionist as well.. do you think it will be too much if i take my set of bathroom scales with me?

3 weeks in greece is indeed lush, but before you get too jealous, i need to remind you that i am greek and just live in the uk currently.. so it's not like a fantastic all inclusive resort..it's more like.. my big fat greek wedding (except the fat now that i am thinner- oh and no wedding :P)

but seriously, thank you. i will try to do the best choices and see what happens.. what's the worst that can happen if i actually follow this rule?

I think you would be seriously crazy to take scales with you!



Jay

What everyone else said.

I have to tell you though, that MOST maintainers (based on the anecdotes from folks around here) gain weight on vacation. What distinguishes a maintainer from a gainer is that we tend to put in a massive effort to lose all the vacation weight as soon as we get home. So while yes, you want to do all of the things people said, you probably also want to prepare yourself for a little bit of a gain when you get back. Gaining a couple pounds over 3 weeks of vacation is OKAY, it's not the end of the world, and you know how to lose so you can recover immediately!