I don’t know about you, but the winter season has just plain worn me down!  Fortunately, my wife and I were invited to our amazing friend’s destination wedding in Mexico this past week.  We would have gone to their wedding even if it was in the Antarctica, but we certainly weren’t going to pass up a chance to sit in beautiful weather there at the peak of the cold here (if it makes you feel better we came back just in time for the big snow storm).

 

A vacation, much like a holiday, can certainly derail our lifestyle.  Be it the travel itself, being out of routine, having less healthy options available, and not to mention all of the fun that can and should be had while on vacation.  There is fine line between enjoying a vacation and completely going overboard.  As I have said before, life is to be enjoyed, just not to the point where it is damaging to our health, function or attitude. Here’s how we had fun, but did not completely derail (and trust me…..we had some fun!)

 

1. Move- Every morning we got up and walked.  We were dead set on getting the almighty 10,000 steps in.  Walking is great on vacation because you get to explore the local culture, wildlife, terrain and scenery.  We also brought along some suspension straps and threw them in the door frame in the room and did a good bodyweight workout.  I tend to periodize my programs to peak before I go on vacation so that I can take a break, but doing a light workout and walking always helps me stay on track
2. Eat- On vacation it’s very easy to eat….and eat…and eat! We went to an all-inclusive resort, so there were buffets abound!  IT is very easy to over eat and not eat well.  What we did was we looked at breakfast as our healthy start to the day.  The omelet bar, fresh fruit, water and coffee were the prevalent choices.  Lunch was a little looser, but we still made an effort to fill up on fresh fruit, veggies, and salads.  Snacks were sold at the gift shop but were healthy options like yogurt and hummus.  This allowed dinner to be the meal where we could eat whatever we wanted.  Surprisingly enough we stuck with good protein and veggies for the majority of the time.
3. Sleep- Sleep is so important, even on vacation. It is very easy to get carried away at night with all of the festivities and then wake up early to stake your claim on a beach chair.  It could have been a combination of us being flat out tired, used to earlier bedtimes, or just being “fuddie-duddies” but we chose to not stay out late and party it up (don’t worry, we partied it up plenty….just didn’t stay out too late).  The three nights we were there we were the first to leave the group and go back to our room.  This allowed us to be able to get up the next day and feel refreshed.
4. Hydration- Being out in the sun, sweating all day and the occasional (or frequent) alcoholic beverage is a recipe for dehydration. We drank a ton of water to help keep the balance.  We took water bottles to the beach, drank water at our meals, and made sure we chugged water before we went to bed and right when we awoke.
5. Breaks from the sun- It’s very easy to forget that your body is not used to being in the sun. It’s also very easy to not feel your skin burning the first day.  We made sure that we were lathered up with the good old SPF, but we also took several breaks from the sun.  We would go out for our walk in the morning and then grab breakfast and head back to the room for a break.  We then go out to the beach for a bit, go grab lunch and then head back to the room.  Then we would go out to a pool for a little while and then head back to the room to get washed for dinner and the evening festivities.  This routine kept us both from burning!
6. Enjoy the view and relax- Hey, its vacation. It’s a time to relax and reset.  It’s a time to enjoy and explore.  We definitely made sure that we made time to relax.  We both needed a bit of resetting from our daily lives and work schedule.  The weather was great, the company was great, and it was a great escape!