Thursday, April 10, 2014

Not gaining weight on vacations - some options

We just took a short family trip to San Francisco (great weather, fun times at some of the beaches).  I came back and stepped on the scale, and lo and behold, there was quite a jump.

Before we had kids, since we walked so much whenever we went on a trip, I rarely gained weight on vacation even though I didn't monitor what I ate. With kids, both of whom aren't really interested in walking tours, the amount of walking has gone way down.  This definitely has an effect on my weight. Obviously I'm not bringing a heavy scale with to do my daily weigh-in (that's my main technique, it's extremely helpful).

So, what to do?  Here's some options I can think of:

  • Just do what I'm doing now, accept that I'll gain some weight on trips, and be diligent about losing it when I get home.
  • Get a travel scale.  This actually seems like a pretty reasonable option - I'd probably do this if I traveled more often, or for longer periods of time. But for the amount of travel I'm doing now, it may be a little much.
  • Don't buy my favorite snack foods on trips. I tend to favor foods that are more convenient and not necessarily so healthy when on trips.  This is a leftover habit from when I walked so much when traveling that it didn't matter what I ate. On our trip to San Francisco, it was smoked almonds - I absolutely love them! But...buying a one pound bag of something that only I like is just a bad idea.

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