How to Enjoy Vacay and Not Destroy Your "diet" Part II

Dear SGET readers! I didn't mean to be cruel and keep you hanging from yesterday's post entitled "How to Enjoy Vacay and Not Destroy Your 'diet' Part I". To read it, click here. There was just too much to blab about in one post and I know you have about 496 other posts to read while drinking your AM java...Continuing on...

"How to Enjoy Vacay and Not Destroy Your 'diet' Part II:

8. Keep some healthy and filling eats in your fridge and on your person. I know that it sounds crazy to BYOF when you are on a ship surrounded by food, but I found myself breaking out a single-serving almond butter or a healthy granola bar in between meals- and they saved my bootay. I also stocked up on a few hard-boiled eggs, apples and some yogurt for the room fridge.

As usual, I brought way more eats from home than I needed. I’d say I broke into about 60% of what I brought. Lesson learned for next time: bring less. My motto when I'm packing my "food suitcase"... 'as god as my witness, I'd never go hungry again'. (bonus points if you name the movie)

911 foods - half of them resided in my purse- yes I have a BIG purse! Carrots were already consumed!

Stop Thief!! The Great Midnight Apple Heist!

Thank goodness I left my Blender at home or I could have been dragged to this place in Brooklyn, NY by the hubs

9. If you are able, sample, sample, sample. Here’s a scenario: You walk up to the Dessert Table at the buffet and there are 20+ options. I would rather poke my eyes out with sharp instruments than tell you that you SHOULD go to the dessert buffet and eat an apple, even though the ship thoughtfully provides an orchard of fruit for consumption as well. (This IS a good thing, really!). Here is what I suggest if you want something sweeter than a plum:

If you are able to sample (ask yourself honestly: can I have just a bite or two and be satisfied?), select 3-5 desserts that look absolutely amazing, and have just a bite of each. Reality check: oftentimes those desserts look WAAAyyyyyyyy better than they actually taste (why is that!?). If one dessert really floats your boat (DOH!), then finish the portion (thankfully the pieces are very small). Quoting Lara's wisdom from her guest post: "there is just not a food on the planet that will make you fat if you only eat two bites of it."

I'm a sampler- can you tell?

If you are not a sampling type (you must finish what you start), then scrutinize all the goodies on offer first, and take the one that looks like it’s the most food-gasmic item ever. Eat and savor it. Don’t look back. And remember that they offer dessert with lunch AND dinner, and often at afternoon tea and at the midnight buffet as well. Trust me on this one…it’s hard to turn them all down! We ended up eating sweets most lunches and dinners... much more than at home. Too much? Probably. But I was able to taste & sample, yet didn’t end up feeling stuffed.

10. Limit the booze intake. First of all- if you are under-age you won’t be drinking, so this doesn’t apply to you. But for the rest of us, drinking can be a treat and part of the festivities. I don’t need to tell you that a strawberry daiquiri can have hundreds of calories. Yup, it’s yummy, but really, is it worth those calories?

Luvie, aka Derek aka the hubs- such a booze-hound (Ha! Truth is that he would sleep all afternoon if he actually consumed the contents of the glass in front of him) :-D

Honestly, tea-totaling is your best bet, but if that's not an option, what are some calorie-kind alcohol-drinking options? Due to my love for the fine fermented grape, I simply cannot in good faith advise anyone I actually like to order a wine-spritzer. In my book that’s desecration of sacred nectar. But if you don’t have a problem with cruelty-to-grapes, by all means dilute your wine with soda water. There are countless other delish drinks that can be made by diluting liquor with soda water and/or a splash of juice. Hungry Girl has a ton of them that you can check out. You’ll want to keep the quantity in check as well. Too much booze leads to the WTF attitude, and heaven forbid that strikes as you are stumbling past the midnight buffet.

11. Don't miss out on the local flavor when you stop in port. Life is meant to be enjoyed and one of the pleasures of traveling is sampling local fare- whether it's a local bitter on draught in the middle of the English countryside, or the trout that was just caught in the lake around the corner. Not everyone likes to do this because it requires you to step outside of your usual, safe/tried & true foods. My philosophy: I'd rather eat something that I would never find/buy/make at home.

This sign is heaven for Dad & Hubs (this happened to be ON the ship- in the ship's pub!)

Ah yes, 'Fish & Chips'. For the record: I kick off the batter and eat some but not all of the fries- but only if they are really good & crispy.

A tad too decadent for me...This was the Hub's Cottage Pie- a savory, meaty wonder dish covered with mashed potato- comfort food at it's finest.


When in Rome...or Bath. Once we arrived in the UK, I met up with the lovely Lara. She & I had lunch at a Tea Room in Bath & spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out. She is such a great food blogger- she did a whole sweet post about our day and meals together!


Hanging out with the "locals" Lara and Matt- We spent a second day with Lara and got to meet Mr. Thinspired...we had such a blast!!

Local trout at a pub by the river Avon (Lara did a great re-cap of our day and meals here!)

In the hotel pub, sampling a half pint of the local ale

12. Cut yourself some slack. Yes, you might gain a pound or two. Perhaps more. But once you’re back home, you’ll be in your routine and *******all will be well. You will want to try to achieve a happy balance between enjoying your vacay and not sabotaging all of your healthy habits. I have had vacations where I really 'let loose' and spent weeks afterward regretting it and wearing my bigger clothes. Can you say GRrrrrr?. I’ve also been on trips where I was a perfect little healthy-eating angel, not to mention a grumpy beotch, because I was hungry and felt like I was missing out on life. And I was.

Now here's wear it gets tricky....I wrote all of the preceding while I was on the ship. Listen very carefully...if you can make it through 1-12, then in reality, #13 is the MOST IMPORTANT TIP!

13. Beware the Light at the End of the Tunnel. (It just might be an oncoming train.)

Here I quote myself from above : "12. Cut yourself some slack. Yes, you might gain a pound or two. Perhaps more. But once you’re back home, you’ll be in your routine and ******all will be well. "

Yes, 'all will be well', as long as you can come to grips with the fact that vacation is over and you need to get back to reality. Sometimes you don't want to admit that your wonderful vacation has ended...and you are tempted to extend it a few days or a week or so. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO DO THIS! Add in some jet-lag and the "back to school blues" and it truly is a recipe for disaster. Try to re-adopt your tried-and-true healthy strategies asap. Get back on that horse without delay. I speak from experience!

When I got home from this trip, I had conveniently forgotten that we were still living out of boxes from the kitchen remodel. I did not return to making my morning shakes, and I was nibbling on more sweets than usual (exhaustion? nerves?). All this, while fighting a bug that I managed to dodge in the end. In addition, I knew that we had an upcoming weekend full of twice-daily restauranting in honor of my wonderful Aunt Rhoda's birthday. So I think that I let my guard down and let the vacay end up just a tad longer than anticipated :-) I will be sporting an entire collection of muʻu muʻus (aka sun-dresses and/or Maxi dresses) until I have lost a bit of the post-hol 'excess baggage'. Well, at least muʻumuʻus are bright and cheery...

One last hurrah (until the next one of course!) ... Celebrating Aunt Rhoda's Birthday!

Q: Do you have any good tips for staying fit while traveling? Anyone have a muʻumuʻu I can borrow?