We went on our family vacation this year to Disney World … SO MUCH FUN! My kids are 17 and 15 and this is where they wanted to go.
I figured we better go ahead and go because my son will be a Senior in high school next year and Lord knows what will happen once he graduates! I treasure our family time so much and I can just see it possibly changing in the coming years.
I was determined to make this one healthier than past vacations. I used to just pig out on anything and everything that I LOVED which typically meant is was filled with fat or sugar or both!
I’ve lost weight finally and I didn’t want to start all over after vacation, now that would totally tick me off! I was more than determined that I was not gaining weight on vacation this year!
So, I made a plan before we left.
I knew we were going to have a kitchen. Now, I don’t cook on vacation. Sorry, it just isn’t happening. I did know we were going to eat breakfast every day in the room though. We bought milk, bread, bananas, peanut butter, granola yogurt, chia seeds and cereal.
I’ve been on a weight loss plan so I brought my Smoothie Mix and my favorite tea and honey with me. Every morning I had a smoothie with my tea along with almonds or yogurt with granola and chia seeds. Guess what? I was never hungry until lunchtime each day! I was SO happy!
Guess what else? I gained less than 1 pound! Yippee! I made good choices but I did splurge as well.
After doing some research online I read in numerous places that the Dole Whip Float in Magic Kingdom (I think it’s available in Animal Kingdom as well) was the bomb. Well, it was THE BOMB! SO good! It ended up being my favorite snack. I know it isn’t healthy but I planned well so I could splurge every so often.
We also LOVED Goofy’s Sour Gummy Worms. They are really hard to find but they are super yummy. So, you can see, between the hamburger’s, pasta and desserts, I certainly wasn’t super strict on my eating healthy mission.
Here are a few things I DID do.
How to NOT gain weight on vacation
Have a healthy breakfast. I already mentioned having smoothies for breakfast. Such a healthy start to the day!
Drink water, no sodas. This saves a LOT of calories. On the way home we stopped at a Chick-fil-a and they had the calories listed on their menu. Maybe they all do it, but I’ve never noticed it. I notice that a large Lemonade is 340 calories! Holy Cow, that’s a lot! I’d rather eat those calories than drink them! :)
Try to eat a healthy side with whatever you are eating. I had a pasta dish with salad. Sometimes you just can’t find healthy sides, but if they are available, do it.
The second you feel full, stop eating.
Eat slower. If you eat slower, your brain has time to realize your body is full before you over do it. This truly works! Don’t inhale your food, slow down and enjoy it. You’ll eat less that way!
All of these combined plus walking around Disney kept me at gaining less than a pound on a week long vacation!
Here’s one last tip for you – a Disney tip. We planned a chill out day the day before we were coming home. Disney can be exhausting and I didn’t want to go home super tired and needing a vacation after the vacation!
So, we slept in and hung out by the pool on our last day there. SO happy we did that! We were all ready for a chill day so it was perfect!
Bottom line, if you plan ahead, you can go on vacation and not gain a ton of weight. Try to eat at least 1 meal very sensibly. I chose breakfast every day to do that. By keeping calories down at one meal at least, that gives you more to play with for the rest of the day.
Be sure to drink lots of water as well. We did have a fruity drink by the pool on the last day but truly, I had done so well all week long that I didn’t mind splurging on that either. Don’t deny yourself fun, just try to plan and be sensible about it!
Happy Vacationing this summer!
