Five Ways to Reduce Holiday Weight-Gain

Whether you’re wine tasting in Italy or sampling the local delicacies in France, most holidays involve major food indulgences. There’s almost an unwritten rule that when you’re away from home, there’s a no-holds-barred mindset where all healthy eating habits are thrown out of the window.  

There’s nothing wrong with having a good time – you are on holiday after all – but if you really want to keep on top of your diet check our top tips to ensure that your next trip doesn’t turn into a gluttonous getaway.

Stick to an eating schedule

It can be quite tempting to pile your plate at the buffet. How could you resist the temptations of pizza, burgers and chips? Whilst it's okay to enjoy yourself every now and then, if you’re not careful though you could easily pack a full-days’ worth of calories into just one sitting; buffets have a habit of making it easy to overdo portion sizes and eat beyond your means.

There’s plenty of delicious and healthy alternatives to eat while on holiday, but the most important part of a holiday ‘diet’ is to try and stick to a routine. If you can commit to eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at set times throughout the day then this should help keep your body feeling satisfied.

If you really want to stick to eating healthy, why not try some of these delicious holiday meal suggestions?

Breakfast

• Scrambled, poached or boiled eggs (1 or 2) with toast
• Muesli with semi skimmed milk
• Oat porridge with plain yoghurt, apple or banana and a few nuts

Lunch

• Baked potato with baked beans or tuna and a large mixed salad.
• Grilled chicken, fish or egg salad topped with pine nuts and rice
• Omelette with vegetables

Dinner

• Grilled chicken or fish with vegetables
• Roasted Mediterranean vegetables with goats' cheese, mozzarella or feta cheese
• Greek salad (with feta) and whole meal flat-bread
• Grilled halloumi with whole meal pita bread and vegetables

If you do decide to stick to the buffet however, don’t feel obliged to eat everything in sight otherwise you may find yourself not having enough energy to fully enjoy your holiday.

Start your days with a quick bodyweight workout before breakfast

The question of whether fasted exercise in the morning leads to greater weight loss in and of itself, is kind of up in the air as things stand. What is clear though, is that there’s plenty of evidence that High-Intensity Exercise, including things like bodyweight Tabata routines can help with fat loss.

If nothing else, it can’t hurt to start your day with some exercise before breakfast. If you’re somewhere warm and exotic, you may as well kill two birds with one stone and do your training on the beach.

Explore on foot

It doesn’t matter if you’re going out for dinner, heading to a museum or lounging by the beach – if you can add a few extra steps into your day then your body will appreciate it. Soak up the sun and take in the sights with a lovely walk while getting your steps in.

Get plenty of sleep and rest

Getting enough sleep is extremely important when it comes to being healthy, but as recent studies show, it also seems to be very important when it comes to body weight. A report conducted in 2008 found that there is an association between sleep loss and increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

The clear lesson to take here is that you need to get your shut-eye during your time off. Be sure to eat your last meal a couple of hours before bed and avoid bright lights in the evening.