doing vacation differently

It was the summer of 2018, my family was driving back from an idyllic week of camping in Montana. It was the first family vacation we’d been on that actually resembled a vacation rather than a scramble to parent in a new location and it was amazing.

Also, I was so bloated I felt like my stomach was going to pop. 

I was filled with shame (how could I have eaten so much? Why couldn’t I just eat normal like normal people and also why was I still doing this after all these years? WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH ME??).

To top it off, I felt dread, too. I was going to a party that night and I didn’t think anything in my closet would fit, except an old shapeless sundress. 

I had done the thing I had been doing for years: I ate as “well” (read: restrictively and obsessively) as possible in the weeks leading up to the trip, spent the first half of the trip being “good,” and then went bananas, eating everything in sight, including foods I didn’t necessarily even want for the second half, because at that point, I felt like I’d blown it and who cared anyway. I’d  go back to my normal “healthy” (read: restrictive) ways when I got home. 

Then I’d get home and feel miserable, emotionally and physically. 

Rinse and repeat. 

But this time will be different!

Every single time, I told myself this time will be different. I was confident that this time, I would do it right. I could be “good” the entire time, I knew I could, if I could just try hard enough. 

But here’s the thing. It’s not about willpower. When you’ve been restricting, your body is biologically driven to find equilibrium, and the only way to do that is to tip the scale in the other direction.

To make matters worse, the more off-limits a food feels, the more enticing it is. The idea of that “bad” food becomes charged in a way that it just isn’t when you feel free to eat it anytime you want. 

But I didn’t know any of that yet. I just thought I was bad at controlling my appetites and that I’d forever be stuck in my sub-par body until I could just get a freaking grip. 

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know something: It really can be different next time. But only if you do something different. And I mean really different. 

Want your next vacation to be different? Try this…

Here’s a new approach you can take if you’re serious about ending the vacation madness.

In the days and weeks leading up to it

• Eat normally. That means three meals a day plus a snack or two, especially if you’re active. Don’t deprive yourself of carbs. 
  

• Visualize yourself on vacation, enjoying food (including the foods you want and any special treats you can only get in that locale) and putting your fork down when you start to feel full, knowing that you can get that food, or some other satisfying food later if you want it. 

  
  Imagine what it would feel like to fully enjoy the food rather than feeling like you have to scarf down as much of it as you can or try all the “bad” foods you don’t normally eat just because you’re in “vacation mode”

When you’re on vacation

• Enjoy the foods you want and do your best to stop eating when you feel full.
  

• If you eat beyond the point of comfortable fullness, acknowledge it and move on. You cannot fix it by beating yourself up over it. (I know this is much easier said than done! It takes practice and in many cases some deep reflection/work.)
  

• Make sure you have some comfortable, loose fitting clothes to wear so that you’re not having to deal with the discomfort of tight garments. 

After the vacation

• Go back to eating the foods you normally eat. You might notice you feel like eating lighter foods, especially if you’ve been eating richer food than usual on the trip.

Questions? Just want to say hey? Hit reply. I’d love to hear from you!

xo,

PS Does the idea of changing your mindset around food and your body among a supportive virtual community of like-minded women sounds good to you? Check out my new group coaching program here.

Vacation book recommendations

If you’re going on a vacation soon (or just want to create a vacation vibe before summer winds down), here are some good books to take with you.

(I secretly dream of being a librarian in a fantasy world where my only job requirement would be to suggest books to patrons.)

• Cheat Day by Liv Stratman (fiction)*

• Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur (memoir)

• Beach Read by Emily Henry (fiction)*

• Private Equity by Carrie Sun (memoir)

• The Pisces by Melissa Broder (fiction)

• Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (fiction)

• Big Girl by Kelsey Miller (memoir)

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (fiction)*

• The Push by Audrey Audrain (fiction/thriller)

If you’re looking for something particularly light and vacation-y, I’d go with Cheat Day, Beach Read, or Such a Fun Age.

You don’t need to do it alone.

That’s why I created SAVOR, the group coaching program I wish I’d had when I began my intuitive eating journey.

It’s for women who…

• Want to give up diet rules and restrictions but feel overwhelmed by the idea of intuitive eating

• Struggle to balance intuitive eating with fueling for athletic performance

• Are sick and tired of being stuck in the binge/restrict cycle

• Are burnt out on doing the mental math of “earning” their calories by working out

• Feel like they’re supposed to love their body— but aren’t sure how to even accept or tolerate it

• Felt like they’d made peace with their body—until perimenopause hit

• Are reading this and thinking, “This is ME!!!”

If any of this resonates, I’d love for you to join us when we start in October. Special pricing is available when you join through September 15th.

👂 Give your ears a treat 👂

Need a good listen during your commute, chores, or workout?

Not sure which episode to start with? Reply to this email, tell me what challenges are coming up for you, and I’ll suggest one!

Are you ready to stop stressing about food and exercise but need some support to figure out how?

This is what I help my 1:1 intuitive eating coaching clients with.

Let’s see if we’d be a good fit over a free, no-pressure 30-minute discovery call over Zoom or the phone.

Wondering who I am?

I’m a certified intuitive eating counselor, occupational therapist, and health and fitness journalist with bylines in outlets like The Washington Post, Time, Runner’s World, SELF, and many others.

Also a 6x marathoner, 2x Ironman finisher, and certified personal trainer with a 20+ year history of teaching indoor cycling, I love riding bikes (gravel and road) and weightlifting. My superpower is my ability to connect with people.

Check out my coaching offerings here and follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram.