Holidays normally mean letting go, bingeing on booze and food and then coming home having piled on loads of weight for most people.
So I was obviously worried about undoing all my efforts in the gym as I jetted off for a family skiing holiday in five weeks into my transformation.
My diet plan is a breeze at home, but trying to stick to it whilst surrounded by bread, wine and cheese is another thing.
There wasn’t a gym at the hotel either and I knew I’d be looking after my kids in the mornings so my only exercise would be skiing in the afternoon.
I discussed all this with my trainer and he made a few adjustments to my diet; he knows I wouldn’t be able to resist French bread, and he told me not to worry about any extra exercise, that the rest and recovery time will do me some good.
I had my doubts, but he’s been right on everything so far during my transformation.
We were in a self-catering apartment as I have to cook everything from scratch due to my kids’ dairy allergies, so this meant I could easily do my own food prep.
I batch cooked everything on day one, so I was ready and prepared for the week ahead.
My ‘holiday diet’ included bread with breakfast and I really enjoyed it. It just meant cutting out carbs in the evening.
The bad weather in Spain leading to a vegetable shortage didn’t seem to affect France and it had an abundance of courgettes to replace my usual carby evening meal that included sweet potato or brown rice.
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My husband got to go out skiing in the morning, whilst I entertained the kids, then I got the afternoon to explore the mountains, enjoying the fresh air and silence!
I shouldn’t have worried about only exercising in the afternoons. Every morning we went out making snowmen, running through the forest in knee-deep snow and digging out the car.
I mostly had to carry my youngest son, so my arms have definitely had a good workout. My fitness trackers showed an average of 17,000 steps a day; way up on my normal 8,000 steps that I do at home – a lot of extra calories burned.
I had a few slip-ups with my food whilst away – probably twice the amount of bread I should have had, chocolate and Irish coffee, so I wasn’t looking forward to my body fat measurements when got back to the gym.
James went through my food tracker and didn’t complain at me once; he could see I tried to compensate whenever possible on my diet and knew that I desperately needed a holiday.
I had visions of coming home having piled on weight. So when I had my measurements done on my return, I was surprised, to say the least.
My weight has dropped to 48kg and my body fat has come down to 15.5% while I’ve been away.
If this is what happens when I book a holiday, I need to book another one right now!
It just goes to show with a little planning, more conscientious food choices on holiday and plenty of outdoor activity, you can enjoy your holiday and come back in better shape than when you left.
This method is really working for me; I’m progressing every week and losing fat consistently. The most surprising thing? I’m actually not finding it hard at all!