As someone who lives a healthy lifestyle, runs a health and fitness blog and is studying to be a personal trainer, I’m one of those annoying people who says annoying things like “you can workout while on vacation” and “watch what you eat over the holidays or while traveling”.
Hell, this time last year I even did a guest post on eastcoastbychoice.ca called “Festivus for the Rest of Us and a Happy Holidays” where I talked about giving yourself only one cheat day over Christmas. The tips I give in this article are great, but don’t always apply to every circumstance!
As most of you know I’ve spent the last three-plus months living in London, England and doing quite a bit of traveling throughout Europe when I can. We’ve been to Scotland, Rome, Paris and we’re going to the Canary Islands (a part of Spain) on Sunday for a week over Christmas.
At the very beginning of all of this we decided that wanted to experience the food and the wine and the beer and everything else that these countries have to offer to the absolute fullest while traveling and that we didn’t want to “watch what we eat”. Actually, while on these four-day trips across Europe, we haven’t even been hitting the gym… *GASP*…
Both the missus and I train hard at the gym 4-6 days a week and we eat well Monday to Friday (we eat what we want on the weekends) and we’ve been able to maintain while traveling and living this lifestyle… Until now…
To date, I thought I had gotten away with drinking loads of beer while in Scotland and eating pizza and pasta at every meal while in Rome and I thought that the cheese and wine in Paris just melted off me because we walked for 8 hours a day, until yesterday, when all of a sudden, Poof… 6lbs!
Now, I’m no one who gives two shits about what I weigh on a scale! In fact, I’ve put on about 8lbs since I’ve been in London (besides these new 6lbs), but it’s been muscle, so it’s a good 8lbs. A lot of people would freak out over 8lbs! Personally, I love it!
HOWEVER, this new 6lbs that “came out of nowhere” has given me a puffy look and I’m not happy about it (FYI: “puffy look” is my way of saying I put on some fat). I’m not saying that every single pound wasn’t worth it because to be honest, it was! The pizza and pasta in Rome was some of the best food I’ve ever had and I LOVED having bread and cheese at every meal while in Paris! And every single type of dark rich beer and sip of scotch that I had while in Scotland was to die for and I wouldn’t change any of it!!
What I am saying is this; Normally, when I travel, I’m usually travelling on business to somewhere like New York, Chicago or Toronto which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that different from the lifestyle in which I’m use to. So, while traveling to cities in North America, I usually watch what I eat, I hit the hotel gym and I don’t give it a second thought.
The thing that’s different about the travels I’m doing right now is that I may never be back to Paris, Scotland, Rome, Spain or wherever else, so I’m going to enjoy eating pizza three times in one day because it’s the best pizza in the world! And I’m going to enjoy an entire block of cheese, a baguette and a bottle of wine with my breakfast, lunch and supper! You know why? Because in two weeks I’ll be back in Canada and who knows if and when I’ll have this opportunity again.
Bonne Appetite!
