What I Do & Don’t Do After Vacation
I came back from being in NYC for the week (if you missed it on my social, I was blessed with snow and had the biggest smile on my face the ENTIRE time) and I immediately felt like buying groceries and cooking a balanced meal filled with veggies. If you’re thinking, “I wish I had the desire to do that,” keep reading.
As I was eating, I had a thought: I remembered all the times I was on vacation and when I got back (and sadly, sometimes even while I was still there) I would immediately start thinking:
Diet starts Monday.
Only veggies for the rest of the week.
No more dessert for me when I get back.
Only whole foods for the rest of the month.
I was so bad this weekend, I need to control myself more.
I can’t believe I ate all that this week.
I so ashamed I ate like that.
I need to detox when I get back home.
Sound familiar?
I looked at the plate in front of me of the food I just cooked, and I thought, “How did I get here?” How did I get past all those feelings, from anger and restriction to freedom and, honestly, no planning my next steps, no “reversing what I just did.”
To paint a picture for you of where I’m at now (and where you could be): I didn’t think about calories or how food was going to affect my weight whilst in New York. I enjoyed pie-cookies (that’s a thing now apparently), kombucha, ice cream (yes, in 20F weather), ramen, salads, bagels every morning, lattes with croissants, etc. I just… ate… food… somewhere else in the world. Sometimes I wanted bagels and sometimes I wanted smoothies. Whatever. There wasn’t a single moment of shame or judgment.
I didn’t/don’t feel the need to step on the scale.
I didn’t/don’t feel a need to restrict myself.
Why? How?
Because, what’s the f***ing point.
What’s the point of going on vacation, if I’m going to treat myself like s*** after?
It shouldn’t be, “back to reality.” That vacation IS/WAS your reality. And, side note, if you feel like vacation is truly the only place you can enjoy your life. Do things you want to do. Eat things you want to eat. Then what that tells you is that you’re restricting yourself day to day. Period. Maybe it’s a job you hate. Maybe it’s that you don’t give yourself enough time to rest during the week, enough time to explore and do new things, you don’t see the people you love enough, you don’t eat the things you really want to eat, etc. Something to think about: How can you add more vacation elements to your everyday life?
Anyways… Back to that picture I painted.
How can you get there? How did I get there?
You have to give yourself permission to have anything you want, whenever you want. Couple that with understanding how food makes your body feel and learning why it's good for you, and you'll find that freedom to enjoy and confidence to make the best decisions for yourself.
It sounds simple enough, which I think is why people ultimately get frustrated, because it actually takes a lot work.
It takes work to stop seeing foods as good and bad.
It takes work to learn how to cook a meal that tastes good.
It takes work to get over the fear of, “but I’ll never stop eating,” when you first start.
It takes work to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
It takes work to stop letting how much you weigh that day affect what you’ll eat and do.
It takes work to recognize food is there to nourish you and support you, not hurt you.
You know what takes more energy and is a waste of time though?
Treating yourself like s***. Going on and off diets and restricting and overeating and then stressing about it all the time.
Before, when I came back from vacation, I would have eaten something like what I had just now, out of punishment. It would have been me forcing myself to have that meal because of what I “did” while on vacation. I probably wouldn’t even have tried to make it taste good honestly. The difference is mindset. Now, I ate it because I genuinely craved the taste and feeling of eating vegetables, I also knew that I needed to nourish my body with them, and guess what, I also had ice cream today (among a lot of other things). Today, wasn’t my first day back, it was just a day, just like any other day.
Now, I’m not going to pretend like a plate of vegetables tastes better than pizza, we all know certain foods hit different, but when you know you can have pizza whenever you want, and you also know how good certain foods are for your body and what they can do for you - you can make more balanced decisions for yourself. It’s a combination of permission, and also, responsibility. Permission to have whatever you want, and responsibility to provide yourself with the nutrients your body needs to support you. You can have them both, without the judgment or criticism.
So, to round it up in a few short words: Enjoy foods (every day) that FEEL good and TASTE good.
I hope the next time you go on vacation, you enjoy vacation, and then you come back home and you enjoy home. I hope you let go of the voice in your head that doesn’t belong there and I hope you’re more kind to yourself.
…and keep an eye out for more emails from me (if you’re not subscribed, join us > Click Here), because this is the first of many that I believe will help you get to that painted picture - nourishing your body, mind and spirit, well and often.
If you’re looking to feel more confident in your body, learn how to let go of dieting for good to enjoy food without guilt, and turn exercise into something you love to do rather than something you “have” to do, submit a client application to get in contact with me! I work with clients virtually all over the world helping those who are frustrated with dieting and want to change their relationship with food, exercise and themselves.
Hi, I’m Azul Corajoria, an Integrative Health Coach, Personal Trainer & Yoga Instructor. I support my clients in making step-by-step changes so that they can live a healthy and balanced life. By recognizing the interdependent roles of mindset, nutrition, and movement I educate and hold my clients accountable for achieving their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments with an emphasis on self-care. Together, we navigate the contradictory world of nutrition through intuitive eating, practice mindful movement, and implement small mindset and lifestyle shifts that empower them to be their best selves in the easiest way possible.
