Staying relatively lean while on vacation and eating like a pig

How do you stay lean while eating like a pig on vacation? I was asked this question by a friend and a client recently. Being a fitness coach and trainer, it's important for me to keep my body in check throughout the year. This includes even the off season, but I'm still human at the end of the day. I have cravings and sometimes I feel the urge to indulge from time to time. I use my vacations to do just that. I mean why else would you go on vacation if not for relaxing and letting go for a minute.  Let's also not forget the awesome food, we always eat on vacation. So what's the trick?

While i'm not sure what other people do, I'll tell you what I do. I normally try to keep my body fat in the low teens during my off season. This allows me the flexibility of getting lean easily if I need to do a photo shoot or if I have to guest pose at an event. It also allows me the flexibility of not being too strict with food.

When planning my vacations I normally plan a few months ahead. This helps with saving a bit of cash as well. If you book flights and hotels a bit early, most times you'll save some cash.  Planning ahead also  gives me time to reduce my body fat percentage to the single digits, normally 8%.

The rational behind this is that firstly, you want to look good on vacation and I normally vacation at places where I can take my shirt off. I love warm weather, I love beaches so I try to stick to places that have an abundance of sunshine and beaches during my vacations. Secondly, by taking your body fat below 10% you now have a little room to eat a bit more. Think of it like this, if your body fat was at 15% and you went on vacation and ate a lot then you'd probably increase your body fat to lets say 19% or 20% by the end of a week or two week vacation stretch. However if you've brought down your body fat to 8% then taking it up to 15% on your vacation isn't that bad. When you get back to your normal schedule you won't be stuck in a slum because of the shock of seeing yourself in the mirror.

Before booking my hotel or my airbnb I research where the gyms are in the area that i'll be staying. I book my hotel or apartment at convenient locations that are close to gyms and tourist attractions. I also research which hotels have good gyms or how the public transport works at these locations. On my most recent vacation to Australia I made sure I stayed somewhere close to a Golds Gym. Also when I visited Hamilton Island I researched the hours and times the gym would be open and closed.

Golds Gym North Sydney. 20 mins away from where I stayed. 

It's also important to know your gym rules. If you're a member of a gobal franchiss gym then normally you'll be able to use other gyms under the same franchise at a discount or for free. When I visited Cebu in the Philipines I used the Golds Gym there for free. Also when I visited the Golds Gym in North Sydney, they gave me a Fitness Passport. What normally should happen is that if you're a member of a Golds Gym and you tell the staff that you'll be travelling. They should give you one of the passports. But Japan works differently from other countries, so if you're a member at a Golds Gym in Japan then I recommend taking your membership card with you so you can show that you're a member. That way you might be able to save some cash and gym for free. Fitness Passports are normally valid for one year and they enable you to use a specific gym for 14 days within a year for free. How cool is that?

Golds Gym Fitness Passport. Valid for one year.

Being on vacation doesn't mean that i'll be sleeping until 9am or 12pm and resting. Instead I up my work out regiment. I get up at 5 or 4 most mornings and I go for a run or walk. After that I use the gym for about an hour then I I go for another run. I do all this in a fasted state. This allows my body to burn more fat. Also if my body feels up to it then I use the gym twice in a day. Remember you're eating more than your used to and now you're also eating carbs that your body isn't used to handling. By increasing your calories out and increasing the workload of your body, you create a balance that keeps your body in check.

Sports Club gym on Hamilton Island

It's also good to have friends who can keep you motivated. It's hard to get up at 5am in the mornings but if you have friends that can give you a call or send a message then that helps. What also helps is working out with someone. Knowing that you're not alone in a situation helps. On my vacation I planned a few PT classes in the morning with one of my clients in Sydney. Luckily for me she was not against getting up early to meet her trainer at the gym.

Morning PT lesson with one of my clients in Sydney. 

Another weight management strategy I use is intermittent fasting. I try to fast a few times during my vacation, this allows me to eat a bit more during my re-feed window. I like to use the 16-8 fasting method. This is where you fast for 16hrs and then re-feed in the next 8hrs. One of the easiest ways I've found to do this is by eating dinner early the day before the fast. This way you're not stuck fasting the entire day on your fasting day. I normally like to eat dinner at around 7pm or 8pm then fast until 12pm or 1pm the next day. I find this approach a lot easier to handle.

These are some of the ways I stay relatively lean even while on vacation and eating like a pig. Also during my vacation not all my meals are bad. I still try to squeeze in some salads and protein here and there. Keeping proteins high allows my body to keep as much muscle as possible.

Remember guys, life is short so enjoy it, even while staying lean, fit and eating like a pig.