How To Bounce Back After A Weekend Full Of Indulgence

I am usually pretty good about making healthier choices while away for the weekend or on vacation, but while away on our honeymoon in Cabo I found myself indulging… a lot. To be honest, I would have chosen to eat healthier, but healthy options were not always available. If you follow me on social media, you know that I start every morning with a healthful smoothie. This smoothie helps to set the tone for the rest of the day and it helps me make better choices throughout the rest of the day. While in Cabo, I did not have access to a healthy smoothie at the resort I was at and I was also indulging in lots of fried chips with my ceviche, bread, other fried foods, etc. I haven’t been on vacation in quite some time so I forgot what it was like to be completely out of routine for multiple days at a time.

Here are some things that I realized:

-Vacation is meant to be relaxing. These are times TO indulge and not deprive.

-It is okay to step away from your routine and habits. When you finally go back to your routine, you’ll notice which habits you enjoy (the ones you are excited to get back to) and the ones that you don’t. You will also realize the habits that are actually habits and others that have yet to stick.

-You won’t “get back on track” if you weren’t on track in the first place. Meaning that if you don’t already have a routine full of sustainable habits that you enjoy and actually do, then when you come back from vacation you won’t have a true track to get back on.

My Post Vacation Protocol

Weekends or weeks away often include: taking a break from normal routine (often because we don’t have access to our usual items), indulging in things like sugar, fried foods, alcohol, processed foods, etc., and/or less movement and more. It can be SO difficult to get back to the usual routine. I found that it usually takes me up to 4 days to feel energized again post vacation. Below are a few things that I do to bounce back:

Rest

Movement is SO important, but after vacation or a weekend away, I always feel better after taking a rest day on the first full day back home. I always let myself sleep in as much as I need to and I go to bed early so I can get up for a good workout the next morning. If I feel up to it, I will go for a walk on the first day back to get in some sort of movement. I usually spend the first day back from vacation reading and relaxing, I also use this day to prep for the week ahead (laundry, tidying up, to-do list making, etc.)

Hydrate

This is the quickest way to recovery. I love sipping on coconut water, lemon water and just plain water.

No added sugar

Go cold turkey here. Your body was just using sugar for energy and now that you are back home, it wants more of it to get energized. I recommend staying away from added sugar and processed foods for the next few days. Instead, try and build nourishing meals like this smoothie here, or a nourishing bowl filled with whole grains, root vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats like avocado.

Plan the week

Since the first day back home is going to be a rest day, use your time to plan out the rest of the weeks meals, workouts, self care rituals, meditations, morning rituals, etc. Nothing motivates me more to get back on track than writing it out. This is also a good time to check in. Ask yourself what your usual routine consisted of, and do you want to go back to that routine? If not, use this time to plan a routine you actually want to do.

Sweat it out

If you used the first day back as a rest day, get moving on Day 2. Sweat out the toxins and get your metabolism fired up. movement is so important for bone health, joint health, heart health and more. I always feel SO energized after a really good workout.

One thing not to do after a week or weekend of indulging:

DO NOT beat yourself up! It can be so easy to feel guilty about the foods you indulged in but I urge you not to! Just look forward into the new week.

Something to keep in mind:

One meal or one week of food will not make a significant difference if any.

A quote I love is “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow” by Dalai Lama. This quote reminds me that I only have today and right now to make a healthy choice.

Let me know how you recover after a weekend full of treats!