The Hidden Costs of an All Inclusive Vacation at Her Active Life

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The Hidden Costs of an All Inclusive Vacation

Posted May 28, 2008 at 01:30 PM by Martinique Haller

Section: Her Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Weight Control

weight Sometimes it can be difficult to stick to the habits that helped you lose weight once you’ve been at your ideal weight for awhile. What got me off track was a destination wedding in Cancun. My cousin was getting married. As of October it had been about eight months since I had landed myself at my ideal weight. I was proud of myself at having returned from Europe without a huge shock to the scale and was starting feel a bit invincible. Somewhere in my subconscious I had thoughts like:

“I can eat croissants for breakfast and not gain weight.”

“I can eat brownies on my lunch break and be just fine.”

“I might not run for months, but there aren’t any negative results.”

So I arrived in Cancun and was very excited to spend days in my bathing suit. I had two new suits that I’d hardly worn all summer and I looked good in them. I was excited to sip fruity cocktails that were completely free and enjoy every second of the stereotypical tropical vacation. I had never had this kind of vacation before and I intended to make the most of it.

I did my best to have fruit with every meal, and tried to limit myself with the free drinks. But I was having fun, it was free, and how much damage could I possibly do myself in less than a week? So I sipped the cocktails, ate the tortilla chips and guacamole, put a few fries on my plate and stopped in the late night lounge for free snacks after hours of drinking. It was a great time.

My ambitious sister squeezed in a run. I did not. My ambitious wife did some homework. I did not. And when I arrived back home I didn’t bring any outlandish ten extra pounds with me, but I did bring the beginning of some bad habits.

After losing weight, it’s easy to fall into a trap of invincibility. You know you look good and because it doesn’t feel like it takes much effort you start to slip slowly. You’ve lost the motivation of wanting size six designer jeans (on sale at Nordstrom rack) because you’ve already got them. You no longer receive consistent compliments on how good you look because people are used to you at this size. You get comfortable, and this feeling can sometimes undo some hard work. Throughout the fall and winter I negotiated how I would handle life after losing. Cancun was a minor set back that lasted the winter. The free food and drinks are never completely free. Whether you’re at an all inclusive resort or someone brings donuts to work or you’re at a wedding with an open bar - if you don’t watch it all that free food and drink could cost you your good habits, or in the case of alcohol - maybe your dignity. I’m learning to deal with these ups and downs.