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How To Get Back In Shape After A Holiday…

12/08/2019
How To Get Back In Shape After A Holiday | LEP Fitness

We’re two thirds of the way into summer, and lots of you reading this will have already been on your summer holidays. Firstly, I hope you had a wonderful holiday, I hope you managed to relax, and to recharge the batteries!

Secondly, if you overindulged, ate too much, and just generally feel sluggish…then don’t worry, I think this happens to 99% of people!

Sit back and relax, because my aim with this post is to help you put things right again…

How To Get Back In Shape After A Holiday…

fitness training after a holiday

#1 Start Moving Again

I’m sure lots of people reading this have been very active whilst on holiday, maybe you took a city break, and walked thousands of steps each day? or maybe you did lots of swimming in the pool, played tennis, or worked out in your hotel gym – if this is you, then great, well done!

If however, you went away, barely did any exercise, other than wine curls (where you bicep curl a glass of wine to your mouth and drink it! lol!) and ate lots of pasta, pizza, desserts, and other high calorie foods…

Then the best thing to do when you get back, is to start exercising again, burning off lots of those stored calories.

After a holiday, and if you’ve been a bit crazy with food, and drink, then I wouldn’t recommend doing any vigorous exercise for the first week. Instead, opt for lower intensity training, such as walking (aim for 10,000 steps per day), you could also do things like swimming, and cycling on an exercise bike.

Aim to do something for 30-60 minutes each day, and then after one week, start to increase your exercise intensity.

#2 Neaten up your diet

Now, you have two options here, you either go strict, and follow a disciplined meal plan – for example you could try my 28 Day Keto Challenge – a rapid weight loss program. Or, instead, you could just eat a little less, and eat better quality foods.

Often after a holiday we feel bloated and sluggish from all of the food/drink consumed. Our jeans are a little tighter (or don’t fit anymore!), it’s also not uncommon to have headaches, acne, joint aches and pains, to name but a few negative side effects of over indulging.

So, like I said, you either go strict – cutting out all rubbish and eating like a caveman/woman – consuming single ingredient food such as: chicken, cod, salmon, mince, vegetables, fruit, rice, etc. Or the other option is to eat like you normally would, BUT just consume a little less. This type of diet strategy can work really well.

For example, I went away recently, and massively overindulged (guilty!) Here’s my diet before holiday, compared to my diet after my holiday…

  • Pre holiday breakfast – 6 eggs with 2 bagels
  • Post holiday breakfast – 3 eggs with 1 bagel (500 cals less)
  • Pre holiday lunch – 3 chicken kebabs with rice
  • Post holiday lunch – 3 chicken kebabs with salad (400 cals less)
  • Pre holiday snacks – 50g protein shake, protein bar
  • Post holiday snacks – 50g protein shake, 1 x banana (120 cals less)
  • Pre holiday dinner – whatever my wife makes
  • Post holiday dinner – whatever my wife makes again! lol

Can you see the trend?

I pretty much ate the same foods, BUT just less of them, in total I consumed around 1,000 cals less per day. I did this for 7 days and was back to my weight before holiday.

Thank you!

I hope this post helped, if you do the two things I’ve recommend in this article, then I can guarantee you’ll be back to your best in no time!

If you want more help, then why not get in touch? I offer one to one personal training, but I also do online personal training, and custom workout and meal plans too.

Thanks again, and good luck!

nick screeton is a Sheffield personal trainer and fitness writer | LEP Fitness

Nick 🙂