Vacation Renovation

Here is an article from Weight Watchers that summarizes my meeting from Saturday, July 7, 2012.

Vacation Renovation
Extra weight is one souvenir no one wants to bring home. But the average vacation weight gain ranges from five to eight pounds. So why do so many people end up with extra baggage? The culprit — vacation amnesia! It can creep in when you've slipped into full R&R mode and before you know it, you've taken a break from your healthy habits. The good news is that vacation weight gain isn't inevitable. Take your Plan along and you'll have all the strategies and tools you need to beat the odds!

Four ways to avoid Vacation Amnesia
1. Choose your option
Setting a Winning Outcome — a powerful Tools For Living strategy — is like setting a goal, and it's important to do it before you leave for your getaway. Choose whether you want to come home having lost weight, maintained or maybe even gained a little. Knowing ahead of time what you want the outcome of your efforts to be will help you set a realistic plan and avoid surprises.

2. Determine strategies
Consider what aspects of your upcoming vacation might make it difficult for you to stick with the Winning Outcome you set. How will you manage offers of food and snacks? How will you eat out in restaurants? Will you be able to get online and track? How will you exercise?

3. Gather the necessary tools
Along with your clothes and toiletries, you should also pack things that will make it easier for you to stay on track. For example, what will you need for your work out? Do you have favorite healthy snacks that might be difficult to find where you're going? Are you prepared to track PointsPlus® values? Or perhaps you'll want to take a break from tracking and give the Simply Filling technique a try (see below).

4. Make a post-vacation commitment
Vacation amnesia can often linger for days or weeks after the actual getaway. Some people may let a slip turn into a landslide — derailing their progress by not jumping back on the healthy track. Decide before you go that no matter what happens, you'll pick up your efforts again the day you get back.

5.Try the Simply Filling Technique
We encourage people to track, because it makes you more aware of what you’re eating, and helps you maintain control when you’re aiming to lose weight. Still, it’s not for everyone, and you might find yourself in certain situations where you’d prefer to just stick to certain foods and not have to think too hard about what the PointsPlus values are.

With the Simply Filling technique, you track only your weekly PointsPlus Allowance for foods that are not Power Foods. Your Leader can tell you more about this technique, so you can figure out if it's right for you.If you decide to go for it, the Plan Manager makes it easy. Go to “Settings” and select “Tracking Preference.” We’ve updated the Plan Manager to allow you to follow it for as little as one day at a time. You can always switch back any time you want if you decide Simply Filling isn’t for you.

Why would we even want to revert back to old habits just because we are on vacation? Why not continue with the newly formed habits but use your PointsPlus values for a few indulgences in a controlled manor?