It’s holiday time and I hope you all have something amazing planned. I recently had a fantastic holiday myself but it did occur to me that sometimes, when you work so hard on your fitness and diet, it is almost daunting to take a “week off”. You think you might lose all the progress, that you’ll go off track and have to work really hard to get it back. When you have worked really hard on getting where you are and sticking to a healthy lifestyle, any change almost feels like a threat.

So here’s the deal – Taking a week off, or even two, will NOT set you back. In fact, if you aren’t a complete idiot about it, it’s most likely going to be beneficial. 

First, let’s look at some of the facts:

1. You won’t lose muscle if you take a week or two off. Building muscle is a slow and steady process. So is losing it, unless you drastically change your lifestyle. Most studies on this subject have shown muscle loss does not really start to occur before about 3-4 weeks away from the gym. This is assuming you don’t really exercise for those 4 weeks.
2. It will allow your body to recover from any over-training (Which may take 1-3 weeks!)
3. De-stressing will help your muscle development, metabolism and fat burning
4. De-stressing both mentally and physically will help your nervous system recover
5. You don’t need to eat less – Just because you aren’t working out doesn’t mean that your muscles aren’t in need of “fuel” for recovery, maintenance and growth.
6. You may look flatter but that does not mean you have lost muscle: 
   1. Nervous system has relaxed
   2. Glycogen stores are not full
   3. Your muscles and tendons are resting rather than inflamed
7. You will lose a minimal amount of strength, if any. You may find that you are stronger due to having rested when you return. If you do drop strength, you will be able to recover it within 2 weeks of training.

Of course, all of the above is based on staying reasonable during those weeks off. So what can you do to make sure your holiday is pleasant and you rest rather than regress?

• If you feel you can push it, then right before you go on holiday is the time. You will then have plenty of time to recover and get all the gains out of that push.
• Don’t overeat – Of course you can treat yourself but just because you are eating different things, possibly foods that you enjoy more, does not mean that you should eat twice as much.
• Similar to the point above, control your portions. If you would like to stick to your macros, use a cheat-sheet to eyeball your portions.
• Stick to nutritious, high protein diet (In addition to those treats) – Just because you aren’t going to the gym that does not mean your muscles don’t need fuel for maintenance, recovery and growth.
• Opt for healthy snacks – This will keep you full and leave room for plenty of “spur of the moment” indulgence.
• Keep active – activity isn’t just lifting weights, it’s everything you do. Explore, run, swim, cycle. In simple terms, keep moving.
• Relax – Stress is a major factor in how your body responds to workouts and diet so make the most out of your holiday simply by enjoying it.
• Find a workout you can do anywhere – varied exercise

• 

• 

• 

If you are going away for a longer time and feel you need to do more to keep on track, there are options:

• Cook your own food. Stock up on healthy snacks. Look up nutrition sheets for popular restaurant chains – this will help you make guilt-free choices when eating out.
• Carb cycling: Opt for lower carb options on your less active days
• Find creative ways to stay active, build your own quick HIIT workouts and use what you have on hand: rocks, chairs, tables, body weight.

Additional points

• Don’t miss out on the local food for the sake of macros – treat yourself, it’s your holiday
• You’ve worked hard to get where you are, don’t be afraid to treat yourself, enjoy yourself and show off.

And now for my own experience:

As mentioned before, I too, despite having read the above, worried about how holiday will affect all the hard work I’ve been putting in. Thus, I decided to treat it as an experiment and see just how much of an impact a holiday has when you relax and enjoy your holiday, in moderation. I decided to take a before & after photos, to prove that definition does not just disappear contrary to what your brain probably likes telling you. I also kept track of what I ate to prove that you can relax and enjoy yourself a bit and still stay on track.

Diet:
I generally track my calories and macros although loosely and follow a flexible dieting approach which lets me be pretty free with what I eat, as long as it’s nutritious and not overly processed. I do cook most of my meals and I continued to do so on holiday although I did eat out as well as enjoyed some of my family’s cooking.
Note: In terms of calories, I was not tracking very accurately but my assumption is I ate roughly the same pre-holiday. I did eat different foods and treated myself to ice-cream though as well as altered my eating times.

My typical day pre-holiday:
General rules: Low sugar, low fat, moderate portions, high protein, good amount of fiber. Breakfast: Eggs / Toast / Porridge / Salmon or Ham & Avocado or a combination of.
Lunch: This varies but usually makes up about 30% of my daily calories with at least 20g of protein. Curries, wraps, some form of meat & rice/pasta/sweet potato…
Dinner: Usually split 50/50 pre and post workout. Here, as long as it’s home cooked, relatively low on fat and fits the  calories anything goes. Pizza / Curry / Stir Fry / Pasta bakes / Grilled meats / Fish… I could go on. I do love my food.
Snacks: Small baked crisp bags / popcorn / yogurts / Fruit / Home baked cakes / granola bars
Activity: 5 intense workouts/week: Kickboxing/Gym/Circuits/Weights + 5 short, low intensity workouts/week: run/yoga/cycle

My typical day on holiday:
Breakfast: Cereal / Porridge / Eggs
Lunch – This was my main meal of the day. With the days being full of exploring rather than sitting in the office and with no evening workouts, it made sense to have a bigger meal in the middle of the day: BBQ / Pizza / Fish / Pasta (Italian/Mediterranean influenced, as I was in Croatia)
Dinner: Usually lunch leftovers, snacks or treats
Snacks: Here’s where you get the holiday vibes in with ice cream, doughnuts and pancakes. But also remember to keep it in moderation and balance it out with nuts and fruits (Freshly picked berries and figs, mmmm)
Activity: Not all exercise translates to gym and weights. There’s plenty that you do that you aren’t even aware of and plenty you can do whenever, wherever, with a little bit of imagination and initiative. Not that you need to go out of your way to do it, this is your holiday after all! In my case, I ended up swimming, cycling and walking a fair amount so I didn’t feel the need to do anything extra – other than having a bit of fun climbing trees and lifting rocks and a morning yoga session because the sunrise was too good to pass on the opportunity. Does tanning and swinging in the hammock count as exercise? I wish.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Results?

You know what, I actually felt I came back leaner than I left. Cool, right? In terms of strength, I was able to go right back in where I left off pre-holiday but it all felt a lot more comfortable. I guess I did need that break from training.

• 

• 

• 

The bottom line: Relax and remember that as long as you keep looking after yourself, the holiday will do you good.