#158: (Replay) How to indulge with balance and quit the ‘all or nothing mentality’ when you go on holidays!
After just returning from a quick holiday in Bali, so many of you were curious about how I eat when I’m there. And, how I prevent that ‘all or nothing’ mentality that I used to absolutely experience for years until I found my balance.
Because I went to Bali twice last year (in 2023) and recorded a podcast allll about how I eat with balance after one of the trips, it felt silly to re-record one and repeat everything!
So, I want to share the replay of the episode with you today.
It IS possible to indulge and enjoy yourself when you travel without feeling like you've gone 10 steps backwards with your health when you return home.
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Read This Episode:
Last week, I was on holiday in Bali with my sister. It was a work trip, but equally a bit of a switch off as well. Lots of you were asking how I'm eating there and tips for eating when you travel. I've decided to make that the theme of this podcast and whether you're traveling soon (or you're not), at least you can come back to this episode and I've always got somewhere to send you whenever anyone asks for travel or holidays tips.
Before I get into it - if you're a new listener and you're not already following me on Instagram, I'm @health_with_bec and I share so many tips, inspiration, motivation and so much over there. So if you're not already an Insta follower yet, make sure you jump on and follow me.
I'm sure you are already aware of this, however I'm going to be talking about my experience, how I eat and giving you some tips but of course it depends on where you go, what you enjoy, how you're already living your life, so just take this with a grain of salt.
I hope this gives you some inspiration and things to think about, but it's also just a reminder that we all have different bodies. We all have different metabolisms. We are all from different cultures. We all have different things that work for us. Some of us love big dinners (like me), other people love big breakfasts, some people like to eat 3 meals a day, some people like to eat 2. You've got to do what works for you.
I want to remind you of that because I don't want anyone to think that my way of eating and the way that I do things is the only way to do things because that's obviously not true. Someone might do exactly what I do and get completely different results, so it's always something to remember. You've got to listen to your own body and take information from other people with a grain of salt and use it for inspiration. Don't use it as the be all and end all because what works for you, will be different to someone else.
I also want to say that I'm really proud of where I am and where I've been in the last couple of years in terms of travel and how I eat because in the past I definitely wasn't a balanced eater when I would travel. I would treat traveling as a “holiday” and by that, I would trade it as an opportunity to rebel and eat completely differently to how I eat at home, because I would think - it's a holiday, I need to be different. I need to indulge. I need to enjoy myself!
That's how I was before I found balance with my own day to day life. I used to be a yo-yo dieter, I was restricting, counting calories to a tee, feeling starving all the time, following a low fat way of life and feeling really restricted Monday to Friday, so of course I'd go on holiday and feel the need to rebel. It starts though with building that balance in your life before you go and that helps you not binge on holidays and not rebel because that's a huge piece of the puzzle.
Also, that takes time to figure out. That's what I help women with in my programs and it does take time. It took me time but because I'm enjoying my life so much and I've worked out a way of eating that makes me not feel starving and restricted Monday to Friday, I don't feel that need to rebel when I go away now.
Rather, I have the mindset that -
I'm already enjoying the way I eat, why not eat similar when I'm on holiday? I enjoy it. What's the point in eating a whole heap of food that's going to make me feel crap when I've learnt how to stay full and satisfied and enjoy myself on a day to day basis?
So that's the first step …
Before you even go away on holiday, make sure that you're living a life that brings you results, is balanced and you don't feel starving all the time. That's what I teach women every single day through my programs - the 3 Week Body Reset and the Health with Bec Tribe.
I also got sick of the feeling when I got back from holidays (when I overindulged too much). I'd get back, I would gain a couple of kilos, I would feel bloated and my brain would be foggy. I'd be exhausted and I felt guilty as well.
It's so much easier to gain weight, then it is to lose weight. You can gain a couple of kilos and feel crap in 5 days (if you're not conscious), then when you get home, it can take 3 or 4 weeks to lose that weight. I did that so many times and just kept thinking - what's the point?
Now, I think back to those times and don't want to make it really hard on myself. I don't want to come back feeling like I've gone 10 steps backwards because there are ways to still enjoy yourself and to indulge but to also remain weight (or maybe just gain 1kg because then it's not that hard to lose).
It's a lot harder to get back into things if you go OTT, so I'm here to talk you through what I do and some tips for you so that you can indulge and enjoy yourself which is so important when you go away.
I'm such a foodie, I'm about balance, I'm about eating until I'm full, enjoying different foods, not feeling restricted and having a few drinks because that's what I enjoy. I love eating and going out for dinners and I love not feeling restricted, but I also equally love feeling good and I'm sure that you relate to that!
Tip #1 - Don’t Think Of It As “Holiday Time”
I try not to think of holidays as a “break” from my life, a big chance to rebel. My mindset is - this is just everyday life, but I'm in a different place. I let myself have a few extra indulgences (compared to home) because that's important but that's the first step, just to think - it's any other day!
Tip #2 - Forward Think
The second mindset tip is to forward-think. I forward-think about how I want to feel when I get home. I think back to the times when I’ve traveled, got home and felt like crap from going OTT for more than 3, 4, 5, 6 days in a row. So forward-think - do I want to feel like that again? How long is it going to take me to get back to where I was before the holiday and is that really worth it? If it is worth it for you, go ahead, but if it's not, that can be a really good thing to help you stay conscious, (not obsessed) when you're traveling.
Let's talk about actual tips for eating and moving as well when we're traveling -
The first thing to talk about is plane trips …
This obviously depends when you're going, what time the flight is, how long it is and what your lifestyle is already like. For instance, if it's an early morning flight and you arrive mid- morning or lunchtime, sometimes I just do what I would normally do in the mornings.
I don't get hungry until later in the morning anyway. It's part of my normal lifestyle to just have a coffee in the morning and then eat anywhere from 10am to 12pm. I do a form of fasting most days and a lot of other women are like that too. If you're already like that, then use that as an opportunity to fast, just have a coffee and that's easy.
If it's a lunch-time flight or afternoon flight, I recommend packing food to take with you on the plane or having a big healthy meal before you get on the plane. Airports have changed in my experience. There’s lots of salads, so you could get a chicken salad. I've also noticed some places have rice paper rolls, so sometimes you can find something healthy at the airport.
I think food on the plane is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes, there's healthy options, but sometimes you can only choose between 2 things (if you're flying economy). In business class, the food is a lot healthier and you can choose what you want. In that case, just eat on the plane, because the food is amazing.
If you're flying economy, I think it is important to eat a big meal before you go (whether that's something that you pack yourself or not) or you could eat on the plane - grab something at the airport to eat on the plane or just eat at the airport.
For instance, in Bali (on our way back) I had a big breakfast at the hotel, and then the flight wasn't until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I knew I wouldn't get home until 9pm at night, so I had to eat something at the airport. There were actually so many different options at the Bali airport, which was really surprising. It's changed a lot. I found a beautiful, big chicken and cabbage salad. It was grilled chicken with an Asian dressing with heaps of cabbage and lettuce leaves. If you can stick to protein & salad (or protein & veg) that's a really good thing to fill up on or choose at an airport.
In Bali, this is what I did because I was staying at a hotel that served an incredible breakfast where some things are already cooked and there's also a chef that cooks whatever you want, it's all included -
What I do is wake up, have a coffee and do my morning movement, so I'll go to the gym. When I go to Bali, I use that breakfast time (because it's open until 11am) and because it's so amazing, I make that brunch. I have a really big brunch and then I don't eat much at all until dinner.
The way that I maintain my balance is to focus on 2 big meals a day. I like to fill up and really enjoy myself at meal times, so to maintain my balance, 3 meals is just too much for me. It can be too much for a lot of people, if you're eating out. I choose to have dinner as one of my big meals and then brunch as my other big meal. If I was to have breakfast, lunch and dinner (+ alcohol) for me and for a lot of women, it would be too much food. If you're not drinking any alcohol at all, then you've got a bit of room for more calories. You might want to have 3 meals a day, but this is just what I do …
So in Bali, I would have a big plate of fruit. They do these amazing little glass cylinders of bircher muesli, which I always enjoy as well. Another course would be sauteed veggies with chicken - this is my Asian breakfast because I'm in Bali and I always like to embrace the culture. I eat sauteed veggies with a chicken curry or wok fried chicken and then occasionally I'd throw in a little spoonful of the nazi goreng.
My third course would be fresh avocado on a piece of a gluten-free toast with fresh tomatoes, sauteed spinach and sometimes I would end with more fruit. Honestly, that would get me through the whole day.
They also serve afternoon tea, which is included as well. They bring out a sweet treat and then a bite-sized sandwich and so I would have that as a snack. That is always gluten-free because I pop that in my recommended food restrictions which they ask before you get to the hotel.
I would then be hungry for dinner and it’s always so nice starting with a cocktail or a glass of wine. For dinner, I always opt for protein and veg. This will depend on what restaurant you're at.
I'll go into some tips now in terms of different cuisines and what to opt for and what not to opt for but that's how I would eat in Bali and how I maintain my balance and it seems to work pretty well for me.
When I went to Italy twice last year, I did a whole podcast episode about how I eat when in Italy - Episode #80 - My Italian Trip (Part 2): Eating With Balance, Maintaining My Weight, Gluten & Food Sensitivities. It's all about how I stay gluten-free, avoid my food sensitivities and maintain balance with my weight and eating whilst in Italy. Even though I'm talking about Italy, it really does apply to so many other places in the world.
What I would do there is really enjoy lunch and dinner time. I would have a coffee in the morning and because you do so much walking in Italy, the mornings go so fast anyway, then I would be hungry come lunch-time. That's when I would enjoy a beautiful big lunch, then I would have a beautiful big dinner and I would also always have a glass of wine or a Campari Spritz with both lunch & dinner.
Like I said earlier, they're 2 higher calorie meals and that's how I maintained my balance in Italy. I stuck to 2 big meals again, but I also snack on fresh fruit. Often in the morning (like mid-morning), if I was walking around and started to get hungry, I would find a big tub of fresh fruit (or I would do that in the afternoon). That's what I do in Italy, but there's lots more info in that podcast.
Sometimes I try to make one of the meals a bit lighter, more of a veggie, salad-based lunch and then the other meal would be meatballs (or just whatever I wanted for dinner). I would have gluten-free pasta as well. Whereas in Bali, it was more opting for brunch, because I would get hungry a bit earlier, it was included and that's what worked for me.
Let's talk about how to choose the best options for dinner, because I feel like whatever you get on a menu is going to be tasty because it's at a restaurant but it's important to try and choose the healthiest option …
If you're looking to maintain balance, maybe 1 or 2 of your meals could be a pizza, burger or a big pasta, that's fine, but for the majority of your meals it's usually good to opt for the protein and salad or protein and veg, that's always what I gravitate towards, especially if you're gluten sensitive or celiac, that's a very easy way to stay gluten-free as well.
If you always opt for protein and veg, things like olives, cold meats, raw or grilled seafood (that’s a really good thing to share as an entree with someone), then ypour main course can be whatever the protein and veg is on the menu, but of course that's going to change with what cuisine you're at.
I want to break down the cuisines to give you a few tips, so you can navigate a menu and choose the best things so that you are not going OTT all the time with what you're eating at those dinners or lunches.
FYI - It's always a good idea to be conscious of the bread basket they put on the table as well and other extras like fries. Just avoid getting chips on the side. Instead, get salad or veggies on the side and either avoid the bread altogether (if you're someone that loses control around bread) or just limit yourself to 1 small bread roll or half a piece of bread. Enjoy it, but don't go OTT.
So wherever you are (depending on the cuisine) these are some good tips for what to avoid -
The words fried, tempura, sticky, crumbed, glazed and sweet. All of those words mean that it's heavily fried in a heck of a lot of oil or a heck of a lot of sugar. Even if it's a protein and veg, if it has those words in it - if it's a schnitzel or crumbed chicken, or if it's sweet and sour pork, usually those words mean that there was a lot of sugar and a lot of extra oil. Sometimes, it can be really good to just avoid those.
Also things that are heavily baste with lots of sweet chili sauce, barbecue sauce or hoisin. Quite often those dishes can come with a lot of extra sugar.
What we want to opt for, if we're thinking about proteins and veg, is the words stir-fried, grilled, roasted, poached, barbecued or sous vide.
If it's a salad dressing - lemon, olive oil and vinegar are great.
As for alcohol - ciders, beers, most cocktails and fruit juice you want to avoid. There's lots of extra sugar. Also tonic water has a lot of sugar too which people don't realise.
With cocktails, you can be savvy with this - you can tell them to hold the sugar, but most cocktails are going to have a lot of sugar in them unless you tell them to leave the sugar out or to reduce the sugar and only add a tiny bit. Most places are accommodating of that and it's really good to ask. I love a Campari Spritz, that's my cocktail of choice. Campari is fairly bitter, it's not too high in sugar and then it's just Prosecco and soda water. I really love margaritas too, but I usually just ask for no sugar to be added and they're still pretty nice.
Alcohol to opt for is spirits with soda or diet tonic, wine and champagne, or you could copy me and get a Campari Spritz. If you don't want a cocktail that's too alcoholic, you could just get a Campari and soda. That's really good too and it’s only about half a standard drink. So that's a nice light way of drinking without the added sugar and the added calories. It's really beautiful to have some fresh orange in that as well.
If it's a tonic-based drink, you could ask to have it with soda instead of tonic water. So just being savvy with how to read drinks menus and asking for a few simple tweaks and changes can really help you there as well.
If you have my 3 Week Body Reset, you have a ‘Dining Out Guide’ and all of these tips are inside that for you. Everything that I'm saying here is super quick, so make sure you always refer back to that guide within my 3 Week Body Reset, which is my signature program that helps women slim down, lose the bloat and quit the yo-yo dieting.
All restaurants have completely different things, but these are just some things that I've summarised for different restaurants for you to draw inspiration from -
Japanese - good starters are edamame beans, sashimi and other raw seafood entrees, grilled, smoked, seared or raw meats and seafood. Miso soup is also a good light option to grab as an entree. Then salads and rice paper rolls, they're good as well.
For mains - teriyaki or sukiyaki meat dishes and just have a small amount of rice. If you can ask for a salad on the side. I always do that. Try to have grilled or teriyaki meats with salad or just a small amount of rice. Then all seafood dishes (if they're not fried or grilled) and marinated meats. Japanese is quite clean and an easy one to navigate.
Vietnamese, Thai or Asian restaurants (like Asian-fusion) - good starters are rice paper rolls, grilled or marinated meats and again, salads and soups.
For mains, things like curries, grilled or barbecued meats and stir-fries, but try to avoid sweet and sour if you can. You usually get a few different things so you could get one of each of those things and then my biggest recommendation here is to bulk up your bowl or your plate with some steamed or stir fried greens instead of rice. That's a really easy way to add more greens to your meal and to fill up on low calorie, really healthy veggies. Then, use that as the base to soak up all of those beautiful sauces from the curries and the stir-fries instead of rice. Of course, a small amount of rice is great, but I really like to encourage women to bulk up their meals with veggies.
Italian - back in Episode #80 - My Italian Trip (Part 2): Eating With Balance, Maintaining My Weight, Gluten & Food Sensitivities I give lots more tips about Italian eating but good starters are olives, meats, a small amount of cheese, salads (caprese salad is great) and you can share that on the table, anti-pasti and then any type of protein with vegetables (but make sure it's roasted, sous vide or grilled).
Try to avoid fried and crumbed foods. If it's just a couple of times, enjoy a beautiful pasta but opt for gluten-free (if you're gluten-free, gluten-sensitive or celiac).
If you can't see a protein and veg in the main section, let's say there's only a couple of mains and they're all crumbed or fried, you can choose 2 entrees. That's what I do sometimes, I’ll grab meatballs (they're called polpette) and quite often they're in the entree section of an Italian menu and then I'll get a side of verdura. Most places have that and that's usually just like a selection of grilled veggies. So I'll choose a side or a salad and one of the meat-based entrees and that will form my main dish as well.
A couple more tips on restaurant side dishes & savvy swaps that you can make -
Mexican - a great thing to choose would be a naked burrito - get meat and salad and guacamole and just swap out the wrap, the rice or the chips for a big salad instead. If you order something like a caesar salad, that can be good sometimes, but ask for no croutons and the dressing on the side.
This goes for all salads and I say this all the time when you're dining out, if you can, most of the time salads are heavily dressed in dressing. They'll put maybe 6 or 7 tablespoons of olive oil on that salad.
So what I always like to do (when I can, not always) but I try to be conscious as much as I can and I will often ask for the dressing on the side. That means that you can just pour about 1 to 2 tablespoons of dressing on the salad for yourself, so that it's not just drenched in all these extra calories.
Just another couple of quick ideas - swap chips and potatoes to salad if you can. Of course, it's fine to eat a couple of potatoes, totally fine! When I was in Bali, we would always get pureed potato or roasted potatoes as one of the sides. Most of my sides would be greens, carrots and other things and I'll just have a small amount of potatoes but if chips or roasted potatoes are the bulk of the side, you could always just ask to have salad instead. That's a little swap that can make a big difference sometimes too.
Like I always say, when I'm talking to you guys about how to eat at home as well. It's always about 80/ 20. It’s a holiday after all, so just try to do your best 80% of the time, but then enjoy pasta or have the potatoes for a couple of the meals, but try to be savvy and conscious for about 80% of the time, especially if you want to make room for alcohol as well, which most of us do. I know I do anyway, especially when I'm on holiday.
I believe it's mainly about what you eat. It's so much easier to control your calories and just be a bit more conscious about what you eat. It's easier to do that, than it is to smash yourself in the gym and try to counteract the amount of calories that you eat. If you think like that and you try to exercise off your food, it usually never works out.
Think about how easy it is to have 2 sugary cocktails … instead be a bit savvy and not have sugar in the cocktails. You could be drinking 300 calories, instead of 700 calories. Without even knowing that's 400 calories, but how hard would that be to burn all of that off at the gym?
I think it's far better to focus on what you're eating and use exercise as a supplement to what you're doing and another way to just keep the balance while you're traveling.
I want to offer a few pieces of advice while you're traveling, so that you actually keep your movement up. I used to be someone that would have the all-or-nothing mentality (very similar to eating when I would travel) and I know a lot of people relate to this too. So I would do nothing at all, maybe a little beach walk but if I remember, I wouldn't even want to do that. I would think - no, this is a holiday!
Back then I was doing exercise that I didn't enjoy. I was running for ages on the treadmill and thought that I had to do intense gym classes for exercise to be effective. Now I've found a balance with exercise that I actually enjoy and I've realised that I don't have to smash myself to get results.
There's a few things that I want to say here -
Continue with what you enjoy when you go away and make it easy on yourself. So tell yourself that you're just going to do a 10 minute walk and maybe you get to the gym at the hotel and you start doing 10 minutes and that action then creates momentum. Even if you stop there, anything is better than nothing.
Another reason why something is better than nothing is that if you want to form a consistent habit, get home and continue with exercise, it's going to be far easier to keep that going of you keep the habit when you're away, then if you don't do that and you do nothing at all. If you just do something tiny, it's going to be really good for your long-term habits because you will get home and you'll find it far easier to get back into the swing of things.
I'll share what I do when I travel …
I make it really easy on myself. I find this doable and enjoyable. I do a 20 to 30 minute incline walk on the treadmill. Often I will listen to a podcast (or listen to music, call a friend or my parents) and then I will choose 3 (sometimes 4 if I'm feeling like it) weight machines where I will fatigue certain muscle groups.
In Bali, I did a leg day where I did 3 different leg machines and also an ab machine. Then I would alternate and do arms & shoulders the following day. It would only be 45 minutes max. which I feel is very achievable, very doable.
The game also changed when I changed my mindset about 3 years ago now to focus far more on weight training and strength. Doing my own weights in the gym or going to Pilates (as opposed to cardio all the time), I've seen my body change because of that. I don't want to go into this too much but the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn through and the higher your metabolism is.
It's one of the most important things you can do if you're looking for easy weight maintenance and weight loss as well. Focusing on strength training means that you keep that strength up. If you do that, you will see the long term results and easier weight loss.
Doing cardio only definitely isn't as effective and I find walking and weights easier than cardio anyway. That's what makes me stay consistent and consistency is what brings results. I only saw changes in my body this year to be honest, after doing weight training for 3 consistent years. It takes time and the reason I'm finally seeing changes is because I've always had that mindset.
I just do a small amount every single day or I'll go to a Pilates class. If I went to the gym and told myself - okay, I'm going to do a full body workout and do arms and legs! If that took me 45 minutes, I just know that I wouldn't be motivated and I wouldn't do anything, but when I tell myself - I'm just going to do legs, then I stay consistent. That's what has brought results to me.
Another hack that I was thinking about and want to share with you as it relates to weights is that when you go away, you're going to be eating a bit more. Even though I'm talking about maintaining your balance and indulging a bit more with balance, you're still eating out every night and you're still eating restaurant prepared meals, so even if you're trying to stick to 2 meals a day, maybe it might be more food than you eat in your everyday life, especially if you're adding alcohol on top of that and you're laying around all day with less incidental exercise …so if you are taking in slightly more calories than you do at home, that's totally okay! Gaining a little bit of weight on holiday is fine, but it’s also a really awesome opportunity to gain muscle.
When you're in a calorie surplus (eating slightly more calories than you would need to remain weight and you're eating slightly more than you would at home), that is what helps grow your muscles. It's quite hard to grow muscle if you're in a calorie deficit or even at your weight maintenance amount. It's possible, but it's quite hard to do. So the easiest way to grow muscles is to eat slightly more calories, whilst you're doing weight training, because at least that means you can actually grow new muscle.
When you grow more muscle, your metabolism increases, so I use that as a bit of a hack. I'm like - this is a really great opportunity for me to grow muscle and to strengthen my future metabolism, whilst I'm eating extra food.
I take my focus off burning calories and I actually use it as a time to gain strength when I'm on a holiday. That is another mindset tip and incentive to get to the gym. That has been a huge game changer for me and everything I just spoke about is what has made me keep up my exercise when I go away now.
Also when I'm in Italy (or a city that is really new to me), I love walking everywhere, like everywhere. In Italy, I'll be doing anywhere from 10kms a day and it's so easy. I use that as my main form of exercise and that's enough. So that really helps, but I also find a gym and because I'm doing so much walking, I just use the weight machines. I'll choose 3 or 4 machines maximum, fatigue my muscles then leave and that's what helps me keep up my strength, my fitness and my balance when I travel, if it's not like a resort.
Like I said, this is what works for me and some of it might work for you, but remember, we are all different and it's all trial and error. Every time you go away, you will find your balance, the more conscious you are.
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