It actually helps me enjoy it more.
Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. — Dwayne Johnson
EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: Any advice or recommendation given in my writing is what works for ME and may not be the best regimen for you based on your psychological or physiological makeup and stability. Please consult a doctor when making decisions about your health.
The wife and I spent time this past week planning for one of our favorite things to do this time of the year: travel.
Yeah…we’re not very sentimental as it relates to buying presents and putting up decorations of any kind.
However, we are pretty hardcore about taking advantage of the last few months of the year when things are a bit slower than usual to try to get out of the country and explore all the different things the world has to offer.
As we explored all the different activities that we were going to do in Hawaii (we had to change our trip from Barcelona and Portugal because of the Omicron variant), I was thinking of when I was going to squeeze in workouts during our time there.
As I thought about the schedule, it wasn’t going to be much of a problem since I always wake up about 4 hours before my wife does to get my morning rolling in those sacred early morning “Golden hours.”
I know some people might think, “But you’re on vacation, WHY would you do such a thing???”
I sometimes ask myself the same question, but as I think about it and debate with myself, I always come back to a few reasons that this is typically the best decision for me in the long run.
My body works much better if I keep my routine
For me, the consistency of my morning routine is what my body needs each day to be able to get off on the right foot.
Every day, there are so many things that could potentially throw my body off, as it relates to eating the wrong thing or not getting the right amount of sleep that I am very focused on staying consistent with my routine to ensure this doesn’t happen.
I have a morning routine that is very much revolved around exercising, and if any part of this deviates in any type of way, I often find myself feeling a little different during the course of the day.
At night, one of the reasons I feel that I sleep so well is that I exercise pretty heavily in the morning. Therefore, when there are times in which I don’t get that early morning sweat, my body seems to be thrown a bit off, and I don’t get my usual quick slumber.
Also, exercising very much wakes me up in the morning and gets my energy level going, so if I didn’t do this, my morning would get off to a much slower start than to what it’s accustomed — something that would go against the goal of enjoying my time traveling in a new and exciting destination.
I actually enjoy the food more
I love to eat, and there is no time that this is more evident than when I’m on vacation. The amount of food that I consume typically during the time I’m on vacation is probably equal to the amount of food that I eat the rest of the year.
It’s definitely a possibility, as my wife and I typically enjoy eating at a number of different types of restaurants and enjoy having a variety of exotic cuisines that we can not get at home. This usually leads to us having a large amount of said exotic cuisine, as we desire to get our heart’s content since the chances of us having something similar to it back home are not good.
For me, half of the pleasure of eating is satisfying the hunger that I have at the time. Often, the food tastes much better if you know that you don’t have a full stomach and you can enjoy a large amount of whatever you’re having.
Since food is the fuel that your body runs on, that hunger increases dramatically when you’ve exerted yourself through some type of physical activity. Therefore, I always like to make sure I have a good workout that morning if possible to build up an appetite and make the meal that much better.
Whenever I’ve had the tendency to eat a lot of food and not work out in any capacity, I often find myself not even hungry by the next meal. Trying to eat something that you usually enjoy on a full stomach often leads to a feeling of sadness as you can’t really enjoy the meal as you desire.
By working out and keeping your body burning fuel during your time on vacation, you will put yourself in a much better position to really look forward to and enjoy that amazing meal that night.
I won’t feel like a fat a** when I get back home.
The last reason that I always do my best to work out when I’m on vacation is to make sure I don’t feel like a complete slob when I return.
Being on vacation is great and being able to let my hair down a bit and not worry about weighing everything I eat every day is a bit of a relief.
However, knowing that fitness is very much an important part of my lifestyle, to think that I could be on vacation and throw all caution to the wind is not something that I can truly stomach.
Balance is something that is very important to me, and being on vacation and enjoying the smells and tastes of whatever city I’m in is to be expected but not to the point that I hate myself when I get back.
Therefore, I need to keep some sense of consistency and adherence to some rules or standards to ensure that I don’t come back 20 lbs overweight. The work it takes to lose weight can be extremely hardcore, as it may take someone one month to lose 10 lbs in a healthy sustainable way.
If I just went H.A.M. (Hard As a Mutherf*cker) on vacation and eat whatever I want in whatever fashion I desire, there’s a good chance I could gain 10 lbs on one of our usual two-week trips.
And while 10 lbs may not be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, as I could easily get that weight back off as I get back to my normal routine, I would much rather have that amount cut in half and have enjoyed all the benefits outlined above just by doing what I’m used to doing every day anyway…getting my body in motion.