The Expat’s Guide to Staying In Shape During the Holiday Season

Heading home over the holidays? Keep your shape and sanity with these helpful tips.

For those of us living abroad, the holidays are often looked forward to for months as an opportunity to visit seldom seen friends and family, take a much needed break from work and the stress of expat life and, perhaps best of all, eat all that food that is not on the menu in our foreign locale. But, all this rest, relaxation and indulgence can wreak havoc on a diet and exercise routine, making many an expat’s number one New Year’s resolution to get back to the gym. So, to avoid a spare tire when returning from a holiday visit home, here a few of the best tips for keeping in shape over the next few months.

Get Some Exercise

Often the last thing on most expats’ minds when it comes to heading home for the holidays, exercise is one of the best things you can do for yourself to stay fit (and sane) while on vacation. Working out, either at a gym or at home for an hour every day has several benefits. For starters, it keeps your metabolism up, which will prevent you from packing on that dreaded “vacation weight” which all your colleagues will notice the day you get back to your office. Relaxing trips often involve overeating and sitting around drinking, talking and watching TV; by exercising, too, you can enjoy time with friends and family, and return from your holiday happy and fit.

If possible, it is best to do your workout in the morning, since you will get the most benefit from that early metabolic supercharge - it will wake you up and make you feel alive for the whole day.

Take a Walk

Taking a walk provides an excellent opportunity for some personal time with someone you seldom see. Plus, it gets you and them outside for some fresh air and a little exercise, and away from all the cakes and cookies and TV. Ideally, these walks should be about half an hour after eating, since they aid digestion and will serve as a good reminder not to overeat. Plus, walking in the cold or heat actually burns a lot of calories since your body has to work hard to maintain its normal temperature - just don’t get frostbite or sunstroke!

Portion Control

Visits back home are, for most of us at least, much anticipated gastronomic overloads. And the less often you visit home, the more likely you are to look forward to that special meal or treat. Absolutely enjoy the opportunity to feast with friends and family and indulge in the tastes of home, just set a few boundaries.

The simplest rule is to not eat until you feel sick, but even stopping just before this point still puts you on the path to pudginess. A better plan is to decide when, where and how you will eat so you don’t end up stuffing everything in sight into your face. A good plan is to try to eat at least one very healthy meal each day, and to not skip any meals since being ravished when sitting down to dinner is a sure-fire recipe for eating your way into a food induced coma.

Eat slowly and drink lots of water between bites and meals to feel full more quickly, and do lots of talking (and listening) to keep your mouth busy. After all, special meals should be about the people and not just the food. Also, don’t skip the vegetables since they are good for you and will fill up some of that space in your stomach that would otherwise end up holding a second slice of pie.

Finally, a food log is a good idea if you are really prone to binge during holidays. Knowing you will have to read about your overeating mistakes later is usually enough motivation to show some self-control. And when your vacation is over, you will be able to recall what deliciousness you did get to scarf down during your visit when your other expat friends ask (and they always ask).

Go Easy on the Booze

Beer, wine, champagne, mulled wine and spiced ciders are all very festive, but they are also loaded with calories and sugar. Don’t be a prude, but know your limits in order to avoid strapping on a few extra pounds (and a hangover). It’s best to pace yourself, spreading alcoholic beverages out over a few hours so that your body can easily burn off the alcohol and calories. Always keep some water close by to make slow-sipping your drink easier without being thirsty. A good rule of thumb to remember is that most alcoholic beverages have as many calories from sugar as a serving of cola, so you don’t drink any more booze per day than you would cola if you want to stay in shape.

Don’t Stress

Weight fluctuations are closely related to stress and anxiety, as they are to diet and exercise. Avoiding stress as much as possible will go a long way toward not only making the trip easier and more enjoyable, but to leaving you looking forward to the next visit home. If reducing stress means keeping with your regular routines such as email, workouts and diet, then do it. And if avoiding stress on holiday means letting all regular responsibilities go for the time being, then do that instead. Just don’t let go of all responsibility and fall behind - that will just add more stress later.

One of the smartest ways to avoid stress is to budget reasonable amounts of time for travel. Rushing to the airport, speeding in between relatives’ houses, flight delays and cancellations, traffic jams, exhaustion and jetlag are all huge stress sources and often lead to arguments and fights. Another good tip is to plan to head back to your expat location a day or two earlier than you have to be back at work. This provides opportunity to do laundry, buy groceries, readjust to the time change, pick up your pet from the kennel or sitter, and discover and deal with any unexpected disasters that occurred while you were gone. Plus, it provides enough of a cushion that you won’t have to make hectic phone calls to rearrange meetings if your return flight is canceled or delayed.

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