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How you incorporate the fasting lifestyle into vacations/holidays/special occasions?

I just booked a cruise recently coming up in June. 7 days in the Caribbean sailing out of Florida. I love cruising. It is my preferred way to vacation, but in doing so it reminds me that many people in this subculture deal with vacations far differently than I do. For reference, I am a daily OMAD guy who has been at my goal weight for a very long time, but even when I was still actively losing my philosophy was unchanged. So yeah, as soon as I set foot on the ship in Tampa, it's on like Donkey Kong. I plan to be pounding cocktails and shots of rum like a frat boy and eating whatever it is I feel like in that moment without restriction. It will be total debauchery. A new low. I should be so ashamed..........but I won't be. The way I look at it, I only get 2 weeks of PTO from work per year. That's it. 2 weeks where I do not have the crushing weight of responsibility and the volatility of the financial markets breathing down my neck night and day. Why on Earth would I not want to spend that time without the chains of my daily grind holding me back? Or how about Thanksgiving back home with my parents. My Mother's soon to be world famous au-gratin potato casserole or those pecan pies she must put crack in? Same story for me there. I enjoy and get back to the grind when I get back home. I guess my overall sentiment on the subject is that if your life becomes little more than a mechanism for maintaining body weight and you never allow yourself to live, is that really living at all? I just go into these rare occasions with the full knowledge that once it's over, it's back to the real world and in the real world this former fatty has to stay forever vigilant. Vacations help me maintain my sanity, and anticipation of one on the horizion is what makes living this lifestyle that much more worth it. My 2 cents.

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On vacation? Nah. Forget about fasting.

If i’m on vacation, I’m usually with family, and they express love through food. So I’m not turning down meals on vacation.

Took a 5 day trip in November. I think I skipped breakfast 3 of those days, but ended up eatting lunch and dinner every day.

I didn’t get on the scale till a week after I was back and on my normal schedule ….. Lost 2 lbs.

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I don’t fast on occasions like that, eat moderately and enjoy the time to it’s fullest. Fasting is an important part of my health regimen but not at the needless expense of enjoying life experiences, I’ll be fasting after the event anyway.

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One aspect of the vacation I hone in on is treating any airline travel as an opportunity to fast starting from when I leave home to when I arrive at my destination. I always grew up having a bite to eat out at the airport during waits or layovers (usually $$$ and not very good) or eating all the snacks on the flight itself. Outside of this, I do the same as you in terms of enjoying the trip! In the end, I believe it evens out!

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I don’t go quite as whole hog as you’re implying you do, but I certainly agree with the sentiment. I’ll not worry about eating windows, but I’ll still try not to eat until I’m hungry and still limit my carbs to some degree. Note the word try. I don’t worry about it if I “fail”. Like you said, back to the grind after vacation is over.

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Yeah, I’ve had to redefine what is really enjoyable to be. I’ve gone glutton many times and I’ve learned it tastes good in the moment I’m eating it but I need to pay for it as it effects my energy and mood for the hours that follow. My vacation becomes about consuming, recovery, release, consume, sleep, consume. And after doing it and really looking at how much fun I’m having, I realize I’m not having that much fun. There’s the moment of the first bite which is fun. But after that the enjoyment declines fast. The biggest joy that comes from consuming is the social part of doing it with others.

My real joy now comes from the elevated mind and body state I get after hitting day 5 of my fast. I’m alert, present, focused. I don’t feel like I’m constantly recovering from eating and my times don’t revolve around meal times.

I don’t deny myself fresh juices though. It’s not real fasting for some. But for me it’s exactly what I’m going for.

If I were going to the carribean, I know they have abundant fresh fruit. I would have a juice feast and enjoy the vacations in a new way that has nothing to do with eating.

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Yep.

I had to travel for work the week before last. I brought shakes with me, along with vitamins, fiber, and collagen protein.

I realized my second day there to just take it easy. Don’t go insane pigging out on pizza and pasta. But don’t freak out over not sticking to windows, let myself enjoy some alcohol, and just go with the flow. I even had a poke bowl with some brown rice (despite normally eating keto.) I still focused on protein and good veggies, kept portions reasonable, and just kept as close to normal as I reasonably could. It was worth it to not have to explain to a bunch of folks over several days why I do the things I do.

I came back with a case of Covid, which was a bummer (it was my first, and hopefully last, encounter with it) but I also broke through a plateau I’d been struggling with for several weeks before I left. Sometimes you have to just let yourself enjoy things within reason and know that sometimes it’s just as critical to take care of your sanity as it is to take care of your body.

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I just enjoy the holiday food and return to fasting/super low carb immediately after. It avoids missing out on fun. It means not having to listen to Aunt BigNose from busting my butt because *insert her aggravating opinions here*. And part of the holidays is participating and why shouldn’t I when I’ve been working so hard with my health?

Go enjoy. Then, come back and fast.

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Just count on spending several days on or near the toilet since it will wreak havoc on your system for several days. I would go off of OMAD before going on the cruise to give your body time to adjust to switching your eating routine. Prodigious amounts of alcohol won’t help your stomach when switching from eating once a day to multiple times with the likelihood of a higher calorie intake, so your body will let you know.

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If that works for you that is fine having said that why do you feel the need to let go, maybe the path you are on is not the right one for you and it needs to be adjusted, to me it it feels like it is a burden and for 2 weeks you are escaping from it that is not sustainable as a diet/lifestyle long term, you may want to investigate and go deeper why you feel that way.

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I do mostly on vacation, but only because I’m not hungry during my fasting hours. if I want to eat, I do. if a special occasion falls during my fasting hours, I’ll definitely partake and make an exception.

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I still fast on vacations but looser (like 14 hour fast) because that’s exactly what allows me to eat whatever I want and still basically maintain my weight. Maybe up some water weight but it goes away quickly after returning home. I still eat whatever I want to enjoy, but I schedule late breakfasts and early dinners.

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You don’t have to fast everyday. I do omad and I’m exactly where I want to be. When I go on vacation, I don’t fast. Feast when you can. Even when you’re not on vacation, you do not have to fast every day. Skipping a week or a day is not going to make that big of a difference as long as you go back on your usual routine after