Is anyone else overweight, rubbish at sticking to a healthy eating plan, but unbelievably good at it when on an all inclusive holiday?

[Diemme]

I'm away at the moment and that's me. It's not a one off as it always happens on holiday. I go for breakfast and get an omelette with salad. The huge selection of pastries genuinely don't interest me. Same at all meals. I have no idea what causes it but I'd love to know. See if I can bottle it and bring it home. It's not the heat because at home I'm just as likely to overeat in hot weather.

I'm the same and think it's because someone else had prepared and cooked it and all I have to do is choose what I would like to eat!

Sounds to me like you have problems dealing with perceived deprivation - as if, subconsciously you're feeling if you don't eat nice food when it's there, it might be gone or someone else might get it. Whereas on an all-inclusive the food will never run out, you don't have to worry about buying or making it, it's always available, and so you don't feel like you have to fill up because it's always there.

It's being away from home and all the associations you have with food and eating at home. Plus not being bored!

These make sense. Just a completely different set of associations. Never really thought of the deprivation thing. I think that's a huge part of it. At home I limit the amount of time that 'treat' food is available so feel compelled to eat it when it's there.

I wonder what would happen if you went out and bought all the treat food you wanted one time. Like every single thing you could possibly want. And then you’d know it was all there and not going anywhere. I know for me when there’s piles of stuff I don’t feel at all compelled to eat it - we still have chocolate from Easter in the house! But if there’s one of something I really think about it and want it.

Im on an AI at the moment and all the fruit and salad is prepared and beautifully presented. It makes it so much more appealing!

We went all inclusive once and, honestly, I was nauseated by the sight of overweight and obese Brits piling their plates with crap and going back for seconds. It put me off my food! I'm overweight and eat my share of crap but the sight of all that gluttony and lack of self control gave me pause for thought. Alas, that didn't last wgen I got home ...

When Im at work (office based and tied to my desk) I cant seem to go more than an hour without nibbling at something . At home i need a cuppa and something to eat on a regular basis. I have 3 meals a day and always have room for a little something.

On holiday I have a will of iron. Just like you OP I make good choices and am not in the least bit attracted to desserts or junk food. I can go between meals without snacking and if I have a good breakfast will happily miss lunch altogether. Ive been on AI ,cruises and self catering with friends .Its always the same. And Ive puzzled over it too .I tend to return home with a determination to carry on my new ways but once back its a swift return to the old ways .

I suppose the answer is to have an eternal holiday .

So strange, it's obviously a phenomenon for lots of people. It makes me think how eating and stress are so related. I'm only 100% relaxed when I'm on holiday which may have something to do with it. The other paradox is that food loses its appeal when it's not forbidden. I arrive on holiday thinking I'll eat what I like, no one has to diet on an AI holiday. Then as soon as I give myself permission to eat it I don't want it anymore.

I only put on half a pound after two weeks in America (!!) but promptly put weight on once back. So weird. My dh managed to lose a lot of weight on our all inclusive honeymoon in the Caribbean by being very sick, bless him! I wasn't exactly jealous, but I could do with a dose of norovirus, frankly. 🤣

At home I limit the amount of time that 'treat' food is available so feel compelled to eat it when it's there.

I was like that. I was brought up like that. Very much, don't have it in the house so I can't eat it sort of thing. But now I have a box of 'treats'- chocolate, kit kat, biscuits, all sorts. I bought it 3 weeks ago and have barely eaten any of it. It's like knowing it's there and I can have it, and I'll buy more has stopped me eating it all!

I sometimes watch tv with a KitKat beside me, unopened. I can eat it if I want to but I'm choosing not to. Somehow it makes it easier to make the right choice than if the KitKat had been sitting in the kitchen calling to me. I guess this is slightly similar.

Ive come back to this thread because Ive pondered on the reason why Im like this. Ive started doing LCHF diet recently and its going well. I struggled a bit at first as I needed to buy a lot of things in quantities I dont generally buy such as meat ,cheese ,eggs etc.
I can afford to buy bigger quantities but we often eat out or buy ready meals ( I know, I know).
I was opening a tin of tuna the other day and contemplating how much to have and how much to save. I dont need to 'save' food. I was intending to save half the tin and have that the next day. The costs saved would be less than 40p. And having only half would leave me hungrier so I would start scavenging to find something I could have at probably a higher cost and with more calories/carbs. Weird thinking.

Then I recalled that I was allowed to have anything out of the corner shop (on tick) as long as I didnt pester my Mum for food. For years my lunch was a packet of crisps and a kitkat. I will still have this as a default 'meal'.

So my aim is to treat myself to nice food rather than bargain bucket stuff where possible. Proper meals rather than ready meals with nice ingredients that I usually save for visitors. Im going to try for filling myself up with the good stuff and hopefully wont need to resort to having a quick low grade meal that needs a pudding consisting of a bar of chocolate and several biscuits or cake to fill me up .

Does this make sense to anyone?

I went to an all inclusive holiday in Sicily a couple of years ago for 2 weeks and lost 9lbs! I was just eating fresh fruits, chicken, salads, spaghetti etc... there were no fast food joints around at all.

Amazing holiday!

I’m the same at an AI- I eat so healthy because the selections look so great and it’s all prepped for me. If I were rich I’d get my chef to do one every day

So my aim is to treat myself to nice food rather than bargain bucket stuff where possible. Proper meals rather than ready meals with nice ingredients that I usually save for visitors. Im going to try for filling myself up with the good stuff and hopefully wont need to resort to having a quick low grade meal that needs a pudding consisting of a bar of chocolate and several biscuits or cake to fill me up

This sounds a lot like the approach in The Gabriel Method. Jon Gabriel talks about eating whatever you fancy, but really listening to your body - when you take note of what your body actually enjoys you end up picking the good quality fresh food with all the right nutrients in it most of the time. And once your body is properly fed with all the right stuff, it’s no longer crying out for the bad stuff in a desperate attempt to get some energy. Well worth a read for anyone who identifies with the OP, forbidding foods can make them all the more attractive, but once you take away that deprivation mindset and ‘allow’ yourself to eat whatever you choose, you don’t automatically make terrible choices!

To add to @ragingwhorebag (fab name btw) I’d also recommend “Just Eat It” by Laura Thomas PHD.

I have exactly what the OP has and identify a lot with what @miaCara says too.

It’s a perception issue I have; even the tiniest feeling of deprivation will have me hit the “FUCK IT” button the moment something tiny goes wrong.

Haven’t sad any sweets in around 10 days - a record for me. Had cross words with DH yesterday, drive to ASDA and bought a 3 for 2 on Cadbury Buttons share bags and tanned the fucking lot.

If the bananas, kiwis, melon and strawberries we have in our house had been made all fancy like they do in the Med restaurants that would NOT have happened

Yy OP doesn't even have to be AI for me. Something about hot weather, being outside and swimming and not having to prepare everything that means I eat far more healthily offset by drinking more
Even lost weight on honeymoon!

I am the same when on holiday and agree with other posters that it's the fact all the healthy stuff is prepared already for you to just lift and eat. Heat always gets me though plus not having your normal snacks easily available means you dont crave them as much I find!

I've never been on AI holiday but have been to restaurants with all you can eat buffet and I have found myself eating less there, as I know I can keep going back if I want to, I just put small amounts on my plate.

Having said that, if food is in my house then I have to eat it!

Yep. Because someone else has done all the grunt work.

Cara - that’s a useful insight.

I wonder if you are a visual person, so the beautifully displayed salads on holiday attract you?

Also AI salads always have lots of toppings ( like seeds and nuts ) and various dressings, which keep up your fats and make you feel more full.

A key thing for me is finding some delicious meals that contain a lot of veg and some protein. Many of us have been brought up to think that vegetables are some sort of penance to be squeezed onto the side of a large plate of carbs, and that meat and dairy and expensive luxuries. Or worse still, fatty food that will make you fat!

For me it’s stir fry with cauliflower rice or the low carb noodles. Feels like a take away Chinese only better.

@PaulHollywoodsSexGut and @ragingwhorebag
Ill take a look at those books to glean what I can from them - every little bit of insight helps.

My problem seems to lie in not so much deprivation of treats (although that comes into it too) but in allowing myself to have the nice things . The better quality , the bigger portion . On AI or anything other than self catering holidays I am catered for splendidly and I dont have to do anything to justify the food I eat. Its actively encouraged. So I can just eat what I want /need and generally no more.

So maybe people with our sort of problem need more treats in the way of good proper food rather than the popular conception of a treat being a luscious gateau , lobster thermidor , bag of revels or whatever. .

For me I believe that it's because the everyday stress is gone... you're not comfort eating because you're chilled and happy

Yup. Lost weight on a AI. I think it’s not eating at night, at home I am forever eating sensibly all day and then go nuts in the evening. But then on holiday eat with the kids earlier put them to bed and don’t eat whilst chilling out with dh rather than randomly eating tonnes of food whilst tidying.