How I Quickly Get Back in Shape (and Lower My Body Fat Percentage) After a Long Vacation

What to do before, during, and after a long vacation to stay in shape all year long

Photo by Roman Odintsov on Pexels

Staying in shape or losing fat should never be anyone’s priority while on vacation.

Period.

That said, none of us want to lose the progress we’ve made. We all want to minimize the “vacation damage” so that we can get back on track once our break is over.

And to be honest… I’m great at doing this.

Last year, I went on two long trips and retained the athletic physique I’ve been working on for years.

Left (fat loss percentage before and after 1st trip — I traveled from Mar 24th to April 9th). Right (fat percentage before and after 2nd trip — I traveled from May 26th to June 13th). Note: the measurements on the left were done with my gym’s “athletic” mode, whereas the ones on the right were done with the “standard”, which is why the numbers on the right are bigger than those on the left. The way to compare is to add 4.5% to the ones on the left. So, before my trip, I was actually around 18% body fat in “standard” mode. [Images by author]

As you can see, my fat percentage went up just a little bit after both trips but quickly lowered thanks to the pre-, during, and post-practices I try to follow around weeks-long vacations.

This was also true during my last trip.

From March 31st to April 16th, 2024, I went on a much-needed trip. But, this time, things were more complicated than before for two reasons:

1. I got sick before and after…