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One of our goals has been to go
on a vacation to Hawaii, relax, have fun, get rejuvinated, and lose weight!
On one our trips to Waikiki, Hawaii, we suceeded. Our goal was accomplished
by combining our vacation with walking and watching our calorie intake. In the first six days
we lost 15 pounds between us.We did it while having a really fun time and eating out. Everyone in our family lost weight and we maintained
it when we got home by continuing to eat right and exercise. It turned out to
be a pivotal trip for us to get relaxed and get into shape so that we could make even
more progress when we got back home.
We selected a comfortable and affordable condo near, but not on, the
beach in Waikiki. That way, we had more room to stretch out, a kitchen, and it required that we walk
every day to get to the beach and to get to coffee
in the morning. Also, the place didn't have incredible buffets and easy access
to food that we often find hard to resist in Hawaiian hotels. Keeping food out of reach gave us lots of excuses to walk which
really added up.
We brought three important things with us on the trip to support our personal weight loss program. We put the extra stuff in a box that we checked in with our luggage. The three things were 1) a scale to track our progress (we like instant feedback) 2) an electric grill to cook fresh fish easily and with minimal oil (George Foreman grills are our favorite) and 3) pedometers for everyone in the family to track our daily exercise progress. We brought these things, rather than buying them in Oahu, to make sure we had them (in case they weren't easy to find nearby) and had them immediately. Of course we also brought good walking shoes, socks, comfy shorts and pants, and
loose shirts to keep cool.
Once we were settled into the condo,
we did a baseline check of our weights with the scale we brought. Then we headed to the grocery store to load up on fruits, veggies and lots of fresh fish, the wonderful bounty of Hawaii.
Here's the basics of what we did: :
Walking: We woke up early, before the heat of the day,
to make our daily pilgrimage to a Starbucks. Starbucks are everywhere
in Waikiki and they open early. We usually headed to the Starbucks in the lobby of the Outrigger Reef Hotel and then sat on a bench outside watching the ocean waves and people going by before heading back to the condo. The walk to coffee and back was over a mile. The day had hardly begun and we had already gotten in a mile of walking!
We walked
to the grocery store (Food Pantry), walked to ABC stores for water, newspaper,
and fruit, walked to lunch. We walked to everything. A check of our pedometers and we
was always amazed at how quickly it added up. At first we could only do 2 to
3 miles a day. We got blisters and sore legs. But over time, we were able to
get to 5 miles a day and the blisters and soreness went away. Soon we were covering
the distance faster and faster. This amazed us, since when we arrived, we were really out of shape.
Counting calories: We found that just counting calories impacts the amount and kind of food we eat. We each had daily calories goals. We didn't always make the goal, but we were more aware of what we ate and usually got close. The combination of walking and lower
calories really added upe. At home, we often ate extra calories to stay alert during the day, but on vacation we just slept when we were tired. After all the walking,
falling asleep was easy.
Eating fish. With
the electric grill, eating fresh fish was really simple. In Waikiki delicious
and inexpensive fish is available at the Food Pantry (on Kuhio) or in the Ala
Moana mall at Foodland. You can get fresh Ahi (tuna), Marlin, Ono, or Mahi Mahi.
With our fish cooker, we would plug in and heat it for 5 minutes, spray it with
Pam, and throw on fish filets to cook for 5 minutes. The taste is amazing, the
fish is filling, it provides incredible protein and nutrition and the calories
are minimal. A 4oz fish steak is half the calories of 4oz of beef.We ate fish
with an egg in the morning and fish for dinner. That left us with excess calories
for lunch at a restaurant and a glass of wine at night. We found ocean view
restaurants with incredible salads and ate burgers without the buns.
We like a challenge and goals, so creating a challenging goal as a part of our vacation and meeting it, made it even more enjoyable. Every day we logged the number of miles
we walked, the number of calories we ate, the number of hours we slept, and
any other actions that we had taken to benefit our health (swimming or other
types of exercise). We focused on measurable actions done that day to improve
our health and fitness.
Every evening we took long walks up and down Waikiki and tried a differnt ocean-facing bar each day. It was daily exercise combined with romance.
At the end of the vacation
we felt relaxed, rejuvenated, and we lost weight! It was a great vacation!
Check out Waikiki Walks to see where we walked every day.
Copyright 2008, 2009
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