[Read the transcript below]
Hi there, it’s Dr. Courtney Raspin.
Today, I want to talk to you a bit about why it is a really bad idea to try and go on some crash diet to lose three to five pounds, so that you think that you’re going to feel so much better in a bathing suit when you go on holiday.
Now a lot of us are thinking about summer holidays right now, but we’re just bombarded with these ideas that we should lose a bit of weight because we’re going to gain so much weight on holiday.
We just can’t go onto the beach looking the way that we do in our bathing suits.
Well let me tell you something…
First of all, nobody is going to notice whether you’re three to five pounds thinner in a bathing suit on your holiday. And if they do notice and they do point that out, why are you going on holiday with these people? I would never go on holiday with somebody that’s going to pick at my body like that. These people are not your friends, no one’s going to notice.
Secondly, if you do try to lose this three to five pounds, it turns holiday into a really stressful endeavour because it’s hard to lose three to five pounds in a very short period of time. Why would you do that to yourself?
Holidays are supposed to be relaxing.
We need to rest and restore, and we need to be looking forward to them. So why put yourself through that hell? Just so you could go on holiday and think that you’re going to feel a little bit better in bathing suit? It’s not my idea of holiday.
And thirdly, even if you do lose this weight, even if you do manage to stress yourself out and lose this three to five pounds or whatever it is you want to lose, so you can go into your bathing suit. You’re going to gain it back, because holidays are for relaxing and restoring. We don’t tend to move around as much. We sit in the sun (most of us). We eat a little bit too much, we drink a bit too much, we gain a little bit of weight.
What you have to remember is that when you come back from holiday, if you just go back to the way you were eating before – just moderate eating and regular exercise – then that weight gain from the holiday will just go away and you will slowly settle back to you body’s natural set point range.
Your body has a weight that it likes to be at, and it will fight hard to try and stay there.
So if you go a bit under, maybe if you’re sick or something, we slowly get back up to our normal weight range.
And when you go over, usually when you’re on holiday and relaxing, within a couple of weeks of just your regular eating plan, your regular exercise plan, your body will again just find its way down to its natural set point weight range.
So why put yourself through this madness a couple of weeks before you on holiday? Really it’s just going to stress you out and makes no real difference at all to what your weight is going to be like a few weeks after you get back.
So this is what I want you to do.
I want you to look forward to your summer holiday.
I want you to know that you’re going to look great on the beach.
I want you to know that nobody is going to notice a three to five pound weight loss, and the stress that you’re going to put yourself through to get there just isn’t worth it and makes holidays too stressful.
I also want you to know that gaining a little bit of weight on holiday is entirely normal because this is a time for your body to restore and relax and for most of us that means slowing down a little bit, eating a bit more and drinking a bit more. And that’s okay because any weight you put on is probably temporary.
It is temporary.
When you come back and you get back into your normal routine, eat moderately, exercise moderately, your body will fight to find that set point range, it’s just what it does.
Over a couple of weeks you’ll find that very slowly and evenly and easily your body will find where it was before you went on holiday.
So don’t worry about it, okay?
Just trust me on this one – I’ve got science on my side.
I want you to have a great time on your summer break without stressing yourself out.
Just look forward and enjoy your break. I hope you all have a fantastic summer.
