Discover how a 10-day holiday helped me realign with core Lifestyle Medicine principles. Learn how to balance rest, relationships, and fitness without guilt or compromise.
For someone living and coaching through the lens of Lifestyle Medicine, holidays can present a tension: How do you preserve health while stepping away from structured routines? How do you balance training holidays with holiday training?
I recently took a 10-day break in France, and here’s what I learned about health, rest, and the power of letting go:
1. Rethinking Food: From Control to Connection
– I stepped back from protein powders, timed macros, 14-hour fasts, and the mountain of veg.
– I leaned into local, fresh food: crusty bread, local cheese, seasonal produce, and family-style meals.
– Wine wasn’t measured or restricted. I drank like the French do—slowly, socially, and with food.
– Eating became about belonging, not macros.
2. Training with Eyes Open
– I brought kit but didn’t obsess.
– When a hamstring niggle reappeared, I pivoted to press-ups, skipping, and bodyweight squats.
– I used running to scout places for family walks and activities, turning exercise into contribution.
3. Exercising in Meaningful Places
– One of my favourite workouts? Press-ups and skipping on a WWII radar bunker. Exercise meets history.
– Every location offered opportunity—stairs, courtyards, forest paths, coastal boardwalks.
4. Moving with, not away from, Family
– I took e-bike rides with family. Quietly turned off my motor for resistance without disruption.
– Built movement into the day without drawing attention or making it feel like a “workout.”
5. Returning Without Regret
– No strict calorie counting. No weighing food. Just consistency of intent.
– I returned 1.5kg heavier—but with no increase in fat mass, and muscle mass preserved.
– Why? Because the base I had built was solid. Ten days of adaptation, not erosion.
Core Lifestyle Medicine Takeaways
– Relationships and rest are medicine. You can rebuild fitness faster than you can repair a strained marriage.
– Your physiology is resilient when you treat it well the other 355 days of the year.
– Modify movement to match your environment. Don’t stop—adapt.
– Train your mindset: Guilt is not a training zone.
– Tone it down in unfamiliar places. Injuries abroad aren’t just frustrating—they’re disruptive to everyone.
Final Thought
This holiday didn’t derail me. It deepened me. As clients, practitioners, or fitness fanatics, we must remember: real health isn’t just built in gyms or measured by devices. It lives in connection, adaptability, joy, and rest.
Take the break. Just take it well.
Author: Dr. T | Lifestyle Medicine Coach, PT, Runner, Dad, and Sometimes Skipper of Squats
Keywords: lifestyle medicine, fitness travel, holiday health, bodyweight training, exercise abroad, intuitive eating, relationships and wellbeing
