Summer vacation season had me worried before I even packed my bag. I lost weight from 90.9kg to 75.3kg with jump rope, and I didn’t want one short trip to undo it. My family and I spent two nights at a beach in Gangwon-do last week, and honestly, I didn’t stick to everything. But I also didn’t come home heavier. Here’s what I actually changed, dealing with both the heat and an unfamiliar place to sleep.
Moving my workouts to dawn, a habit the heat forced on me
Since late July I’ve been running along the Han River around 8 or 9am, but on the first morning of the trip I stepped outside at that hour and my shirt was soaked in five minutes. After that I moved everything to before 6am. I’d wake up, walk the beach with my son for a bit, then do a light 30-minute run. During the day I stayed indoors or in the shade and didn’t go out at all. I used to be the guy who slept in on vacation, but this time I set my alarm for 5:50am.
What I packed alongside my clothes
Before clothes, the first thing I packed was a foldable jump rope. I figured the hotel room would be too cramped to use it, but even a hallway or a small rooftop space was enough for three-minute sets. I brought a 500ml water bottle too, and kept refilling it in the car and at the beach. A mini foam roller came in handy for rolling out my calves and shins at night, and unsweetened nuts became my go-to snack instead of ice cream.
What I actually changed about eating at the hotel and on the road
At the breakfast buffet, I used to just pile my plate with whatever looked good. This time I loaded up on protein and vegetables first, eggs, banchan, fish, and only added a little bread or fried food at the end. Dinner was still local food, sashimi and grilled clams, but I kept drinks to one or two a day. Ordering delivery after checking in used to be my default. This time dinner was the last meal of the day, and I skipped the late-night food entirely.
Adjusting intensity hour by hour in the heat
There wasn’t much shade at the beach, so I gave up on exercising midday entirely. By 9am the heat already felt noticeably worse, so I’d stick to shady routes or just stretch indoors. Between noon and 3pm I avoided outdoor exercise completely, and once the sun eased up around 6pm I’d bring water and go for a light walk at most. Dawn and late evening were, by far, when my body felt best.
I didn’t stick to all of it
Honestly, drinks got out of hand on the second night, and I skipped my workout the next morning. There was a day I had ice cream twice. I know that trying to follow every rule on vacation just adds stress, so when I slipped I let it go and picked things back up at the next meal or the next morning. When I got home and stepped on the scale, I was about 0.6kg over 75.3kg. It took about a week to get back to normal.
Wrapping up
Keeping a diet routine through summer vacation wasn’t about eating and drinking perfectly. It was smaller adjustments: moving my workout time around the heat, changing the order I ate at meals. Dawn workouts, a few essentials in my bag, eating protein first at breakfast. None of it was dramatic, but it kept my weight from swinging too far after the trip. There were days I didn’t stick to it, but not letting one off day turn into a week was still the most important rule.