NO ONE GETS FAT ON VACATION

I already know from the title that there will be much gnashing of teeth and racing to provide counter examples of tales of gluttony and hedonism during some magical 2 week all inclusive stay at some resort and reports of 20+lbs gained, but as a man that is intimately familiar with the interior of many a cruise ship AND Vegas casino/resort/buffet (to say nothing of Reno as well, because really, the less said of Reno, the better), please allow me a moment to explain myself.  Quite often, I observe anxiety of those about to depart on some sort of vacation in regards to the loss of “all of their gains”, concerns about getting fat, halting progress, etc etc.  I observe similar concerns when it comes to an even more micro level issue, such as ONE bad night of sleep, and it’s impact on the recovery from training.  OR, ONE bad training session itself, and the impact it has on the progress of the trainee as a whole.  And again, as one that has been to many a vacation locale, participated in the debauchery first hand AND witnessed my fellow participants, I can safely, soundly and surely inform you of the truth: no one GETS fat on vacation.

But we can sure try!

 

…you were already fat before you got there.  Yes, THAT Is the truth.  Even IF you had spent the last 4 weeks undergoing the most INTENSIVE physical preparation and dietary restriction in order to get yourself beachbody ready, you were already fat before arrival.  Even if you APPEARED lean, you were simply what is currently being referred to as “skinny on the outside, fat on the inside”.  And how do I know this?  Because one does NOT get fat in the span of a week or two.  The body simply cannot build tissue at such a rate.  It does not possess the biological capabilities to do so, baring some sort of horrible genetic mutation (looking at YOU Fred Dukes).  If we COULD get fat in just a week or two, we’d solve the world hunger crisis by rolling in to impoverished nations with a firetruck loaded with melted ice cream and just water board (ice cream board?) citizens until they resembled the average American at Disneyland.  No dear reader: the seeds of fatness had already been sewn WELL before the vacation: the vacation simply provided even more sun, water and food to help nurture those seeds. 

 

What this is arriving at is the reality that we are a product of our HABITS, and NOT of our deviations.  And “deviation” does not necessarily have to infer negativity, despite the term “deviant” typically used in a pejorative manner.  Deviation tends to be viewed in a negative light because it’s an implication of deviation from the NORM, and, in turn, the norm is implied to be the acceptable standard we all agreed upon, wherein deviations are violations of our social contract.  However, in a debased and corrupt society, deviation is to seek health and justice, and in a debased and corrupt individual, deviation is to seek correction and “rightness”.  In turn, when we deviate from our standard of gluttony and hedonism INTO a practice of regimented nutrition and hard physical training, this IS a deviation…and, in turn, will NOT be reflected in our being.  These are just one offs: they are not our “core essence”.  We are, instead, a reflection of our habits.

'He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.'

But this is NOT inherently a negative.  Much like the whole “good, bad, we’ll see” notion of Zen, understanding that deviations are not immediately manifested can be liberating IF we engage in those habits that will develop us into what we desire to be.  Once again hailing back to “being that which does”, we are going to be an outward manifestation of our habits in all circumstances.  In turn, one does NOT get fat on vacation IF one is not regularly one who does fat things.  One who regularly engages in monk-like adherence to nutritional and training protocol is going to be a manifestation of that habit, such that, when they DO engage in a 1-2 week deviation of hedonism and debauchery, this deviation will not be persistent enough to impact their actual being.  They will come out the other side of this deviation STILL as an individual that engages in monk-like adhered to nutritional and training protocols.  1-2 weeks is not enough to disrupt the lifetime of work leading up to that moment.

 

And the same is true, one again, on that micro level.  One bad night of sleep is NOT going to undo the machine that is your body that has been successfully recovering from training for weeks, months and years on end.  It is going to take a sustained HABIT of poor sleep before we begin to witness this impact.  One poor workout is NOT going to undo the efforts of a fully fleshed out training protocol: it is going to take many poor workouts, at which point we must analyze WHY these workouts are going so poorly.  One bad training CYCLE is not going to undo years of good ones: it’s WHY we have the license to experiment, try out new things, and learn.  Hell, we heard all the reports about how Soviet athletes would take 3-6 MONTHS off of training once the competition was done, primarily because many of these athletes simply had no access to training EQUIPMENT immediately post competition, and they’d come back better and stronger than before, because 3-6 months of NOT training could NOT undo a lifetime of training.  We saw the same thing during the pandemic, with Mark Felix being restricted to only 225lbs of weights to train with, only for him to come back and STILL set world records and win WSM masters.  Meanwhile, we had people that quit training altogether because they didn’t have access to a belt squat…

225lbs does a body good

 

Knowing you can’t get fat on vacation is liberating, because it grants us the license to HAVE these vacations.  The story about people gaining weight over the holidays is only half the story.  YES, people tend to put on the majority of their weight during the holidays, with an average of 1-2lbs per year which, over 20 years, gets you 40lbs overweight.  However, they KEEP this weight because of their consistent habits of inconsistency when it comes to managing their physique and nutrition.  The individual that “cheats” every DAY with office place snacks and treats “because I deserve it” is the individual that has made cheating the norm, rather than the deviance.  When the holidays roll around, they are simply manifesting the accumulation of their habits in a concentrated time period, whereas those that have been “on the program” all year can have this deviance, experience it to it’s full effect (stay away from the sugar free chocolate, for reasons beyond hedonic joy) get back on the program in January, and be no worse for wear.  They may, in fact, be in a BETTER position than they started, for they are refreshed, recharged, and reinvigorated to go out and get it after the downtime.  Like those aforementioned Soviet champions, or like returning from a deload, the deviance provides a moment of RECOVERY, whereas most other individuals are suffering from sustained OVERrecovery. 

 

No one gets fat on vacation, just like how no one gets jacked in 2 weeks.  Change, positive or negative, takes time and dedicated consistency of effort.  Self-improvement AND self-destruction both take dedication, whereas deviation is ephemeral.