How to fully enjoy your holiday without guilt or setbacks.

Health coach tips for midlife women to stay balanced, feel confident, and fully embrace your holiday.

Let go of the ‘all or nothing’ thinking

For many midlife women, holidays bring both excitement and anxiety. You want to relax and indulge a little, but there's that voice in your head:
“What if I undo all my progress?”
“What if I lose control?”
“I’ll have to start all over again when I’m back.”

Let’s shift that mindset. A holiday isn’t a test of willpower. It’s a time to recharge your soul and you can enjoy it without sabotaging your health goals and ending up back at square one in September. There are ways to adapt your healthy habits so that you can enjoy your summer intentionally and avoid the self-sabotage. Here’s how.

1. Ditch the guilt mindset before you go

Guilt often starts before the first cocktail is poured. See the holiday as part of your real life, not a pause from it. Holidays are part of your healthy lifestyle. Rest, joy, and flexibility are just as important as discipline. 

Before you go away set yourself a realistic goal of how you want to feel on holiday and how you want to feel when you get back, and whether you want to maintain your current weight or acknowledge that you may put on a few pounds.  Spending five minutes setting these intentions is really powerful for your mindset and helps ditch the guilt feelings.

2. Aim for balance, not perfection

You don’t have to stick to a strict plan — nor do you need to abandon all structure. Instead, think of the simple healthy daily habits:

- A good breakfast with protein and fibre

- A daily walk or swim

- Staying hydrated with water

- Enjoying treats consciously, not compulsively.

This balance keeps your body feeling good and your mind free from guilt.

3. Build in movement you actually enjoy

Forget punishing workouts — holidays are a great time to rediscover movement that feels joyful:
- Morning yoga on the beach
- Hire bikes and cycle to the next beach or village
- Exploring cities on foot
- Paddleboarding or a hotel dance class
- Hotel gym sessions (if it feels right — not required!)

I recently went away to Mallorca for 4 days and took a pair of trainers but decided to have a break from the actual gym. Each morning, I did approx 5km walk around the local area with a takeout coffee and just soaked up the scenery and the sea air. I loved this time to myself and also felt good about moving my body at the start of the day.

Tip: Don’t think of it as “burning off” food — think of it as celebrating what your body can do.

4. Use the “one plate rule” at buffets

Buffets can feel overwhelming and trigger that “I must get my money’s worth” voice. Try this: One plate. One round. One dessert.  Fill your plate mindfully, savor your meal, and listen to your fullness cues. You’ll feel satisfied — not stuffed or regretful.

I talk about this a lot in my Instagram posts but prioritise protein and fibre across all of your meals, especially breakfast and lunch.  So, examples of this for breakfast would be scrambled eggs or Greek yogurt with fruit and granola, high protein smoothie or overnight oats. If you’re in a hot country then it’s easy to prioritise protein and fibre at lunchtime too, chicken or fish with a salad, like tuna nicoise or chicken Caesar salad. This will help balance your blood sugars and will help keep you satiated between the meals and reduce the desire to reach for an ice cream or cocktail.  If I’m staying in self-catered accommodation, I always take my overnight oats mixture with me, it stops me reaching for the pastries mid-morning.

5. Have an alcohol strategy

You’re on holiday and if you want to drink alcohol whilst you’re away then you don’t need to feel bad for that, but have a strategy that aligns with your health goals on feeling good whilst away. This may be that you’re going to have two drinks per day, or drink one day and miss the next. Or you’re going to drink four days out of the seven. This is about choosing what is right for you, and having the intention to stick to it. It’s not about restriction or what you can or can’t have. One rule I usually have whilst away is that I choose a glass of wine instead of a dessert, but I’m not going to have both.  It’s referring back to the balance, not perfection.

6. Be present with the experience

Sometimes we use food or drink to escape — from stress, insecurity, or boredom. Instead:

- Be in the moment
- Take in the views
- Engage in conversation
- Feel gratitude for the experience

Presence helps reduce mindless eating and boosts joy.

7. Reflect, don’t punish, when you get home

If you come home feeling like you overindulged — that’s okay. It’s only 1 or 2 weeks out of 52 in the year. Don’t restrict, don’t weigh yourself immediately, or panic.
Instead, ask:
- What felt good?
- What didn’t?
- What do I want to carry into my everyday life?

Then return to your regular habits — no punishment, no extremes.  You had an amazing holiday and yes, daily routine may have been disrupted but reset once you’re home and settle back into those healthy habits.  

Final thoughts: you deserve joy without justification

Midlife is a time to step into freedom, not fear. You’ve earned your holiday, and you don’t need to justify enjoying it. Your progress isn’t fragile, it’s built on consistent habits, not a perfect week.

So book the trip, sip the wine, eat the dessert — and come back feeling nourished, not deprived.