Vacations are meant to be fun escapes from the hustle and bustle of your everyday life. Yet traveling as a plus-size person can be frustratingly challenging, pushing you to deal with all-too-typical problems like discriminatory airline policies or casual fatphobia. The last thing you need is to have any weight-related health issues mar your travel experiences.
For the sake of your comfort and overall enjoyment, it’s thus important that you consciously look out for your well-being when you travel. You’ll be able to circumvent problems like a lack of power supplies for any medical equipment you use or experiencing illnesses that can keep you from having a great stay in your chosen destination.
Wondering how to get started? Follow these tips to stay happy and healthy on your travels.
Ensure the proper accommodations if you use medical equipment
When choosing how to travel and where to stay, ensure your providers have everything you need to keep you safe and sound during your trip. For example, if you use a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine for sleep apnea, book airlines or cruises with power supplies available to keep your gear activated. You can also give prior notice to your travel company or hotel so they can make any necessary preparations to further assist you, such as ensuring you have enough space for comfortable seating or allowances for safety-related weight limitations. If you want to keep obesity-related illness explanations with personnel at a minimum during these inquiries, consider carrying a clinic letter or emergency health information card to streamline the process of procuring the healthcare help you might need on your journey.
Take your medications consistently
If you’ve been prescribed any medications, remember to pack them so you can take them regularly. Consistently adhering to your medicine’s prescription is crucial for them to work effectively, and keeping up with it will help you enjoy your trip to the fullest. For instance, if you have a BMI of 30 or above—or a BMI of 27 or more with a weight-related complication—you’ve most likely been prescribed GLP-1 for weight loss through medications like WeGovy, Ozempic, or Rybelsus. Those meds need to be taken regularly if you want them to effectively curb your appetite and raise your resting metabolism—and anyway, a trip is more fun when you’re not constantly experiencing hunger. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or any other weight-related comorbidities, you’ll also want to remember to bring and take your other maintenance medicines so you don’t run into any untoward health incidents during your trip.
Integrate exercises into your vacation itinerary
Perhaps hitting the gym during your travels isn’t your idea of fun and relaxation—and it doesn’t have to be. However, that doesn’t change the fact that maintaining fitness as a plus-size traveler can boost your health and your enjoyment of your vacation. It can even improve the effectiveness of any weight management medications you’re taking. Instead of using your precious downtime to lift some weights, though, you can incorporate physical fitness into your itinerary. Take walking or biking tours of the city. Go hiking in your destination’s lush landscapes. Kayak or swim in local rivers. Active excursions can help you see another dimension of your setting that you wouldn’t have otherwise explored, making your vacation more immersive and exciting. What’s more, they give you the opportunity to stay healthy on your travels—so you hit two birds with one stone.
Opt for healthier foods
One of the best parts of a vacation is trying out local cuisine; you should definitely indulge in that experience. However, overweight and obese individuals may need to take extra care to ensure that the food they eat won’t cause them to feel unwell in the long term. For example, obesity makes you more prone to heart disease, so it’s best to avoid deep-fried foods or sugary drinks. Instead, try to eat well-balanced local dishes and desserts that don’t contain too much processed sugar. If you don’t want to limit yourself too much, though, you can also practice food tracking. Doing so can help you be more mindful of your food intake, which will help you make better nutritional choices. If you use digital trackers, it’ll also be easier for you to do it more consistently. That way, you can continue eating foods you want to try without worrying about long-term consequences.
Stay hydrated
It can be easy to forget to sip water amid all the excitement of your travels. However, staying hydrated is especially important for plus-size travelers. Most people with obesity have high levels of the hormone vasopressin, which helps regulate urine volume by letting your body hold water. However, vasopressin also stimulates fat production and aggravates conditions like fatty liver and prediabetes. To avoid this, bring a water bottle so you remember to drink your eight glasses daily. This will do more than prevent weight gain and disease accumulation—as we note in our article on energy-boosting secrets, staying hydrated can even revitalize you during your trip by facilitating nutrient distribution and blood flow throughout your body. If the thought of drinking plain water bores you, try adding a few fruit slices to make a custom concoction.
Get enough sleep
Sleep deprivation and its accompanying drowsiness can turn your vacation experiences sour. If you’re plus-size, you’ll also have to watch out for how lack of sleep destabilizes your hunger hormones like ghrelin. You may even get a bad case of jet lag, depending on where you’re going, which can impact your body clock even further. To combat this, go out into the sunlight at your destination to naturally readjust your circadian rhythm. You can also take 20 to 30-minute power naps throughout the day to remain alert before getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night. Sleep well to take care of your health and enjoy your vacation.
You deserve to be happy and healthy on your vacation as much as the next person, and looking out for your well-being is a crucial part of that. Follow the above tips to gift yourself a great time.
