Living There
Shape up, chill out, warm up, and exercise. On your next vacation follow your road to fitness with yoga on the beach, keep your sculpted beach bod in perfect form with state of the art exercise equipment, fine tune your golf or tennis game with a pro, or begin your day with a morning run and still have hours to relax and enjoy the good life. It is all possible on an all-inclusive vacation. But, you ask, will a never ending supply of beautifully prepared meals and exquisite desserts plus fun, fruity, calorie-packed cocktails tempt you off your diet? Won’t vegetarian meals and low carb restaurant selections be difficult to find? Not if you choose the right resort!
The best all-inclusive resorts cater to a variety of guests and can easily accommodate most dietary needs and restrictions. They also offer health-conscious food and drink choices with numerous opportunities to stay fit while enjoying a relaxed getaway. Some resort groups, such as Zoetry, focus on health and wellness as part of their luxury inclusions. Others, including Sandals and Beaches Resorts, guarantee availability of diet and allergy-friendly foods at every restaurant. So you’ll find it easy to manage a low cal, low fat diet or enjoy a gluten free resort vacation without extra effort or expense.
So what’s most important to you? An awesome tennis program, the latest Pilates equipment, or miles of beach for walking or jogging? After decades of vacationing at some of the best all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, here are some of my favorite “stay-fit-while-indulging” choices:
Start the day with a Kick Your Butt Boot camp, then spend the afternoon in a hammock slung over a meandering river pool with frozen mudslide in hand at Excellence Playa Mujeres, Mexico.
Get your heart pumping following a hunky Zumba instructor or walk 12 miles of powder white beach, then grab a gluten free brownie and beer at Beaches Turks and Caicos.
Work up a sweat in a panoramic ocean view fitness center with state of the art equipment then cool down in a sunken chaise lounge or cushy, canopied pool bed at Iberostar Grande Bavaro Punta Cana.
Play racquet ball or do laps in an Olympic size pool, enjoy a health bar that serves yummy fruit smoothies then dive into a steamy beach novel on a breezy oceanfront verandah at Couples Swept Away in Jamaica.
Rejuvenate mind and body with oceanfront, feet in the sand, feeling the vibe yoga combined with gourmet dining menu discretely noting fat grams and calories at Zoetry Agua Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Enjoy free water skiing, wake boarding, scuba diving, and water aerobics plus a huge range of health and diet friendly restaurant choices at Sandals White house.
Burn calories with Pilates or spinning class then celebrate with a decadent creme brulee and glass of bubbly at The Royal in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.
By watching portions, staying active, and choosing wisely I’ve returned from dozens of all inclusive resort vacations with nary an extra pound. You can do it too, so happy travels!
