Here’s a test for any new habit: take it on vacation and see if it survives.
On January 2nd, Day 6 of my exercise streak, I got up at 3:30 AM to fly to Cancun, Mexico, for a week at an all-inclusive resort. You know what all-inclusive means. Unlimited food. Unlimited drinks. Unlimited reasons to sit by the pool and do absolutely nothing.
The Rules Don’t Change #
I made myself a deal before the trip: the rules don’t change just because the scenery does. Ten to fifteen minutes of intentional movement, every day. That’s it. I didn’t pack resistance bands or download a hotel workout app. I just committed to moving.
Day 6 was a travel day. Lots of walking through airports, around the resort, getting settled. It counted. Day 7, I walked for 30 minutes. Day 8, same thing. Day 9, I did 20 minutes of yoga in the room and then walked around the resort.
It wasn’t glamorous. Nobody was filming a fitness video. I was just a guy walking around a resort in Mexico, closing his Apple Watch rings, and feeling pretty good about it.
The Numbers Don’t Lie #
By Day 10, my Apple Watch said I burned 804 calories. Day 11, 941 calories. Day 12, 884 calories. I was closing my rings most days, which honestly surprised me. When you’re walking around a resort all day, exploring, going to the beach, walking to dinner, it adds up faster than sitting at a desk.
The food situation was a different story. It was all-inclusive. I ate. I drank. I didn’t track a single calorie that week because, look, it’s vacation. The point wasn’t to be perfect. The point was to keep moving.
What I Learned #
The biggest thing I realized in Cancun is that “exercise” doesn’t have to mean what I always thought it meant. I used to think if I wasn’t drenched in sweat at a gym, it didn’t count. But 30 minutes of walking in the sun? That counts. Yoga in a hotel room before bed? That counts. Being way more active than I would have been sitting on my couch at home? That absolutely counts.
I was 10% of the way to my 90-day streak goal by the time I hit Day 9. And I did it through a vacation at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. That felt significant.
The food and alcohol weren’t going to derail anything long-term. What mattered was that I didn’t use “I’m on vacation” as an excuse to stop moving entirely. That’s the mental shift. That’s the thing that sticks.
Coming Home #
Day 12 was the last full day. I walked, closed my rings, burned 884 calories according to the watch. The streak was alive. I was about to fly home the next day, and I felt good about what I’d proven to myself.
Twelve days isn’t ninety. It’s not even close. But twelve days through a vacation? That meant the habit was real. It wasn’t just something I did because I was bored at home. It was something I did because I decided to do it.
Next up: getting back to real life and keeping this thing going.
Spoiler alert: the travel day home was going to teach me a very different lesson.