You didn’t intend to eat dessert three nights in a row. And you truly meant to exercise. Even the most disciplined people struggle to eat sensibly and exercise regularly when they’re on the road. No wonder “vacation” and “temptation” sound so much alike.

If you want to successfully stare down temptation, you’ll fare best by planning your vacation splurges, says UAB clinical psychologist Josh Klapow, Ph.D.

Before you zip your suitcase shut, spend a few minutes writing down a realistic set of vacation goals. For example, you’ll eat dessert on three of five days of your cruise and you’ll take a half-hour walk every day before dinner. “You need to be committed before you leave,” Klapow says.

When you arrive, post your goals in a place where you can’t miss them and review them daily. If you slip up, “don’t say, ‘I’ve blown it. I’ll just eat everything I want to eat.’ Instead, say, ‘What am I going to do to get back on track?’ Write that down,” Klapow says.

Forget the notion that you can rely on willpower alone to control your behavior. Self-control is hard enough to muster at home. It’s even tougher when you’re in an environment geared to indulgence.

“Be realistic about temptation,” Klapow says. “It’s going to be there. It’s going to be there bigger than in daily life because it’s vacation.”

For more tips on resisting temptation, visit us online at uabhealth.org/tv/healthyliving and click on the video titled “Dealing with Temptation.”