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TAKE YOUR HEALTHY TRAVEL GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL

by | Sep 26, 2018 | Uncategorized

Whether you are a business professional who travels for work or simply traveling for personal enjoyment, being outside of your normal environment and routine for multiple days at a time is one of the most challenging obstacles when it comes to keeping up with a healthy lifestyle. Traveling throws a lot at us. We are at the mercy of the environment we travel to when it comes to food and workout options. In addition to this, simply the act of traveling takes a toll on our bodies! If you are flying somewhere, just being on a plane can cause dehydration and bloating. Our hormones are sensitive to even subtle changes to our normal routine. Traveling puts our bodies under stress. So much, that if you are a female, traveling can even affect your cycle!

My average week includes two to three days of travel for work. This usually includes long days full of meetings with dinners or events in the evening. It’s typically a jam packed schedule, and there is a lot of dining out at restaurants or eating meals provided at work meetings. There are so many things out of our control, it can feel overwhelming! Well, guess what? It’s time to take back the control!

With a lot of research and practice, I have become quite the guru at healthy travel! My fit travel game is super strong and I am excited to share with you everything I have learned through trial and error with my various trips over the last few years. It has become a fun game to me and I suggest you make it a game as well! Every time it’s a crazy travel schedule I think to myself “how on earth am I going to pull this one off”? I am forced to get creative. I come up with my game plan and when I figure it out, it’’s super rewarding! Yes, I’m the crazy lady in the airport giving myself high-fives because I figured out how to get a workout in at the airport at 3:00AM after a red eye flight during my layover! Not only do I feel like I accomplished something every time I pull it off, but I also get better at it as I go. It DOES get easier!

When I started competing, I was forced to make my travel healthier. Just because I was traveling was no longer an excuse to let go for the week or the few days I was out of my routine. I had to learn how to take control of as much as I could when on the road. These are all of my suggestions, but even if you implement a few of these things, you will find yourself feeling much more energized when you travel. You will also avoid taking steps backwards towards your health and fitness goals every time you’re on the go. Instead, you might actually make some progress! Here are my top tips for successful travel along with my travel tricks that everyone on the go should know!

TOP  10 TRAVEL TIPS

  1. PLAN- This is the number one tip for a reason! Plan your meals, snacks, and workouts ahead of time. Look at your travel schedule and anticipate obstacles that might get in the way. Have a plan to overcome these obstacles prior to them occurring.
  2. HYDRATE– Hydration is what keeps our bodies and our metabolism going. Especially if you are flying, you need to come up with a hydration plan and most likely drink even more water than your normal daily intake. The low humidity on a plane can cause us to lose up to 1.5 Liters of water in just a two hour flight!
  3. RESEARCH HOTELS – If you get to choose where you stay, make sure the hotel has a good gym and a refrigerator and microwave in the room. If you do not get to choose, research the hotel to see what they have available and then come up with a plan of attack if there is no gym, for example.
  4. PACK HEALTHY FOOD- At a minimum, always pack healthy snacks. I always have nuts, my protein powder and shaker, and other snacks readily available. Purchase a lunch box or small cooler to pack your snacks in and fill it up before every trip.
  5. FIND A WORKOUT PARTNER– Work travel typically includes long days and late nights. It can be challenging to find the motivation to wake up early to get a workout in. On these types of trips I always team up with a coworker to hold me accountable. This is a guarantee that I will wake up and get moving. It also makes the workout more fun!
  6. PUT GOOD THINGS IN YOUR BODY- If you are eating a lot of meals out during your trip, make it a point to add nutritious foods in every opportunity you have. Adding in leafy greens and lean proteins during meals out can help offset some of the unhealthier foods that might be available
  7. MOVE EVERY DAY– Even if it’s five minutes in your hotel room, wake up and do push-ups, squats, sit ups..anything! Movement will keep you energized and keep your body going.
  8. REST- Be disciplined with your sleep. Know when to push to stay out late with your coworkers and know when you should get your sleep in. It’s much better to feel refreshed and energized during a long day of meetings than to feel sluggish.
  9. ADHERE TO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE– Take as many of the things you do on a daily basis and implement them into your travel. If you go for a walk every morning, go for a walk. If you eat a healthy breakfast every morning, plan out finding a healthy breakfast option. Sticking to your normal routine as much as possible will feel good!
  10. DON”T WEIGH YOURSELF THE FIRST 48 HOURS AFTER A TRIP- After putting our bodies under the stress of traveling, we can sometimes retain water. If we ate a few extra carbohydrates on our trip, this will also cause some bloating. Weighing yourself right after a trip will most likely not be a realistic representation of where you are at, so don’t do it!

This is the bag I take with me when I travel. It holds up to six meals and can fit several snacks in the side pockets. It also has slots for ice packets. This is from 6-Pack Bags.

These were the only food options available at the grab and go at one of the hotels I stayed at recently. Good thing I packed my healthy meals!

 

TOP 10 TRAVEL TRICKS

  1. Hotel water is expensive! Pack a water bottle and refill it throughout the day. Most airports have filtered water stations. Also, hotels usually have filtered water at the gym. Rather than paying $5 for a bottle of water, refill for free at the gym.
  2. Drink EXTRA water with any travel to avoid bloating. If you are tracking your water on a daily basis, increase your water intake by at least 25% when you travel. This will help to eliminate bloating.
  3. Get your workout in at the airport. Several airports now have yoga or workout rooms. Pack resistance bands and get a strength workout done in the yoga room. Or, get some cardio in and walk the airport. Low Intensity Steady State Cardio (also known as LISS) is great for fat burning. Walking around the airport for 30 minutes can burn some calories!
  4. Use a meal prep service to have meals delivered to your hotel. I use this option often. There are several meal service companies out there that will deliver pre-cooked, healthy food to your hotel (or anywhere you are traveling). This saves time when preparing for travel. Then, when you show up at your hotel, your food is there waiting for you! This may seem extreme, but it saves time and takes the guess work out of where to find healthy food.
  5. If you have a car, make the first stop the grocery store. Hotels do not always carry healthy snacks. In fact, most of the time it is a challenge to find healthy, whole food options. If I am driving for my travel, I always stop by the grocery store for water and healthy snacks. This way, I am set up for success the rest of the time I am traveling.
  6. If you want to pack perishable foods that need to be chilled, this is how you keep them cold and get them through security. Pack the food in a lunch box and place a ziplock bag filled with ice in the lunch box. Prior to going through security, empty the ice out in a sink or trash can. After security, go to a restaurant or Starbucks at the airport and ask for a cup of ice and refill the ziplock bag.
  7. Speaking of lunch boxes, invest in a good one! A good lunch box or small travel cooler is a must for packing healthy snacks to take with you.
  8. Take notes on each city with healthy restaurants, good gyms, etc. Any time you travel to a place and are impressed with their gym, make a note of it. This way, if you travel to that area again, you know where to stay! A lot of hotel chains have the same or similar gym set up at all of their properties, so find a hotel chain whose gyms. you like, and you’ll be set! Take notes on healthy restaurants. There is a place called Viva Chicken in Charlotte which is a city I travel to often. I know that I can go there and stock up on chicken and some greens, so I make it a part of my Charlotte travel routine every time I go.
  9. Do a workout in your room- so many people (me included) post body weight or band workouts that can be done everywhere. If you are low on time, or don’t have access to a gym, look up a workout routine online that doesn’t require equipment and get a workout done in your room. There are several apps available with body weight workouts you can do anywhere.
  10. Make your decisions before you arrive at your destination. Research the restaurants and hotels you are going to be eating at and look at the menu in advance. A lot of times it is easier to make a healthy decision ahead of time rather than in the moment after a long day of travel when you are tired and hungry.