It seems to be very common anymore for people to travel for their jobs, and I get the same question over and over again: “How do I keep up with my diet and workouts while traveling?” In this post, I am going to explain what I have done in the past when traveling, including how I ate and how I managed to fit in my workouts.
The first, and most important concern while traveling is how to eat healthy. When traveling, it’s normal to eat out every night, but as you all know, doing that can pack on the pounds fairly quickly. However, I am here to tell you all that there IS a way to keep up with your diet without sacrificing all that hard work you have put in to that point! Here are a few rules for eating out..
(1) Don’t eat fried foods! It’s hard, but no fried chicken fingers or french fries!
(2) Stay away from bread! Most restaurants offer some sort of dinner roll or white bread, and the majority of the time they are white breads, which are not good for you! Remember, simple carbs put sugar into your bloodstream very quickly, therefore bringing your energy up real quick, and then back down.
(3) No Soda! Soda contains a high level of sugar, which obviously isn’t healthy!
(4) Stick with grilled foods. Here is what I normally eat while eating out: grilled salmon with veggies and a side of cottage cheese, grilled chicken fingers with veggies and a side salad with non-fat Italian dressing, steak salad with non-fat dressing (no bacon or any of that added unhealthy crap), grilled chicken salad, and lean steak with a side of broccoli. Of course there are other foods, but those are the most common that I get.
(5) Don’t load up on butter and salt! Butter is very fattening, and salt makes you retain water!
(6) NO DESSERTS! Enough said…(Unless you are on vacation, then I will give that to ya ).
(7) Limit the amount of alcohol you consume. Yeah, I know it’s your vacation, and it’s OK to relax and have a cocktail or 2, but just don’t go crazy! There are lots of cals packed in to those drinks as you all now know from my previous post.
The other problem that is very common is how to workout! If you are like me, you don’t have resistance bands because you use dumbbells only. The majority of the time your hotel with have some sort of workout facility, and even the tiniest one can be enough. They usually have at least one workout machine, and you could get in a resistance workout that way, and they also usually have a treadmill, in which you could get your daily cardio out of the way. Also, most of you have laptops, so make sure you bring your P90X DVD’s! There is no shame in doing P90X in your room.
If you are on vacation, go be active! Go run on the beach, ride bikes, or swim. There are many activities geared around being active while on vacation!
So now you all know that there are ways for you to come back from your little vacation without feeling like crap! I am actually traveling out of town this weekend, and you better believe I am going to be BRINGIN’ IT every day while away!