As avid world travelers, we often hear the misconception that it must be so hard for us to stay in shape while traveling. This is because people associate traveling with allowing yourself to have cheat days — no rules when it comes to what, when, and how much you eat, as well as giving yourself the excuse that you don’t need to exercise since you’re not on your “normal, every-day routine”.
For us, however, traveling is a huge part of our lives to where those excuses just don’t cut it anymore, and honestly, they never should, no matter if you vacation just once or multiple times a year.
Nevertheless, we understand that with various factors, including the array of tasty new foods to try, lack of a regular sleep schedule, time changes, and no access to your local gym, the action of working out and eating right when you’re traveling can seem like an impossible task to fulfill.
Thankfully, keeping up on your health and appearance while on vacation doesn’t have to be such an unachievable mission. Take it from us—world travelers and dedicated foodies—eating out and trying some of the city’s finest hot-spots is one of the things we love most about traveling. But, there came a point when we realized we needed to make it a duty to keep our health in check while away from home, and incorporate physical activity into our travel plans. By adding in some simple daily routines, we have developed legitimate and super easy steps that really helped us improve our healthy lifestyle habits.
Check out our top 10 tips for keeping healthy and in shape while traveling. These steps have really benefitted us, both mentally and physically, to stay in the best shape possible when we’re not on our regular home-based routine, and we’re thrilled to share them with you!
- Pack resistant bands in your luggage for a very effective work out. They are lightweight and take up little luggage space, making them super easy to travel with.
- If you drink alcohol, always order two glasses of water for every drink you order. Try to stay away from the blended drinks as they contain the same, if not more, amount of calories as your entire meal.
- Skip the elevators and take the stairs.
- Try and incorporate exercise related activities. (Examples: bike riding, hikes, swimming.) If you stay at a hotel, they often have gyms you can use. Set aside waking up 30-60 minutes earlier to hit the gym first thing in the morning before you head out for the day.
- If you are staying at a resort, find out if they offer pilates, yoga, or cycling classes.
- Every morning and night, drink hot water with lemon as that will reduce water retention and thus bloating. Plus it increases your metabolism.
- Bring protein bars and protein powder to eat/drink in-between meals. It will also help to cut out any sugary, sweet cravings.
- Be conscious of the time change and always get at least eight hours of rest.
- Stay hydrated! Drink plenty of water as this will also help to keep you fuller longer. Also, sometimes your body confuses being hungry for just needing to refuel on water. So drink up and that snack craving you are having may just disappear.
- Opt to walk (if it is safe) instead of taking cabs/Uber/Lyft. When we visit New York (or any big city) we end up walking at least 15 miles a day and find ourselves walking from the upper east side to Tribeca or lower Manhattan. It’s a great workout, not to mention fun as we get to shop at the local stores along the way.
There you have it! 10 simple steps for you to follow that can drastically improve your ability to stay healthy and in shape while traveling. No more excuses! Now you can enjoy all the perks of traveling without feeling any guilt about putting on vacation weight.
We hope these tips n’ tricks are helpful to you. Comment below as we would love to hear how you utilized them on your next adventure!
~ Bon Voyage, Snob World
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