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In this episode of the Fit for Hiking podcast, I’m sharing how to stay consistent with your health and fitness while traveling. From quick mindset shifts to simple routines, these tips have kept me on track through every adventure. Tune in to hear my favorite strategies!
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For more free wellness resources, hiking/travel guides, and other blog posts, check out my website HERE.
What is Fit for Hiking?
Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. In combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. Today we are going to be talking all about how to handle travel adventures and keeping your health and fitness routines intact, especially if you travel a lot. I have a lot of experience with this because throughout my life I have experienced both working in a gym where I had full access. I had all the reasons in the world to show up for my workouts to keep my healthy routines going. But I've also lived the other end of the spectrum, where I was living out of a camper van for months on end, and the routine was a lot tougher to come by, and I had to get way more creative. I had to really find some discipline to be as consistent as I needed to be, to still continue to see progress. So I adapted some tips and tricks along the way to be able to keep my health routines intact. So that's what I want to talk about today. This will kind of be a quick and dirty. Just five really awesome tips for staying healthy when you are traveling. Whether you travel one week out of the year or one week out of the month, or even more. You know, a lot of people are traveling for work constantly, plus travel for fun, and it all starts to really add up. So if you are trying to, um, you know, just always say like, well, when I don't have any more travel, then I'll be consistent. That's probably not the best idea, especially if you do travel a lot and there's really no end in sight, or things just continue to pop up. Then this episode is for you. Let's talk about how you can stay consistent and not have to wait until this travel comes to an end. In order to do so. So number one on how to stay fit while traveling would be to just prioritize movement over perfection. So you might not be getting to the gym. You might not be doing full on, you know, 40 to 60 minute workouts, but you're still trying to aim for consistency. So what does that look like in practice? So that could just be walking everywhere that you need to go. Trying to really increase your steps. If you know that doing even an informal workout is not really an option. Um, so maybe like taking laps at the airport instead of just sitting at your gate sightseeing by foot stairs instead of elevators, or squeezing in short bodyweight workout sessions. That's another option. Two. Um, even just 10 to 20 minutes from a hotel, from a van, from your campsite, whatever that looks like. And this doesn't even have to be every single day. I would aim for at least a walk a day so that you're keeping a habit going with just general movement. But even if during a week long trip, you can get. Even two bodyweight workouts in for 20 minutes, that's still going to be better than nothing. Okay. So number two, we're going to be talking about like actual travel day would be to pack smart with your snacks and then focus on hydration. Because travel days, whether you're in a car or on a plane, can definitely either kind of make or break your success the next day, you want to feel your best while traveling, right? So you want to make sure that you're not just having tons of like, highly processed, fatty or sugary things at the airport or on your drive. It's really tempting on travel days to kind of just say, screw it and, you know, have all the mimosas and all of the things at the airport or on a drive. Just stop and get ton of fast food and and pop. But that's not going to help you feel your best in the following days. And sometimes this can kind of be like a ripple effect then because you feel crappy about your decisions. So then you just say screw it for the rest of the trip, and then that's not doing you any favors. And it's really not fun to come back from travel and feel like you're starting at square one, right? So you want to make sure that you at least approach travel days with moderation. So even just bringing your own snacks. Not only is this going to save you a ton of money, especially at airports, to just bring your own high protein snacks like protein bars, dried fruit jerky, nuts. Ideally, you're getting protein with anything like a dried fruit or a nut. That way, you have kind of a good balance there with your macros. And it's not just carbs or fat. You want to make sure you're getting that protein source as well. There's so many great like protein based options and snacks now, so finding a few that you like and having those with you when you're traveling, we'll save you from just kind of like mindlessly snacking on crappy, you know, airplane snacks or gravitating towards unhealthy or options and then making sure you're getting enough water in to help fight jetlag, cravings and fatigue and just kind of keep your energy up. Plus, you're less likely to just consume tons of beverages and unnecessary calories from like, super sweet coffee drinks or alcohol or things like that if you are mindfully hydrating along the way. Number three is to choose active experiences. Yes, there's totally something to be said for like a beach vacation, but if you can, even on a relaxing vacation like that, try to choose. Attractive things that you can do. Active experiences, whether that's just a long beach walk. Beach volleyball. Playing in the water. Surfing. Things like that. It's a lot easier if you're going on like a hiking trip. Like, that's pretty obvious as to how you're going to get your activity in. If you're in the mountains, there's so many different opportunities, but you really can do it on either type of trip. International travel there's plenty of opportunities to do active things like sightseeing and walking and biking, things like that. So look for opportunities to do that instead of just sitting all day, sitting in a car and then sitting on a couch and then sitting and eating. Look for opportunities to get up and get out and and stay active. And oftentimes those are going to be some of your favorite memories anyways because you're able to do a lot while you're choosing active experiences. This is one of the ways that I've been able to stay consistent and stay lean, while having a ton of travel in my life, um, over the last five years, because. I've just tried to stay as active as I could, even on the days and weeks when going to the gym or doing a home workout was not an option. Instead of it just being like an all or nothing thing with my exercise. Which brings me to number four, which is avoiding that all or nothing mentality that free for all like travel. I'm just going to like, say, screw it to all of my goals. Yes. While you're on vacation, this is not going to be your primary focus. But instead of just saying screw it and like having that free for all mentality that will make you feel not your best by the time you get back. See if you can approach it with some moderation. And this is one really easy tip for doing that. Pick 3 to 5 non-negotiables for your health while traveling. So what could this look like? That could be a protein at every meal. So every single meal that you eat, you're aiming for a really good protein source at least 20g of protein. This could be one little tip that I like when I'm eating out is having a non-negotiable of picking either an app, a dessert, or drinks. I'm not going to do more than one of those because that in addition to my meal, will really kind of put me in a state of excess. I'm probably not going to feel my best. I'm definitely going to be over consuming. So I pick one of those three. Whatever feels the most gratifying to me in that particular eating out situation. So that's a really good non-negotiable, especially if you are going to be eating out quite a bit. Daily walks. Setting a serving goal for fruits and veggies. And then if you're able to, maybe setting a non-negotiable. If I'm going to get three workouts in on this trip, or I'm going to get one workout in, but set a goal and follow through that, maybe it's sleep related. Maybe you're like, I really need to catch up on sleep on this trip. I need to really calm my nervous system and focus on de-stressing. So I'm going to get nine good hours of sleep every single night. Maybe you set a drink. Non-negotiable. If, like, overindulging in alcohol on trips is kind of a struggle for you. Maybe you say, I'm not going to have more than two drinks per day on this trip or whatever that looks like for you, but going into it with a bit of a structure for yourself, if these are my non-negotiables, because I know that I don't want to come back from this trip and feel like crap about myself, I don't want to have this negative headspace. I don't want to be feeling, you know, bad in my body or like, I just kind of blew it all up, all my progress by going all out on this trip, right? So you can still enjoy the experiences, the food, the drinks, the fun, without going all or nothing with it. Okay, so I'm a big advocate of all or of avoiding all or nothing in your everyday life, but this definitely applies for things like holidays and vacations as well. Okay. Number five. Remembering that what you do the majority of the time will determine your results. So this is a big thing to consider is how often are you traveling? If you're someone who's traveling like several days or weeks a month, maybe for work or you just like to travel a lot, you do a ton of like weekend travel, then staying on top of health practices during your travel is going to be really important because that's a really good amount of your year. You know, if you're traveling two weeks out of the year or one week out of the year, that ends up being a fourth to a half of your year. You can't afford to just kind of not care or have healthy habits for that much of your year, right? Because that's going to significantly affect the trajectory of your health and your ability to really reach your goals ultimately, because it's what you're doing the majority of the time, if you are traveling half or even a fourth of your year, that is kind of the majority. That's a lot of your time. So you are going to be affected by that. Your body is going to reflect how you're treating it while you are traveling during those times. So if you're a frequent traveler, this is going to apply big time to you. You're going to need to nail those non-negotiables. You're going to have to nail the healthy snacks and hydration while traveling. You're going to have to approach travel with moderation instead of just looking at it. Always like this big vacation. I had to really work on this for myself when I was living out of the van. Because my husband and I talked about this, we were like, wow, we find that like when we're on a trip like this, we feel inclined to kind of be in vacation mode, right? And the reality is. And the reality is, if you choose to be in vacation mode but you're traveling that frequently, then you're not going to see progress nearly as quickly. Or you might just kind of stay exactly where you are. At worst, you might even take backward steps because you're eating in a surplus. You're not focusing on food quality. You're not focusing on good sleep. You're not focusing on getting to the gym for a decent chunk of every single month. So it's really important to kind of change that mindset. If you've always had like a woohoo, I'm on vacation, let's just send it. Let's go all out with all of the snacks and treats and desserts and drinks. You're going to have to shift your mindset if you are a frequent traveler, okay, that's very important. However, if you're only traveling like 1 or 2 times a year, maybe you're just like, not a big traveler. You don't have a ton of PTO. Whatever your reason, then you're able to be a little bit more relaxed than someone who's traveling a week a month if you're only traveling two weeks out of the year, right? If that's the case, you don't need to focus on working out. Plan your load weeks. During that time, you can focus on enjoying your food experiences. Drink experiences really just relaxing, and you're not going to have to be quite as balanced or focusing on moderation as you would if you are traveling one week every single month. Okay, so you kind of also have to look at it from like, where am I coming into this? What's my travel situation? And then kind of go from there. So those are my five tips. These have really, really helped me be able to maintain my weight, maintain my muscle mass, maintain my mindset and healthy habits even while spending multiple months a year in Central America, spending months on end in a van, doing tons of camping, doing tons of weekend trips, things that used to really derail me, if I'm being honest. Like in my early to mid 20s when I was out doing this stuff, I would find myself always starting over afterward, and I felt so bloated and inflamed and crappy because I was just treating every single trip and weekend away and vacation as a total free for all. And bringing these tips and balance into my travel has helped me really maintain my health, no matter what. And now I'm not worried about when I travel because I have these things down. So I hope that these tips will help you, especially if you are a frequent traveler. Um, definitely try these out and let me know what works well for you. You can always connect with us at the fit underscore for hiking Instagram page. Another thing that we do within our mountain metabolic coaching is we work with a lot of ladies who have crazy schedules, who are traveling a ton. Um, some even like go in or living in other countries for months on end for work and living out of hotels, and we customize the program to fit that situation, to fit the busyness and the travel of their lives so that they can succeed in staying consistent without having to think so much about it. We take all of that mental brain work out of it, and make it as easy for you as possible. So if you are like, wow, I really resonate with this, but I struggle to do it on my own. I don't know how to kind of rework everything to stay consistent and I really need support. Then that's something that we can absolutely help you with within Mountain Metabolic Coaching. So you can check out the link in our show notes to apply. And if we're taking clients right now, then I will be reaching out to you to schedule a free discovery call and chat a little bit more, see if it sounds like a good fit for you. Well, thank you so much for tuning in, you guys. I hope that our tips on staying fit while traveling will benefit you in the future for all of your adventures. Thanks so much for listening and supporting the show. I will chat with you in the next episode. Recording stopped. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy trails.