Traveling is such a blessing! You get to see new places or get together with loved ones. The one downside to traveling is that it’s hard to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. Being out of your routine makes making healthy choices a little bit harder. However, it’s important to keep your health as a top priority, even when you’re traveling.

While it can be difficult to maintain your normal routine when you’re traveling, it’s not impossible. Having a plan in place is going to help you stay on course. Then you have to protect your plans!

Plan

You always, always, always need a game plan! You may not be able to control every single thing in the day, but you can control a lot more than you think!

You should still treat food like you’re at home! Come up with a menu of what you’re going to eat each day. Take a look at what you’re going to be doing each day and plan your meals backwards.

When you get to your destination, run to the grocery store and grab the foods you need to complete your meal plan! Whether you’re staying at a hotel or with friends or family, you can make sure that your meals are on point. Remember your health is what is most important! It’s totally fine to seem “extreme” to other people as long as you are happy!

Another important thing to think about it when you’re making your travel plans is how you’re going to move your body. You can either plan to work out every day or you can make sure that your plan to do something active each day!

If you’re staying in a hotel, it’s super easy to hit up the hotel gym or go for a swim with your kids in the pool. If you’re staying with family it can be a little bit trickier, but it’s totally possible! If you are a member of a national gym, see if your membership lets you go to any location. If you aren’t into gyms, then make sure you go for a walk or can find space to do an at-home workout.

Protect

The hardest part of traveling is going to be sticking to your plan! Not everyone is going to be supportive of your efforts.

A lot of people feel threatened when they see you trying to be better. They may make fun of you or try to tempt you into deviating from your plan. Ignore them.

I know that ignoring the opinions of people we love can be hard, but you have to remember why you’re doing this in the first place. You are showing up for yourself because eating right and moving your body makes YOU stronger. It makes you feel better. Ultimately, it helps you show up better in other aspects of your life.

If you know the people you’ll be around on vacation will try to get you to give up on yourself, then write down your why and look at it whenever you need support.

I hope that there is at least one person you can lean on when you’re on vacation! If you have that person, use them! Ask them to defend your choices to other family members. Have them give you a pep talk or hug when you need it.

Don’t forget to use any other resources you have while you’re traveling. I am always a text away from my clients! If you have a Facebook support group, use that.

If you can stick to your plan, you will have a happy and healthy holiday trip. But, if you have a hard time being 100% diligent, don’t beat yourself up! Life has ups and downs and you’ll have those dips in your health journey. Love yourself through the journey and you’ll be much happier!

As always, if you need help setting up a plan and having the tools to protect it, then schedule a free discovery call with me!

How to plan & protect your nutrition when you’re traveling for the holidays

Plan

Protect