Vacation is a time of relaxation. Not worrying about cooking dinner, cleaning, or any other responsibilities that you would have while at home. If you are following a diet plan and trying to stay on track with your workout plan, traveling could stress one out a bit. It takes a little planning beforehand; but staying on track can be done, and I am going to share some tips with you.

If You Are Staying in a Rental Vacation Home

If you are staying in a rental property, you will have the amenities to cook all or some of your meals. Before leaving on vacation, simply create a menu and grocery list. On the day/night that you arrive at your destination, take a trip to the grocery store to get everything you need for the duration of your stay.

If You Are Staying in a Hotel

If you are staying at a hotel, see if there are refrigerators or microwaves available in the room. This option is best if you will be driving to your destination. We previously took a trip to Durham, North Carolina for a board game convention. The hotel that we stayed in provides microwaves, but you have to ask the front desk to bring one to your room. The night before we left for our trip, I went to the grocery store to pick up lunch meat, 647 bread by Schmidt, a bag of pre-cut veggies (for snacks), beef jerky, Sargento Balanced Break packs, and fiber one 70 calorie snack bars. When I got home I prepared a batch of chili and portioned it out in containers. Let’s get back to the 647 bread. I absolutely love bread, and there is no way I would cut it from my diet. This bread is amazing as it only has 40 calories, 6 grams of carbs, and provides 7 grams of fiber per slice!

As mentioned above, going on vacation is nice because you don’t have all of the responsibilities of being at home. We were on our trip with a bunch of friends, and knew that we would be going out to dinner with them in the evenings. With that being said, we used our pre-made food for our lunches during the week and of course snacks during the day.

Tips on Eating out

This is the part that stresses me out. It is often hard to tell what the food is cooked in, how much ingredients are added to the dish, and if it is portioned out the way that is described in their nutritional guide (if they provide one). Don’t be afraid to ask the waitress what dishes are cooked in, as well as any other information you would like to know about your selection. Try to avoid things that are labeled creamy, breaded, fried, crispy, crunchy, and even sautéed. Sautéed could indicate lots of butter or oil. Sticking with fresh veggies and meats with healthy spices is the way to go.

Portion Control

To ensure you are eating the serving size you are targeting, there are two good ways to take your measurements:

Use a picture guide. This one from How Stuff Works gives you examples of everyday items to compare your portion sizes to. https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-proportion-pictures.htm

This is a great method if you didn’t bring along your measuring cups and spoons to the restaurant (which may be a little awkward and messy).

Another idea is to purchase a small travel size scale. I have this one from Amazon. https://amzn.to/39cKt89 Ask your waitress for an empty plate to place on the scale and zero it out. Next add your food and take note of the weight.

Working out

Many hotels, and even cruise ships offer workout rooms that provide a few machines and a rack of weights. Figure out what time of the day will work best for you and take advantage of what your hotel has to offer.

If you are staying in a rental home, you may not have access to gym equipment. That doesn’t mean that you can’t workout, it just means you will have to be a bit more creative. My husband and I do workouts from Beach Body. If you are not familiar with Beach Body on Demand, it’s like Netflix for workout programs (I do not sell Beach Body products). You can also find many workouts on YouTube. Our current favorite Beach Body program is Liift4, which is weight lifting and high intensity interval training 4 days a week. We also do yoga on rest days. We download all of our workouts on to our computer, so that we can still stay on track while we are away from home. If we are at a place that doesn’t provide weights, we just do cardio workouts. We even did all of our downloaded workouts while we were on a cruise!

If weights are a part of your workout regimen, there is another option available. You can actually find travel weights. Don’t worry, they aren’t heavy…well at least not until you fill them up. Once you are ready to use them, you fill them with water. It’s such a great idea! If you opt to try them out, please let me know what you think.

If you are going to a theme park or doing a lot of hiking, this may be enough exercise for you during your trip. You could even take advantage of the hotel pool and do laps. Don’t forget that if you don’t have access to a gym, or downloaded workout videos, bring your tennis shoes. Do a fast-paced jog or walk around the hotel facilities, or the neighborhood of your vacation rental home.

I hope my tips will help you during your fitness journey while on vacation. Let me know in the comments below if you have any other tips for staying fit while on vacation.