Keeping fit while traveling is just plain hard. There’s no way around it.
While traveling, you’re often surrounded by exotic, tasty dishes, that sometimes aren’t the healthiest. And if you’re like Maddy and I, you justify every delicious bite by convincing yourself that it’s all part of the experience. Which, sometimes, might be true.
We’re all human, so indulging while traveling is deserved, but you should still put your health above all!
Whether its by eating clean or exercising often, these tips will help you to maintain your physique while traveling!
Keeping fit while traveling: Exercising
#1 Make a plan and commit!
If you’re not committed to keeping fit while traveling, it’s never going to work out. And neither are you. Figure out your exact fitness plan, commit, and follow through! The first step – actually doing it – is always the hardest. Just do it!
#2 Do cardio in the morning!
Waking up early while traveling is tough. Do it anyway.
Hard cardio workouts such as swimming, running on the beach, or biking can do wonders for your body. Often, your hotel will have a gym, a pool, bike rentals, or a beach nearby, and you’ll be all set. Cardio will help you to burn fat and feel fresh and energized throughout the day!
#3 Exercise in your hotel room!
Without the luxury of weights and fancy machines, keeping fit while traveling can be a challenge. If your hotel doesn’t have a gym, you can work out in your hotel room! Do pushups, sit-ups, burpees, squat jumps, bear crawls, and planks. You’ll stay toned and maintain strength by doing variations of these simple hotel room workouts.
#4 Exercise while having fun!
Don’t look at exercise as a chore! Often, I try to join in on locals playing sports.
Whether it’s basketball in the Lavapies neighborhood of Madrid, hiking in Bergen, swimming in Santorini, or playing soccer in an empty piazza in Venice, I like to join in for some cardio, but also to get to know the culture of the area.
#5 Walk instead of taking cabs, busses, etc.!
If you’re visiting a place like Rome or New York City, walking a lot is inevitable. And usually, it’s the best way to explore anyway. Obviously, walking for hours everyday can help to keep you fit while traveling. But there’s just one question: Is it enough for you?
Keeping fit while traveling: Eating
#1 Start every day with a healthy breakfast!
If you start every day with a healthy breakfast, you’ll feel great, and won’t feel so guilty about indulging later on for lunch and dinner. Choose fruits, yogurts, and eggs, over pancakes, French toast, and donuts. Every. Single. Time.
#2 Remember that moderation is key!
Eating lots of delicious meals and drinking alcohol can really take its toll. Before you order something, just think: do I really need to have this? If the answer is yes, go for it! But if you think you might be overindulging, just skip it.
Also, if necessary, the morning is the best time to indulge in carbs such as bread, potatoes, pancakes, and bagels, because your body has more time to process it. As the day goes on, try to eat lighter foods and cut out rice and noodles by replacing them with quinoa, vegetables, and other greens.
#3 Avoid that beer belly!
Avoiding excessive amounts of beer, wine, and sugary mixed drinks will help you to stay fit.
Overall, when considering what to drink for a night out, hard alcohol has less calories and less carbs. And as for lounging during the day, the darker the beer, the more carbs it contains. I’m a huge fan of IPA’s, but I know that sticking to lighter beer helps cut the carbs.
#4 Drink tons of water!
Drinking water is essential to stay fit while traveling because it keeps you healthy and hydrated, cleanses your body, and helps to burn fat! And on long-haul flights, you better be drinking liters and liters of water!
Water is literally the fountain of youth and is free in most places – as long as you keep a water bottle with you! My personal favorites are made by S’well, because they keep your water cold, no matter what. Just be sure to check and see if the country’s tap water is potable.
#5 Eat snacks, snacks, and more snacks!
Snacking helps to keep your metabolism up, and in turn, you burn more fat.
When Maddy and I travel, we’re constantly trying (and indulging in) new foods around the world. In this case, small portions are key!
And if you really want to snack while moving around, then stick to granola, almonds, blueberries, carrots, celery, and apples. Really, any sort of nuts and fruits are great for keeping your energy up without compromising your health aspirations!
Keeping fit while traveling: You CAN do it!
Our regular readers know that eating is our favorite part about traveling. We really believe that there’s no better way to understand a culture than through its food. So obviously, this can get in the way of staying fit.
With health-conscious meal and snack choices throughout the day, we’d all be a lot better off.
But sometimes we just want that large gelato, that giant plate of pasta, and that cheesy, glutenous pizza. And sometimes, we want all three in one day. But the good news is that we can at least balance out our diet by getting a workout in, here and there.
If nothing else, bear one thing in mind: Keeping fit while traveling should be fun, not a strain on your trip. Take pride in your health and fitness by making small sacrifices – whether that’s eating healthier or exercising more – to help you in the long run!
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What’s your fitness routine while traveling? Like us, do you prefer to eat how you want to (mostly), and exercise more? What are your biggest challenges for keeping fit while traveling?
Actually committing to waking up is the hardest thing for me, but definitely what I have to do when traveling. I made myself wake up early when I was in Vegas earlier this week for a conference, and it made such a big difference even in my mentality. I love the idea about bringing snacks to keep your metabolism going too!
Waking up really is the hardest part! If you can do that, you can do anything ;)
Thank you for the advice !
I always try to eat healthy while abroad but it’s so hard because I want to try everything :)
Great article, I will use it for sure (or try at least haha)
Kenza from https://travelwithkenza.blogspot.fr/
Haha! We want to eat everything, too… Always. So that’s where exercising comes in! :)
Can I write a guide for how to not stay fit on the road because I do the opposite of everything you suggested here LOL, especially avoiding that beer belly. And, OHHH, remember that pitcher of sangria in your other post? HAH! Caught you red-handed. How do you explain THAT?! :)
Hehehehe! We love to indulge in good food and drinks while traveling, but everything in moderation! Mostly, we like to eat what we want and balance it out with exercise ;)
Great post! I think people just need to make a commitment to themselves when travelling to eat well (at least most times) and keep active. Like you said, even exercise in your hotel room! Walking is also great. Totally agree with drinking lots of water. So important, isn’t it? Lots of great tips to keep in mind for sure :) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by! And true, walking a ton is usually inevitable when traveling :)
Thank you very much for sharing your great tips on staying fit while travelling. I like your easy suggestions like staying hydrated and just adding a little bit of exercise here and there. I also tend to have a light travel yoga mat with me which I love. It can be all part of the fun.
Wow, you travel with a yoga mat?! I love practicing yoga but I don’t think I would ever have enough room in my suitcase to travel with one!
– Maddy
Amazing post, I love it
Hope your having an amazing week so far beautiful
Filipa xxx
PlayingWithApparel.com | Instagram
Thank you for stopping by!
My fitness routine for holidays tends to be to walk everywhere. I do so much exercise at home that I tend to take my foot of the peddle a bit when I’m on vacation, but I find a day’s exercise from walking is pretty good at keeping me in reasonable shape while I’m eating all that yummy holiday food :-)
That’s awesome! Thanks for stopping by! :)
Such a great post! I tend to do A LOT of walking while I’m traveling. Then I can stay fit and enjoy that giant plate of pasta or large gelato haha. Thanks for sharing!
https://www.mintnotion.com
Totally! Walking a lot is pretty much inevitable while traveling!
Thanks for sharing these tips! I’m not a morning person AT ALL but it’s amazing how much you can accomplish by setting that alarm and sticking to it. I find that making sure you get your 8 hours of sleep while on the road also helps for a more rested, healthier traveller :)
Totally agree! We NEED our sleep! :)
Keeping fit while traveling is definitely something I struggle with, but I always end up losing weight, especially when I’m in Europe. I just try to walk everywhere, usually that ends up being 20km everyday! These are great tips though, especially cardio in the morning – a short run can go a long way!
xo
Siffat
https://icingandglitter.com
We will be in Europe this summer for two months and so we’ll be doing a ton of walking! But with all the food we’ll want to eat – especially in Italy – we might need to do more than just walking. Thanks for stopping by!
Great list, you two! Walking is what I find most effective when I’m travelling too. Sometimes I’ll do a few things in my room before I head out, but walking around all day and doing that for a week really is great cardio. I then find I have no problem heading back to the gym once I’m back in Canada. Also, how amazing are those S’well water bottles?! I couldn’t live without mine!
Thanks for stopping by! :)
While traveling through Italy, I got into the habit of doing a pilates routine every morning. It helped me slow down each day instead of rushing out the door, which was an added bonus. Also, a perk of being a broke college student is that I usually can’t afford transportation other than walking, so I’m always good for that one! ;)
-Claire
tallgirlbigworld.com
Pilates? You’re hard core! Hahaha being a broke college student will do that to you, won’t it? ;)
What great tips! I’m a full believer in walking anywhere and everywhere–not only is it great cardio, but while traveling, you get to experience so much more of the city than if you were underground or in the back of a cab! Also, I have a little system that helps when eating out: bread, alcohol, or dessert…choose one and enjoy!;-)
That’s actually a really good system… We might have to adopt that!
Hi Maddy, all these tips are great!
But from my experience, if I do the mountains track
(like at those awesome pics) – you would not really need exercise :)
I felt so exhausted and then so toned after active travels, so I could not think of any exercises :)
And hotel rooms sometimes are so so so small (e.g) if you travel to Hong Kong or Singapore, where 120$ room would not even have a place for a suit case :)
Yep, so I would say some of the travels are like exercises :)
But eating healthy and drinking a lot of water is the key point anyways !
x
Thank you for your input! :)
Some great tips here! I really struggle with this too, I have put on a few more kilos than I would like since commencing my travels. I think the hardest thing sometimes is that in order to rest and sit down somewhere (especially when it’s cold outside!) you often have to eat/drink! I think your advice about fitting cardio in is definitely spot on!
We’ll be roaming around Europe for a few months soon, and we definitely need to put these to use… Or it won’t be pretty.
You’re right though, when you need a break, it’s pretty much impossible not to indulge unnecessarily.
I definitely agree with a lot of these. For me the biggest points are one, eat in moderation. I never deny myself the things I want, but I always make sure not to stuff myself. And then two, I try to walk everywhere as opposed to taking transportation. When I was in Europe for two weeks recently I implemented both of these and only came back two pounds heavier! Woot! I did over indulge some days. But for the most part I found balance. :)
-Emily http://www.coatandcoffee.com
We’ll be spending a couple months in Europe this summer, so we’ll really have to practice what we preach when it comes to this post! Italy will be most tempting with all those carbs, so we’ll have to find balance as well.