Your Trip Does Not Mean Derailing Your Nutrition!
Imagine a world... where you can cut down for that vacation, and then STAY cut during—without feeling deprived. Or even better than focusing on your body composition, how about simply feeling good, confident and energized throughout your trip? Ever feel so sick after an overly indulgent meal that you miss out on something else? 🙋♂️ Never again.
Here are 5 different nutritional tips to keep yourself feeling your BEST self while you’re traveling.
1. Why not start with our favorite tip? PLAN AHEAD. Choose where your “fun” meals will be and actively fill in the rest of your day with high protein, nutritious meals and snacks. If your goal is to maintain your body composition during your trip, we recommend keeping these planned meals/snacks low carb AND low fat. An example would be chicken breast with asparagus. This will mitigate the significant caloric surplus your “fun” meals may launch you toward. NOTE: planning ahead is not permission to go nuts at these “fun” meals—it’s about giving you space to relax and not worry about calories or macros.
2. Nutrient timing helps a LOT. Where possible, focus your carb-heavy meals around times of high activity and opt for lower carb options at times of low activity (and always have protein). Gearing up for a 5 hour drive? Maybe have your eggs with NO toast for breakfast. Make it an omelet. PRO TIP: if you can identify every ingredient in your meal (i.e. a sandwich), it’s a good choice. If you can’t (i.e. anything fried), it’s probably sub-optimal.
3. DO NOT starve yourself out over huge gaps of time, even if you are macro hoarding for some indulgent dinner and/or dessert (get hangry much?). If you go into your meal famished, you put yourself in prime position for a binge. Nobody feels good after a binge. Snack on protein-rich options throughout your day—we recommend aiming for a snack every 3 hours or so—to empower your future self to make better choices. Go have your dinner, but also have control.
4. Get your body moving after a heavy meal!! I don’t care HOW full you are. Go for a 10 minute walk after you’re done eating. Get your blood moving, nutrients pumping, and digestion astir. It’s like magic: you’ll be astonished how much it helps.
5. Drink. All. Of. The. Water. Flush out inflammation and excess sodium, get your organs functioning at peak capacity, optimize your energy levels, and push all the food and drink you’ve been consuming OUT of your system. Nothing sets off your water retention like alcohol, sodium and carb loading. Give your body a few days to recover from really severe doses of the aforementioned offenders (read: binges), but facilitate the recovery process with lots of water.
A trip is meant to be enjoyed. These 5 tips will allow you some space to do just that—without sacrificing your physical wellbeing AND without depriving yourself. It can be tough to balance priorities when you’re on vacation or even just away from home and your normal routine. But, if you plan ahead, it’s not so hard to make a few smart choices that set you up to feel good, look good and really enjoy your time away. Your trip is about more than just food. Relax, and enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: We are by no means medical professionals or registered dietitians. None of this is medical advice.