Whether you’re roadtripping for the weekend, traveling for business, or heading on a family vacation, it can be challenging to juggle your travel plans with your nutrition goals. There are plenty of excuses to indulge. After all, travel is about new experiences and enjoying things you normally wouldn’t, right? But you can still enjoy vacation or travel and feel your best when you return, so give our strategies a try!

Plan Ahead and Define Your Intention

• Why are you taking this trip?

• Do you want to stay precise when tracking or focus on intuitive eating?

• Is there anything coming up after your trip that requires you to be at a certain weight, such as a competition or event?

If your goals allow you to be a little more lenient in your tracking habits, listen to your body and do just that by practicing intuitive eating or indulging in moderation. You can still make progress in your goals while giving yourself some leniency.

But if your goals require that you track on your vacation or maintain the rate you’ve been going, there are plenty of strategies for success.

For food choices, you will find some options available on the road and in airports, but your best bet will be to pack as much ahead as you can. Then use the things available as you travel to give you more options for some fresh foods. Another great resource is the internet, as many chain restaurants you’ll find along the way or during your layover provide their nutrition details online.

Tips for Packing Food for the Airplane

When it comes to liquids, the general rule remains the same — liquids or gels should be less than 100 mL or 3.4 oz. Keep any food items separate in either your backpack or a cooler bag to avoid any hold-ups through security!

• Prepping your own meals ahead of time is a HUGE help! Plan on making foods that you can easily prepare and enjoy at room temperature, like salads, potatoes, rice or cooked meats.

• Protein-rich foods can be some of the hardest to find on the go. Tuna packets, hard boiled eggs, and jerky are great go-to plane options.

• Bring along your own healthy snacks that you can easily throw into your carry-on: nuts, bars, trail mix, protein powder, rice cakes, cheese sticks, and boiled eggs are all fantastic items to take on board. Cut up your own carrot sticks, cucumber, celery and tomatoes to bring along! Fresh and dried fruits are also easy to pack and relatively mess-free.

• To save space and money, try packing food in recyclable paper containers, reusable bags or collapsible Tupperware containers!

• Carry empty water bottles and refill them once you are through security! Take along single servings of protein powder and electrolytes to stay hydrated while traveling.

Feel Your Best

It can be easy to use travel as a reason to skip exercise. While you might not have the time or ability to pursue your usual training regime, it doesn't mean you can’t stay active while you are seeing the sights. A great way to keep moving on vacation is to incorporate things that keep you active, like finding local trails to walk around or renting bikes to explore the local attractions.

When the weather isn’t cooperating, check out your hotel gym (if it has one). They’ll usually have a few different machines available for some cardio, or even some weight training options. If you’re crashing at a cool little B&B in town or staying somewhere without a gym, no problem! There are plenty of ways to get a burn on, even when you have no gym, like these body-weight exercises or these jump rope workout ideas.

Food Hacks

• Book a hotel room with a kitchen or mini fridge and stock it with healthy snacks that are easy to track! When you get to your destination, buy a disposable cooler that you can take with you for snacks, lunch, and plenty of water. They work great for beach days so you don’t have to pack up the crew to go find lunch! ⁣Easy take-along foods include hard-boiled eggs, jerky, chicken/tuna packets, deli meat, protein bars, nuts, Greek yogurt, and pre-sliced fruit and veggies. Portion out serving sizes in ziplock bags for easy tracking!

• Most hotel continental buffets have hard-boiled eggs (remove the yolk for a low-cost lean protein option). Stick with easy to track foods such as fruit, yogurt, cereals, and oatmeal packs.

• Research local restaurant options and pre-log what you can. Choosing seperates is always the easiest to log!

• If you are road-tripping, pack a cooler and fill it with healthy snacks for your travels. Place the cooler and all snacks in the back of the car out of reach so that you can avoid mindless snacking and only eat when you make planned stops for meals.⁣

• Drink your water and stay hydrated! Take refillable water bottles with you along on your adventures! Protein powder, BCAA’s, and no-calorie flavored drink mixes are easy to pack to encourage drinking water and avoiding water retention while traveling!⁣

Customized Plan

Want more information on keeping your travels macro-friendly, or are you looking to come up with a customized strategy of your own? An AIM Nutrition Coach can help you figure out how to approach your exact situation and help you create a plan to feel your best during and after your travels so that you can come home feeling better than when you left!