People that travel often for business or vacation purposes have an extra challenge to face--staying fit and healthy. When you are on the go, in particular, it’s very easy to get lazy, let yourself loose and indulge in stuff that is simply bad for you like burgers, fries, sweets and fizzy drinks. Not only that, lack of physical activity as a result of excess relaxation can also contribute to weight gain and a general unhealthy state. If you wish to avoid the fitness and health pitfalls of traveling and enjoy your vacation with no after side-effects (you know what we mean), here is what you can do:
Take the stairs and walk around the building for at least 15 minutes. Not all hotels have a gym facility and so, you have to think of some quick alternatives to get yourself moving. A good idea would be to take the stairs instead of the elevator so you can burn more calories or go for a walk inside or outside the hotel for 15+ minutes so you burn more than 50 calories. Tip: carry your own luggage up and down the stairs so you burn a 2X amount of calories.
Take your own healthy dry snacks. Since airport venue, flight or generally travel meals are often unhealthy and loaded with a high amount of calories e.g chicken nuggets and fries, a good alternative would be to take your own dry snacks so you can take straight from your bag and eat on the go. Good suggestions that give you a healthy amount of calories are sugar-free protein or muesli bars, dried fruit, dried Chinese seaweed, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, cashews, sweet potato chips, dark chocolate, homemade trail mixes.
Ditch fizzy drinks and caffeine for plain water or tea. Sadly, the vast majority of people resort to fizzy drinks or commercial fruit juices to quench their thirst while traveling, but what this does is making you even more thirsty after a few hours, as it loads your system with unhealthy and fat-causing calories. If you have plain water or tea instead, you will hydrate yourself instantly with next to zero calories--and these cost much less than buying a soda, coffee or alcoholic drinks.
Do some bench presses or squats 3X each day. Some exercises don’t need any fancy equipment to work and you don’t have to take or buy anything extra to keep yourself fit while traveling. You can do bench presses over any bench, sturdy chair, or flat surface and follow up with a few sets of squats to supplement the previous exercise. Keep in mind that your legs have to be strong and fit as you travel so exercising them will make them work to their fullest potential (as long as you don’t overdo it and injure yourself).
Look for cycling, trenching or swimming tour activities. A lot of places frequently organize tours that involve some kind of physical activity such as: walking for long distances, cycling, mountain climbing, swimming and canoeing among others. Each of these activities is enough to make you burn 300+ calories if they last at least 20 minutes. Look up these tours online and book your ticket/participation in advance so you don’t put it off once you get there.