How do you maintain a lean body while traveling on the road? People who are very invested in their health and fitness can gain some major stress when trying to plan what it is they are going to eat and how they will get proper training in. A week-long vacation usually leads to lacking equipment and a diet with meal timing that is totally out of whack! It’s no wonder why it can be so hard for most.
The Equipment
Understand that equipment will most likely be less than what you are used to while in your normal routine at home. The goal is to keep your routine in the gym as close to the same as you possibly can. This may mean that you need to improvise some movements or potentially lighten the weight for some of the exercises. Most hotel gyms only carry dumbbells up to 40-50 LBS at max so if your strength level exceeds that, you may need to add additional sets and reps to maintain some type of volume/output while in the gym.
Keep in mind that this is all relative to your priorities while traveling. For an advanced lifter or someone who has big goals in mind, it may be necessary to get a week pass at a standard commercial gym to prevent yourself from falling off track with your normal split. For other people, vacation is the top priority and nothing else. Every person is different.
The Diet
One of the many concerns that people have is falling off of their diet/meal structure when away. The goal with this is to set yourself up for success right away. There is a series of steps that you can take to keep fat loss going and retain lean muscle mass as travel time ticks by.
The first crucial step that you need to realize is that protein intake per day with each individual is the most important thing that you need to keep on track at all times. If you are strength training, men need 1g of protein per pound of body weight and women need 0.7-0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. This will help you retain strength and muscle mass even when calories are low.
Here is the thing, protein has a higher thermogenic effect of food compared to carbs or fats. This means that it takes your body more energy to break down a calorie of protein than it does a calorie of fat or carbs. If you are eating at restaurants multiple times per day and need to estimate sizes of meat, I got the fix! 6-8 oz of lean meat is roughly the size of your hand. I recommend that women get around 2.5-3 servings of meat at this size per day and men get 3-4 servings. This will at minimum give you a rough estimate of the amount of protein you need to consume to get close to your intake. Obviously not counting the trace amounts of protein you will be getting from grains, nuts, cheeses, dairy, eggs, ect..
My last tip for the diet aspect is to bring a small tub of whey protein with you as you travel. This will have a tracked nutrition label of all the macro-nutrients per scoop of whey so if worst comes to worst, you can still stay on track.
My Full Day of Eating Video Below:
Alcohol
This is where things can get very messy for people. So many do not even know that alcohol contains calories. Well, it does. Lots. One shot of hard alcohol contains 90-100 calories. It adds up so fast. On top of that, people usually couple it with soda, juice, or other sugary mixers. This will rob you of your daily intake of calories, and you will put on fat fast.
In men, testosterone and growth hormone decrease by over 50% which means you will make little to no strength gains. Alcohol needs to be limited if your goal is to perform well in the gym.
My full video on how alcohol plays in effect with the body below:
Fasting
Fasting has numerous health benefits as well as fat loss benefits. Intermittent fasting has had a huge spike increasing in popularity among many people with a focus on health and nutrition. Fasting throughout the morning is something that I personally do each and every day with great success. After coaching many people with similar training and nutrition plans as myself, I have seen first hand how amazing this tool can be.
When the body enters into a fasted state around 12+ hours, liver glycogen is completely depleted. There is no longer calories or glycogen left in the bloodstream and the body needs a new source of fuel. The answer is fat.
Fat is long term energy storage designed as a backup fuel when no energy is present. The main reason why muscle is preserved during this time is because of hormone change in the body!
This can be a great tool for people to use while traveling because it gives flexibility with your eating window, and can make fat loss easier.
If you have a night of indulgence with food and beverages, along fast through the morning the following day can give you that buffer as your caloric rollover to the next day turns into a fasted state. This can help mobilize fat and makes it easy to get back on track if things go south!
All the tips and tricks that I outlined are also applicable to people who are just busy in general. Perhaps you stay home all day but have limited time due to work and family demands. Or maybe you just want a more active social life. You can still incorporate some of these training and diet principles into your daily routine! Hope this helps!
