I arrived home safe and sound after a great memorial weekend in San Diego. Vince and I had a dedicated weekend of socializing, fun and yes, training. We never missed a single workout, ate healthy foods for the majority of our trip, including the airport…both ways! Here is how we stuck to our healthy lifestyle while
1. We booked a hotel very close to Fit gym, a gym we had trained at last year and loved. Although our friends stayed along the marina, we chose to book our hotel right next to a gym to make fitting in training sessions a lot easier.
2. We pre-packaged and pre-cooked our meals before we left. Vince and I bought packaged salads and nuts for the plane ride down. We brought our shaker cups and protein powder and took a greens product and multi-vitamins incase we missed out on any veggies.
3. Planning our workouts! We woke up early each morning to fit in cardio. This means we also went to sleep at a decent hour all nights except one! Planning is everything. We strategically planned our workouts before we left home. We chose to take Thurs and Mon off training as these were our travel days. We added weights on the nights we could and if we didn’t want to go back at night, we simply just added some cardio post weights in the morning.
4. We found a grocery store as soon as we got to the hotel and asked for a microwave and mini-fridge for the room. First thing we did after check-in was take a trip to the healthiest food spot for convenient food that matched our nutrition criteria. We brought these foods back to the hotel and used them pre and post workouts. We not only saved money, but a lot of calories. When it came time for dinner, we passed on what we wanted to pass on and also indulged some too.
5. We said NO to a lot of bread, dessert, and alcohol…and said yes on a few occasions. Notice I used the word few. Taking opportunities to skip on unhealthy empty calories makes the difference of looking good VS. looking average.
Take those tips with you on your next trip to make sure you don’t come back feeling guilty and regretful. Every time you come out of a situation as an achiever, you become stronger and the difficult choices become easier. This summer choose to enjoy yourself without over indulging, make plans before you go out or travel and remember that saying no is really saying, I care about my body.
Share your favorite travel tip below to keep us all motivated while training and eating smart.
Flavia Del Monte
Thanks so much!! Im overseas in Italy and Im going back home to TX this summer last time I went home I gained 13lbs 🙁 this time I have set plan doing the UFLD and your workouts. Ive actually told a lot people back home my plan that now I have mini boot camp waiting for me to get started lol But thanks always for the motivation. Vivi
Great inspiration….it is hard to find gyms in Europe….show everyone there it is possible to workout with or without a gym! Oh…and take me with you..lol
opps ment XFLD lol
Flavia,
Thanks for the tips, but this may not be ideal in all situations. I’m traveling with the military during the last week of June and will likely not have this same level of control. For instance, my locations are already planned out for me, we’ll be in two foreign countries, and I’m still waiting to learn what hotel we’ll stay out to determine if it has a gym. My job is very demanding and my itinerary is very tight, so I don’t know how much flexibility I’ll have when I get there.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
I think body weight exercises and HIIT for sure!! Have you checked out the HIIT? If you need the name of a body weight system let me know 🙂
Thanks Flavia. I use Turbulence Training a lot before your program. I’m also a runner and am training for several races in late summer/early fall, so running helps. I’m thinking about doing 3 days of 30-45 minute runs and then 3 days of HIIT running or cycling on my spinning bike. I have HIIT workouts from Craig Ballantyne as part of the TT workouts I was doing. Do you have others to recommend? I also downloaded the LIVESTRONG app to my iPhone and I’m doing quite well tracking calories there. While my diet is not idea yet, I’m just focusing on getting a strong exercise regimen pinned down and get myself thinking about net calorie intake. I know calorie counting isn’t the best way to go but at least it’s getting me in the habit right now of tracking what I’m eating and logging everything I put in my mouth. Eventually I’m looking to tighten up my diet also but that comes with the tracking because I’m starting to realize the impact of my decisions.
I’m hoping to have myself in a good position before I go overseas so I can keep the momentum going. I’m trying to find out what hotels we’re staying at so I can determine what gym equipment, if any, is available. Diet will be tough to nail down in a foreign country!
Kristin
If you are a member of FBl..there is a HIIT video. If not…sprinting or hill running works well. You can do all these things and notice a huge difference without the proper nutrition. Think about changing nutrition first…besides if you push yourself too hard and don’t have the proper nutrients to repair…you may injure yourself!!
Thanks Flavia, I am a member and will check out the video. I should clarify, my nutrition really isn’t too bad by comparison. I try to eat a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins, while minimizing my refined carb and processed food intake. Ideally I’d like to work towards eating completely clean but it’s a very challenging task, especially with my very busy schedule, and at the moment I’m focusing more on the exercise and will refine the diet later. I went to a nutritionist last year who took a lot of my emphasis away from protein (which I’ve always been taught with fitness) and shifted more towards healthy carbs. Right now I’m trying to dial in on a happy medium and really listen to how many body responds to fuel and what helps me best recover from the intense workouts.
I was so proud of myself after my honeymoon. Even though I didn’t really workout a lot but i watched my food like a hawk. I indulged ONLY a couple of times during our 1 month Honeymoon and came home weighing EXACTLY the same!
The only thing I can’t say no to sometimes is Alcohol……LOOOL
Thanks for the great tips!
Ohh I did not do too well on mine..lol….but I had a ton of fun!!
Great ideas Flavia. Thanks for posting. You are right. Planning ahead is everything. I was recently away taking a course for a week. On the first night the instructor told us about the facilities and said that we could all count on gaining 10 lbs. that week because the food was so good. I was determined not to gain any weight and actually told him so. I worked out in the morning before classes started, and tried to avoid as much white sugar and flour as possible. I didn’t gain a pound. I saw my instructor last week and he said he was working at losing the pounds that he had put on during the course. I just smiled.
Thank you for this post, I do have a hard time saying no while at home, now imagine while traveling… I love this “I care about my body” view of things… it will be easier to say no and make better choices for my body 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi Flavia,
Thanks so much for this awesome post! I travel very often so this is extremely helpful! 🙂
You rock! I’ll be using these tips!
Ciau,
Samantha
Successful holidays and vacations really comes down to planning. I like come home from traveling and feel refreshed and eating and exercising during this time is important to feeling that way.
Awesome tips Flavia! I’ll make sure to use those really smart tips in my daily life…
I can already proudly say that I bring my own healthy food to my new job everyday, and it’s already inspiring some of my coworkers to do the same!
I can’t wait for your next healthy tips! I love it!
For those of you that travel and don’t have control over your location or a fridge, at the very least take a mini-blender with you and some protein supplement packages and some dried milk. Add ice and water and you’re in business for a healthy low fat meal. Also take protein bars with you, and packages of nuts, and dried fruit. And always take resistance bands!! I have a couple of great video workouts using resistance bands, and you can find some good information on body weight training on the internet. Don’t give up on your food and exercise program, plan ahead!
Hey Flavia, I have to say i admire your strength and discipline. My husband and I have always found holidays and trips as our weak spot.. we train regularly and are currently doing the XFLD with the rest of the house hold but previous years we always went pair shaped (literally) on our holidays.
We always would say before hand – lets stay healthy and train – and then we would get there and adopt the idea that we were on holidays so we didn’t have to worry 🙁 then we would feel horrible when we got back and feel as though we had put on a million kilos (sorry pounds).
I think we understand better now more then ever that staying fit and healthy is a full time job and it doesn’t always have to be hard work. Taking the BIG breaks ends up doing more damage then good.
Anyway thanks for your insight and the good news is I am day 4 so not far away from a cheat YUM
Hey Charlie….it takes time to form new habits and it has taken time for us too….keep up the good work and have fun on your cheat day!
I’ll be going on a cruise in November and taking these tips with me! 🙂 I always manage to find room in my suit case for a resistance band and I’ll be sure to bring my print-outs of my workouts. Good food may be hard to find on a ship, but I always do my best to stick to the whole foods. I really look forward to sampling the local fresh fruits and vegetables from other countries! I can still remember the fresh papaya on my trip in Greneda! 🙂
Thanks, Flavia!
thanks for the tips. we will be visiting family this summer. what do you suggest for when you are staying with family whose eating habits are not the same as ours? i do not want to appear rude, or too self obsessed, but i also want to keep the fat off (i’ve worked hard and long to get it off after my last baby!!)
Yes, that is a tough one….I would not make it a big deal and if they are offended just let them know that you would support their goals whatever they may be and you hope that they support your goals. Educated them if they are willing to hear but don’t make it a big deal
thanks!
I am currently doing your fabulous Flavilicious workout system and love it, however I am wondering what exercises I could do whether I am travelling to a friend’s house for the weekend or a longer vacation abroad where i dont have access to a gym and may not have a lot of time to work out but want to stay in shape and be able to eat all the yummy foods along the way (in moderation)
Hey Karen, go back to the members page and download the travel workouts and the home edition. You should get great ideas from there!
I travel a great deal as well. Thank you for the workouts.
What do you eat when you carb up?
White rice (fast digesting and dries me out) and white sweet potatoes.