Hi girlfriend! This week I’m off to Denver for work and thought that this is the perfect time to share how I stay on track health and fitness wise while traveling!
I’ve worked at my current company for almost three years, with frequent trips to our Denver headquarters. Colorado is such a gorgeous state and Downtown Denver is so fun!
I really enjoy work travel, but if I don’t take the time to think ahead, prepare and make smart food choices – it’s super easy to not feel like myself and fall off the wagon! I personally need to eat primarily clean and get in my work outs even while traveling or else I just feel gross and my body takes a week or so after to feel like itself again.
So really.. the only aspects of travel I don’t enjoy – checked bags, gross airplane air and getting off my routine. What about you?! While I don’t have as much control on the first two, I do on the last and I’m here to provide some tips for your next work trip.
The reason I made this post with the angle of work travel is because I personally give myself more grace when I travel for leisure. When in Europe, we’d be silly to say no to Rome pizza or skip a work out to explore the Parisian streets, right?! With work, I still like to enjoy myself and explore downtown and eat some tasty food, but just like when it comes to beauty or fashion.. when I feel my very best, I perform my very best. I’m there to perform and get work done, which is hard for me if I don’t prioritize my health and fitness!
If you travel for your job and want some tips on staying on track food wise and getting in your work outs, keep reading.
5 TIPS FOR STAYING ON TRACK WITH HEALTH AND FITNESS WHILE TRAVELING
1.INDULGE STRATEGICALLY, NOT CARELESSLY
It’s really easy to be a tad lazy at the airport and grab a muffin for breakfast and opt for the free junk food plane snacks, but these choices do nothing but make you have a lack of energy, feel like crap and ultimately indulge in food that’s not worth it.
I save my indulgences for exploring the city with my colleagues! Enjoying your destination with a nice glass of wine and entree at dinner is much more worth the calories than a crappy airport muffin or fast food breakfast sandwich!
When at the airport, I grab an iced espresso, water jug and fruit cup from Starbuck along with almonds and an RX bar from the quick mart store.
2.SCOUT OUT RESTAURANTS AHEAD OF TIME
Before traveling for work or leisure, I do some homework. I scout out my daily caffeine fix and healthy food stops!
I find that knowing where a smoothie place is or a great salad restaurant location before my trip even starts, allows me to be set up for success. Rather than settling for just anything due to being hangry, you’ll know where you can stop for a healthy, clean meal without too much thought.
3.PACK QUICK, PROTEIN-PACKED SNACKS
My office has a fully stocked kitchen with healthy snack options and with work travel I of course have food reimbursements so having my own snacks to get by isn’t as needed if my trip is solely to the office.
When my travel is for a conferences or summits where I’m sorta tied to the hotel due to a jam packed schedule, leaving less time to go grab my own food – I resort to checking a bag and packing my own protein packed snacks! I think this may be helpful for some of you.
Hotel food is gross. Everything is jam paced with sodium. You eat a lunch at a hotel and you feel 15 pounds heavier due to the sodium bloat. I avoid hotel meat at all costs and just stick to oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and salad for lunch. That means I’m lacking protein, so I pack travel packs of Justin’s almond butter to pair with hotel bananas, Ripple pea milk with protein powder and my super green powder to ensure that I have a breakfast option in case the hotel only serves meat one morning. I also pack green apples to pair with my almond butters in case there are not bananas out! I also use the individual sized Ripple pea protein for my coffees because hotels usually just over whole milk [which hurts my belly] or half + half which I don’t drink.
Having a few healthy, protein-packed options available allows me to avoid sodium-filed food, stay on track and feel like myself.
4.COLLAGEN TRAVEL PACKETS
If you’ve read here for awhile, you know I love my Vital Proteins collagen! I pack these travel packets so that I’m still getting in my daily serving of collagen. One cool thing is that at my headquarters in downtown Denver, there is a breakfast and lunch spot called Protein Bar. It’s right outside my office and on top of healthy super healthy smoothies and salads – they have Vital Proteins collagen! So when I travel to headquarters, I don’t need to pack as many of these travel sticks since I can get them from this restaurant, but wanted to note this idea so that you can reflect on what supplements you can pack in travel sizes.
5.DECIDE ON YOUR WORK OUTS BEFOREHAND
Just like planning your work outs while at home keeps you accountable, same goes when traveling! Before heading out, decide what kind of work out you’ll get in and when.
I typically opt for BBG or Tone It Up videos if my trip is three days which only requires an oversized t and shorts. If I am staying longer than three days, I know I need my cardio fix so I have to be more conscious of packing leggings and a long sleeve tee.
Depending on what your fitness regimen is, do some research in the local hotel fitness offerings. This time around, I’m staying at The Westin, and probably will going forward, since every Westin has Pelotons! Woop.
I hope these five tips help you stay on track health and fitness wise while traveling for work! Xo Mindy
SHOP MY TRAVEL GEAR AND OUTFIT
HIGH LOW TUNIC [RUNS TTS] I SPANX FAUX LEATHER LEGGINGS [RUN TTS] I LEOPARD BOW SLIDES [SOLD OUT, SIMILAR] I GOLD EARRINGS I BLANKET SCARF [SOLD OUT, SIMILAR] I GUCCI VELVET CROSSBODY I LUGGAGE [SOLD OUT, SIMILAR]