Self Improvement with Irinä: Fitness: How to stay on track on your vacation

Hey back you amazing person!

This article is a very requested one for such a long time and I got several questions during my vacation in regards to how i keep up with my training and nutrition while travelling. Thus, i decided to gather up all the holiday challenges that make you fall out of track and share how you can deal with them while still enjoying your moments on the maximum.

Let's take things from the start. Vacation don't last eternally (unless you are a millionaire or something - in this case I envy you a bit) and most likely they fluctuate from a couple of days to some weeks. Therefore, if you are on point 300+ days of the year, just a few days of vacation won't really have a very significant impact on your health and progress.

However, if you're having long ones or you are really serious on your improvement then days off can be a challenge and finding a formula to fight back is required.

STRUGGLE: TRAVEL HOURS

Regardless the nature of your trip, a good amount of time will be spent on transportation which means limited selection of food and physical movement. Packing some solid healthy snacks for your travel hours or go fasting, drinking A LOT of water and frequent stretch will certainly help to keep your body in balance inside out.

STRUGGLE: NUTRITION

Probably the most debatable one. It is very miserable to count calories and macros when you are travelling to relax but on the other hand it is extremely easy to lose complete control both due to food and alcohol consumption. The best advice I can give here, is intermittent fasting so that you can reserve your calories for BIG dense meals and still feel the joy of eating much within a certain eating window. Furthermore, aim for as higher protein intake as you can, try to avoid carbs (eat for example double portion of protein and veggies) and reserve those carbs for a couple of drinks later. As for alcohol, try to keep it in moderation and make sure to drink A LOT of water between the drinks in order to avoid dyhydration and also slower the pace of alcohol consumption in hope that you will save the last drinks. Last but not least try to avoid additional sugar and salt as much as you can to prevent bloating. I have found that for me it works best to have one BIG meal to open my feeding window which includes a lot of protein, veggies and some healthy fats and then get my total carbs (slightly reduced) in two small snacks, preferably with some protein inhold too. If you still feel hungry, choose biiiiiiig salads with lots of vegetables and minimal sauce or other sneaky carbs/fats.

STRUGGLE: SLEEP

Source: Singularity Hub

Another big one, especially if your type of travelling is under the 'party hard' concept. Alcohol makes it even worse as it usually leads to oversleep and then affects your entire body's functionality. The only advice I can give here is to REALLY prioritize a consistent sleeping pattern during these days
otherwise you will really end up exhausted and you will not be able to enjoy the maximum of your days. If you find it hard, set alarm on your phone not only for your wake up time but also for the time you have to sleep. Set an additional alarm for having a shower and also switch off the 'blue light filter' on your phone an hour before bedtime.

STRUGGLE: EXERCISE

Here things twist a lot but are in fact way more flexible. If your trip includes sports (skiing, kayaking, cycling, scuba diving, hiking, swimming, whatever) or you have access to the gym (for instance on your hotel) then, problem solved. However, in case you don't or you really want to take some time off and invest this time on your co-traveller(s) and the whole experience, you can still be active and remain in shape. Here is a relevant story I posted, answering to the question "How do you keep up with your training while on vacation?"