Sticking to your diet and exercise plan on vacation with your family can be challenging. You want to enjoy your travels and maintain your healthy lifestyle, and making healthy choices while away can be even more difficult for middle-aged women! Hormones, prioritizing other family members, and stress can all make staying healthy on vacation much more challenging.
Still, going on a trip doesn’t mean you have to put your health and fitness on the back burner. There are plenty of fun, easy ways to keep up with your wellness routine while away from home.
Change Up Your Workouts
You likely have workouts you stick to at home. Well, know that while you’re traveling, you might be unable to keep up with your regular routine. Instead, prepare to be flexible as you’ll have to adapt to get enough physical activity into your day.
When on vacation, your workouts might look different and be less frequent, but you can still get plenty of exercise in!
Here are some tips on how you might change your workout routine:
- See if there are fitness centers at the hotels you’re traveling to.
- Research and plan to do “at-home workouts” in your room, and bring any light equipment you might need.
- Ask friends, family, or other travel companions if they’d like to join in so it becomes a group activity.
- Incorporate physical activity into your travel itinerary. Instead of doing a traditional workout, you could go on a hike, go biking, or even swim laps at the pool.
Wake Up Before Others
If your trip has a packed itinerary that doesn’t allow you to sneak away during the day for a workout, try squeezing in some fitness at the start of the day. Get up one hour before everyone else and have a good sweat. This way, you get to fulfill your needs and don’t have to miss out on fun with the rest of the group.
Not sure if you’ll be able to wake up early on vacation to get a workout in? Try buying some cute new workout outfits for the trip. That might be the motivational push you need to avoid hitting that snooze button and getting in a good exercise session.
Walk as Much as Possible
Walking as much as possible while on vacation is a great way to get some extra exercise. Often when you’re on a trip, there are a lot of exciting new places to explore. Resist the urge to take a car or Uber everywhere and challenge yourself to walk instead. You’ll get some fitness in and get to see more of the destination you’re in.
Consider setting up a challenge for yourself; if you usually take 10,000 steps at home daily, aim for 20,000 on vacation.
Plan Meals Ahead of Time
Of course, staying fit is about more than just physical exercise. Nutrition plays a considerable role in your overall health. Many people go overboard and indulge in all the treats while on vacation. While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself, remember that eating poorly for several days might not leave you feeling your best.
Try to keep your diet on track by:
- Researching restaurants with healthy options in the areas you’re traveling to
- Packing healthy snacks to take with you
- Trying to avoid eating out for every meal while on your trip
- Grabbing some groceries and making some of your meals
- Writing out the meal plan schedule and grocery list before your trip so you don’t have to plan on the go
- Starting every day with a healthy, balanced meal
- Splitting meals with others or eating less and taking leftovers to go
Limit Alcohol Consumption
Another way people often unwind on vacation is with a few (or more) alcoholic beverages. Enjoying yourself and having a few drinks is perfectly fine, but avoiding excessive drinking is the health conscious approach. Too much alcohol isn’t very good for you. It’s high in empty calories, typically contains tons of sugar, and can drain your motivation the next day.
According to the CDC, women should limit their alcohol intake to one drink per day. Instead of indulging in more drinks while on your holiday, try swapping in non-alcoholic beverages, which can be just as delicious!
Drink Plenty of Water
If you’re traveling somewhere hot, it’s especially important you drink enough water. And if you’re traveling via plane, you should watch the water consumption from the start. Airplanes use controlled air, which can dehydrate you. If you spend your trip dehydrated, you might be less energized for your workouts.
Our tip? Have a reusable water bottle with you so you can remember to drink water throughout the day.
Find Ways to De-stress
You’ve probably noticed in your regular routine that the less stressed you feel, the better you stay on track with your fitness and health goals. Well, use your trip as a time to truly de-stress, so you can return to your regular routine feeling recharged and ready to commit to fitness.
Here are some ways you can de-stress:
- Spend time just lying by a pool or beach
- Journal
- Meditate or take a yoga class
- Book a massage
- Read a book
Get Good Sleep
Did you know getting a good night’s sleep is vital for physical health? Sleep is crucial to our health in many ways. A good rest is necessary to recharge the body so we have energy for the next day. In fact, “poor or insufficient sleep can often lead to lower physical activity the next day.” That makes a lot of sense … if you’re feeling tired, you’re not going to have as great of a workout. Additionally, when people are tired, they tend to consume more calories.
Aim to get eight hours of restful sleep every day on vacation. This means you might have to wrap up your nights early to go to sleep, but it’ll be worth it when you’re recharged and energized the next day.
Restart Immediately When You’re Home
Vacations are fun, but they can be draining, and it’s common to feel exhausted when you come home. The key to beating that exhaustion is to get back into your everyday routine as soon as possible. Jump straight back into working out and eating healthy. Consider ordering groceries to be delivered the day you come home so you can quickly stock your fridge and jump back into your healthy routine.
Enjoy a Balanced Vacation
Life is all about balance, and the same is true for travel. You should enjoy your vacation and unwind, but not at the expense of your health. There are plenty of ways to keep up with regular physical exercise and eat a moderately balanced diet while on holiday. Just make it a priority to strike a good balance, and you’ll be able to enjoy yourself without worrying too much about ignoring your health goals.
