Nutrition Strategies for Traveling This Summer

The weather's heatin' up as spring transitions into early summer.

Sweaters and coats have long been put away and girls are rockin' their shorts while dudes are following the "sun's out, gun's out" mantra by leaving the house with no sleeves everyday.  

You've been religiously sticking to your nutrition and training all winter and finally made some progression both in the muscle "gainz" and fat loss department.  

You're looking lean. You're looking jacked. You've got it all. So what do you do?

Hit the beach.  It's not truly summer until you've found some water to hang around shirtless.  

For most people, this means having to do some traveling to high-tail it the nearest beach or body of water. 

But the traveling doesn't have to end there.  

You got some time and some cash to burn, so how about a road trip with some buddies for a few days?

You might think to yourself, "I guess you can abandon your "clean eating" to make the most of the weekend. A few days off the wagon won't kill me."

A few weeks later you got some weddings to attend across the country. 

"It's cool, some wedding cake and a few dozen beers won't do no harm." you reassure yourself.

Opportunity knocks and you found yourself a few job interviews in Denver and some more in San Fransisco.

"Fast food is my only option when on the road" is what you begin to believe as you've become a veteran traveler one month into the summer.  

When life happens and the wonderful opportunity of travel happens upon you, you may quickly think you have to put your fitness and physique goals aside for a while so you can enjoy your time on the road.  

Well that's not the case at all.  

If you've happened to read any of my other blogs an articles, fitness is ALWAYS about making it FIT into your life, not making your life fit into your fitness.  

From my personal experience and the experience of dozens of other people I've worked with, traveling for fitness enthusiast, especially those who have adhered to pretty strict diets and found pretty remarkable results, the story often goes something like this: 

Case 1: The"Screw It" Mentality
           This is the scenario most people find themselves in.  
It's vacation time and this person decides to take a week to do some traveling.  They've also been someone who's found great success the last few months both gaining muscle and losing fat.  

Will all their success, they may be a bit reluctant to travel and "break their routine." But they take the trip and vow to somehow make the diet work.  

One day into the trip and they find themselves at one of the best sushi restaurants in the area.  
Decision time: stick to the diet and order a salad?  Or say screw it, i'll have some sushi, it's only 1 meal.  

Unfortunately for most, they'll order the sushi...and some more sushi...and dessert.  The state of mind that sets in is, "well i've ruined the diet with one bad meal, i may as well keep enjoying myself and keep eating what I want." 

That "screw it" mentality stays consistent throughout the trip and they've officially fallen off the wagon.  

They may be enjoying the deviating from their diets, but someone who's adhered to such a strict diet will no doubt feel some sort of guilt the entire time their not following their plan.  

(check out my article on "cheat meals" CHEAT MEALS: THE "CLEAN EATING" DISORDER

So now by the end of the trip, these people find themselves with a few extra pounds, less definition around the mid-section, and a boat load of guilt they feel they'll have to work off in the gym.  

Definitely not ideal.

Case II:  The "I'm sticking to my diet come hell or high water" mentality
            This case plays out far less often than case 1 among the general population of fitness enthusiast, but for those who are a bit more serious about their physique goals, this scenario is quite prevalent.

People who fall under this category are the one who cannot let go of their strict regiment and diets and enjoy themselves in the moment.  

To be honest, these people are extremely reluctant to travel and may actually prefer to stay home and pursue their fitness goals than take the opportunity to see some new sights.  

If they do somehow manage to force themselves to leave their gyms and kitchens, they're an anxious and nervous wreck the whole time they're on the trip.  

They miss their "set meals". They don't have access to their gym for their personal workouts.  The food at resatuarants isn't "clean."  

The trip becomes less about enjoying themselves because they're focusing on doing everything in their power to make sure they can stick to their diets when at restaurants to "ensure the gains", as my meathead brother-en might say.  

Don't be this guy in case 1.  If you have to be one, be the guy in case 1.  

But in reality, you don't have to be either.  

Here are a few strategies you can use to make the most of your travels this summer

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FOLLOW FLEXIBLE DIETING
This is my mantra.  

I preach this so much that I'm almost sick of hearing myself talk about it. 

Ok i'm not sick of telling people about it, but it's something people need to definitely understand, comprehend, and apply to their lives. 

If you understand flexible dieting, eating while traveling becomes a breeze! 

Once you know your daily allowance of proteins, carbs, and fats, food choices are essentially limitless. 

This is fantastic when you're in a new place and want to try some delicious new foods.

If you're unfamiliar with flexible dieting techniques, check out some of my other articles like You eat Donuts and Ice cream? But you're ripped! and VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF DIETING 



If you happened to follow a strict and regimented diet plan for 9 months, you may be setting yourself up for failure on your trip. 

I'm not saying strict diets are wrong, but they create a type of eating disorder that makes the dieter very uncomfortable with eating foods that aren't approved for their diets.  

Even if you're someone who enjoys a more regimented diet (I am for multiple reasons), you should still know how to transition into a flexible dieting approach and apply it whenever possible on the road.

This does NOT mean eating junk and saying "it fits my macros" the whole time on the trip.  

If you're reading this, you're probably someone who genuinely enjoys whole nutritious foods, but you still want to have a few treats and desserts occasionally.  

So understand how calories and macro nutrients are measured and applied to your diet and you'll see how fun and easy it is to enjoy your diet when on traveling

Protein, Protein, Protein
I may sound like a broken "bro" record here, but protein is and always will be vital, not matter who you are.

Make your meals revolve around a good wholesome protein source at EVERY MEAL.  

The benefit of high protein is essentially exponential.  

High protein meals satisfy you faster AND have a high thermic effect.  

This means your body will use more energy to digest and absorb nutrients from the protein rich meal.

Fish, chicken, beef, pork.  

You've probably learned to love all of these foods by now, so love them on the road!  

Take advantage of the different and exotic ways your chicken and fish are prepared when traveling.  

You'll even become inspired to start preparing your meals in a manner similar to the meals you eat while traveling.  

Have a Plan
One of my favorite quotes is "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." 

This could not be more true.  

If you want to succeed, you have to have a plan.  

It sounds really cool to live your life on a whim and expect good things to happen just because you've affirmed yourself that things will work out. 

But guess what?  

Those good things that happen take planning and foresight.  

Good things do happen!  

But usually involve tactical planning and some sort of strategy.

What does this mean when traveling?

One thing to do is set a plan for what and where you may be eating for the day. 

If you've got a day full of walking the town and sight seeing, plan a lunch at a restaurant you'd like to try in the area. 

More importantly, plan a "rough draft" of the types of foods you'd like make part of your meal.  

If you're still follwing a diet (which i recommend you should), use your flexible dieting skills to know that you have an allowance of carbs and protein you can use at this meal.  

So if you're really craving some chicken and waffles, then make it happen! 

Just know that if you've gone through most of your fat and protein for the day, your dinner is going to look a little lighter and less "junk laden" than your lunch.

And that's perfectly fine.  

So have a plan and save yourself some trouble.

Indulge
I'm kind of reluctant to say this, but sometimes you just gotta throw caution to the wind.  

I'm not saying employ the "screw it" mentality mentioned above, but dieting is hard.

It's stressful.

It's boring.

It's not glamorous.

Diets take their toll. 

Often times its very, very necessary to put the diet aside for a few days and enjoy yourself.  

ESPECIALLY WHEN TRAVELING.  

Honestly, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a big dessert or stack of pancakes when you've been dieting for extended periods. 

I would never call it a "cheat" day or "cheat meal", and I'm very hesitant to even use the term "refeed."  

Refeed sounds like something livestock cattle would do.  

Something I might say is "strategic over-feeding."  

That may not sound like anything better than 'refeed", but there is a difference.  

If you've been in a caloric deficit for an extended period of time, your body is looking for any extra energy it can get.  

By adding a few meals where you over-eat (with emphasis of carbs and protein), your body will gain a host of benefits from the surplus of calories and nutrients.

This always seems counter intuitive to people, but it works extremely well for fat loss.

So there you have it, folks.  

If you happen to make your way out to the beach this summer or hit the road with some buds, always remember there's a way to sustain your hard earned physique and not completely fall off the gainz train!