6 Tips to Help You Stick to Your Diet when You Travel

I make healthy snacks, like a hearty trail mix, a priority when packing for a trip.

I'm on a stricter diet in recent weeks as I get ready for a big blowout vacation in April. (I'm trimming down now. Then, I can bulk back up by enjoying the trip!)

I have been trying to stick to it religiously, and I think I'm doing pretty well, considering the amount of travel I do and how hard it can be to stay disciplined when you are away from home and your precise eating routine. 

For my trips, I tend to stay in hotels after spending hours at airports before getting on a cruise ship for a weeklong voyage. With this schedule, you certainly face challenges along the way that can spoil any bid to eat healthy.

Even when you can find some foods that fit your diet, you still may have to deal with how to eat frequently enough when you're on the move and how to maintain discipline with your portions. Some of the dinners on a cruise can last for hours, as you socialize with tablemates, and you can be tempted with course after course — always with fresh baskets of bread on the table and capped by a selection of desserts. 

Not even to mention the wines and beers you'll want to try.

So, here are a few tips and tricks to stay on a diet when you travel.

1. Have a Plan

The most important thing is to have the right mindset. Sometimes you really have to verbalize your eating plan for the day. Work out your schedule, and then strategize your eating plan, such as where you can eat (at the airport, for example) that will have the types of foods that fit your diet. It helps if your travel partner is also trying to stick to an eating plan. It can be tough to easily find a healthy salad with grilled chicken, and amazingly simple to find burgers and fries. And even more of a challenge when you are looking for that perfect meal and your travel buddy is savoring that heaping plate of cheesy nachos right in front of you. C'mon, dude! 

Remind yourself of your overall goal each day, and this helps strengthen your willpower. This doesn't mean total deprivation, though. Just pick your splurges wisely. You can always carve out space in your macronutrient allotment for a new craft beer or an occasional dessert treat.

2. Track Your Macros

Speaking of splurges, you need to know what you're putting into your body, so you can know whether you have room for that bowl of ice cream. When you set you eating goals, you might want to lose weight or increase proteins or lower carbs. It can be any diet that fits what you are trying to achieve or maintain in your healthy lifestyle. For example, my pre-vacation diet this time targets cutting fat and becoming a little leaner. (We can all relate to wanting to look a little better in a bathing suit in the Caribbean around friends.) So, I am eating fewer grams of fat and carbs and boosting my protein. You can easily keep track of your calories and grams of fat, carbs and protein with a good nutrition app. I use the Spark People app.

An assortment of items I generally take on my travels: water bottle, protein cookies, protein bars, protein chips, protein powder and trail mix.

3. Plan Out the Snack Attacks

You're going to get hungry. I eat about five or six times throughout my day. This includes my meals and snacks. So, I account for that when I'm traveling by making sure I have the right foods for my diet. You need these snacks available for when you're sitting at the airport, riding on the airplane, in the middle of a tour to a historic site or anytime your eating schedule tells you it's time for a little fuel. Pack healthy snacks like protein bars, almonds and trail mix. I also bring protein chips and protein cookies for salty or sweet cravings. If you supplement your calorie count with your good foods, you're much less likely to have to rely on "whatever is available" on the cruise ship buffet or at an airport kiosk or vending machine.

4. Bring Your Blender

An additional pro-active measure I take is bringing along my portable NutriBullet blender. This and a supply of protein powder that I pack in shaker bottles (or the pre-measured packets) helps me stick to my macronutrient goals. It can be especially difficult to get the amount of protein I need for my diet (about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight) when traveling because so many restaurant meals are carbohydrate heavy with breads, potatoes and desserts. I can get ingredients at a hotel breakfast or cruise ship buffet and put them in the fridge until I want to make my smoothie after a workout or a tour. It's usually easy to at least grab skim milk and bananas — and sometimes you'll be able to find peanut butter, honey, seeds and berries to mix with your protein powder. Plus, these smoothies are a nice cold treat.  

5. Ask for What You Want!

The menu says one thing, but you can usually ask for modifications. You don't want those french fries but would like some grilled veggies instead. Maybe you want a double portion of the chicken breast to get your protein boost (it'll costs a few bucks more, of course). Ask for brown rice instead of white. Ask to have that steak done medium rare cooked in just olive oil. Have dressings or heavy sauces on the side so you can add as you like. The wait staff wants you to have a positive experience dining at the establishment. As long as the restaurants have the ingredients in the kitchen, I found that asking for simple tweaks to the menu is no problem at all.

6. Stay Hydrated, All Day

Drink plenty of water as you are out and about or in transit to your destinations. This is good for many reasons, and you've probably heard many of them time and time again — because they're true. Water is good for your tissues, organs and joints and a raft of other bodily functions too many to list here. Just know that your body is 60 percent water and needs it constantly, especially when you are exerting yourself and sweating in the hot sun of the Caribbean or Med. Also, keeping water in your system helps you feel full, which curbs hunger pangs. Pack a water bottle and keep it filled when you travel. Then, just sip away! 

Hope this helps you in your travels. Works for me every time.

Thanks for reading, and always Travel fit! Travel happy! Travel often!

JR