It’s interesting when staying on a long term diet, how I am confronted by the simplest things – from minor stresses in daily life – to the greater stresses of living. All banging away at my healthy life regimen. And my greatest challenge of travel … how to stay on the plan by car or plane?
Sometimes it’s just tough to stick to your diet and exercise routine—or even fit into your pants! Long car trips, airport delays, and jam-packed days can be super-stressful. And what do the experts tell us about stress? It’s the one thing that makes dieting more difficult on a day-to-day basis. Thanks, stress. Whether I’m traveling for business or pleasure, I find myself faced with so many unhealthy food choices, and of course, lots of meals out. I even read that jet lag can lead to weight gain. Does that seem fair? Anyway, I stumbled onto a great article about keeping the diet in check through travel. Although I don’t travel with great frequency, I thought they were great things to keep in mind when I do.
1. Be extra-strict about your diet. Geoffrey Zakarian from Food Network says he’s more strict about his regimen when he’s on the road than he is at home. This is interesting to me, because I have often given myself “permission” to be a bit more lax because, well, I’m traveling, after all. It does make sense to be more rigid, since those temptations are all around when you travel. Zakarian also suggested we should never eat after 5:00 PM when on the road, and stick only to breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and light dinner. When someone else is providing your meals, that may not be practical, but it’s a good rule-of-thumb. The best take-away here is to have a plan – and stick to it! Probably a good idea to be aware of the built-in temptations, and have a plan for dealing with those, too.
2. Skip the drinks. This is an unnecessary one for me, since I don’t drink because of the excessive flushing I experience. As I’ve aged and with taking a norontin drug, I find I need to stay sober and clearheaded anyway – with colleagues AND family! Plus, I save myself some calories. The deal breaker? When we go to France … I WILL enjoy some very fine wine!
3. Find a hotel with a great fitness center. Or if you’re staying with family or friends, get a guest membership to a gym. Several heath bloggers included this on their list of top concerns when you travel. In fact, some suggested it was the first thing they did when they arrived. When I visit my brother, I do go to the pool – I’m familiar and comfortable there. But hotels? The pool really isn’t usually one that conforms well to my workout. And I haven’t graduated to using a regular gym. Maybe that’s something I have to think about. But what I can do is walk. I’m sure that’s so far below what these experts mean by fitness, but getting more steps is valuable, too. A couple of the sites I visited suggested downloading one of the Hotel Room Workout apps.
On another topic … my pool is closed for two weeks. This is not a happy thing for me. But I have decided I am going to try the 20th Street gym, which is two blocks away. Now you’re probably wondering why I don’t go to this pool every day, instead of driving to Westminster? Well, first, the pool is the size of a postage stamp. It’s four very short lanes. There is a deep end of sorts, but I’m not sure how the jogging will work (which is 40 minutes of my workout). I may be jogging in a very short oval. This is a really old facility, so it also smells. Those of you who know me well, know I have “issues” with odors. So … that old place musty moldy smell is not one of my favorites.
Despite those things, I’m going to give it a go. I plan to go mid-morning, hoping the waiting line for the pool is not too long. And perhaps there will be less people after the business folks have gone on their way.
In full disclosure, I said I would get onto other exercise options, like the therapy bands … and I haven’t. So that, too, will be on my schedule next week.