WIN THE DAY: How I Take Fitness On Vacation

For all of us leading the fit lifestyle, vacations can lead to a little internal debate: “How much of my fitness routine should I leave at home and how much of it should I bring on vacation?” In my opinion, a great vacation lets you break from your regular routine of life without abandoning your fitness goals. I figure that you want to go on vacation so you can come back feeling refreshed and fabulous not bloated and dragging. This past weekend, my husband and I headed down to the Florida Keys to relax, catch some fish and get a tan. Since I have a photo shoot in a few weeks, it was my goal to enjoy my vacation fully without packing on the pounds. I thought I would share with you how I brought my fitness on vacation:

1. Pre-Scoped Out The Facilities (e.g., hotel, restaurants and grocery stores): A little pre-research helped me have a game plan for when we arrived. I knew that we had a great market across the street from our hotel, so I did not have to travel with too much food, and our hotel had a kitchenette, so I did not have pre-request a fridge or microwave. Also, I found out that the closest gym was not close at all, so I put together some workouts that did not require a gym. (More on that later.)

2. Over Half Of My Meals Came From Home: Typically, I always bring 50% or more of my meals from home when I vacation. The closer I am to a contest or photo shoot, the more I bring with me. For this trip, I brought along about 4 of my 6 daily meals. In my opinion, I think it is unreasonable for you to not enjoy meals out when on vacation; however, too many meals out, even if they are “healthy,” can definitely leave you feeling a little bloated.

When on vacation, I like to keep the meals I travel with simple. Here are my typical staples and a selection of the items we brought with us this weekend: Protein powder, chicken breasts, oatmeal, sweet potato, rice cakes, green beans and asparagus. We supplemented this with items we purchased as the local market when we got in town: lettuce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, eggs and fruit.

MAKE IT EASIER TIP – PRE-SHIP A BOX - Make traveling with your healthy items easier by packing and pre-shipping a box of items that do not require refrigeration (e.g., oatmeal, rice cakes, protein powders, supplements, etc.). Because we drove this trip, we did not need to do this step, but we usually do this when we are flying to our destination to keep us from having to lug extra stuff around.

3. Focused On Quality & Quantity When Dining Out: When we dined out, I kept my meals to mostly grilled fish and greens, great choices in the Keys, as the fish is always fresh and prepared perfectly. Even though the meals were extremely healthy, I still paid attention to portion size before I dug in. If there was something I was dying to try that was not “healthy” (i.e., frozen chocolate covered key lime pie), I kept it to two bites.

4. Made Creative Substitutions: Heading into this vacation, I was craving a pina colada. If I wasn’t close to a shoot or show, I might have indulged in one. Instead, I had some fun finding creative, a healthy, low-calorie substitution to cure that craving. In doing so, I discovered coconut water. If you are not familiar with coconut water, in its pure form, it is less than fifty calories per serving, super hydrating and high in potassium (more potassium than a banana per serving). (As an aside, I tried a few different brands, and I like Vita Coco best.)

MY NON-ALCOHOLIC KEYS COCKTAIL RECIPE: To make my hydrating, low-calorie, pina colada-inspired refreshment, I blended the coconut water with ice, a few chunks of pineapple and a squeeze of lemon. You can add a scoop of your favorite vanilla protein to make a fun post-workout shake.

5. Drank Lots of Water: It’s so easy to neglect drinking water while on vacation, but it is so important, especially when spending your days outdoors and active. When you are hydrated, you will feel more energetic, won’t mistake thirst for hunger and will feel less “puffy” when running around in a swimsuit.

6. Scenic Sweat: Since we were only in the Keys for a few days and traveling to the closest gym would have eaten an hour out of our day, I decided to take my workouts outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I rolled out of bed each morning and did sunrise plyometrics and running intervals. Here was one of my programs:

5 min fast paced run down the pier and through the hotel complex
20 alternating lunges, each leg
20 wide high jumps
1 min high knee run in place
1 min fast-paced jumping jacks
1 min mountain climbers
40 squats
15 switch lunges, each leg
30 tricep dips*
20 step-ups, each leg*
50 crunches
20 pushups

Repeat 4 times.
* Use a chair, bench, steps or ledge of some sort

7. Return Home “Ready”: Before I left for vacation, I made sure that I had meals prepared and frozen waiting for me when I got home, so I was ready to start back on my program as soon as I returned.

As you know, living fit is about feeling good from the inside out, which is also one of the main goals of vacation. That said, I can’t think of a reason to leave fitness at home when heading out on vacation. Even though my trip to the Keys was a brief one, I still made my fitness a priority, and I am happy to report that I returned home feeling rested, energized and on track with my goals. I hope these tips help you to do the same.

Share Your Wisdom: I would love to know how you take your fitness on vacation. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter and share your strategies.

Please keep the topic suggestions coming! I will do my best to cover them all.

Until next week, WIN THE DAY!

Your sister in fitness,

Jaime Baird
IFBB Pro
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