Weight Loss Hacks: How to Stay on Track When Traveling for Work

You may think "traveling and transformation" just sounds wrong in the same sentence. After all, you’re separated from your daily grind, your rituals, and your setup.

So, what do you do? Just abandon your goals for a week and get back to it after you get home?

No, no, no! Change that mindset. Transforming is about changing your daily actions, which in turn, changes your life!

That means dropping the excuses and sticking to your plan (or adjusting your plan) whether you’re at home or in the Bahamas.

Your transformation journey doesn’t need to be miserable. If you need to tweak your plan slightly while you travel, by all means, do it!

Transforming is taking control of your health, your body, and your mindset—building a healthier, stronger, more energetic version of yourself! That’s a good thing!

Before we really get into it, we have to differentiate between traveling for work and traveling for vacation.

The tips we are about to share with you are for traveling for work! Traveling for vacation is an entirely different conversation (we’ll save that for another day :)).
 

Traveling for work and transformation just sound wrong in the same sentence. You’re separated from your daily grind, your rituals, and your setup.

But guess what? There are actually quite a bit of small things you can do while you're on the road that will set you up for success.

Traveling usually requires a little research and forward thinking. You need to plan where you’re going, how long you’re staying, where you’re staying, and what to do while you’re there.

While you’re doing that research you can also start planning things that will help you stay in line with your #goals. Let’s chat about the 3 Ps.

Plan your work and work your plan. It’s all about planning.

Let’s start with your hotel. While you’re booking your hotel, check to see if your hotel has a gym or a partnership with a gym. You might even go further and verify what types of equipment they have.

If your hotel doesn’t have a gym, don’t give up just yet. Check to see if they have any biking or running trails around the hotel. Maybe even a pool?

Once you know those details, you can plan your workouts around them.

One important thing to ask about while you’re planning is a fridge! Even though plenty of hotels include fridges in each room, don’t assume YOURS will. Ask! If your room doesn’t include one, ask if they have any extra fridges they can put in your room.

The majority of hotels have extras on hand for people with food sensitivities, medications that need to be refrigerated, and nursing mothers needing cool storage.

Pro Tip: Some hotels like to stock their fridges with weighted snack items that cost money if they are removed! Don’t touch them! Just call down to the lobby and ask if someone on staff can remove the items so you don’t get charged and so you’ll have room for your food.

Some hotels might charge a small fee per night to have a fridge, but it will come in handy, trust us!

This one is actually two parts: You need to prepare both mentally and physically.
First, prepare physically. Do you know who’s amazing at this one? Chris! Chris packs his Mary Poppins bag with easy, on-the-go items like shaker bottles, protein powder, protein bars, jerky, flavored rice cakes (good high carb snacks), and string cheese and nuts (for low carb days).

Even though the travel industry has been offering more healthy snacks in airports and convenient stores, it never hurts to be prepared.

Second, prepare mentally. When you’re traveling for business, you will need to prepare for social gatherings, meetings, or meals with colleagues.

You can try some of our tried-and-true tactics to help you when you’re out and about:

• Glassing: Since you are sticking with your #goals, you will most likely be drinking water or another low-calorie drink. Woo! Just keep that cool glass in your hands while you're chattin’ it up with all the party people. Holding the glass in your hands means your hand is occupied so you’re not constantly grazing the party platters. Keep your other hand in your pocketif you're too tempted.
  
• Other Restaurant Tactics:
  • Skip appetizers to avoid extra calories.
  • Try ordering meals that are grilled, baked, or steamed.
  • Avoid sauces that are creamy or sugary.
  • Split your entrée. Eat half while at the restaurant and save the other half for later. Store leftovers in your fridge.

No matter how much you prepare, you can’t control everything. Prepare as much as you can and just go with the flow from there.

You’ve planned, you’ve prepared, now let’s prioritize!

If your trip is more than a couple of days, then you need to make two things a priority: food and a fridge. Nutrition counts for 80% of your transformation, so if you HAVE to focus on something, choose food.

During the planning phase, you called ahead to make sure you had a fridge in your room, so that’s covered.

You might have packed some healthy snacks, but you’ll need to grocery shop for some fresh items!

On the way to your hotel, ask your taxi or shuttle if they can stop at a grocery store so you can buy some essentials. Make sure you buy items that don’t require any prep and are good for grab and go.

Even if it costs a little extra, it will pay off in the long run (your body and wallet will thank you).

If you plan on working out, you might want to do it in the morning. Work trips can mean long days.

If you miss a workout, don’t beat yourself up. Like we said earlier if you HAVE to focus on anything, choose nutrition!

With the right mindset and a little forward thinking, you can transform during your entire trip!

Let’s be real–starting your fitness journey is hard, but choosing your goals every single day is a whole different game changer.

It’s easy to come up with excuses. You’re tired. You’re hungry. You’re sore. You’re unmotivated.

You might be tired now, but when you fuel your body with the right food and exercise your body to match your goals, you will have more energy. You won’t be hungry. You...might still be sore, :) but it’s worth it. :) And your motivation? Well, it’s all about that momentum! Once you get going, like really going, it’s going to be harder and harder to slow you down.

You can’t let a little bit of traveling slow you down. You can’t let ANYTHING slow you down!