Make Fitness Your Destination
As people are enjoying the travel-plus-physical-activity combination, there are more and more organized events and companies offering planned itineraries and official support. These organized events offer you the opportunity to go and see places you have never seen before, to be active in the great outdoors, and to meet new people while having fun.
Here are just a few destination events:
Bay to Breakers, San Francisco, California
Peachtree Road Race, Atlanta, Georgia
Gasparilla Distance Classic, Tampa, Florida
Bike Ride Around Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe, California
Run to the Far Side, San Francisco, California
But that's thinking big. Your other option is to take an active vacation, with no goal other than to enjoy yourself, have fun, and not sit around. There is a dizzying array of trip options.
They include spas with a fitness focus, resorts with activities (skiing, swimming, and skating), walking vacations, biking trips, hiking treks, and far more adventurous options, such as mountain climbing, backwoods cross-country snowshoeing, kayaking, trips during which you learn to sail, and other skill-focused trips.
Whatever your trip, be sure to bring any equipment requested and the right shoes so that you'll be comfortable and able to take part in all of the activities available to you.
Is relaxing forbidden on a fitness vacation?
No way! It can't be called a vacation if you don't spend some time resting and relaxing. You can choose, for example, to stay at a spa or resort that offers both pampering and activities. Or you can go all out and plan a trip around your favorite activity, such as walking or bicycling.
What if you're going to Disney World with your kids? Don't worry! You'll do a ton of walking at Disney World — and at most other amusement parks. Getting from the hotel to the park and then going around the park practically guarantees that you'll walk more than you usually do throughout the day.
Also, if you're spending any amount of time at Disney World, you'll be staying at a nearby hotel, and those hotels usually have fitness rooms, although their usefulness is often sketchy (old machines and very few to choose from). But Disney World, like most other resorts, offers plenty of other activities for its visitors, such as horseback riding, swimming, and tennis.
If you want to strength train while you're traveling, consider packing a resistance band, or do a yoga routine or Pilates workout.
The important thing to remember is that unlike the stereotype, most people do, in fact, lose weight on vacation. For one thing, they aren't sitting at a desk all day, so they are more active than usual. Second, just being more relaxed and having more fun — going out dancing at night or walking through museums — tends to lower stress hormones (which contribute to weight gain), and you burn more calories doing anything more than sitting in front of the TV at night.
The biggest problem people have on vacation isn't their activity level, but the foods they eat. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having dessert, eating a little more of a special food, or even indulging in a junk food day when you're traveling. The point of a vacation is to have fun and relax. However, there are almost always ways to make sure you eat balanced, nutritious meals — plus treats — even while you're traveling.
Now, if you're traveling somewhere very remote or exotic, it is hard to eat anything other than what's common to the area in which you're staying. If you are going to faraway place, consider bringing jars of peanut butter as well as protein bars and dried fruit. These are nutritious and calorie-dense (so you won't get hungry), and won't spoil.
If you're on the road, think small portions, fresh food (grocery stores are everywhere) and balance (low-fat protein/veggies/whole grains and fruit, too). Drink plenty of water, too, of course.
Remember that even one or two weeks of unhealthy eating won't destroy your health or your fitness gains. Fun and a lack of stress and fretting are as important to your health as your diet.
Rather than worrying about gaining weight or losing your fitness level while you're on a trip, instead focus on ways to have fun and move more than you usually do. When planning your trip, make time for fitness, and you'll find that your trip is more fun.
