Today I’m off to Noosa for my little cousins wedding. Woohoo!

It’s a lovely 4 day weekend. As you may have experienced in the past that’s a reasonable enough period to do some serious damage to your regular eating and exercising habits!

A lunch time vino here… mums raspberry friands there… a couple of meals out AND before you know it the habits that took months to install are history.

This time I’m prepared.

Here are some guidelines under the format of FUEL, MOVE, LIFE which you may recognize from my weekly email series.

FUEL.

1. Ensure your meals before you leave are perfect and if you’re in transit for a meal take it with you.

Early start? Me too… I left home at 5.15am to train a few clients before my 1pm flight so I made sure I had breakie and lunch sorted.

Quick fix: throw together a double omelette mix the night before so all it needs is cooking in the am. I ate half at home and was super grateful for the second half (stored in a disposable snap lock bag) which I ate after checking in. So much more enjoyable than an over-priced bland sandwich or sugary smoothie.

2. Have some on hand snacks.

The super portable kind, in case you’re held up or just tempted by some crap-o-la little extra in transit. I had protein powder with water and dry roasted cashews.

Sneaky trick: if you know you’ll be faced with a lovely yet excessive food fest when you arrive. – for me that’s my mums fresh baked bread and gorgeous roast dinner – then go extra awesome on the meals you prepare yourself for pre-travel and in transit.

3. Set your holiday guidelines for eating and drinking before you leave.

This will depend on how long you are away for and other individual factors. For me I like to keep as close to regular eating as I can for a short non Xmas trip.

Example guidelines:  

=> Keep to normal zero refined carbs mon-fri and enjoy a generous serve of bread as normal sat and Sunday.

=> No dessert and as much alcohol as I want. Both won’t work, however I’m fine with cheers’ing the bride and groom as often as possible with my normal drinks of choice vodka mineral water or Shiraz.

In fact I’m cheers’ing them right now in flight with a Shiraz!

=> Indulgent meal on arrival + one more then back to normal’ISH.

=> Less protein shakes (and my super addictive egg white dessert ) as my main meals will likely be a little less perfect then normal… and I won’t be weights worshiping.

MOVE.

1. Get as much of your most important exercise done before you leave if you leave part way through the week.

As I’m away fri-tues and weights is my absolutely non-negotiable #1 (I lift weights 4 days a week) I got them done mon-thurs. The week I return I’ll lift weights wed-sat. This works just fine if you have a split program which ensures a day inbetween training the same muscle groups.

2. Decide on the exercise you want to stick to for the week/weeks you’re away. 

Commit to a realist amount – probably less than normal, because training likely isn’t the focus for your holiday or business trip, right?  So now a couple of long walks is all I need do on holiday. That’s one of my fav things to do with mama Galli, Annie. You may like to do your most important exercise on holiday and that is great too – the main thing is to have a realistic plan.

3. Have a short equipment free routine ready to go just incase your best exercise intentions are hindered by bad weather or less free time than you thought.

Here’s one of mine:

a) SUMO IN-OUT LOW JUMP SQUAT (12 reps)

b) SWITCH LUNGE (12 reps)

c) WALK-OUT (optional with extra push ups on the 6th rep for each side) (6 + 6-12 reps)

d) SIDE PLANK LEG RAISE (20 reps each side)

e) BENCH + BENCH TRICEP DIP (12 reps)

f) OBLIQUE V-UP (12 reps)

g) SIDE PLANK OBLIQUE CRUNCH w HIP DIP and TOE TAP (12 reps each side)

LIFE.

1. Short-changing yourself on a little bit of sleep to leave yourself well set-up before a holiday is fine…

You’re going to get some lovely sleep-ins right?

I’d rather have a later night and earlier start before I leave and know that I’m coming back to a tidy home and a fridge/freezer stocked with my first couple of meals back.

Quick fix: for a short trip the omelette/frittata option works well. I always make sure I have eggs, dried herbs and some frozen veg. Choose your easy meal option for the day you get back, there is no need to finish your holiday with a first meal back of greasy, stodgy takeaway.

2. Enjoy your ‘off’ time and be efficient with your ‘on’ time.

I like to set the expectations with myself and with my clients before I travel. So if I’m going to be less available I’ll communicate that. I’ve also finally learnt to NOT set myself a tonne of work goals while I’m away (Yes, I used to!) The main goal now is short focused bursts as required or as desired… no pressure and no unfocused-random email checking as this is holiday time!

Sneaky trick: food efficiency. Whenever you do prepare your own meals make double or as much as realistic so you’ll have some good food on hand for those throw together meals that just seem to happen on hols (it’s just as easy to add some protein to left-over salad as it is to resort to cheese on toast).

3. Plan your working week to come before you’re back and into the thick of it.

My normal routine is to plan my working day tomorrow the night before. On holidays I find the airport a really great place to swap from relaxed holiday mode into planning/work mode. This way you’ll feel like you’ve got a head start on the catch up work that inevitably is waiting after a lovely little break AND you’ll be more likely to start your first day back focussed and effective.

So there you have it, my top in transit tips to stay on track with your best health habits while on the move.

A little prior planning can save you both the post holiday over-indulging bulge and the post holiday overwhelm blues.

Do you have a favourite traveling tip?

P.S. I’m back in Sydney now after the most gorgeous happy wedding – my little cousin looked AMAZING and the day was perfect. If you’ve got a wedding (or any important event) coming up check out this post I wrote at the brides’ request: losing belly fat and toning hips and thighs.