Gym rats or fitness freaks (the two tags I absolutely dislike) often start worrying when a trip is planned. The fear of losing the 'gains or putting on fat is pretty real. If you are one of those freaks too, or even if not but you'd like to stay in shape when you travel, this piece is totally for you.

Here are some tips and tricks to incorporate while traveling: 

1) Intermittent Fasting

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Intermittent Fasting or IF is a popular dieting strategy that splits your day into two distinctive windows. The feed and fast windows. You consume zero calorie drinks and beverages in the fasting window like coffee, green tea, diet soda, water, etc. and you eat solid meals or calorie-containing beverages in the feeding window. 

By incorporating this strategy, even if you would be eating outright junk, you will still end up limiting the calories you consume during the day. A 16:8 or an 18:6 fasting:feeding protocol is something I see suits me and most of my clients during traveling. 

2) Walking

A good way to get in some exercise or some physical activity when traveling is to use your feet as the primary source of transport. Walk short distances, explore the place, be on your feet. This way you will burn off some extra calories for the day and worry a bit lesser about getting out of shape. 

3) Hotel Gym Or Room Workout

Getting to the gym or keeping up with your actual workout during your travels may not be possible due to two main reasons:

a. Short on time

b. Not much equipment or a proper gym facility

So make the best use of whatever is available to you. Either do a bodyweight session inside the hotel room itself or just a few exercises in the hotel gym. Finish off the session in 30 to 40 minutes so you can later enjoy the day and your trip as well. 

4) Reduce Your Meal Frequency

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This is not the Intermittent Fasting pointer again. This means, in general, eat lesser meals. If you are used to eating 5 to 6 meals in a day, drop it down to 2 or 3 meals for the day.

Lesser meals = lesser calories. 

And this is a very easy way to manage intake without complicating things. 

5) Protein And Salads As Starters

When traveling, eating the local delicacies should be on your to-do list as you may not find the same opportunity anytime soon again. But if you have a tendency to overdo it, there are a few tips and tricks you can incorporate to avoid the all-out hogging approach. Start your meal with a serving of protein and some fiber. A salad with minimal dressings as an example. As both of these things are satiating, they will suppress your appetite to a certain extent. 

A lower appetite means that you will not hog on or go all out on the foods kept in front of you. This way, you can incorporate these steps and manage to stay in shape during your travels.  

Author bio:

Pratik Thakkar is the co-founder and director of GetSetGo Fitness, an online fitness company. He is regarded as someone who will make it easy for you to understand the process by putting things in the right context and providing science-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding. You can reach out to him at pratik@getsetgo.fitness and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.