Most of us find it difficult to stay healthy and fit in general, but it can be much harder to do so while you’re traveling. When you travel, you’re eating most of your meals in restaurants, picking up junk food at all the tourist attractions, and most of us certainly aren’t going to the gym. If you have a tendency to gain weight while on vacation, here is how to stay healthy and fit when you travel.
- Rent bikes. One of the best ways to stay in shape, or to possibly get into better shape while you’re traveling, is to rent bikes. In almost all major cities these days there are easy bike rental stations scattered throughout all of the main thoroughfares so that you can pick a bike up and drop it off with ease and convenience. It’s a cheap and fun way to get around, plus you really do get to smell the roses.
- Always take the stairs. There’s a good chance that your hotel will be up a few flights and that you will be visiting a lot of buildings with elevators. And as common as it is for everyone to walk straight into the elevator, you want to be sure that you’re metabolizing all of those calories you’ve been consuming while eating out every day. If you’re staying at one of the hotels in Nice, Franceyou’re definitely going to be eating rich, savory meals each day, so make sure you can find little ways to be burning those calories off by walking up a few flights of stairs each day.
- Take it easy on the alcohol. Most people tend to drink a lot more when they travel because they’re on vacation and they don’t have very many obligations that they need to stay sober for. Unfortunately, though, if you don’t pace yourself and stay practical about things, not only are you going to pack on a few extra pounds, but you’re going to miss out on a lot of the fun activities that require a bit more physical exertion because you were too exhausted from the long nights.
- Spend some time stretching each night before you go to bed. With all the walking up and down stairs, biking around town, and walking down charming boulevards, your body is definitely going to be feeling sore. That’s why it’s really important that you carve out 10-20 minutes for stretching before you go to bed. When you wake up, you will be in a lot less pain and you will be far more ready to take on the day.
- Be sure to bring comfortable shoes. Now that we’ve covered all of the fun exercise you’ll be getting, we should remind you that you never want to do all of this in a pair of flip flops or high heels. Even if you do bring a pair of sneakers, you want to be sure that they’re very comfortable and that they’re already broken in. If you buy a new pair of shoes right before you leave for your trip, you may spend the entire trip with blisters all over your feet.