Staying healthy while traveling: 5 things you didn't think about

Traveling, whether it’s for work or leisure, can throw you out of your normal fitness routine. When you work hard to stay fit and healthy at home, the last thing you want is a holiday to set your progress back.

​But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple ways of keeping up a healthy regime when traveling. It just takes a bit of preparation. To help, we’ve gathered five things you might have forgotten. Check them out:

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1. Taste local cuisine - in moderation

There’s more temptation on holiday, especially when you want to try out the popular local dishes - and that's half the fun of exploring new cultures! But you’ve got to be smart with your intake, especially if you're not getting in the same amount and type of exercise that you're used to back home. depending on how much exercise you’ll be doing. We're big fans of trying local cuisine, wine, and other delicacies 'when in Rome', but keep in mind that the calories do count on vacation and can quickly creep up on you. Consider the following:

• Pizza in Italy – 1,000 calories
• Fish and chips in the UK – 838 calories
• Pain au chocolat in France – 300 calories
• Hamburger and chips in the USA – 629 calories

​Follow the advice of this travel fitness infographic and say no to the upsize offers, select sensible options (e.g. grilled fish) and dine in moderation.

2. Go self-catering

Better still, stay somewhere you can prepare your own food. Seek out a local farmer's market (or supermarket) and pick out fresh food you can cook for yourself. If you’re heading out for the day, remember to take snacks and plenty of water too.

3. Take on some adventure activities

Fitness doesn’t have to be restricted to a hotel gym. You can center your exercise around an activity you’ll enjoy as a traveler. Rock-climbing, horseback riding, hiking, water rafting, surfing – the list could go on, depending on where you’re going.

Try and find something you don’t get the chance to do often at home, and jump at the chance. In fact, you could focus your trip around unique fitness experiences – here’s some inspiration, including ice climbing in Canada or surfing in New Zealand.

4. Pack a fit kit

To keep your workouts in check, you need to make it easy for yourself to exercise – wherever you are. By packing a skipping rope, resistance band, and a heart rate monitor, you’ll be able to increase the intensity of your workouts.

5. Up your daily steps

Last but not least, ditch the wheels and walk whenever possible. A 145-pound woman can burn roughly 400 calories a day by walking 10,000 steps, according to Shape magazine. It might sound like a lot, but when you’re sightseeing, those valuable steps will soon add up without feeling like you’ve exercising.

Alternatively, if you’re by the coast and want to get a different perspective, sightsee by kayaking and burn 345 calories an hour.

How do you stay fit and healthy while traveling? Share your tips and suggestions with us below!