A while back I did a quick Q&A on social media asking you guys what YOU needed help and advice on. Kindly some of you got back to me. I do listen and it’s really important to me that I write on topics that help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

One request was to provide advice on how to eat clean whilst travelling which is particularly challenging at this time of year when holiday season is in full flow.

Well what sums it up for me is a phrase a friend of mine said to me a few years ago: ‘prior planning prevents piss poor performance’. In more polite terms, it’s called developing strategies.

The reality is that living a ‘full’ and ‘balanced’ life outside fitness (which is important – so there’ll be more on this in a future blog) means you will end up going on holidays, travelling with work, staying over with friends and so on. My approach is very much one of moderation and being ‘on point’ 90% of the time, rather than trying to be perfect all the time.

So how do you stay ‘on point’ 90% of the time when real life is about juggling all sorts of priorities? When you are away from your own environment, kitchen, food cupboards and so on? Your reality is more likely to be one of jet lag, airline food, missed workouts, hotels, etc, rather than the super-focused, healthy and vibrant one you’d usually aim for.

There is no dispute that all this can wreak havoc on your health and fitness goals – and your stress levels – if you don’t manage it correctly.

So my advice is firstly accept that you’re going to get in this situation. It is what it is! And develop strategies to manage it as best you can so that you at least set yourself up for success.

Here’s an interesting quote:

“Strategy even trumps willpower. Studies show that willpower is actually in limited supply. Meaning, resist the cookie now, it might be hard to resist it later. Therefore, I believe it is more important to build in good strategies. For example, if you eat ice cream every night, rather than trying to “be good” and resist it, simply remove it from the house. If you consistently visit the vending machine because you don’t have time to go to lunch, your strategy would be to pack your lunch the night before and bring it with you. Anyway, you get the point.” Valerie Waters

So here are some ‘on the road’ rules from me:

1. Plan ahead – do a bit of research on your hotel and its location, what restaurants and shops are around, and what you’ll need to buy and order from them. It seems a faff, but it really does save time and energy worrying about it or working out what you need when you get there. Not only that it means more time by the pool, with friends, exploring and having fun !
2. Insist on getting a hotel with a gym and if you can’t then develop some ‘on the road workouts’ that you can do outdoors or in your hotel room.
3. Take some healthy snacks with you and get more as soon as you arrive. Find your local supermarket and stock up with nuts, protein bars, peanut butter, crudities etc and use the mini bar as a fridge.
4. When eating out don’t be afraid to ask for your meal the way you want it – after all, you are paying for it. Just follow good ‘eating clean’ principles.
5. If you can prep your food in advance even better. Use tupperware, ziplock bags, a shaker bottle and a cooler bag for easy portability and convenience.
6. Keep hydrated with water.

So your new mantra is ‘prior planning prevents piss poor performance’ in short the 6 P’s if that helps you remember it better.

These are just some ideas to avoid some of the problems and limit the damage. Has anyone else any ideas? What situations cause you to go off track and are there any ways you’ve found to deal with them? As always, I’m listening.