5 Ways to Stick to Your Macronutrient Goals While Traveling

Travel and being outside of your normal environment can wreak havoc on both your ability to follow your macronutrient protocols and maintain steady progress towards your health and body goals. This is true for even the most experienced athletes. 

You can blame it on social commitments, a lack of access to a kitchen, or other limitations—or, you can make some relatively easy, proactive choices to ensure that you’re not needlessly sacrificing the body you’ve worked so hard for while still seeing your friends/family and enjoying what life has to offer. 

Here are my top tips, that I, Coach V, follow and prescribe to my clients:

1. Prioritize and Account for Eating Out

2. Prepare for Success Before You Leave: Travel Staples & Essentials

3. Use Delivery Services for Convenience and Control

4. Factor in Alcohol Consumption

5. Show Yourself Grace and Flexibility

   
   

1. Prioritize and Account for Eating Out

Eating out with your friends and family may be the very reason you’re traveling, so plan around these occasions so that you can have a guilt-free time and be present for them.

If you’re looking for the most macro-friendly restaurant options, here are some of the ones I recommend to my own clients:

• Thai restaurants — Curries are generally easy to track and are whole-food based.
  

• Mexican restaurants — Fajitas are easy to track and customizable. Ask for more veggies to increase micronutrient and fiber intake; skip the cheese if you can’t spare the fats.
  

• Franchise restaurants — Many multi-location restaurants (e.g., Cheesecake Factory) publish nutrition facts, so you can log your intended meal before you go. This is also true for most fast food establishments as well, but there are almost always better options.

For the most accurate macro guesstimates, find out how the foods are prepared and request substitutes when possible. I like to ask whether spray oil is available (instead of olive oil) and to go light on sauces and dressings, for example. 

If you’re not able or willing to track your meals out, I recommend the ‘plate’ method: 

• At least 25-33% of your plate should be protein.

• At least 33% should be veggies.

• About 25% can be a carbohydrate or starchy vegetable.

• Include a moderate amount of healthy fats for balance and satiety. 

2. Prepare for Success Before You Leave: Travel Staples & Essentials

Prepare for the days that you have more control over the meals you can make (i.e., when you know you’ll be eating in your hotel room, Airbnb, etc.). 

This means:

• Bring a food scale — This gives you a bit more wiggle room to improvise foods, as opposed to pre-portioning and packing days of food in your luggage.
  

• Pack macro-friendly staples — Protein bars and powders, oatmeal packets, dry staples (e.g., trail mix, nuts) will help you stay satiated, save money, and stay on track with your macros. Protein oats are an MVP here because they’re so easy to make so long as you have access to hot water.

Don’t forget to bring the utensils and food containers you’ll need to eat them with. If you do, I’ve been able to call hotel reception to request those items as well.

3. Use Delivery Services for Convenience and Control

When I don’t have time or a car to get to the grocery store, I use grocery delivery services to ensure that I’ll have fresh produce and anything else I need to stay on top of my macro protocols. 

Some services allow you to schedule delivery, so you can have your groceries arrive right when you do, saving you time and cognitive load when it comes to deciding what to eat. 

The idea here is to make it as easy as possible to make the right food choices

You can also order macro-friendly food using DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc., but know that some areas may not have as many healthy takeout options for delivery. Browse the apps ahead of time—this has really helped save me from excess travel bloat and remorse on the road.

4. Factor in Alcohol Consumption

So many clients intend to have ‘just one drink’, but end up having quite a bit more. That’s okay—give yourself some grace. Beating yourself up about it is counterproductive.

My best guidance here is to:

1. Be as realistic about the quantity you may/intend to drink — Understanding your own habits enables you to plan well and have realistic expectations of your dietary outcomes. Those are both key to long-term adherence and getting you to your ideal body.
   

2. Hydrate as much as possible beforehand — Minimize the chances of a hangover and any missed workouts or rash food choices (like hangover foods instead of more nutrient-dense foods).
   

3. Eat a well-balanced meal beforehand — Again, this is all about recovery from your night of drinking. At the minimum, use the plate method above (from tip #1).

5. Show Yourself Grace and Flexibility

It’s worth repeating: beating yourself up about things you can’t undo is counterproductive.

If plans go astray, forgive yourself for overindulgences and missed goals. Shift your focus to hydration and recovery so that you can begin to build positive momentum again—this is a very important quality for my most successful clients (the ones that don’t yo-yo).

Understand that occasional deviations won’t ruin your overall progress. And, don’t lose the lesson here:

• Work on making these macro-unfriendly occasions less frequent.
  

• Learn to account for your habits and choices more accurately so that you can plan better.

Stay on Track With Your Macros and Enjoy Your Travels

I hope my tips help you as much as they’ve helped me and my clients. If you feel overwhelmed, reach out—I can set you up with an individualized plan that’s right for you, whether you’re an experienced athlete or just starting your fitness journey—apply here.