This past weekend I spent a long weekend (Thursday night to Sunday night) in Cincinnati for one of my college best friend’s wedding. It can be very difficult when traveling to fit in exercise and healthy eating. There are new fun things to do and fun foods to try so you want to indulge, but you don’t want to forget about your goals. I just wanted to share a post with you guys this morning about sticking to a healthy diet and enjoying things in moderation while on vacation or traveling, as well as keeping up with your fitness. That being said if you go four days without working out or eating tons of veggies just try to get back on track when you get home. Don’t deprive yourself, or make yourself feel guilty for a missing your weekend run or leg day. It happens and it’s not the end of the world. But a little bit of planning can go a long way for keeping on track while away.
Workouts: I know I feel better physically and emotionally when I exercise. I also know a lot of people don’t like to exercise on vacation or while traveling. If you want to but struggle to accomplish it my best advice is to plan to workout… think about your tentative schedule and where you can fit a quick workout in and what you’re going to do! (Don’t forget shoes, clothes, ipod, etc). Also it doesn’t hurt to make sure you get your workouts in before you leave town if you want to take the weekend off. I took a spin class Thursday morning and felt energized for the rest of the day which included work and then travel. I looked up our hotel and health club was listed, sometime hotel gyms suck and have like two treadmills and that’s it. This was an actual public gym attached to the hotel, which was awesome so I did a cardio warm-up and then did legs using their equipment. If your hotel gym doesn’t have substantial equipment, take your workout to the streets or do a HIIT workout. Tabata is great is you want a quick make you sweat sesh. Saturday morning I squeezed in a quick run before heading to watch the Penn State football game with my other college friends in town. It was a refreshing and fun way to see the city and got me pumped for the day. When visiting a city try to walk everywhere instead of cabbing it. You would be surprised how many miles you walk in a day.
Eats: I won’t go through everything that I ate but there were definitely some indulgences since it was my first time in the city, I wanted to try their hot spots per my friends recommendations. A must try is a Taste of Belgium! Delicious Belgium waffles! Ahhh! We went there Friday morning and it was so good we went back Saturday. It was hard to get veggies in at this brunch place so I balanced the carb heavy waffle with some protein to help keep me full and fuel my workouts. Post workout I enjoyed a very delicious salad while others started day drinking. I missed lunch with my group while I was working out but was able to find an awesome healthy option and even better did not partake in boozing (yet). We did head to a local brewery after this and if you know anything about me, you know I love craft beer. Pat and I split a flight, or two before heading back to the hotel. We went to the Reds game that night since my Buccos were in town (yay for playoffs starting this week!). Pat and I enjoyed the game with another couple we were traveling with and loved the fireworks after show. Cinci is famous for chili and apparently Sky Line Chili is the well-known spot… they had some at the game. I wanted to try it because Pat had been talking about it nonstop, it was gross. It was like fast food which I never eat and it made me feel sick naturally. Blah. Saturday the wedding wasn’t until later so after another Belgium waffle I went for a run and then met friends at a local bar/restaurant to watch PSU. I balanced my meal by getting a lunch special of half a chicken/veggie pizza with half a salad. I was pretty hungry after the run and knew we wouldn’t be eating dinner until after 8pm. At the wedding I had salad, steamed veggies, stuffed chicken, and a roll. I had a couple bites of wedding cake and a few drinks. Sunday I had amazing Mexican style brunch featuring Cincinattis signature goetta. I wanted to get crab benedict but everyone at brunch was like noooooo get the goetta. Goetta is ground meat with oats and spices… sort of a cross between sausage and meatloaf. It was interesting… I’m not a big meat fan so it wasn’t my favorite but I guess it was definitely something different to try. The benedict had pico de gallo and a full avocado in addition to the eggs and hollandaise. Yum!
I really had a great time with my friends and took part in some less healthful eats but I enjoyed all of them (except the chili). I felt better squeezing in some salads and workouts but still trying some other delicious foods. Everything in moderation friends 🙂
