The last 11 days have been adventure days for me and my partner, Justin!
My (soon-to-be?🤞) nephew was graduating from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs last week, so we left a few days early from where we’re located in Las Vegas and made a whole trip out of it.
We spent 4 of the days on the road traveling and three days off-roading (Jeep trails all over Silverton & Ouray, Colorado).⛰️
It was a ton of fun but it’s safe to say I’d be happy if I never sat in a car again for a while 😅
One question I get asked all the time is, “how do you maintain healthy eating habits when traveling?”
So, I wanted to give you a glimpse at what I ate on the road and without a kitchen of my own:
⭐️Chipotle bowl with chicken, rice, black beans, veggies, and guac
(and I asked for a sh*t ton of lettuce hence why you can’t see anything LOL)
Back story: this was our first lunch stop of the trip (I had NO idea and little say in where we would be stopping – I was left to the mercy of Justin and his parents). Knowing that there would be plenty of opportunities to splurge later on on this trip, I decided to keep this meal clean & healthy!
The next day, we decided to skip the hotel’s free breakfast and find a local joint on the road — because all 4 of us LOVE the experience of finding one-of-a-kind places — and BOY, did we find the most unique and slightly ridiculous place imaginable.
No joke, this place was just a little shack on the side of the road and we almost drove past it! There wasn’t even a place to sit and eat so we posted up on the hood of our Jeep. Needless to say, it was quite the experience. 😅
I had a ⭐️ Breakfast burrito with egg, potatoes, bacon (locally sourced!) in a homemade tortilla & black coffee
Side note: it barely had one egg scrambled and I ended up eating the inside with a fork and giving half the tortilla to my dog LOL. Shortly after that, I shared a FairLife protein drink with Justin because we both felt we could use a little more protein to balance all the carbs we just ate.
Pro tip: This is why it’s nice to have back-up options! For example….
Throughout our road trip and off-roading days, I also kept snacks in the car like apples, bananas, Kodiak chewy AND crunchy granola bars, trail mix, and Core Power protein drinks.
Now on the days we weren’t driving… here’s a glimpse of what I ate when we did have access to a hotel breakfast buffet.
⭐️ Left: eggs, sausage, orange (actually didn’t eat it because I was full), oatmeal with granola & raisins, and coffee
⭐️ Right: Chex cereal with banana & 2% milk, eggs and sausage (also coffee)
Pro tip: *Especially* when I don’t know what to expect for meals throughout the rest of the day, I do my best to choose the healthiest options with a good balance of macros (in this example, Protein: eggs & sausage, Carbs: fruit, oatmeal, cereal, Fats: sausage, milk, eggs). That way I feel less guilty when I splurge on (let’s say) pizza & ice cream later! (because I definitely did 😏)
The last day of our trip was a 12-hour drive from Colorado Springs back to Vegas. At this point, our packed snacks were dwindling and almost all of our meals were on the road through mountains and desert (with not a whole lot of food options) so the following is a true testament of spontaneity.
Here’s what went down:
⭐️ Banana & Kodiak Chewy Protein Granola Bar(not pictured)
⭐️ Starbucks nonfat cappuccino and spinach feta egg white wrap
⭐️ Tacos from a random food stand/truck in Green River
⭐️ 1/2 Cinnabon from a Maverick gas station
⭐️ Jamaican Red (Buffalo chicken) salad from Cheba Hut
As you can see above, I wasn’t afraid to treat myself a little too (that cinnabon was sooo worth it 🤤). As always, it’s all about balance!
So just to summarize, here’s are 3 things I did (and encourage my petite clients to do while traveling):
1️⃣ Pack Snacks! – I don’t think I need to tell you why this is a good idea 😏
2️⃣ Make the healthiest choice when you have the option to do so — because you KNOW there will be plenty of times when you won’t have a healthy option later. I had no idea & little control in where we would be stopping to eat so when we did happen to hit up places like Chipotle or the hotel’s breakfast buffet, I made sure to get a good balance of all 3 macros and plenty of fruits & veggies.
3️⃣ Have BALANCE — this was a VACATION, after all. I knew and trusted that if I practiced the 2 tips above, that I wouldn’t feel guilty when the opportunity to indulge presented itself.
I can confidently say these meals and snacks kept me feeling healthy, happy, and FULL the whole trip!
P.S. For more helpful tips for eating healthy while traveling (I’m talking everything from flying, to staying at resorts, airbnb’s, camping, etc), check out this podcast episode!
P.P.S. If you found this helpful, you’d love my weekly emails about nutrition, fitness, and general life tips for petites! To subscribe to my email list, grab any of my free resources here 🙂
