Hi ,

Today I want to share some of my favorite eating approaches while traveling.

I spent years and years not trusting myself around food, eating only “all or nothing.”

If I was “on a diet,” then I was massively controlling, avoided all dining out, travel, declined social events so I wouldn’t be tempted, and more.

And when I wasn’t on a diet, I was eating with abandon—what I call “brain shutdown mode” where you’re just eating everything, no discernment at all, no mindfulness, zero awareness and then later on get to feel guilty about it. Ha!

Neither approach worked. Ever.

So travel was always anxiety-producing—either because I was traveling with a zillion Tupperwares with nasty cold protein and soggy veggies (which I also think can prevent the opportunity to navigate a new food environment, and thus learn to trust ourselves more), OR because I was in “eff it!” mode and ordering the grossest, greasiest foods on the menu, full-on vacation mode.

Now, I eat the same every single day of the year, navigating the middle of the all-or-nothing approach every time I sit down to eat. Nothing is ever off limits, and I never eat to the point of feeling stuffed, bloated and overdoing it.

I simply don’t feel the need to overdo it because I haven’t been depriving myself up until that point.

I don’t need a reward for “eating clean” and I don’t need to take a break from strict dieting because I’m not relying exclusively on willpower anymore.

This whole transition took me 3 years!

So many of us want to “just be there” but the ease and automation of eating #moderation365 is earned not over days and weeks, but over months and years of practice.

Eating moderately is about learning your own personal preferences and how your unique metabolism responds to foods and situations.

It’s about practicing how to take bites of things without having to polish them off.

It’s about practicing self-compassion when you overindulge a little, and not allowing a small slip lead to a “what the hell” attitude where you just go off the rails.

And it’s mostly about practicing mindfulness.

My goal every time I sit down to eat is to feel satisfied, not stuffed. To me, another word for moderation is satisfaction.

Below is a quickie list of travel options that in my experience help us to feel satisfied, without overdoing it.

I no longer pack perishable food to travel with (minus fruit), I trust myself to figure out any eating situation once I get to the place.

Often I’ll hit up a grocery store or convenience store to grab some provisions once I arrive. No stress.

My choices don’t need to be perfect (in fact, most of these you’d never see on a competition diet), they just need to be satisfying enough that I won’t want to crush more and worse crap later.

I no longer stress about things like sodium or processing or sweeteners. Sure, when I’m home I eat mostly real food and whole ingredient foods, but on the road, I don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

That’s it. A preventative approach all the time.

I’ll do my best and allow for that to be good enough.

Here are some of my go-tos for hotels, road trips and AirBnB stays (if I'm dining out, it's mostly protein and veggies, or Big Ass Salads, aka #BAS):

• Nuts
• Cheese
• Cured meats
• Fruit
• Power Crunch bars
• Quest bars
• Protein powder single packs
• Jerky
• Healthy baked good – see my Almond Maple Pancake Bread receipe enclosed
• Some chocolate item that I’ll take bites of here and there for #SatisfactionFactor
• Sparking water
• Wine as a preemptive cheat
• And plenty of regular water, because travel
  

In addition to nutrition, I’ll try to train as many days as a can, and usually that looks like a 20-minute hotel workout with minimal equipment.

Last week in Vegas, Danny-J and I did “Shoulder Shock,” one of the beta workouts from #PhysiqueFinishers, my new metabolic conditioning program coming out August 21^st.

You can try it out if you have access to a single set of moderately heavy dumbbells.

It was a 12-minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible, in 12 minutes) of the following circuit:

• 10 Dumbbell Thrusters (squat and then shoulder press)
• 15 DB shoulder presses
• 10 burpees
• 15 squat jumps
  

Rest 1 minute, and then finish up by doing as many pushups as you can in 3 minutes.

16 minutes and done!

Remember, the tendency is to just say screw it when you’re traveling, because if you’re anything like I used to be, you’d think that anything less than perfect eating in your own kitchen and hour-long workouts in your home gym wasn’t worth even bothering.

But that’s not true. And that mindset is a trap.

Something isn’t nothing.

And every little bit truly does count.

Hopefully this helps you on your adventures this summer!

Xo,

Jill

P.S. If you are not enrolled in the free Beta Program for #PhysiqueFinishers yet, be sure to join us HERE. Each week a new workout goes out, and you’ll have the opportunity to give me your feedback, while also getting to try them out and see how you like ‘em.

I hope you’ll join us! And mark your calendar for the launch of the full program on August 21^st!​​​​​​​