As soon as I returned from Punta Cana, I had about 18 hours to get my life together before leaving for my first assignment in good ole’ Texas.  A few weeks prior, I had made the decision that I absolutely needed to come up with some sort of plan to be healthy while traveling because, well, I love food.  Like all the bad foods.  Like ice cream and french fries.  For three meals a day.  Seven days a week.
You get the picture.
I knew that if I didn’t have a plan going into my first week on the road, I would fall into really bad habits (worse than at home) and that would be even harder to come back from after a few weeks.  Since the beginning of the year, I’d stopped working out and was eating whatever I wanted and I felt sick all of the time.  I have a friend that was a new Beachbody coach and was very pleased with those programs, so I decided to hop on board and signed myself up for the “80 Day Obsession” program.  You’re thinking “What?! 80 days doing a Beachbody program on the road? That’s going to be impossible!” Hard? YES.  Impossible? NO.  I made the decision and a promise to myself that I was going to stick with this, BUT since I’d be visiting new places, I would give myself one meal out on the town (with-in reason).
So how did week one go?  Well, I spent the majority of my first four days at either the hotel or at work, venturing out only twice to walk to the grocery store (there is one close by luckily!).  I honestly didn’t have a very exciting first week in Houston, but it gave me a chance to focus on me and my plan.  Plus, I’ve got another three weeks to see the city.

Nutrition

As I was packing Sunday morning for the trip, I packed my shakes, my containers, and my exercise equipment, then I quickly realized that I wasn’t set to arrive until 11:30 PM, and I had no clue if there was going to be a grocery store near my hotel.  So I made a pit stop at the store on the way to the airport and literally carried on a bag of groceries as my “personal item.” [TSA is not a big fan of people bringing groceries in the airport just FYI.] Once I got to Houston, I planned out my meals and measured out all of my food.  Since I was limited to a mini-fridge only in my room and a microwave in the hotel lobby, I created one meal plan primarily of raw veggies and fruits and packets of tuna that I repeated each day.  It was repetitive, but easier to stick to.  I made it through the whole week and so I treated myself to the most amazing queso I’ve ever had in my life for my “cheat meal”. Torchy’s Tacos, I love you. ♥

Fitness

As part of the 80 Day Obsession, the fitness portion of the program is comprised of 80 high-intensity workouts over 13 weeks, with six workouts a week ranging from ~40-60 minutes each.  I had to purchase some equipment as part of the program that I brought with me and also needed to use the weights in the fitness center at the hotel on days that I needed weights.  All workouts are accessible via app on my phone or iPad.  With these conveniences, fitness was 100% the easier portion of the program between fitness and nutrition.  Also, it is amazing having a gym just a two-minute elevator ride away from my room.  BUT, while getting to the gym was easy – man, jumping back into working out after so many months off with workouts of this intensity was HARD.  But I made it through the week with a smile on my face (kind of) even though every muscle in my body was sore.
Overall, I’m realizing that this is going to take a LOT of dedication and commitment, especially as we start working more hours, but I couldn’t have started at a better time.  For anyone else that is going to be traveling for work with the same concerns as me – just remember to make a plan and stick with it and it is completely doable. And, it’s okay to treat yourself occasionally!  With one week down, I know that these next 12 weeks are going to be a breeze (okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I can definitely do it!).