A Flight Attendant’s Five-Step Guide To Staying Fit While Constantly Travelling

Instagram: @theflyingfitfoodie

Keeping up a fitness routine and eating well can be hard at the best of times, but if you're constantly travelling, it can feel impossible.

Lack of suitcase space, frequent in-flight meals, and all of the sugary, fizzy and alcoholic treats in Duty Free are more than enough reason to throw diet and exercise out the window.

However, Sophie Jones, a flight attendant for a big international airline, might just have the answer for staying fit while travelling.

??Good morning from Chicago! It was such a beautiful day here today so took my training outside, taking the scenic route alongside Lake Michigan. I'm not really a runner so I broke my run up to mix things up and to incorporate some HIIT too ✅ ?I split my run into two parts. My first half was a warm up for 2km, just running at my own comfortable pace. The second half I mixed things up with some intervals. ?First was 8 x 30 seconds running with 30 seconds jogging ?Next was 8 x 30 seconds of sprints with 30 seconds walking ?‍♀️I find this helps me cover more distance as I tend to get bored running! It also increases my heart rate, and turns running into more of a challenging fat burning exercise! It was also made much harder by having a crazy strong head wind! ??? #thewindycity #chicago #lakemichigan #runchicago #hiit #chicagofitness #intervaltraining #fitcabincrew #fitflightattendant

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Last January, the 26-year-old launched her Instagram account @theflyingfitfoodie as a way of documenting her travels as a long-haul flight attendant, jetting between the likes of the US and South Africa each week, and keeping her friends and family up-to-date with her favourite restaurants, cafes, and workout destinations around the world.

"I started the account as a way of keeping myself motivated to workout and eat well while travelling. I never expected it to be popular," Jones says, having since amassed over 10,000 followers.

Having completed a year of shorter-haul trips and with a career of long-haul looming, Jones soon realised that maintaining a healthy fitness regime across so many different time zones was going to be a complicated affair.

"When you start flying, it's quite common to gain weight due to sheer exhaustion. A lot of cabin crew go out drinking, eat plane food, order room service and stay in their rooms watching Netflix because the easy options are so tempting when you're tired and can't be bothered researching new restaurants when you land.

"Quite early on in my job, I got the idea in my head that I didn't want it having a negative impact on my life and health,' she admits.

As a result, Sophie fits in between four to five workouts a week, with a range of HIIT training, weights and yoga, into her busy schedule to maintain her fitness.

Here, we find out Sophie's top tips to staying fit and healthy while travelling:

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2. Always pack your gym gear

“With nine days off a month and rarely having weekends guaranteed free, I certainly don’t have a set routine so I make sure I’m always prepared to workout whenever I get some free time.

As a result, I always pack my gym kit for a flight, even if I’m not planning on staying somewhere or I’m working on a short-haul flight to Aberdeen – you never know when you’re going to get stuck somewhere.

I also pack a skipping rope and a resistance band – two crucial items for a traveller who might not want to hit the gym, isn’t feeling confident to be around other gym-goers, or can’t be bothered to leave the hotel room. It’s always possible to squeeze a bit of activity into the day.

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Fortunately, HIIT workouts don’t require a lot of equipment or time (I do a maximum of 30 mins per session) so they can be done in a gym, a hotel room, on the beach or in a park. You don’t need a gym membership to get fit, trust me.”

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