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How To Stay Healthy While Full-Time RVing

This post was updated on March 15th, 2024

Oddly enough, one of the more challenging aspects of full-time RVing is finding ways to stay fit while traveling. With little to no room to exercise indoors, long stretches with no access to a gym—let alone a trainer—and tempting new restaurants around every corner, it’s easy to slip into unhealthy habits.

Luckily, there are ways to ensure you stay fit and healthy while on the road. Sure, it may take a little more dedication, but by staying focused, allowing yourself occasional small pleasures, and thinking outside the box, you should be able to maintain the same level of health you’d have living in a house.

Wondering where to begin? Here are some tips to get you started.

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Diet

First off, we will tackle the subject of diet. For many people, this is difficult to get a handle on while traveling. However, by using these quick and easy tips, you should have no problem at all.

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Plan your meals ahead of time. Image source: Unsplash

We all know that keeping fresh fruits and veggies in our homes is important. The problem for many RVers is finding a place to store these items. There isn’t any counter space for a fruit bowl, and keeping fruit in the pantry can lead it to ripen too quickly.

The solution? A hanging fruit basket. These are great because they don’t take up too much space, and by getting a multi-tier basket, you should be able to store both your fruits and your veggies.

  • Shop often

That said, that basket will probably only hold about 3–4 days worth of produce. Once that runs out, you may find yourself digging in the pantry for dry goods to snack on. Instead of doing that, consider shopping more often.

As a traveler, you have the awesome opportunity to visit farms and farmers markets all over the country. Why not put that to good use by buying fresh, local produce on a regular basis? This will ensure you always have healthy snacks and sides on hand, reducing your sugar and carb intake.

  • Designate a day for eating out

As I mentioned earlier, eating out is tempting when you are visiting new places with fabulous dining opportunities. Instead of denying yourself any meals out at all, try choosing just one day a week to eat out. Use this day to enjoy a small eatery and really get a feel for the local food scene.

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Allow yourself to go out to eat once in a while. Image source: Unsplash
  • Plan meals

In order to keep yourself from eating out on the other days, it’s best to plan easy yet healthy meals for the entire week. When meals are easy to make, you’re more likely to actually make them.

An Instant Pot is a great tool for those who are looking for quick and easy meals, as it can cook virtually anything and is beyond simple to use. You may also like these 5 On-The-Go Meal Ideas For Busy RVers.

  • Pack food

When you leave the RV for a day trip, be sure to pack a light meal or at least some healthy snacks. This will help prevent desperate stops at convenience stores and fast food joints, ensuring you continue to eat healthy even while out and about.

  • Travel slowly

This may seem unrelated to your diet, but traveling slowly does actually help. When you are trying to cram too much stuff into too little time, diet goes out the window quickly. By slowing your pace, you’ll give yourself time to do proper meal planning, shop regularly, and cook meals every day.

Exercise

To some, exercising is harder when traveling because they don’t have indoor space to work out, they don’t always have access to a gym, and/or the exercise classes they like to take aren’t available wherever they go.

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Try yoga, hiking, or biking as a way to stay in shape. Image source: Unsplash

Here are some ideas for getting around those things so you can keep moving.

  • Choose active outings

In my opinion, the best solution to this problem is to stop treating exercise as a chore that needs to be checked off a list and start integrating it into your outings.

Choose parks and museums that require you to walk long distances. Try your hand at rock climbing or canoeing. Head to a pool or lake to do some swimming. All of these are fun ways to get out and see the world while also getting in some exercise.

  • Join a gym chain

Want a more focused exercise routine? If you happen to camp near cities on a regular basis, you might be able to get away with joining a chain of gyms. Most of these offer reciprocal entry, meaning you can use your membership at any of their locations. Some even offer childcare, so you can’t use kids as an excuse for not exercising.

As a bonus, all gyms have showers. This is great when you’re dry camping, as it means you can get clean without using valuable freshwater and filling your gray tank. It’s a win-win.

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Many RV parks and resorts have fitness centers available. Image source: Unsplash
  • Pick campgrounds with gyms

Another option for those who want to have access to a gym is to pick campgrounds with gyms on site. Granted, this will likely mean choosing RV resorts rather than state parks and other more rustic campgrounds, but for some, this is perfectly okay.

  • Join an online class

If you don’t mind exercising outside your RV—or if you have a bit of room inside—you might even choose to take an online exercise class. Whether you like Zumba, yoga, or line dancing, there is an online class out there for you.

  • Find classes along the way

Like the class idea but prefer to join in with others? There’s always the option of finding exercise classes along your route. Many exercise studios and gyms offer drop-in lessons, and if you are taking a slow travel pace, finding these classes as you go shouldn’t be too difficult.

These simple tips and tricks should be enough to get you started on your fitness journey. Have a tip you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about it! Post it in the comments below.

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