Unhealthy temptations abound when you’re traveling: After all, it’s easy to convince yourself that you deserve that 600-calorie donut after surviving the middle seat on a packed plane.

But if you travel frequently, all of those excuses can add up. If fitness and nutrition is normally a part of your daily routine, don’t let travel plans disrupt your otherwise healthy habits. Below, we’ve compiled a few tips and suggestions for staying healthy when you’re away from home.

Exercise on the go

Below are a few tools to help you stay active when travel makes it difficult to adhere to a normal gym schedule.

• Subscribe to Tone It Up: Tone It Up is an online fitness community with weekly fitness challenges, nutrition plans and healthy recipes delivered straight to your inbox or available online for free. Many of the workouts can be done in about 20 minutes, and equipment requirements are usually minimal (just make sure you pack a fitness towel and travel yoga mat).

• Use your carry-on luggage as a weight: Staying healthy sometimes means getting creative; advanced exercisers can experiment with turning a carry-on into a free weight — most suitcases have handles that can be used to easily lift them above your head, as you would a barbell or weight plate. As with any type of weight, be sure that you’re using correct form when lifting to avoid injury.

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  Image: Mashable Bob Al-Greene

• Pack travel weights: While you won’t want to pack your typical free weights in your carry-on for practical reasons, AquaBells provide a portable solution with collapsible weights that you fill with water to use. For advanced workouts, exercise bands can be wedged between doors and used for various full-body workouts — voila, your own personal, portable gym.

• Look into bike rentals: If you’ll be staying in a city that offers a bike-sharing program, such as Citi Bike in New York City or Bikeshare in Washington, D.C., consider renting a bike to get around town and get in an extra dose of cardio when going about your day-to-day.

• Download running apps: The great thing about being a runner is that you don’t need to pack much equipment to get a workout in when you’re away from home. Some unique and useful apps to motivate yourself to hit the pavement include Zombies, Run! — an app that turns your run into a thrilling game — RunKeeper, MapMyRun and Strava.

• Get creative with TRX: TRX is a suspension training fitness system, which is easily portable and can be set up inside or outside by slinging the straps over a secure bar or even a tree trunk. Try putting a new spin on push ups or core workouts by suspending your feet by the strap loops to add body weight to a basic move.

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  Image: Mashable Bob Al-Greene

• Fit.net: Fitnet features over 200 free fitness videos (at various intensities) that you can access via your tablet — the app converts your iPad’s camera into a biometric sensor that provides real-time feedback on your abilities and progress. Consider it your personal trainer on the go.

• Work out in your hotel room: Not all workouts require a heavy set of weights — in fact, certain body weight exercises are just as effective as the bulky machines at the gym. Below are a few examples of workouts you can easily perform in the comfort of your home-away-from-home:

  – Strength: Do tricep dips off a chair or coffee table, several sets of walking lunges back and forth across your room and several sets of squats, among other body weight workouts that are easy to perform anywhere.
  – Legs: Use a footstool in your hotel room to do step-ups, dips and knee-ups.
  – Core work: Do crunches, planks and side planks, pushups, yoga poses and Pilates moves, depending on your preferences.
  – Cardio: Do jumping jacks, mountain climbers, high-knees or butt-kicks, and pack along a lightweight jump rope. Add some burpees to your routine, if you’re feeling particularly ambitious.

Fighting the fast food temptation

Grabbing fast food or ordering pizza isn’t the only quick and easy way to fuel up on the road. Below are a few ways to keep tabs on your physical and mental health when you’re on the go.

• Bring healthy, portable snacks: Make your own healthy trail mix — or simply pack dried fruits, unsalted almonds and other high-protein snacks that will keep you full and won’t take up too much room.

• This handy calculator can help you figure out how much water you should actually be drinking per day, as recommendations vary based on your weight and level of activity.

• Pack vitamin packets: To ensure that you’re getting all the nutrients you need, consider bringing along vitamin packets instead of bulky bottles — you can create your own custom vitamin packs in ziplock bags, or purchase pre-packaged daily doses of vitamins that are easy to throw in your toiletries bag.

  

  Image: Mashable Bob Al-Greene

• Track your sleep: There are a number of sleep-tracking and alarm clock apps on the market today — try SleepImage, an FDA-cleared, data-tracking tool that helps give you insight into a variety of factors that may be affecting your sleep quality. Knowing the details about your sleeping habits can make it easier to replicate your ideal sleep patterns when you’re snoozing in an unfamiliar bed.

How do you stay healthy on the go? Tell us in the comments.