Weight Loss & Travel

It's often difficult to maintain our current weight, let alone continue our weight loss, when we are traveling for work or pleasure.

If you travel a lot or are about to plan your summer holidays and have a weight loss goal, this article is for you.

We'll give you all the tips you need to stay on your weight loss course while traveling around the country or around the world.

Why travel can be counter-productive to weight loss

Travel and weight loss usually aren't happy bedfellows.

For most of us, traveling often or for extended periods of time results in us putting on weight, not losing it.

The reasons for this typically include:

• We eat more than normal when traveling
• We exercise less and are less active than normal when traveling
• We tend to dine out at restaurants more than usual when traveling
• We tend to consume more alcohol than normal when traveling
• We tend to eat more take away food or food on the run when traveling
• We tend to generally eat less healthy food options in favour of tastier options when traveling

Tips for weight loss and avoiding weight gain while traveling

Notice that most of the points above include "more or less than normal" or "more or less than usual"?

The secret to at least maintaining our current weight while traveling is trying to maintain our normal activity and diets as much as possible.

Of course this is easier said than done.

If we are traveling on business we're often very busy during the day in meetings and so forth, and after hours we're are dining with colleagues or clients.

Typically, alcohol consumption forms an important part of our socializing and being sociable is a very important aspect of successful business.

When we're traveling for pleasure, we want to relax and indulge our senses for the short time we have to relax.

Regardless of whether we're traveling for business or pleasure, the weight loss pitfalls start at the airport on departure and don't end until we leave the airport again upon arrival home.

To help us all keep our weight in check while traveling, here's a list of weight conscious travel tips:

• When traveling walk whenever and wherever possible
• Always carry water and drink often to keep well hydrated and feeling full
• Consider booking a session or two with a local personal trainer
• Visit a gym with reciprocal arrangements with your fitness club or pay for a casual workout (about $15)
• Hire a bike and explore the surrounding neighbourhoods
• Avoid cooked breakfasts where possible and eat a healthy bowl of cereal, fruit and whole-grain toast instead
• Take your runners with you and jog or walk around the local running tracks or botanical gardens
• Book into a hotel with a pool and gym and use them
• Exercise before breakfast and get it out of the way
• Play a game of tennis
• Pack a skipping rope (ten minutes of skipping is great exercise)
• When eating in a restaurant, order a side plate of veggies
• If you're near the sea, try bodysurfing or take a surfing lesson
• Follow your normal routine as closely as possible but allow yourself to have fun
• Don't use the travel as an excuse to "fill-up at the company's expense" or to get your money's worth because you've already paid for your meals
• If you splurge one day, just cut back the next
• Try to avoid quick-fix airport meals (like burgers and fries) or high-fat in-flight snacks (like cookies, muffins and cakes)
• Don't drink too much alcohol on the flights (as well as being full of empty calories, alcohol dehydrates our bodies even more than normal while flying)
• Avoid having too many buffet dinners and breakfasts
• Remember size matters, so watch portion sizes carefully - especially in restaurants
• Plan ahead - decide what you will eat throughout the day so you don't grab the first thing handy when you get hungry
• Don't even consider skipping lunch or breakfast - skipping meals only slows down our metabolism and causes us to overeat at the next meal
• If dining out, share 3 meals between 4 people or share entrees or desserts
• Don't fall into the trap of trying to please waiters by ordering fat-laden specials of the day
• Ask for meal dressings and sauces on the side so you can put them on the meal in smaller quantities yourself
• Plan and prioritize your time
• Let others know how important your exercise program is to you
• Play good-food-cop, bad-food-cop with a family member (where you order something decadent and your partner orders something tasty but healthier and you swap plates after eating half the meal)
• Avoid binge zones like cheap buffets or all-you-can-eat restaurants
• Book into a self-contained apartment with cooking facilities so that you can choose to eat in instead of having to eat out every night
• Workout in your hotel room doing jumping jacks, push ups and crunches, or take some exercise bands with you and do some resistance training while watching TV
• Make the supermarket your first stop after checking in to your hotel room and pick up some bottled water and healthy snacks to carry with you at all times

Conclusion

It's difficult to maintain our current weight, let alone continue our weight loss when we are traveling.

If you travel a lot for work or are about to plan your summer holidays and have a weight loss goal, you now have some ideas to keep you on your weight loss course while traveling around the country or anywhere in the world.

Good luck with your weight loss, enjoy your travel and thanks for visiting weightloss.com.au.

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