6 Expert Tips To Stay Slim While Traveling For Work

For busy professionals and executives, maintaining healthy habits while being close to home is challenging enough, and adding work trips into that can make things much harder. A survey by Hilton Hotels & Resorts found that 44% of professionals reported weight gain due to business travelling. Eating out with collages, not getting proper sleep, flight food, and being generally stressed and busy- are the main reasons why frequent flyers have a hard time keeping weight off.?

Many of our clients are travelling very frequently. For example, one of our clients, an entrepreneur from London, flies almost every week from the UK to Athens! Because of that, we had to come up with some simple, realistic strategies to help our clients avoid weight gain and not get distracted from their health & weight goals while travelling.?

Before jumping into the tips, it’s important to evaluate how much you actually tend to travel for work. Are you travelling once a year? Every month? Every other week? The more frequently you travel, the more you have to put attention to your habits in order to make progress with weight loss.

Here are 7 proven & practical tips to avoid weight gain while travelling for work:

1?? Not gaining, not losing. Maintaining.

Let’s begin with that, and it’s not a popular opinion, but it’s realistic. On business trips, you already have so much on your head. Clients, projects, events, presentations, big decisions. Adding the expectation to be in a calorie deficit and lose weight on top of that will add too much stress that you don’t need.?

Instead, aim to maintain your current weight. Not losing, not gaining, just staying where you are. Allow yourself to not be perfect because it’s normal sometimes.?

Like in business, when you have a clear vision and strategy for your weight loss journey, and you look at this as a marathon, not as a sprint, it makes a lot of sense to put those “maintenance” weeks in between.

2?? Keep yourself hydrated

Yes, hydration again. It’s probably the tip you hear all the time, but it’s still the most fundamental habit for weight loss most people overlook. Drinking water is proven to help people consume fewer calories, and it’s the practice most associated with weight loss. It’s a natural appetite suppressor and energy booster. And it’s accessible everywhere!?

Hydration is especially important on business trips because airplane cabins have very low humidity levels, which causes us to get dehydrated on long flights. Also, because we’re eating more outside, we’re exposed to sodium-rich foods that also affect our hydration level.?

Start with the basics. Get 8-14 cups of water daily (depending on your weight). Simple, surprisingly efficient.

For an in-depth article we wrote about hydration, click here.?

3?? Perfect breakfast

On business trips, eating healthy at lunch is hard, and at Dinner, it’s even harder. However, in breakfast, it’s quite easy to have a healthy and balanced meal that will put you in the right direction for the rest of the day! By eating the right breakfast, you guarantee yourself 33% success on this given day, no matter what happens.?

Besides the feasibility of this meal on trips, it’s also proven that a healthy breakfast helps with weight loss, energy, satiety and a better mood. This is how you start the day strong and set yourself up for a productive day, full of energy and positivity.?

What should you practically eat? In most medium-high quality hotels you can find great breakfast options. I would recommend avoiding high-fat foods such as ham, bacon and cheese, and focusing on high-quality carbohydrates such as oats, cereals, whole-grain bread and salads. Also, fruits are incredible at breakfast!?

Also, a pro-tip from me for breakfast- try to separate your coffee from the breakfast, if possible. It’s better to drink coffee 1 hour after breakfast, because coffee isn’t digested well on empty stomach, and it can interfere with the absorption of essential nutrients at breakfast.??

4?? Drink alcohol, in a balance

Alcohol is an integral part of almost every social interaction, especially on trips where you meet people and eat out. We simply can’t avoid it completely. However, Alcohol is bad for weight loss and health- it’s packed with calories, it ruins our sleep, it leads to indulging in junk food, and it’s bad for long-term health and longevity.?

• Pint of beer = almost 200 calories.
• Cup of wine = 120-200 calories.?
• Cocktails= 250-500 calories.?

You can find a low-calorie drink, like light beer, but it’s also eventually “empty calories”.?

So, the magic word here is balance. You have to be aware of the big effect alcohol has on your weight loss journey and health. Drink alcohol, and enjoy it, but try to limit yourself to 1 or 2 servings. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.?

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5?? Control snacking

People gain weight between the meals, not in the meals.

On business trips, this quote is so true. Even if you eat unhealthy, calorie-rich foods for lunch and dinner (assuming you’re already implementing tip 3 :) you’ll probably not gain a serious amount of weight. Perhpas you’d be in a subtle calorie surplus because there’s a limit to how much food one can eat in one given meal.?

However, the problem begins between the meals. Add this cake here, that cookie there, the frappuccino on Starbucks- and you easily get extra 600+ calories, and a noticeable calorie surplus.?

The trick is having 3 big meals a day, which will give you enough energy and will keep you full throughout the day. If you’re facing hunger between meals, the best thing you could eat is fresh fruit- the most optimal snack for weight loss. In most coffee shops and supermarkets in Europe, you can find fresh fruits in convenience packages.??

6?? Walk, Walk, Walk

One of my clients, an executive in EY Spain, deliberately selected a hotel nearby central park in New York, to be able to walk every morning on one of his business trips. He took the habit of walking seriously, and indeed, he managed to avoid weight gain and continue his great weight loss momentum despite the unhealthy “American food” around him.?

I don’t think it’s realistic to take fitness equipment with you when travelling, or doing 1-hour workouts in the hotel’s gym. Instead, it’s much easier to aim for a certain amount of steps, tracking this with an app, and increasing your metabolism that way. Aiming for 12k steps a day is great!?

On trips, it’s possible to get a lot of steps and movement- by walking in the airport, in the city, and in the hotel. My tip is to dedicate 30 min every morning or evening, for a high-paced walk outside, nearby your hotel. Not only for weight loss, but it’s good for reducing stress, rewinding your thoughts and feeling good.?

? On top of those tips, look at my instructional youtube video about staying in shape on business trips!

We hope you enjoyed today's edition. Implementing those tips will help you stay on track on your next business trip. It's easier than you think!

If you'd like to know more about our innovative method which helps busy professionals to lose weight and keep it off, have a look at our website: