Regular business trips and withstanding temptations (food re

pennylane72

Hi regular business travelers!

My eating habits are great during the week when I'm at office and at the weekend, but during business trips I'm really struggling.
Means during the time I'm not traveling I easily loose some pounds (due to healthy eating and exercise) and during the travels I'm putting them back on. Classical yo-yo...

I oversee a large region (Asia-Pacific) and therefore I have to do business trips to foreign countries of about 2-7 days or even longer once or twice a month. Don't get me wrong I love my job, I love being busy, I love traveling, even it could be very stressful.

It's usually not the matter that I can't eat regularly. Normally it is no problem having at least breakfast in the hotel, lunch at the meeting venue (sandwiches in the office or restaurant nearby) and dinner.
I'm rather overwhelmed with the sheer offer and choice. Often in the evening I'm invited/go to a business dinner or a social do with country co-workers or colleagues I'm traveling with. Of course, they want to feed and serve me at their best (welcome to Asia!!!). An often, as the dinners end pretty late, I hardly manage to go to the gym in the morning as just being too tired to get up earlier.

I try to be careful about what I'm eating and drinking, it is hard to stay on track. A week away seems to ruin all my diet and exercise dedication, it takes some days for getting back to my routine and I basically start from the beginning.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak... :ohwell:

How are you handling longer, regular business trips? What is your experience? Do you have any tricks to stay on track?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Regards
Pennylane

Edit(h) tried to correct the headline: Regular business trips and withstanding temptations (food related only, of course ;-))

ADNEWTON40

I travel quite a bit myself and understand the problem...the time difference and jet lag often make you feel hungry at stange times. With long haul I sometimes take some healthy snacks with me, but the main this is to get 30 min in the gym at least a couple of times during the trip...for me this really helps me adjust and feel like I'm still in control

scarletleavy

This is exactly my problem and I totally feel your pain. To be honest, I haven't quite worked out a perfect solution. It is difficult, especially in Asia, because it can be perceived as completely rude to refuse foods. I do a lot of travel to Italy at the moment and the heavy emphasis on pasta and wine is so difficult, it seems like every meal I'm invited on would be thousands of calories if I ate it all.

I've really been trying my best to at least get some exercise in on my trips, even if it's a short bit of yoga or pilates in the morning or late right before bed. I find doing something like that also doubles to help relieve some stress. With the eating out, the only thing I've been able to do is be super careful with portions. I'll eat whatever we're eating (usually multi-course dinners), but only eat some of it. I also try to stick with only 1 or 2 glasses of wine and sip on them the whole night. I'm not comfortable refusing food or telling clients/colleagues that I won't eat their food or I'm on a diet. I just eat a lot less of what they're having and no one has ever really noticed or asked questions. I also try to eat really healthy in the mornings and at lunch, so that if dinner ends up being insane I won't be too far over my calories.

Sorry I don't have anymore concrete suggestions/advice, I'm in the same situation as you. I'm pretty young and just started traveling for work a lot, so it's still exciting and new for me, which of course makes the rejecting new foods all the more difficult. Feel free to add me if you like. Haven't met a ton of people on MFP in the same situation yet. I posted a topic similar to this awhile ago and got some negative and un-constructive feedback, from people who didn't seem to understand the perils of business travel, especially in other cultures.

Good luck and hopefully some other people have good suggestions!