Business Travellers

I travel pretty frequently for work. My trips are usually a day or two at a time but I've been on some projects where I was traveling for the entire week every other week. My best advice is to drink a lot of water to counteract the extra salt in the restaurant meals and use the hotel gym/pool whenever possible to get a workout in. I run, but I hate running on a treadmill so I bring my ipad down to the gym and watch Netflix while running.

I hit up the local grocery store and buy groceries to get me through the trip to avoid having to eat at restaurants for every meal. Use the hotel gym to stay active, and try my best to practice willpower lol

I used to travel for business a lot...about 25 weeks out of the year. I always booked rooms that had a fridge and microwave and I'd shop at the grocery store...mostly I'd pick up stuff for sandwiches and salads, some fresh fruit, maybe a can or two of soup or a couple frozen entrees (bleh). Usually towards the end of the week we'd have a team dinner, but that's really the only time I'd eat out. We tended to work 12+ hour days and nobody was really in the mood to go out and eat together everyday.

I also brought my bike along sometimes, especially if it was somewhere new...otherwise I'd just get into the fitness center at some point everyday. A couple of my colleagues were avid runners, so sometimes I'd join them for a run. Even though we often returned to the hotel late, a good 30 minutes of exercise helped clear my head and was a good stress reliever and I would sleep like a baby.

I have traveled a lot for work over the past few years.

My tips:
1. If exercise is part of your life, do your best to take advantage of the fitness room. I know it can be a challenge to fit in some days, but I find it helps me make better choices throughout the rest of the day.
2. If you can get a room with a mini fridge, that's great. A kitchenette is even better. Stop and get some easy snacks/meals right at the beginning of the trip. Include some things you'll enjoy eating so that you aren't tempted to grab other things.
3. Take advantage of the breakfast bar (if your hotel has one), but supplement with foods that fit your plan if necessary.
4. Don't let eating out be a special occasion (unless there is truly a special destination meal you're having in a city you're visiting). When you're eating out on a business trip, it's not a special occasion. You should try to stay on plan as much as possible.
5. I'm not big on food rules at home, but I'll make rules for business trips sometimes based on my trouble areas. If I know there's going to be a joint working space with lots of candy, I'll just tell myself "No candy that I haven't purchased." I love to eat potatoes for breakfast, but they don't keep me full for long so those are off-limits to me. I tell myself I can have whatever I want when I get home and 99% of the time I don't even want it when I get back.

I like to go to Whole Foods and get dinner off the prepared food bar (a few items from the hot bar and a soup and/or salad). At least it is more like real food and I'm not tempted to go too crazy. For breakfast I eat eggs and fruit (Marriott Platinum so I just hit up the lounge usually) or a fruit cup from Starbucks. Lunch can be difficult, but depending on where I am I make the best choice.

I also walk at least 30 mins on the treadmill in the evening at the hotel, it helps with any calorie overages and if I keep up some healthy habits I tend to keep on plan better.

cross2bear wrote: »

I used to travel a lot - my best tip is dont be afraid to look like a bit of a princess - order a meal that is going to fit your needs, not just what is on offer for everyone - ask for substitutions. So specify that you want a grilled chicken breast, a mixed salad and dressing on the side. If anyone asks, say you have allergies, or a medical condition. Or just dont even bother to reply, as its none of their business why you eat the way you do. But dont just not eat.

Or soup - that has saved me many times - a good onion soup, hold the bread and cheese (or not!) I dont recommend cream soups as they tend to be much higher in calories than you may be willing to spend.

Generally, just eat as plainly as you can, so even if you cant get exactly what you want, you will be able to determine the ingredients and then guesstimate the calorie count.

Pretty much this if you have to eat with people. I often will even preface with "Sorry to be a princess/pain/difficult person," and then ask for the [protein] with no [calorie heavy ingredient] and a side of [salad/steamed vegetables/similar low-calorie option].

No one has ever commented on what I order at a restaurant or put on my plate at a catered meeting, honestly.

I'm an unapologetic dessert skipper, black coffee drinker, snack decliner, and teetotaler on work trips because I just don't have the calories to spare if I don't have time to work out. If I'm having dinner with important stakeholders who are really going all out with the food or drinks, I eat very lightly before or after (depending on if I know what's coming), leave stuff unfinished if necessary, and nurse a glass of wine if I feel I should have a drink for political reasons, lol.

My husband travels Tues through Fri every week for work. He gained about 15 pounds the first year. Realizing he can't keep going like this, he says he does 2 things: 1( NEVER FRIES. He will order whatever entree he wants and never eats the fries. 2) He eats very, very lean at home.

Travelling for work is difficult! Good luck! However, he has lost the excess weight and never exercises. He also has to eat out three meals/day socially with clients and wouldn't have time to grocery shop on the road.

Start with one or two loose rules for yoyrself ob the road, like "nothing fried and no alcohol" and see if you feel better when you get home.

I traveled, 2-4 days at a time, every other week, for about 10 years.
This was the only way I could make it work:
Only eat two meals a day, because restaurant meals are so big.
Never eat in the airport or on the plane -- Those meals are terrible anyways, and they make you feel horrible, hypoglycemic and sluggish and fat.
Serious limit your coffee by only drinking the coffee you seek out at a decent coffee place. You get offered coffee so much, and when you are off your time schedule already, it can really make you jittery and interfere with sleep, etc.
ALWAYS make time for exercise. I know it is hard. You're tired. You're jet lagged. Your schedule is packed. But it really refreshes you and you need that when everything else is so busy and frantic and draining. One hour for a run before dinner, or half an hour in the gross little hotel gym in the morning. Whatever. Make it work. It is super important.

vino_monkey wrote: »

I travel frequently for work plus I'm in the wine industry -- so amazing social food meetings are a hazard of the trade.

I watch portions like a hawk - decide what you're going to eat off the plate ahead of time and even (subtly) arrange the portions (I'll draw a cut in a steak to know when I should stop, or make a little valley in the mashed potatoes to show the portion that keeps me in control).

If anyone says anything, I use something like "I had a huge lunch today/dinner last night - I'm still stuffed or else I would totally finish this."

Great tip.

vino_monkey wrote: »

I watch portions like a hawk - decide what you're going to eat off the plate ahead of time and even (subtly) arrange the portions (I'll draw a cut in a steak to know when I should stop, or make a little valley in the mashed potatoes to show the portion that keeps me in control).

If anyone says anything, I use something like "I had a huge lunch today/dinner last night - I'm still stuffed or else I would totally finish this."

I like this idea. I'm taking my son out to a restaurant for his birthday tomorrow night. I think I'll use this. Thank you.

When I travel for work, I'm usually going to a single location, so I find the closest hotel with a decent gym to eliminate travel time. At home, I have an hour long commute, so by picking a hotel a few blocks from where I have to be, I have extra time in the AM to work out where I would otherwise be commuting. Or, when I wrap up for the day, it's just me watching TV in my hotel room (even if it's 10PM). At home, I would be getting my kids ready for bed, doing homework with them, cooking dinner, etc. When I'm traveling, that's yet another opportunity
to be at the gym I wouldn't otherwise have. As for eating, I echo what the others said, I don't treat it as if every meal was a special occasion and I can let myself drink and eat all the desserts I want. I try to order something that is healthy without looking too demanding. No one has ever questioned it and honestly, no one is monitoring what you eat and drink. For me, I felt like I had to eat and drink to "fit in" but I don't subscribe to that anymore. Is it harder when you are not in full control of what is put in front of you? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean you have to give in to it.

Lots of good tips here! Background on me, I did mfp about 6 years ago lost ~17lbs and kept it off for years without tracking, once I'd settled into a routine. Fast forward to last year where I got a promotion to a new position, in a new country, and that required 1-2 business trips per month. The change in job took me from a fairly active "always on my feet" position to spending half my time at a desk, plus with the additional stress of a new job, an international move, and with the total disruption of my routine caused by being/eating on the road....at the end of November I found myself 10lbs higher than where I started the first time I lost the weight 😳

Since really getting to the bottom of how I ended up here--the "eating out three meals a day" for two weeks every month was one of the largest factors--I've had two work trips (one where I ate decently well and exercised almost like at home, one where I did neither of those things but didn't derail my progress). I haven't quite nailed it yet, but working on it!

My tips to add into the mix:
- before I go, make sure that I have at least 1-2 meals prepared & in the freezer, for quick and easy meals when I get home. Coming home to an empty fridge is the worst--and for me at least it causes bad tired/hungry decisions.
- if you have control over hotel, try to get it walking distance from where you'll be working (walk>cab) and ask for a room with a mini fridge
- for non-international travel pack healthy snacks from home (last two trips I brought apples, some almond butter, and a big bag of carrot sticks that saved me from the airport munchies)
- before you go scope out the restaurant menus online and grocery stores where you can pick up fresh fruit and veg etc. and get fresh/healthy snacks for the trip home.

So far I've found that my solo trips are pretty easy to stick with my "at home" normal, but the ones where I'm travelling as part of a group and have less control over the schedule and restaurants etc. it's much more difficult--but still doable. I also set my calories to maintainance levels for the time I'm travelling, to make things easier and much less added-stress, which so far seems to have worked 😊