Binging episodes when travelling abroad

[Dominique]

I tend to be good at weight management when safely at home in my controlled environment, because I tend to stick to the same routines, both in terms of eating and activity. However, I’m totally hopeless when I’m travelling abroad, wich is 3-4 times a year, for about a week each time.

I’ve documented the last three such trips and their impact on weight, using TrendWeight (the grey data points correspond to intrapolated values between the last weigh-in before leaving and the first one after returning home). This was Washington DC in late October 2017:

This was Brussels (Belgium) in April 2018:

And this was Cascais (Portugal) in early June 2018:

Next known trip will be in New Orleans in late October 2018 . 

The pattern is always the same: crappy food served in plane (if any at all), plentiful breakfast buffet at nice hotels (these are work events with all expenses paid), lunch, dinner, unhealthy snacks in-between, lot of sitting (conferences). I know exactly what I’m in for and what’s going to happen, but I just lack the willpower to resist all these temptations. So I end up doing damage control upon return and it usually takes me 1-2 weeks before I’m back to where I was before these trips. No big deal as there aren’t that many such trips at the yearly level, but kind of annoying as it throws off my plans to either lose or gain weight.

How do you folks deal with travelling and food temptations?

[Baltoscott]

Getting away from routines is one of the biggest challenges of maintaining weight loss.  Fortunately, your travel seems minimal enough that you can usually just fix it afterwards.  I get to practice techniques a little bit when at home because even though my wife and I prepare and eat most breakfasts and dinners at home, we still get out on the weekends, and most of my lunches are out.  

For breakfasts I tend to like eggs with veggies and a lot of breakfast bars have eggs to order, so I'll have them make me an omelette with whatever veggies they have.  For group dinners, I'll have a beef filet instead of a fatter steak and stick with the smaller cuts (or a get a fish dish instead) with green veggies and a salad.  I'm not all that tempted with desserts so that's not much of problem.  I know you don't drink much, but I find that while on travel I try to be very strict with my rule of only drinking every other day.  It gives me an excuse to say no, and it is kind of a routine now, so not that hard to do.

I'm interested in what others do.  Thanks for starting the thread.

[Esya]

Well, last time holiday was pretty easy as it was with a yoga group and they are generally more health orientated. But before that in a hotel I tried to get as close to the breakfast as I have at home. Ofcourse I gained some and knowing it is only temporary I do not mind too much as I know it will be back in control when I get home. But you could consider it a fun challenge to try to get as close to your normal routine as possible. Now with some meals that will be easier than others (hello dinnertime) and with activity most likely not possible at all, but it might make you more mindful and think about taking that snack instead of mindlessly eating it. I find overeating on conferences so easy to do, but also so annoying as I will get so sleepy.

[Mukluk4]

When I travel, I tend to enjoy the food and don't worry about the scale.  There's a real chance that I won't be back that way for awhile and I want to experience the different food choices that I wouldn't normally get in my midwestern small town.

[emili]

when I travel either for work or vacation I usually come back the same or a pound different in either direction. I am so hyper aware of weight gain that I am always looking for ways to enjoy myself without reservation but to not come back in a state that will reduce the good time ahead with one step on the scale. if I am traveling for business, I stick to my normal routine. I go out enough to not have to try the most overpriced or decadent item on any menu so I stick to items that I would have at home. For breakfast its always fruit and an english muffin. Buffet or not- that's what I get since most offer both items. Lunch is always a salad. Dinner is always veg and a protein. If I am out socially I will have one drink for no more than 100 calories. If I am on vacation travelling, I pick one meal or one time of day that I let loose and enjoy. However, the day is spent not laying about and I usually work up enough calories to break even for the day. 

New Orleans is going to be tough. Their cuisine is legendary- pick on meal to try new things, indulge in their specialties, but for the rest- stay to what you would normally do. Every hotel, every eatery accommodates most requests and have heard it all.. 

Having said all that... if losing 5 kilos takes you two weeks and you enjoyed yourself completely and you don't look at it in a stressful way-- Dominique- let your hair down and eat your way through NOLA. 

[Al_fa]

What I find most frustrating (and I think we will see things changing in the next 5-10 years on this front) is the absence of the specific indications on macronutrients and calories in plates/menus. With it we would all be calm and know what to eat. Without it we (at least I do) feel disoriented and even afraid of eating.

My strategy is to stay, when I can, lightest possible by going to salads and lean meat.

I try to calculate the amounts, take a picture of what I eat and use my excel sheet to store all the data day by day. When I dine out and am dong also culinary tourism (yum!) I tend to compensate to avoid not tasting interesting food so if at dinner I ate too much I will have a very light breakfast and lunch the next day. 

Most of the times what I see is that only one day off will not influence negatively in the long term (>1 week) if you go back to regime.

Thank you for the discussion, very interesting.

[David1707]

Here's a funny one. I'm new to fitbit and calorie counting. My wife and I just spent a week in Belgium and I love food and beer. She picked-up a new hobby while we were there, Pokémon Go, yeah, laugh it up. I was getting over 20k steps a day following her around, and that game brought us to every little statue and interesting object in the cities we visited. I pretty much ate what I wanted and gained 40 grams, yes, grams after the week.

[bikerhiker]

In my former career working in digital imaging, I used to travel a lot and sometimes as long as 1 month and I would come back with weight gain despite my attempts to exercise throughout the days I was away from home to control my weight.

Now I'm in my second career working in nursing in the health care field, I have a much more deeper understanding about nutrition, exercise and calories more so then when I worked in the technology field.  Having said that, what is important is to understanding serving sizes.  That will be an accurate determination of your calories intake for the day.  For example, it takes an extra 3500 calories to gain 1 lb of weight, so you would be consuming an extra 500 calories / day for 7 days to gain a 1lb of weight.  So eating food abroad enriched with saturated fat and refined sugar does not mean you get fat immediately.  It simply means that you have the potential to gain weight if you don't watch out your serving sizes.

When I fly abroad now mainly for pleasure, I do not control what I eat as I try to enjoy the local cuisine as much as I can.  Otherwise, what's the point of going abroad when I am limiting my experiences with a bowl of salad and lean meats when I'm backpacking in Asia, Europe and in Latin America (countries I've been to) that they serve cuisines that are not necessarily healthy and nice to your waist line.  I eat what they serve.  Besides, it is disrespectful to refuse what they serve because I don't want to get fat when I get home.

I did gain weight when I got home either from business trips or pleasure, but I also gain insights and experiences in the food culture and social culture aspect because I dine with the folks who eat the food I ate.  I don't isolate myself alone and so I can eat food that won't get me to gain weight.

Food gatherings have always been traditionally used as social gatherings and culture exchange, which is how we learn from others.  I cherish this and I embrace this aspect.

So what if I gain a few pounds coming back home.  My Fitbit will be waiting for me, serving me to count the steps, calories and track weight loss again.

I live life to the fullest.  Personally as a nurse, I've seen countless too many patients and clients on their beds or death beds all complaining with regrets that they would have wished to live their lives to the fullest!  Worst is dying in bed regretting you didn't get to enjoy your life to the fullest without limits.

A little advice to all.  Just because you are living healthy and in your ideal DOES NOT GUARANTEE you to be illness free.  I'm now taking care of an ex-doctor who she lived a very RIGID and CONTROLLING life, controlling her diet and her weight and if you look at her right now, she is otherwise very healthy compared to other seniors, except that she's has a severe form of dementia and some mental aggression issues; probably from her rigidity and controlling nature.