One consistent theme for people who travel, is that it is easy to put on extra weight. There are a variety of reasons for this – but here are some tips to help you travel and avoid the typical weight gain from the trip.

Eating Out:
Very few hotel rooms are set up for you to cook your own food while you are away. This means that most meals are either from room service, or eating out. Eating out is a huge source of calories.

When researchers looked at the nutritional content of 30,923 menu items, including those from children’s menus, from 245 brands of restaurants, they found that 96% of them failed to meet recommendations for the combination of calories, sodium, fat and saturated fat set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What restaurants do most people go to when in a new place? Usually chains, because they recognize the restaurant & the menu, and chains tend to be reliable: standardized menus and foods that taste the same no matter what the location.

Most of the food chains met the calorie limit of 650 calories (a lot for a single meal) but their portion size might be listed as a single slice of pizza or a single piece of chicken. Most restaurant chains do not post the calories, though it has become a trend to list the calories on many restaurant menus. Learning that the “salad” has twice as many calories as the 800 calorie hamburger is an eye-opener for most people.

If your breakfast is 600 calories, your lunch 1200 calories, and your dinner 1800 calories, chances are you will gain a pound every three days you are away from home.

(a) Plan to eat “in” the room as much as possible. If my hotel room has a kitchen then I bring some basic utensils and grocery shop while I am on location. Eating-in saves calories, and it can be more relaxing to eat in you room, rather than out and about. You can also expect to save a few dollars eating this way.

(b) Bring a blender and protein shake mix. This is an easy way to make something simple, and follow up with a plan to lose weight. We found the Tri-best blender easy to pack, clean, and care for. Having two shakes during the day, and a couple of small snacks will help with weight loss.

We use Vi-Shape shake mix, and they have a variety of flavor packs that you can use with them. If you want to order some you can click here. While away it was easy to have a coffee shake, get some fruits from the store and blend them, and keep a bit of almond milk in the refrigerator in the room.

(c) Have readily available snacks that are reliable and low in calories.

The simple plan for weight loss on a trip is shake, simple snack, shake, simple snack, and dinner. Visalus also makes foil wrapped cookies that you can bring with you, either to meetings, or carry in your purse or brief case. Having that reliable snack allows you to know what you are eating and when. If you wish to order those you can get them by clicking here. One of the simple snacks: greek yogurt – low in calories, higher in protein and available at most grocery stores.

(d) Have them empty your refrigerator.

They sometimes stock the mini-refrigerator with alcohol, snacks, and other drinks. They will empty it – and in that place the yogurt, fruit, other mixes that you need to be successful. Having the candy and peanuts can be too much of a temptation, not to mention they cost a lot. So fill it with healthy snacks that you will like.

(e) Plan your restaurants.

If you are in charge, check the local listings on Yelp or Urbanspoon and see which ones are healthy with lots of great food. Avoid chains, and if you have to go to a chain look up the nutritional information about the menu so that you know what you are going to order before you get there.

Travel fit, not fat.