I’m not sure about you, but losing weight when you are in a controlled situation at home – where your schedule is regular, you have control over your meals and have access to exercise (either a gym, pool or simply the sidewalks in your neighborhood for running) is much easier to maintain your weight loss goals than when you must frequently travel for business or pleasure.

There are the crazy schedules that have you choosing from the often unhealthy food options at airports, strange locations that make it tough to find healthy food or access places to workout or exercise.  Then, you have the necessity of sometimes meeting with clients and friends for networking – go for a few drinks and then hit a steakhouse where you can pack on a pound or two just by walking in the front door.

But…you can’t let these irregularities in your schedule interfere with losing weight or you will have lost the battle completely.

Here are 3 tips I use to help me stick to my weight loss goals when traveling:

1. Discipline…we tend to “treat” ourselves and break out of disciplined behavior when we are stressed.  Travel is stressful, lets realize this up-front and learn to expect that stress with a mindset that we will not break our eating or exercise habits.

2. Before and after…it is inevitable at times that we will have a day of interruption in our quest for losing weight – that we may eat something we didn’t want to or miss exercising.  Before I leave for a business trip I make sure to work out extra hard in anticipation that this will happen.  When I get back, I hit the gym hard and fit in an extra aerobic workout – after staying locked up in a hotel for 3 or 4 days, I’m ready to take full advantage of the outdoors and get back on track.

3. Get started with a healthy breakfast.  I find, more than anytime, if I can start my morning with fruit, yogurt, perhaps some hot oatmeal – then I not only eat better during the day, by have more energy and stick to my weight loss objectives that much better.   But…relying on a Continental breakfast of pastries, toast and coffee doesn’t only interfere with losing weight, it means that my energy bottoms out at key points in the day. 

If you travel frequently, then it is essential that you plan carefully when your goal is losing weight, otherwise you will find that a month’s worth of effort at home may be erased within just a few days of being on the road.