How to Eat When You Travel

A trip will not ruin your training, but ten days with no framework at all will. The difference is not discipline, it is three things you can control in a hotel, a car or an airport: protein, fluids and movement. Everything else is detail.

Decide what the trip is for

Take the pressure off: travel is not the time to lose fat. If you were in a deficit before you left, aim for maintenance on the road — roughly 30-33 kcal per kilogram of body weight per day for someone who moves normally. For an 80 kg person that is about 2,400-2,650 kcal.

On a 3-4 day trip you do not need to count anything. On a trip of 10 days or more a framework pays off, because that is where it adds up: 500 kcal extra per day over 12 days is about 6,000 kcal, close to a kilogram of fat.

Protein: 30 to 40 grams per meal

Protein is the first thing that collapses when you travel, because bread, pasta and pastry are what is easiest to find. The target does not change: 1.6-2.2 g per kilogram of body weight per day, so 130-175 g at 80 kg. Split it into 3-4 meals of 30-45 g and you can stop thinking about the rest.

What that looks like in food:

• 150 g chicken breast or beef: 32-38 g
• 2 large eggs: 12-13 g; a 4-egg scramble: about 25 g
• 200 g Greek-style yogurt: 18-20 g
• A 100 g tin of tuna, drained: 22-25 g
• 200 g white fish: 40-44 g
• 100 g semi-hard cheese: 25-28 g

At a hotel breakfast, take the eggs and yogurt before you take the pastry. That is 30-45 g of protein before 9am, and the rest of the day is far easier to manage.

What to pack

You do not need a suitcase of food, just a backup for two missed meals:

• 2-3 single-serve protein powder sachets (25-30 g each) or 3 bars with at least 20 g of protein
• 2 ring-pull tins of tuna
• 2 bags of nuts at 30 g each (roughly 180-200 kcal per bag)
• An empty 750 ml bottle you fill after airport security
• A salt sachet or electrolyte tablets if you are going somewhere hot

Airports, gas stations and long drives

The problem is never one bad meal, it is six hours with no meal followed by 1,200 kcal at 10pm. If a leg of the trip is longer than 4 hours, plan one real meal into it. At a service station or airport the best option is usually a meat or cheese sandwich (450-600 kcal, 25-30 g protein) with a yogurt, rather than two pastries and a milky coffee. A croissant is 300-350 kcal and 6 g of protein — fine as a snack, useless as a meal.

On flights over 8 hours, the simplest approach is to skip the tray meal and eat on destination time. Make your first meal at the destination land at a normal breakfast or lunch hour; that usually cuts a day or two off the adjustment.

Ordering in a restaurant in ten seconds

1. Build the plate around meat, fish or eggs, 150-250 g.
2. Ask for grilled or roasted instead of fried or breaded — breading and frying add 150-250 kcal to the same portion.
3. Take a salad or vegetables and ask for dressing on the side: 2 tablespoons of dressing is 120-180 kcal.
4. Choose carbs deliberately: 200 g of boiled potato is about 170 kcal, 200 g of fries is 600-700 kcal.
5. Have dessert once every few days rather than every night, and split it.

Fluids, salt and the scale afterwards

Budget 30-35 ml of water per kilogram of body weight per day — 2.4-2.8 L at 80 kg. Add 200-250 ml per hour of flight time, and 0.5-1 L extra per day in a hot climate. Restaurant food carries two to three times the sodium of home cooking, so it is completely normal to come back from 7-10 days away 1-2 kg heavier on the scale. Most of that is water, sodium and glycogen, and it clears in 3-5 days of normal eating. Do not respond to it by starving yourself.

Alcohol

The numbers: a 500 ml beer is 200-240 kcal, a 150 ml glass of wine 120-130 kcal, a 40 ml shot of spirits about 95 kcal, and around 200 kcal once you mix it with soda. On top of the calories, alcohol blunts muscle protein synthesis and wrecks sleep quality, so the next day training session is measurably worse. Working rule: no more than 2 drinks in an evening, no more than 3 evenings a week, and 300-500 ml of water alongside each drink.

Movement and training on the road

Aim for 8,000-10,000 steps a day, which travel usually delivers on its own. Walk 15-20 minutes after your main meal — it noticeably flattens the blood sugar spike. If you have 20-25 minutes in the room, 3 rounds are enough: 15 push-ups, 20 bodyweight squats, 10 lunges per leg and a 45-second plank, with 60-90 seconds rest between rounds. Two or three sessions like that per week hold onto strength and muscle for trips up to about 3 weeks.

When to see a doctor

Stomach trouble on the road is common and usually settles within 24-48 hours with fluids and salt. See a doctor if:

• diarrhoea lasts longer than 48 hours, or there is blood in the stool
• fever stays above 38.5 °C for more than 2 days
• you have not urinated in 8-12 hours, feel dizzy on standing, or are visibly weak — signs of dehydration
• the pain is sharp and concentrated in the lower right abdomen
• one calf swells and hurts to walk on after a flight longer than 4 hours

If you have diabetes, kidney or heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, or take medication on a fixed schedule, agree a plan with your doctor before you leave for how to shift doses across time zones.

The short version

• Aim for maintenance on the road, not fat loss: roughly 30-33 kcal per kilogram of body weight.
• Hold 1.6-2.2 g of protein per kilogram across 3-4 meals of 30-45 g; eggs and yogurt at breakfast cover a third of the day.
• Pack a backup for two meals and an empty 750 ml bottle; drink 30-35 ml per kilogram, plus 200-250 ml per hour in the air.
• In restaurants: grilled not fried, dressing on the side, potato not fries, dessert occasionally.
• Being 1-2 kg heavier after a trip is water and salt and clears in 3-5 days; see a doctor for diarrhoea past 48 hours, blood, or signs of dehydration.