Traveling on A Bariatric Diet

One of the hardest parts of post bariatric surgery life is sticking to your diet and exercise regimen while traveling. Many post-op professionals and avid vacationers must develop habits of eating well when tempted by new and exciting restaurants and exercising even though it is much easier to end the day by jumping into bed and watching some TV.

For travelers, modern hotel life and the Internet have been a great help to those seeking to keep a normal schedule while on the road. Most hotels offer an exercise facility, which can allow you to spend that half an hour a day, or more, raising your heart rate and burning off a few calories. A good trick to sticking to the exercise regimen while on the road is to carve out ‘me-time.’ That means the gym is scheduled into your plans even before you leave. Going to the gym opportunistically is a recipe for skipping a day or two as it will never be the “right time.”

On the dietary side, restaurants and related “foodie” websites often have menus posted online, which can help you decide where and what to eat. Never has there been such a variety of foods for anybody’s taste and preference, even in the smallest of towns. As such, visiting (virtually) a restaurant to see if one or more of their dishes conforms to your dietary needs has become much easier.

Of course, if you are traveling to an area that doesn’t seem to have a restaurant or hotel set up to your needs, then your focus and determination to lose weight has to take over:

  1. When going to a restaurant, you may have to order something that does not fully comply with your dietary restrictions. If that is the case, be sure to fill up on the items that are good for you, like vegetables and lean proteins while eating much less of the items that do not offer nutritional value. In other words, choose the best of the worst and limit your portions. You may even want to use a calorie counting app to help you make the right choices in a difficult situation.
  2. Do not skip meals – skipping meals while you’re on the road can increase your chance of eating too much on the next meal as you will likely be ravenously hungry.
  3. It’s also important that if you don’t have exercise facilities at your disposal taking a brisk walk around the hotel grounds or somewhere in the community. This can substitute for a short workout in the gym and keep you active until you’re back home.
  4. Lean on your support group at home – a quick call to a family member, support group buddy, or supportive friend can keep things in perspective.

Ultimately, traveling on a bariatric diet is a difficult, but not impossible, situation. Sure, there will be some indulgences, but getting upset about them will only make it more difficult to get back on track.

Remember, that for many, these trips would have been nearly impossible if the weight had not been lost. So be sure to do your homework beforehand to choose the right hotel and restaurants for your new lifestyle. You should be just fine as you enjoy a new experience.

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