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5 Reasons Why Travelling is Guaranteed to Make You Lose Weight by the Kilo

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While I’m playing catch up with the YouTube channel I thought I’d take a quick diversion from the Cross China Road Trip.

After a week or so on the road I soon noticed the need to put my hands in my pockets to pull up my trousers. After a second week it was becoming so annoying that there was no choice but to make a new hole in my belt. Surprisingly there was more than an inch between that and the original hole.

A month on during the national holiday, the wifey decided to join me for a few days, catching the plane and grabbing a hotel in the next city.
“Why are you always pulling your trousers up? You don’t see anyone else pulling up their trousers up do you?” she pointed out, clearly irritated by my behaviour.

Incredibly, I must have been shedding the pounds like a dog shaking off water and that was only at the beginning of the trip! Consequently another hole was added to the belt.

So, if you’ve tried it all and you’re still unable to make any progress then there’s only one thing for it.

Hit the road!

Here are five completely watertight reasons why travelling will definitely result in heavy weight loss. Bear in mind that by the word ‘travelling’ I don’t mean cruising around Europe, America or any other place where your usual comforts, habits and temptations will be at arm’s reach. Instead going adventure styley across Asia, Africa or South America where you may well be out of your comfort zone is definitely the name of the game. From this point on I will refer to Asia as I have zero experience in the latter of the three but I have a feeling that things may be fairly similar.

1: Comfort Eating. Normally this one gets thrown straight off the bus as soon as you hit the road. I mean when do people normally comfort eat? After work of course! Well hey, guess what? You’re not at work so therefore that routine of hitting the larder doesn’t exist anymore. And why do people comfort eat? Normally it’s the excuse that they’re tired, bored or lonely. Yes, when you’re on the road you will definitely feel tired and if you’re travelling solo may at times feel lonely, but these are different variations of those feelings. Tiredness usually comes with a sense of satisfaction and being by yourself is also met with one of adventure. Oh and of course you’ll rarely feel bored.

2: No Fast Food. Well at least in the UK, we are used to shovelling vast amounts of processed food down our necks as part of our daily diet. Back in England my freezer was continually filled with an assortment of chips (French fries in the U.S.), sausages and el cheapo burgers. Hmmmm, tasty! Friday was always ‘chip night’ in our household and our local chip shop won an award for best chippy in the neighbourhood. My kitchen cupboards would be stacked up with a huge amount of peanuts and crisps (potato chips U.S.) while wifey would have her own personal cupboard-arsenal of chocolate cakes and biscuits. Of course with the age of McDonald’s and KFC in most towns the temptation is still there, but they’re really not something you’re going to eat at with any form of regularity when you’re travelling all the time.

Generally people eat healthily and in smaller portions and in Asia chopsticks are preferred to the shovel-speed eating techniques employed via a fork or spoon. Meat is eaten in smaller quantities, especially beef. No puddings! Hot places mean you drink lots of water instead of tea or coffee. There aren’t many chocoholics in Asia! Outside of cities, food may be home grown organic.

3: No Carbs. Yes, everyone has carbohydrates in their diet unless you’re an Inuit that is. At least in Asia though, most people aren’t used filling their stomachs like ‘we’ do in the West. By that I mean zero pasta and minimal use of potatoes therefore no chips, no crisps and no mash AAAAAAGH! Mercy! Also people don’t do bread half as much so there is less wheat in their diet AAAAAAAGH! This means no sandwiches with any form of regularity. People don’t do dairy products much in Asia which means less cheese and butter. Serious!

4: Bad guts and spicy food! I must admit that in China I’ve never had a serious case of food poisoning not like some of the horror stories I’ve heard from India or Nepal. Either way though, at some point you’re going to drink the wrong water or eat something slightly dodgy that will keep you wondering where the nearest WC is at least for a few days. It sounds nasty, but it’s actually all part of nature’s wonderful crash-diet plan that never fails.

Food can be really super-hot as well. Beware! Apparently spicy food will raise your metabolism, and thus burn off those calories.

5: Journeys can be long. When you’re travelling it may mean getting up early and spending most of the day on the road followed by finding somewhere to stay, unpacking and looking for a restaurant just when you want to keel over. During the journey you may be eating simply and re-hydrating rather that forcing another panini down. The whole process of travelling is one that slims you down whether you like it or not.

Now put these five ingredients together and it makes for one awesomely effective recipe for weight loss. It doesn’t get any better really. I mean looking great and feeling great at the same time. Normally you’ll have caught the sun along the way and having also shed off a tonne of stress your smile will tell volumes alone.

AND IT’S EFFORTLESS

What’s good about all this is that you don’t have to put one ounce of effort into it. Yes you might get hungry from time to time but generally the journey itself will distract you from your old ways. ‘No pain no gain’ simply doesn’t equate when you’re on the road since it implies that you have to go through some terrible ordeal whereas, instead you’ll be confronted by new cultures, stunning scenery and having the time of your life.

Image thanks to the awesome Bishop’s Fryer and Offie, Southam nr Stratford-on-Avon

Categories: On the Road

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31 replies ›

  6. Love the bullet points! If you came to Malaysia you will gain all that weight in a week. I promise you no one has left us with decreased baggage on them! Best start working out now that you are lean and mean! Enjoying doing catch up with your blog Andy! Always makes me LOL!

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  7. Hi Andy.. long time no see – so sorry I’ve not been over for a while – I’m way behind on blogging catch ups.. I’ve been trying unsuccessfully since Xmas.. hey ho.. life sometimes gets in the way! I hope you’re well.. This seems like a fantastic way to lose some weight – maybe I need to add it to my Vision Board! x

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    • Heeeey Wend’ > Yes I absolutely know that feeling. I guess you can only direct your energy to so many things at one time. I dont often get a chance or window to blog at the moment. Truth is I’ve got a bucket of great posts to do but no time. Anyway, good one on dropping by. You seem as bubbly as ever. How did your decision making go then?

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