Nomadism, travel, junk food and overweight
Before we talk about staying in shape while traveling, let's go over my weight, exercise and health history a bit and start at the beginning. Other than when I was a baby, I've always been a tall, tall, with big feet and shapes. As a child and teenager, I spent a lot of time indoors reading a book, but I made up for it with at least 3 hours of intensive karate per week.
And then I became a student and I think that's where the spiral of bad habits really started. I played less sports for lack of time and motivation, even though I tried to go to karate once a week. I ate poorly, I ate pasta, cheese and junk food because it was cheaper and easier to prepare.
When I went to live in Sweden, I discovered the joys of international parties, alcohol, local cuisine… without really doing any sport, especially during the winter on campus and in the snow. It wasn't really a disaster and although I knew I was overweight it didn't affect me, having never been very interested in looks and beauty shots.
Studies, depression, an internship in Canada and American junk food, unemployment, depression, lack of regularity in my practice of sport and karate ... everything was linked, the kilos piled up slowly over years and I didn't realize it. It was then that I moved to London for 3 years, where alcohol, sweets and junk food were king.
I didn't do a lot of sport, I did everything to save money to go around the world while enjoying life in London and that was my only priority. Savings before health! I told myself that I was overweight, I changed my jeans size regularly and it didn't go any further. In 10 years of traveling, I went from size 40 to 48… It must be said that in London, I was not particularly a large format and that my perception was even more distorted.
And then, I went around the world and I lived the adventure of a lifetime. From happiness to misfortune, excitement to depression following the death of my mother, changes in environment and regular diet, my weight was yoyoing and I did not realize it. I was traveling, I was happy and I wanted the adventure to last as long as possible.
This fact justified the pasta plasters and junk food. I had never been so slim as in South East Asia at the end of my trip thanks to the heat, a regular mini turista and my healthy, sugar-free local diet. I returned to France at Christmas and I gained 10 to 15 kilos. We will attribute this to excess cheese ... A new comeback, a new beginning, with a smaller budget than the first time and I was sinking deeper and deeper into this infernal circle.
Even though I don't know my highest weight, I imagine it around 105 kilos for 1m72. When I noticed 99 kilos on the scale, while I was starting the second part of my WHV in Argentina , something clicked inside me and I decided, for the first time in my life to take things into account. hand.
I've never been one of those who go on a diet, absolutely not believing in it (rightly so), but I tried to stop the sweets from time to time… never being able to last more than two days. Yet that day, looking at pictures of myself traveling in Europe, I no longer recognized myself. For the first time in my life, I didn't delete the photos where I wasn't to my advantage and I really saw them (although I don't dare to publish them yet).
For the first time in my life, I admitted that I was obese and not overweight and that it just couldn't go on. The click of the photo, to feel that I was no longer as sporty as before, that I had trouble hiking, that if I exceeded the limit of 100 kilos I would no longer be able to jump. elastic, that I was starting to hardly fit into some airplane seats and that I probably wouldn't be able to do many of the things I loved about the trip if I continued on this path.
It's easy to tell yourself that it's okay, since you can still do everything, as if you were not overweight or obese. Until one day, we can't do it anymore. At 29, it was time to take me back.
I had spent the previous years focusing on travel, saving on food for travel, and having other experiences, but ruining my health for it didn't make sense. Especially if that would prevent me from traveling one day.
I made the decision to change my lifestyle that day for good, for my health, to be good in my head, to continue to travel without limits and push my own. And for the first time in my life, I knew it would work ...
Stay in shape while traveling: lose weight
This part and the following ones are quite simply my testimony, my feedback and what I put in place to lose 15 kilos while traveling. I am not a specialist, dietician or doctor and cannot give you advice or take responsibility for your actions.
The idea here is for me to show you that it is possible to lose weight substantially while traveling and that it is a state of mind and not giving you advice or advice. professional. I'm also not looking for judgment or opinions, it took a long time to write this article, but like the one on overweight , I think it is necessary.
Change state of mind
For my specific case, and this is very personal, especially given my relationship with food, I had to open my eyes and change my mind. I had to finally see that I was overweight, that my eyes finally saw the reality of things and not the distorted image I had of myself.
I also had to get out of the model: "constantly travel cheaper and always save more". I had to be willing to spend more on food while traveling so that I could buy fruit and vegetables and not just pasta, rice and cheese. It is obvious that I closed my eyes to my snack purchases on the side: candies, croissants, chocolate, coca-cola and dulce de leche, which were probably as expensive as a balanced diet, but to which I closed my eyes.
So the first time I went to the grocer in Bariloche in Patagonia to buy a week's worth of fruits and vegetables, he looked at me very, very strange (it's not normal to eat so many fruits and vegetables over there!) and I had to agree to drop 50 euros ... in the end, as I didn't buy anything next,
I also had to agree to devote time to my health. When you are nomadic and you work on the road, which is moreover solo, you really have no time. When you work every day, without weekends, without holidays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. without a real break, that you try to visit a place at the same time, to stay in contact with the family, to have a life social… time is becoming a scarce commodity.
We have breakfast, we have lunch, we taste, we dine while working and we try not to spend too much time cooking. Anyway, that's what I was doing. And so I had to force myself to take breaks. For my sanity, to cook and to force myself to play sports or walk every day.
I just had to stop making good excuses. "Yes, I'm tired today, so what?" "Yes, cola helps with digestion problems, so what?" "Etc. And once, my state of mind changed, I had already come more than halfway!
Change habits
We all have bad habits. For me, when I started the weight loss adventure, it was cheese and dulce de leche (yes, yes tasted together), sweets, coke and cheese pasta. Lovely combo, isn't it? And even though the Coca Cola was Light, the sugar addiction it created was bad. I ate almost only industrial products, sprinkled with vegetables, I was exhausted and not at all in shape at 29 years old. And I thought it was normal ...
I came across the Youtube videos of Lose it like Lauren , an English woman who had lost 67 kilos in a natural way, without diet and without sport. It might sound silly, but she was the one who inspired me and guided me through the basics. Because yes, I had to learn to eat again and take new, good habits.
The idea was simple: do not deprive yourself, eat your fill, eat what I wanted, avoid frustrations, but eat natural products and avoid all industrial products to introduce as many fruits and vegetables as possible while doing some sport every day.
The first few days, the first weeks were hard and I felt like deprivation. But I held on. It seems that it takes three weeks to make or break a habit and I am convinced of it. I lasted three weeks and everything just got easier, like a weight had finally lifted.
I had broken my addiction to sugar and all the nonsense I found in my diet and I was much less tired.
I continued these habits by traveling to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, UK, Ireland, Taiwan and Japan. The sequel to come ...
What I did to lose 15 pounds while traveling
Here is what I have done and what I continue on a daily basis in order to lose weight while traveling, hoping you can find inspiration from this list:
I first used an app, then a Fitbit connected bracelet to assess where I was: I used an app on my laptop to count what I ate, what glasses of water I drank, what sport I was drinking. I was doing and the number of steps per day. This allowed me to make a first evaluation, to really realize what I was eating every day and to adjust my behavior from day to day. Today, I just prefer to use my Fitbit Alta HR, which allows me to easily measure the number of steps and kilometers per day, my sleep and my sport. I could keep recording everything, but it's not really my thing and it doesn't have to be. If I resumed bad habits, it would be time to get back to them!
I stopped the coca-cola and replaced it with tea, coffee (you must not deprive yourself of everything at the same time, otherwise it's just impossible) mate and water.
I stopped sweets and all industrial products and replaced them with natural products. No more Dulce de Leche and Nutella, hello honey, agave syrup and peanut butter without sugar. No more morning chocolate cereal, hello fruit oats.
I replaced rice, pasta and flour with whole grain rice, pasta and whole wheat flour.
I increased my quantities of fruits and vegetables per day, without limit.
I replaced my milk with vegetable milk as soon as I found it (that is to say not often in Argentina, knowing that with my health problems , I must avoid soy).
I allowed myself cheese and dark chocolate so as not to feel deprived. If I wanted to eat a candy, I did, so as not to eat a whole packet of candy three days later because of frustration.
I drank a lot of water, lemon water and mate.
I reduced my meat consumption, only to stop it six months later (except fish for now, feeling much better!)
I walked and walked and walked again. Traveling this is something easy to do and I walked 8 to 25 kilometers a day. I haven't really done any sports, but this is something I need to fix right now.
Result of all these efforts, I lost 15 kilos in 1 year, while traveling, living in Argentina and Japan and being very often in backpacker mode on the roads of the world. So, yes, it is possible! For some it's a little, for others it's a lot, but for me it's a great victory. Above all, I improved my health, my fitness (I hiked again and I was faster, I was able to get on my paddle boardwithout difficulties whereas I had been unable to do so a year earlier), my self-confidence and my relationship to food. And to me, it's worth all the gold in the world. So yes, there are ups and downs, relapses depending on the environment and lots of other things, but knowing that it works makes it much easier to get back in the saddle once you have fall! Promised!
attribute : Lucie Aidart
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