Before you throw me under the bus, please understand that I am the ultimate frequent traveler. I am a captain on the Boeing 777 flying international for a living. Not only that, our company deadheads us to assignments on airlines like Delta, American, and Southwest. Last year alone, I collected over 280,000 frequent flyer miles.
Also, I wrote the book on dieting. Well, not exactly dieting. My book was on not dieting. Available on Amazon, 2 Day Gift of Wellness: Effortless Weight Loss You Can Do Together is about getting off the diet roller coaster. (You can get 2 free chapters here). So if anyone knows about traveling and weight loss (or gain) it’s me.
When I was researching my book, I asked a primary care physician about his advice on losing and maintaining weight. Dr S told me a story about a good friend of his, Ben (not his real name). Over the course of 2 years, his friend had lost half his weight.
The curious case of the disappearing weight
Before beginning his weight loss journey, Ben weighed in at 360 pounds. Dr. S noticed that every time Ben came to see him, Ben was lighter. Dr. S was curious about his weight loss and asked Ben if he was on a diet. Ben said that he did watch what he ate and as he lost weight, he began to exercise. But he said he’d been doing that for years with no results.
Dr. S wanted to know why was he losing weight steadily now, when before he would go up and down the weight scale, gaining more than he had lost on his last diet. Ben said he figured he had to lose his baggage.
Dr. S was confused. He asked, “Are you talking about the stress of losing your baggage when you travel?” Ben replied, “No, I had to lose 5 pounds of emotional baggage for every pound of weight I lost.”
When you actually travel, you have the choice of checking your baggage or carrying it on.
Ben was talking about emotional baggage. We all carry that with us every day. Traveling is stressful, especially when you do it for a living as I do. Our bodies are an open system that adapts to whatever we do. The more stress we put our bodies through, the more fat it wants to store.
So do what causes you the least stress; check your luggage or carry it on, whatever makes the most sense. But lose the emotional, stressful baggage.
Reduce stress while travelling
You might say, “Easier said than done!” Travelers are especially prone to stress. We spend long stretches in time in airports and on flights. These waiting times are perfect baggage multipliers.
The best tip I can give you comes from the Disney ™ movie: Frozen; Let it go. Dragging around emotional baggage is the same as too many suitcases. Whenever you feel the energy of the emotional baggage rising to the top of your consciousness, let it go.
Think of something different, change the conversation in your mind, or plain reject the emotional burden. When I feel this negative energy rear its ugly head, I actually say out loud:
I reject you
Try it yourself. Wallowing in bad feelings after a fight with your partner? I reject you. Can’t get a bad business deal out of your mind? I reject you. Stewing over your boss’s negative review? I reject you.
That one simple technique will ease your stress. You’ll feel lighter (less stress=less stored fat), happier and better able to enjoy your Triple R day. Don’t know what a Triple R day is? Find out here: 2 Day Gift of Wellness
Your co-pilot to wellness,
Dr. Michael