lizzy911

As I approach my third trip to Europe (May 22, so excited!), one topic of interest to me is how other travellers have experienced weight gain and loss via European travels. I had two polar opposite experiences.

My first time in Europe, right after I turned 18, I spent a little over a month studying in Germany. I was a very good kid in high school and didn't drink, and spent way too much of the trip on the phone with my high school sweetheart. Away from American candy and with the extreme amounts of walking, I lost almost 10 pounds in a month (to start with, I was average weight).

2 years later on a study abroad in the Czech Republic I got the college irresponsibility bug just in time to enjoy the number one beer consuming nation on Earth. I gained 15 pounds in only 9 weeks! I guess just the freshman 15 two years late...

Anyway, it took me 9 weeks to gain that weight and 1.5 years to decide to lose it last year... I am in no way weight obsessed I just am amused by how travelling can effect the way we look, I suppose. I will try my best to avoid super weight gains this trip but I might indulge in some Italian cooking and Belgian chocolates (and just a few beers).

Any similar stories? Tips? By the way, I just returned from Japan basically at the same weight after about 2.5 weeks. I ate whatever I wanted, but there was a fair percentage of food I didn't eat at all so it worked out

laclaire

During my Sr year abroad in high school I lose 40 lbs (I was chubby to begin with) without trying. I just ate what my host parents fed me and walked everywhere because it was the only way.

I didn't gain or lose freshman year of college. Then I went to Scandinavia for a few weeks and spend a month on a Norwegian dairy farm where we ate mostly venison, bread, strawberry jam, cheese, milk and chocolate. However, thanks to the farm work, I gained about 5 lbs of pure muscle. Then I headed down to Spain for a few months and lost a little fat weight and leaned out a bit.

I lose weight in Spain every time, and if I am there for a month or more I can count on at least 6 lbs gone without trying. I didn't gain in Italy this summer despite 10 days of extravagant meals with my mom (probably because I was running on hyper and walking/running everywhere), nor did I gain in Paris with my cousin. Oddly enough, I gained in Morocco where the activities include sluggishly walking around under a beating hot sun, eating cous cous and veggies, then some sweets, then drinking really sweet tea. It was all sugar all the time.

As I am not a huge drinker, I don't gain alcohol weight, but I have been known to show my chocolate consumption around the middle if I am not careful. Darn that nutella!

RoadCrazy

Strangely enough, every single time I have returned from Europe, whether I stayed five days or four months, I have either (a) lost weight, or (b) maintained weight but lost significant inches. I always eat what I want when I'm traveling, as I consider it gastronomic touristry and essential to my experience, but I think I am so much more active when I'm on the road that it balances out. It may also be that European portion sizes are much more modest and there is much less emphasis on snack food.

lizzy911

Just so you know the extreme to which caused me to gain 15 pounds in 9 weeks, I would say on average I would drink 2 liters of beer a day, plus 1.5 liters of "wine and coke" (ah, the memories). Our food except dinner was included in our program and we generally ate pork and noodles and tons of bread. No walking in the world probably will burn off the 4500 calories a day I estimate I was taking in!

Live and learn I suppose... another interesting thing was the guys in CR seemed to like the girls in our group a lot, even though some were quite heavy. I think they liked our larger breasts... I am 5 foot 2 average weight but a 34C and that was like a miracle to them. Despite my weight gain and the fact beautiful Czech girls were everywhere I got hit on all the time. I suppose they were enabling my naughty ways! I did meet and get romanced by one of the most beautiful men on the planet there but decided not to contact him this trip as my new b/f will be there

nytraveler

I always lost weight on european trips - the average is about 5 lbs for a 2-week trip. And this is despsite eating and drinking substantially more than at home.

It's just the constant walking - it really wears the pounds away - much better than an hour at the gym.

laughingd2

We walk so much that I've never gained weight on any of our Europe trips (4 in all), despite doing my best to get in those 10,000 calories per day!

My problem is I keep up the eating when I get back, so that I usually gain about 10 pounds in the month after my trip!

Poohgirl

Lizzy- I'm going to CR in September - maybe I'll get some attention there. I'm of medium weight with larger than average chest. I feel like I'm pretty much invisible here at home (except to married men, whom I avoid like the plague) so it would be nice to have some male attention. (Although you were/are probably young and cute and I'm in my early 40s. Cute - well that's subjective. )

lizzy911

I will say that a lot of the girls that got hit on were NOT CUTE at all. They were quite heavy, tons of make-up, but they did have large boobs. So even if you are a little older I don't think that is a problem. We would joke about our big boobs making the rest of us not matter. Of course these guys didn't want to marry us or anything, but it was fun to have some Euro flings! And my guy kept in touch with me for quite some time, and he seriously was male-modelesque (never dated that caliber or looks in the States)

maitaitom

Tom's Theory of Italian Vacation Weight Relativity

Pasta + Vino - Stairs + Limoncello - Hill Town Walking + Gelato - Even More Stairs + A Lot More Vino = No Weight Differential.

Although the variables differ from country to country, I always end up with the same conclusion.

mcnyc

Everytime I've gone to Europe, I've lost weight too. I think it's all the walking during my waking hours, something I don't have a chance to do with my desk job. Bah!

This is true even when I'm on a cruise in Europe. As I need to lose a little weight, I think I need to go to Europe more often!

ashields

I'm jealous! The only time I ever lost weight in Europe was in Scandinavia (didn't love the food there). Everywhere else, I either maintain my weight or gain about a pound a week.

Scarlett

One of the many treats of going to Europe for me has been weight loss. Especially because when we are on holiday, I never think about eating, I eat whatever I want. with plenty of cheese courses and chocolate
And the weight loss is usually 3-5 lbs for 2 weeks.

djkbooks

Whenever we travel to Europe, we return with our clothing way roomier for all the walking. (And, my tummy disappeared on a recent week-long trip to Savannah...).

Some years ago, my assistant showed me photos of a six-week trip she and two friends enjoyed in Italy. She told me they ate themselves silly everywhere they went, and they were skinnier and skinnier in the photos...

oobylicious

I always lose weight too--about 2 to 3 lbs a week!!

It's insane, because I thought I work out a lot here..I usually work out about 10-15 hours a week. But walking does wonders...it must, considering I tend to eat ice cream and pastries every day and a whole bottle of wine every night (i'm so ashamed, lol)...

StCirq

Europe is a weight loss program for me. I'm only 5'3" and 112 lbs to begin with, and I have to really work hard to maintain my weight when in Europe because I am active all day long...not uncommon for me to walk 12 miles a day. I can eat like a horse...and do...sandwiches with ham and butter, tartines in the morning, buttery croissants, chocolates, pommes de terre gratinées...I eat everything and anything I want...and still I don't gain weight...BUT, I'm 54 and when I was 35 if I'd done the same thing I think I would be in big trouble. I think my body's just settled at its "comfortable" weight and no matter what I do, it's going to stay that way. I do love the way I feel very fit after a trip to Europe, though, spending every day outdoors in the sunshine moving about all day long....don't have that luxury back home here in work-driven America...

AnthonyGA

On a brief visit to Europe, I'd expect most people to lose weight, simply because there's a lot of activity in short visits and there isn't much time to eat.

On my first trip to Paris, I lost a pound a day. I found that hard to believe until I actually did the calculations and discovered that I was indeed burning a pound of fat per day.

During longer stays (such as expat assignments), there's no guarantee of weight loss, although a weight change in one direction or the other is entirely possible, due to the change in lifestyle.

PrincessOfPenguins

One significant factor that wasn't mentioned is that European food isn't "posioned" with High Fructose Corn Syrup.

I know quite a few Americans who have lost significant amounts of weight just by completely eliminating HFCS from their diets.

baldworth

My first time in Europe I lost 18 pounds in three weeks and then maintained the loss by continuing the walking habits after returning. My daughter and I walked for at least an hour three times or more per week and managed to not put the weight back on until she went to college last fall and the holiday eating caught up with me. We walked everywhere, day and night but I also think the lack of snack food being around helped as well. We ate gelato in Italy and pastries in France, drank beer in Germany, wine in every country, and ate ravenously at dinner. I didn't eat much in the way of snacks during the day and didn't usually have anything sitting around the hotel room at night. On top of it, I had just quit smoking and most people gain weight then due to sublimating their oral habit. I am hoping to lose 15 pounds and keep it off this summer on a 29 day trip through several countries and regular use of neighborhood walks and a treadmill at home. I know it can be done.

Baldworth

Toupary

"During longer stays (such as expat assignments), there's no guarantee of weight loss, although a weight change in one direction or the other is entirely possible, due to the change in lifestyle."

On my trips here (Paris), I could always count on a 6-lb loss on a 10-day trip. When I moved here in September, I thought it couldn't possibly continue in the long term. On visits, I walked everywhere. My schedule now is such that I am usually taking the Metro, and when I get where I am going, I sit (at least 5 hours a day). I eat all sorts of things I never ate in the States, so I expected the pounds to start piling on.

Now that spring is here, I have nothing to wear! Most of the clothes I brought with me are hanging on me. I have no idea how much I weigh (no scale), but it's obvious that I've lost.

I think part of it is the attitude towards food here.

Things I rarely see: People eating on the street (except around a crepe stand); people eating in their cars (never); snacking between meals. Most of the junk food I see in the grocery stores seems to come from Frito-Lay.

Things I do see: People in restaurants, taking the time to really enjoy a meal, and taking advantage of the time to have long conversations with their dinner partner.

I think, also, that there are fewer additives in the food. I hear numerous stories of people who come to France or Italy, deciding they'll eat whatever they want, and coming home thinner. The inverse is the number of Europeans who go to the States and come back heavier.

Just a few thoughts. I'm sure everyone has theories on the subject.

Tulips

On additives in food; what is it with Americans and food colouring? I'm just back from a trip to Florida and I can't believe the colours of some of the foods and drinks. Bright blue frozen drinks, fruit loops, weird coloured icing on cakes. I'm sure that sort of thing would not sell here (I live in Belgium). Do you think the additives in food contribute to the obesity problem?

Another difference between the way Europeans and Americans eat is portion sizes, and snacking in between meals. People seem to be eating something all the time there.