Hey Andy, how is your diet/fitness with all of this traveling?

Hello, thanks for your question!

tl;dr

I’ve gained plenty of weight. I’m currently the heaviest I’ve been since the end of 2009 where I bulked to 185 pounds. But those times were when I was the strongest I’ve ever been.

I can easily scapegoat the traveling, but most of my weight gain and fitness loss is due to my lifestyle in Taiwan.

Taiwan

At age 19, I was, deadlifting 335×5, squatting 275×5, and bench pressing 245×4.

From December 2013-July 2014, I went from 165 to 180 pounds. All this weight went to my stomach. I have to suck in my stomach to wear my pants, all which used to fit comfortably.

From November 2013 to present, my deadlift went from 335×3 to 255×5; my bench press from 225×6 to 185×4; and my muscle ups from 10 to 0.

My heart rate hasn’t gone above 130 (moderate jogging pace) in the past half year. Although, I blame this more on my foot tendinitis, which I am finally doing my best to heal from.

My diet plays a huge role. I haven’t cooked a single time since moving to Taiwan. Compare this to cooking all my meals in college, eating out maybe once a week.

It’s cheaper/equal price to eat out, but Taiwanese food is unhealthy. Greasy, highly refined, and small protein portions.

Traveling

It’s definitely hard to diet and fitness while traveling. Not only am I exhausted from plane and car rides, I’m sitting the entire time. After working, it’s so much easier to lay down in the hotel bedroom, place the laptop on my ever-expanding stomach, and decompress (YouTube, Twitch, stocks, news).

Diet is not much better when traveling. My breakfasts are almost entirely in the hotel, where I eat very nutritiously, but overabundantly. Lunches are almost always provided by the clients, and they generally treat me very well. Dinners are almost always alone. Sometimes I eat in outside restaurants, other times in the hotel. Again, I eat healthier when traveling, but I simply over-eat and don’t make up for it in exercise.

The Goal

I’ve identified this weight gain and fitness loss as a source of unhappiness. Since my short visit to the US in August, I’ve been eating much cleaner and exercising a lot more. I don’t know how much I weigh right now, but I’m getting stronger and feeling better.

The goal is to look like this in January 2015.