These are all the BS things I hear all the time
“I lose momentum when traveling”
“I’ll get back on track when I get home”
“After this trip, I’ll dial it in”
I hear this from nearly every founder and exec I work with. They treat travel like it’s some inevitable health disruption. Like the moment they step on a plane, their body composition, energy, and progress just… regress.
I was curious about these claims, so I decided to test it on myself.
Over seven months, regular travel mixed with home routine. Europe, airports, hotels, disrupted sleep, beers I don’t normally drink, bread and pasta I don’t usually touch, three weeks straight without gym access…
These are my results
The boundaries of my test were these: Pushups on days when I couldn’t hit a gym, I would not obsess about meal prep, and no portable gym equipment.
My rule was to follow simple principles that anyone could apply.
Then I ran the numbers.
Here are the Hard Data Results!
- Weight: 172.8 lbs → 178.9 lbs (+6.1 lbs)
- Fat Mass: 23.5 lbs → 21.3 lbs (-2.2 lbs)
- Lean Muscle Mass: 84.2 lbs → 89.7 lbs (+5.5 lbs)
- Visceral Fat: 49.6 cm² → 44.6 cm² (-5 cm²)
- Body Fat %: 13.6% → 11.9% (-1.7%)
As you can see:
I got heavier… but leaner. I built muscle and burned fat at the same time while drinking beer in Europe and eating carbs I normally avoid.
Based on my experiment, the evidence is clear: this wasn’t luck. When I stopped treating travel like a health challenge and started treating it as a variable I can control, my body adapted and improved.
Why Busting This Travel Health Myth Matters to You
Most leaders I know are addicted to excuses.
They are always waiting for the perfect window. The calm stretch where travel slows down and life cooperates.
That window doesn’t exist.
You don’t need perfect conditions to make progress. You need a system that survives your real life: your schedule and your responsibilities.
Less visceral fat means less inflammation.
Less inflammation means better emotional regulation. It means sharper thinking and calmer leadership under pressure. You make better decisions when your body isn’t constantly fighting itself.
This isn’t about abs or vanity metrics. It’s about cognitive horsepower. The dangerous fat around your organs is what drives brain fog, mood swings, and that afternoon crash that costs you hours of productive work.
More lean muscle means more resilience.
More lean muscle mass means better stress tolerance and better immune function. It means more physical capacity to handle long days, back-to-back meetings, travel, and the mental load of running a company.
You lead better when you feel physically capable. When your body isn’t the bottleneck.
When your body works for you, your business benefits.
The leaders who last aren’t the ones who grind the hardest, they’re the ones who show up consistently without collapsing after every travel cycle.
They’ve figured out how to stay sharp on the road. How to recover fast. How to eat well without obsessing. How to train without needing two hours and a full gym.
They don’t wait for life to slow down, they build a framework that moves with them.
Identity Beats Willpower Every Time
I didn’t power through this experiment with discipline or some iron will.
I had simple principles I could follow anywhere. A few simple anchors that held even when routine fell apart.
That’s what high performers need. Not another strict 14-step morning protocol that dies the moment you board a plane.
A few simple principles that work anywhere beat a rigid system that only works at home.
Because the moment your system requires perfect conditions, it’s already failed you.
What I Believe About Travel
Most leaders tell themselves a story: “When I travel, my health has to take a backseat.”
I used to buy into that too. Trips meant damage control. Get through it, then rebuild when you get home.
But after watching this play out in my own body over seven months, I call bullshit on that entire narrative.
Travel doesn’t derail you. Your lack of a portable strategy does.
The leaders who thrive aren’t avoiding travel or white-knuckling through it. They’ve learned how to make their health work within their lifestyle, not some fantasy version where they’re home every night at 6pm with meal prep containers and a home gym.
If you know how to run a company, you already know how to run your health. You just haven’t been applying the same systems thinking to your body.
You wouldn’t bet your entire business on perfect conditions. You build for worst-case scenarios, diversify risk, and stress-test everything.
Why would your health be any different?
So What Does This Mean for You?
It means travel doesn’t have to be an excuse anymore.
Your lifestyle isn’t the barrier you thought, your framework is.
You can enjoy life. Travel hard. Eat the bread in Europe. Sip the beer. Close the deals. Lead your team across time zones. And still come home leaner, stronger, sharper, and more energized than when you left.
You don’t have to choose between performance and pleasure.
You just need a strategy that fits real life.
If you’re a leader who travels hard (for business or pleasure) and you want your body to keep up instead of constantly playing catch-up, Message Me.
I’m always happy to share the strategies that hold up under pressure and
Cheers,
Deepak
P.S. Tell me what other topics are of interest to you as a Leader?
