I remember sitting on my hotel bed at the Home2, next to a truck stop in Fayetteville, N.C., day four of a trip and my prepped meals were gone by day two. The only food nearby was McDonald’s, Popeyes, or Ruby Tuesday. I felt trapped—not just by my location, but by my career. I asked myself, “Did I pick the right path?”
The answer is yes. But it took me seven years to figure out how to manage my weight, fat, and muscle while flying for both regional and major carriers. Most trainers don’t understand what it is like to have your routine ripped up every week. I lived it but I invested in the education, became certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and discovered the simplest, most overlooked tool for fat loss—walking.
That is right! Walking. Research proves it. In one meta-analysis, people who added just four 40-minute walks per week without dieting lost about one percent of their body fat over 35 weeks. Another study compared walking, running, and biking for equal time and intensity. The walkers lost twice as much fat as the runners or bikers. Twice! How could that be?
Here is the science.
Your body runs on three fuels: fat (coal), carbs (gasoline), and creatine/other compounds (rocket fuel). Like an old ship, the body chooses which fuel makes sense for the job. Sprinting or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts burn gas and rocket fuel, fast and powerful, but fat is barely touched. Walking, however, is “long range cruise.” Your body shifts to burning coal. Fat.
Bottom line—fat needs oxygen to burn. If you are out of breath, you are burning less fat. Push intensity too far, and the body may even break down muscle before tapping into fat, leaving you “skinny fat” and worse at burning calories long term. This is why so many people pour hours into HIIT classes or long runs, only to look the same months later. Those programs feel exciting. They sell community and sweat. But they do not solve the problem. Walking does.
Here is the drill
So how do you make it work on the road? Keep it simple. Walk outside when you can. Hit the treadmill at your crash pad hotel and add some incline. Aim for 30 minutes a day or 8k to 10k steps. It is free, it is repeatable, and it directly targets body fat.
Run because you enjoy it. Take on Orangetheory for the cardio benefits if that is your thing. But if your goal is fat loss, walking is non-negotiable. Pair it with a solid nutrition plan (which I will cover in my next column) and you will stop feeling trapped by this career and start using it to your advantage.
