Why Do Truck Drivers Get Fat And How to Stay Healthy

Whether you’ve been driving for several decades or you are on your first solo trip, you’ve realized by now that truck driving is not easy. There are numerous challenges that face drives on a daily basis. Everyday drivers are faced with driving large loads in heavy traffic, meeting tight deadlines, managing constantly changing weather conditions and battling mechanical issues. On top of all these possible issues, drivers are forced to deal with all of these problems while being hundreds or thousands of miles from their families.

An additional challenge that upwards of 70% of all drivers face is obesity. It’s easy to see why this is an issue when you look at the stresses drivers face on top of the fact that they are sitting behind the wheel most of the day and commonly make poor eating choices throughout their day. In the article below, I’ll cover various factors of why truck drivers get fat and ideas that can help reduce your risk of gaining weight while on the road.

Basics

Before we dive into the specifics around truck drivers, it’s important to know the make-up of the average American to begin as a starting point.

The average American male stands at 5’ 10” tall, while the average female is about 5’4”. With this in mind, we can come up with a healthy weight range for a male and female. For a 5’ 10” male to be categorized as being at a healthy weight, they would need to weigh less than 175 lbs. For an average height woman, she would need to be under 145 lbs.

in out burger friesAgain, these are just averages and several factors can influence what your specific numbers should be but it’s important to know the basics. I highly suggest you check out www.medicalnewstoday.com for a more detailed analysis of what your personal healthy weight ranges are.

To put into context at what drivers are up against when it comes to staying at a healthy weight, consider this. It is estimated that 60% of Americans are “overweight” or “obese.” That’s just the general population with no regard to profession.

Several studies by multiple organizations have determined that truck driving has the highest rate of obesity of any career with in the United States. Therefore, if 60% of the general population is overweight, that means that 6 out of 10 drivers are overweight before they even get behind the wheel of a truck. Once they are put on the road it’s easy to assume they are going to gain even more weight as unhealthy lifestyle choices begin to creep into their day to day living while on the road.

New Drivers

If you are just starting out as a driver, it’s likely that you will feel overwhelmed and stressed during your first year of driving because everything is so new. It’s extremely important to be mindful of your eating and exercising routines during the first year to ensure you don’t gain a significant amount of weight as you start out.

Almost everyone has tried to lose weight at some point in your life, and it’s far easier to gain weight than it is to lose it. Especially when you are driving and your time for exercise is limited.

I highly recommend that new drivers work on creating their own meal plan for their travels. It will be easy to justify not taking this step by saying “I’ve got too many other things to worry about than a meal plan” or “ I’ll do that in a couple months once I get settled.” The problem with these excuses is that It’s easier to not meal plan. It’s far more easy to eat fast food and out of gas stations while on the road.

Tips to avoid weight gain

A quick and easy way to determine the number of calories that you need to remain at your current weight is to multiple your weight by 10. For example, if you weigh 225 lbs, you would need about 2,250 calories per day in order to remain at your same weight.

This may sound like a lot of calories, but they will add up quickly if you are eating poorly. In addition, sitting at the wheel burns very few calories throughout the day. The only truck drivers that consistently burn a significant amount of calories are those that drive flatbeds due to the work that is involve in covering and securing their loads but even then the securing of loads isn’t necessarily done every day.

Watch what you drink

Driving for long hours on the road can be draining. It’s easy for drivers to look to caffeine or sugar in order to get an energy boost to get a jolt of energy in order to power through the remainder of their day. Typically these drinks hide a large amount of calories that can pile up your calorie count very quickly.

Here’s some examples of common drinks that truckers use when needing a pick me up and the calories that are contained within them.

  • 16oz Red Bull – 223 calories.
  • Monster Energy – about 225 calories
  • 20oz Mountain Dew – 290 calories and 77 grams of sugar

Something that helped me avoid these drinks was to put a small refrigerator in my sleeper. This allowed me to keep my own drinks in the truck which reduced the temptation to pick up a coke or energy drink while at a truck stop. This also turned into a significant money saver for me too. I always keep a full stock of various flavored waters, along with some green tea in my fridge.

At my worst, I realized I was drinking 2-3 Mountain Dew’ a day. By grabbing a bottle of water to drink, I ended up cutting 600 – 900 calories out of my day. Because I had gotten into such a habit of drinking so much sugar and caffeine, I had to slowly work my way off of them to reduce the risk of headaches.

Exercise

I admit, this is not easy. Both from a time perspective and a motivation perspective. After a long day of driving, the last thing I want to do is some exercise. However, what I’ve tried to remind myself is that exercise comes in many different forms. It’s doesn’t have to be that you are lifting heavy weights or running long distances. It really comes down to just getting your heart rate elevated so that you are sweating for a few minutes.

fast food burger overweightWhat’s helped me is to try to plan this into my day when I wake up each morning. Sometimes, this means that I need to get out and do a walk (or sometimes a job) around the truck stop. I keep a pair of tennis shoes in my truck for this. I’ve found that I feel the best when I start my day getting my heart rate up for a few minute first thing in the morning.

Other times, my schedule or the weather will limit my opportunities for exercise for a particular day. If my schedule is the problem, then I will try to park as far from the truck stop or rest stop as possible. I may not be able to get my heart rate up, but at least it’s providing a few extra steps for me to get in for that day.

When weather limits my exercise opportunities, I try to do a little bit of work in the truck. This isn’t my most favorite option due to the size constraints however, I am able to squeeze in some sit-ups if I need. I also keep a small set of dumbbells and resistance bands in the truck that I can use as well. These do surprisingly well at both giving you a decent workout and taking up very little room in your truck.

When I’m working with new drivers, I always suggest to them to pick up some type of fitness tracker. You can get some great trackers without paying $300-$400. I suggest either the Yamay Fitness Tracker or the Garmin Forerunner if you prefer something that looks more like a watch.

These devices give you a bit more motivation to get some steps or movement in during the day. At least a couple times a week I’ll see that I’m at 9,000 steps so I’ll set out on a quick walk in order to get up to 10,000. If I didn’t have one of these watches, I would have never take these walks.

Meal Planning

Planning my meals out was by far the best decision I’ve made in regards to improving my health while on the road. It was not easy to do the meal planning, but once I got into the habit of it, it’s completely changed my health. I no longer eat the poor food that is available at fast food restaurants and truck stops. I feel much better throughout the day. I don’t get the tired and sluggish feelings anymore, which has caused me to need or want caffeine or energy boosts.

In order to meal plan for your trips, you have to plan ahead. This will get easier as the more you do it, but you need to figure out what you are going to eat for each of your meals a couple days before you head out on the road. Next, you’ll need to figure out how to prepare your meals. I’ve tried a couple different options.

First, I’ve cooked meals at home before leaving and then packed them into small containers that I stored in my fridge that stays in my sleeper. Depending on how long I’ll be gone, I try to make a couple different options so that I don’t have to eat the same meal every night. This option will require that you have a microwave in your truck as well to heat your food up, but you can pick on up for a reasonable price.

In addition to the meals I pre-made at home, I’ll take a few other items that can be heated up quickly to eat on the road in case I’m not in the mood for whatever meal I’ve created. Something like Ramen noodles or even some frozen meals work well.

Another option to consider when meal planning on the road, is the use of a crock pot. These are great if you are going to be gone for weeks at a time and you aren’t able to cook everything at home before you leave. Most (if not all) crock pots have a latching system on the lid that cause it to close tightly to prevent it from spilling. Many meals that I make in my crock pot will feed me for at least a couple days, which is super helpful.

A great site that I’ve found is www.365DaysofCrockpot.com for recipes. The lady that runs the site fed her family for an entire year using only a crock pot. The only downside to using a crock pot that I’ve found is the smell. It’s pretty awesome knowing you have a freshly cooked meal waiting for you, but as the day goes by, the smell of the food will get you hungry and excited about pulling over for your meal.

One concern I’ve heard from other drivers when I suggest this option is the cleanup. There are actually plastic liners that you can buy that set inside the crock pot. This keeps the food from touching the crock pot itself. These liners are great because you just pull them out and trash them. There is rarely any cleanup that is needed.

One option that I’ve heard about but not tried yet is the use of a instanta-pot cooker. The lady at the site above also posts instant pot recipes as well. If you’ve given this a try, please post in the comment below and let us know how it worked.

Use Benefits of Amazon

Amazon offers a couple different options that can help with your meal and snack planning while on the road. One option that I like to use is their Subscribe & Save (S&S) program. This allows me to select certain products that are delivered on a set date (my choosing) each month. Using this program also gives you a discount of 5% or 15% off your purchase. If you decide you don’t need a certain product delivered, you can skip the shipment and get it later.

Not all products qualify for S&S, but there are thousands that do. To show you an example, this is some beefy jerky that I get each month from Amazon for a great price. If you look, you’ll see on the right side of the page the various options to setup your S&S delivery.

Another great benefit to Amazon is a new delivery service they are offering called Amazon Lockers. With this, you can place an order, and choose a locker for it to be delivered to. Then you just show up to the locker, enter a code and retrieve from items from inside. This is great if you are in need of something while on the road and can’t find any other retailers that carry it. Here’s a link to their FAQ page that explains it in more detail.  Currently they have over 900 locations around the country, and new locations are being added constantly. Since Amazon recently acquired Whole Foods, it’s likely one of their stores has a locker located there.

Apps

Another great way to monitor how you are eating is the use of health apps. There are several great ones available now such as MyFitnessPal and Lose-It Calorie Counter. These apps allow you to track the food that you are eating so that you can accurately track your calorie count as well as other micronutrients such as sugar, carbs and protein. The nice thing about these apps is that you can scan bar codes of foods as you eat them so you aren’t having to enter the information yourself.

fitbit calorie count truckerThe apps also have the ability to save foods that you eat often. You also have the ability to create custom foods from recipes that you make so they are saved in the app and easily added to your daily food consumption totals. These apps are a great way to learn how much calories are in foods. It can be quite shocking to see how many calories are in a food that you wouldn’t think twice about eating prior to tracking your food consumption.

Many of the new apps will also connect to your smart watches such as your Fitbit to give you the ability to track your calories burned for the day. If you are serious about losing weight, I highly recommend picking up a smart watch and then track your food as you each.

Increased health risks

Given that truck drivers are at a much higher risk for developing poor eating habits which leads to obesity, it’s not surprise that truckers are also at higher risks for certain other long term diseases as well. In addition to obesity, truck drivers are also at risk for developing heart disease, diabetes and various types of cancers.

Unfortunately, diabetes is a common disease among both active and retired truck drivers. Here’s an article I wrote that covers how you can manage your diabetes while being a driver on the road.

All of these diseases have direct links to being overweight or obese. Many of these additional risks can be reduced by taking small steps to develop better eating habits and exercising when possible.

Conclusion

By now, hopefully you can see that truck driver are at a very high risk for becoming overweight and suffering long term health diseases. It takes work, but there are options available to help keep you eating healthy and to prevent you from overeating. Getting fat as a truck driver is a choice. Yes, preparing meals and looking for healthy options can be time consuming but in the long run, developing a healthy lifestyle will be a significant factor in your long term health.

I encourage you to start working to stay healthy while on the road no matter if you are just starting out or are a season vet.

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