Originally Posted by echappist

If you aren't renting a car and aren't taking the cab that often, it's a good bet that you won't come back 8 over. For one thing, it's extraordinarily difficult to pack on 8 pounds even in one week. You might not even come back 2 pounds over, though you may lose a bit of muscle (so that x kg after the trip isn't the same as x kg prior to trip, in terms of body composition).

When we were in the Netherlands, we must have walked at least a good 2-2.5 miles a day. I did 2x bodyweight work during the trip as well. It's not a lot, but it helps. We didn't really count calories and ate our fair share of stroopwafels, Christmas specialties, cheeses, etc. Came back about the same mass, but did lose a slight bit in terms of fitness (say 5-7 W off of FTP).

That said, taking a trip when training for racing is hard. If there's one benefit to no longer participating in mass start racing, it's that i'm a lot less overwrought when it comes to peccadilloes when it comes to regimented eating.