This article series deals with email questions sent from readers. Gary from Boston travels regularly for business, and is gaining weight. He writes:

Gary: I travel at least 4 days per week for business, and stay at different hotels each night. In the last 2 years, I have gained about 25 pounds. I find myself alone in the hotel room after 8 PM, eating junk food while I watch TV. Do you have any advice?

Ellen Anmuth, Licensed Psychotherapist:  Traveling for business can be stressful. You write that you are eating junk food at night when you are alone in the hotel room.  Some people reach for food when they feel lonely. If you are eating out of a feeling of loneliness, perhaps you could find ways to manage those feelings that do not include food. How about calling some friends when you are alone in the room?   I am assuming you have already had dinner, and you are eating out of emotional hunger, rather than biological hunger.

If you are over-eating to calm anxiety, perhaps getting in touch with what is creating the feelings of anxiety could be helpful. Once you identify what is causing the stress, you could develop an action plan to reduce the anxiety.  

Finally, perhaps you could bring in some low calorie snacks into your room that give a crunch, such as celery or carrots, if you enjoy crunching. Keeping an apple or orange in the room is also helpful, and lower in calories than the candy bars or other junk food you are alluding to.

Although you did not mention food selections at restaurants, there are things you can do when you eat out that can lower calorie intake. For example, baked foods are less calories than fried foods. Given an option, ask for side orders of salads and steamed vegetables, which are very filling. Try to limit the amount of salad dressings and high calorie desserts.  Hope this is helpful, Gary.