"I tend to just be able to eat snacks because it's so busy and there are so many people and so much hoopla everywhere I go," Donald Trump tells PEOPLE

Donald Trump Says He Has Lost 15 Lbs. on the Campaign Trail: 'I'm Too Busy to Eat'

Some presidential candidates complain that it’s easy to gain weight on the campaign trail, faced with a barrage of burgers, pizza and state fair specialties.

Donald Trump may be the exception.

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“I have actually lost 15 lbs. on the campaign trail,” the Republican presidential candidate tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“There’s so little time to be eating. I tend to just be able to eat snacks because it’s so busy and there are so many people and so much hoopla everywhere I go.”

Trump, 69, is the first to admit that a diet of chips and candy might not be the best.

“It’s not the healthiest of eating. It’s stuff I wouldn’t necessarily recommend,” he says. “It’s grabbing anything you can find.”

Often, he says, he simply has no appetite.

“One of the reasons is I have big crowds and they’re very exciting stops,” says Trump. “And when you speak and you really are going at it, you tend to I never thought about it, but speaking is almost a form of exercise. It’s very exhilarating. Last night I was in Knoxville, Tennessee, speaking to 12,000 great people. You get so worked up, you don’t feel like eating after that.”

As for those who do succumb to weight gain on the campaign trail? Trump says he can guess the reason.