Struggling to eat healthy while traveling

[Shangobango]

All kidding aside, if you HAVE to eat at a restaurant, Chipotle or subway is the way to go. Always go for the lean meats, as low carbs as possible and double meat and load up on the veggies. I lost a lot of weight a long time ago based on that diet. Gained it all back because I fell out of routine.

Subway is one of my go to spots. I had a wrap today. Turkey, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, black olives, very light on the mayo, lots of mustard.

Damn, now I want another one...

 

[perma]

Subway is one of my go to spots. I had a wrap today. Turkey, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, black olives, very light on the mayo, lots of mustard.

Damn, now I want another one...

Me too! I had grilled chicken, provolone, jalapeños. Lettuce and bell peppers. Also a sucker for the siracha.

 

[cookchris]

I eat way too many snacks when I'm on the go, and it's something I definitely want to change for my next trip. I’m currently planning my trip to Benin, and I’ve already taken care of my visa application on https://evisabenin.com/. Now, I’m focusing on healthier eating habits while traveling. I’m thinking of packing fruits and veggie boxes to keep things light and nutritious. But I’d love to know—what else can I bring that’s healthy and easy to carry while traveling? Maybe some nuts, granola bars, or other high-energy snacks?

 

[NR_Hunter]

Just don’t eat and skip meals if you can’t find healthy food. It works really good

 

[elevatorman]

Just because your traveling is no excuse to treat your body like crap. Alot of options if you want to continue to be healthy. Some easy options if your in need of a healthy lunch or what not, cottage cheese easy 1 item lunch. At a restaurant get a steak cooked in tallow or ghee (no seed oils). Avocados. Beef jerky without preservatives or other garbage. Just walk into a grocery store and buy anything that has ZERO seed oils, preservatives, natural or artificial flavors or colors, enriched flour, gums, words you cant pronounce. Yeah it rules out 90+ percent of things in the store. This is why america is so unhealthy. It's far easier to plan ahead, but it can be done in a pinch. The key is the mental aspect of disconnecting food from something you view as a reward or you want it to be a certain flavor (chocolate or doritos) to thinking of it as nutrition and fuel for your body. And yes don't be a sissy. Cottage cheese for lunch doesn't taste as good as fajitas at a Mexican restaurant but it doesn't taste bad and is 1000 times better for you, with real tangible health benefits you can feel.

Hunting is the same story as traveling. Bring real healthy food with you.

 

[The Missing Link]

I am on a mission to lose weight, gain muscle, and just get in the best shape I can. I am down to within 8 lbs of my i initial weight goal and stuck. I am really struggling with sticking with healthy food choices while traveling for work. I am bumping up against 80 nights in a hotel so far this year and the vast majority of the travel is in Louisiana, and we aren’t exactly known for our healthy restaurants. I do my best to choose the healthiest menu items, but many of those leave a lot to be desired.

What adds further complications is that our AP department that oversees expenses isn’t exactly on board at this point with me hitting the grocery stores in the towns I am staying in and expensing my meals as raw ingredients.

Any tips from someone who has dealt with similar challenges?

Well here in Louisiana we are not know for the healthiest food but the best food. One of the main reasons our life span is shorter than most, lololol. Good luck in your health journey.

 

[cedahm]

I average 150+ hotel nights a year. You're spot on that it's brutal to maintain a good diet and workout regimen.

• Make sure you pick a hotel with a functional fitness center. I generally work out in the hotel gym 3X/week. Have to design a workout plan that can utilize the typically spartan equipment in most hotel gyms (dumbells, a bench or two, a couple treadmills/ellipticals, and maybe a cable machine is pretty typical.)

• Skip breakfast in favor of a protein shake or protein bar (really good if you are trying to build muscle also and not just lose weight). I don't eat breakfast anyway so this is easy for me, but could be a tough transition for many. Instead of hitting the buffet, I work out in the mornings while the rest of the team eats.

• We try and get reasonably healthy lunches @ the client site. Jimmy Johns (without all the extras), Chipotle bowls without all the cheese and sour cream and no chips, Salad places and Wood-roasted chicken places. Luckily current main client site has dozens of options, but that may not be the case in more remote locales. In that case, grocery shopping, while a PITA on the road, is a good choice.
• For dinner - some kind of protein about the size of a baseball, vegetables, and a small portion of starch/carb.
• Most important - lay off snacks - which IME tend to be everywhere in hotels and at most client offices.

The hardest part for me is laying off a couple of beers or glasses of wine in the Lobby Bar at night while catching up on email/watching games. I add 10min per Lobby bar beer to my weekly Cardio goal as penance

And, semi-related PSA: Do NOT fly with protein powder. You WILL get the full TSA bomb squad treatment. I did this after XMas when I got more serious about weight training and protein..put a weeks worth of powder in a ziploc in my backpack. Explosives guy was called over and had to test it with the Bomb kit. Then, of course, they had to test everything else in the bag. The officer said the chemical composition of the synthetic sweeteners in most powders will ALWAYS set off the explosive alarm and require the secondary testing. Said he averages 3X/day testing protein powder. If you check bags, it will be fine, but I haven't checked a bag on a work trip in 20 years.