Long vacation and international move: how to maintain?

yirara

Phew, turbulent times ahead. I'll be going on a 4 week vacation soon (Singapore and Indonesia) and will be moving to the UK afterwards. I'll probably be spending the first 4 weeks in a B&B. I hope I'll be able to maintain my weight. I won't be having a scale for a full period of 9 weeks most likely.

Apart from living in a B&B which only serves Full English breakfast I hope I'll be able to adjust to a new job and a new way of eating without gaining too much. I consider storing some fresh bread in my room and ask the landlady to put some cheese and other things for on the bread in the fridge for me as I cannot eat fried/very fatty cooked food anyway without getting reflux. Eating in the evening while still in the B&B might also be tricky as it's a strange place with very little choice of healthy food.

Any other advice than asking for a little corner in the kitchen fridge?

acmanna

Buy some fruit and take away salads to put in your room for snacks. Walk a lot and enjoy the new scenery. Stick to foods that you know but don't forget to enjoy your vacation.
When I moved from the US to Munich, I had a hard time at the store understanding what things were bc of the language barrier. Since you won't have that in England it should be better. Don't forget your goals and stay focused.
Best wishes to you!

Furbuster

Where in the Uk are you moving to? Locals here maybe able to help

yirara

I doubt it Furbuster. It's a very tiny place in a very quiet area. I've had a look at pretty much all eateries there already. I'll certainly bring fruit and green bellpeppers to the office to fill up on. But not being able to cook for such a long time is a bummer. There's also no furnished short-term rental available. Well, there is but it's for tourists and it's easily 4x of what their deal with the B&B is. Hence my new employer won't pay for that.

I'm not worried about the vacation as I'll be very active and I don't have much hunger when it's hot and humid. It's those 4-5 weeks in limbo/B&B land that I'm more worried about.

catt952

maybe pack canned food? canned beans or canned tuna. they do sell milk powder which you can mix into a drink and has same minerals as milk.

KarenJanine

Most grocery stores have ready made salads available (dressing is usually in a separate sachet). There's also plenty of choice in terms of ready-to-eat chicken breast, hot smoked salmon, etc. to add some protein to the salad. There are usually healthy options in terms of ready made sandwiches and everything will have nutritional information on it.

The B&B owners may well let you have access to a microwave in which case fresh soups are a convenient option.

If there is an M&S Food store nearby they have lots of convenience ready-to-eat options and prepared fresh fruit and vegetables. They also do a good range of fresh 'ready meals' which are nutritionally balanced (another option if you can access a microwave). Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys are also good stores for fresh ready-to-eat foods.

Individual cheeses like Babybel are a handy snack.

I'm sure you've explored all accommodation options, but if you havent already done so, www.spareroom.co.uk, www.airb&b.co.uk and www.gumtree.co.uk may be worth a look in terms of furnished lodgings on a short term basis. As you've already discovered, complete houses/apartments are often holiday lets and as such come with hugely inflated rents!

Pinnacle_IAO

Take control.

• get a scale and tape measure
• prepare your own foods
• log and track
• make a way to exercise both cardio and strength

Right now is the moment to take ownership of your situation however you can.
Best of luck!

Francl27

If the B&B owner isn't ok with you cooking and storing your food in their kitchen (definitely ask!), I'd buy a small fridge and microwave, personally. Small investment and you might need to buy a microwave anyway once you move to your permanent place.

Other than that, I don't think the way Brits eat is that different from here, honestly (ok I'm assuming you live in the US).

I second Marks and Spencers too... ok it's been 18 years since I've been in one but when they were still in France I absolutely loved them.

yirara

Thanks a lot guys. The B&B owner wasn't too happy that I wanted to store cheese in her fridge when I was there for the job interview, and the kitchen is part of her house, not the B&B. Thus she'd need to hand us everything. The room I had also was too small for a small fridge and microwave, and this time it'll be the two of us and not only me plus a lot of stuff transported by plane like enough clothing suitable for northern Europe (we won't have access to a washing machine either and would need to use a cleaning saloon, or bring enough clothes), office clothes, work coveralls other stuff. My husband needs the bit of space there is for his computer for writing job applications and volunteer work. Yes, we could buy a small fridge and microwave and could unplug both to put it in the shower while he needs the space (substantial part of the day). But is that a viable solution?

Don't get me wrong: I know how to maintain on the food I have here (which is not in a Western country) and without weighing by now; it's the 'unknown' food for me that worries me a bit. And it's living on preprepared meals as we normally cook everything fresh and hardly ever eat out. Yes, I know what you can get in Europe, I just never counted calories when living there.

Furbuster

May I suggest you join the UK group on here then if you have any questions I'm sure someone will know the answer

Francl27

Ok yeah it's going to be tough. That must be pretty stressful to have to move like this and get all your stuff shipped... Ugh.

Hope you find a permanent place pretty quickly. Not much advice otherwise, just try to be active and stick to healthy options

yirara

Thanks Franc The container with our furniture will probably arrive together with us as we're taking the 4 week vacation after vacating our house and before really leaving this place. We'll be able to leave the B&B as soon as we found a rental, though honestly, without bank account in the UK and living in company provided accomodation at the moment (no previous landlord certificate most likely) it might be more difficult to get all the papers necessary for the actual rental contract. Sounds exciting

Sandcastles61

I have a MFP friend who currently lives and works in Singapore. If you want to have someone there to touch base with for help on tracking or logging their local foods while you are there, feel free to PM me and I will try to hook you up with her. What a fun adventure!!

dopeysmelly

Find a grocery store which is walkable from where you are staying with a decent fruit and veggie section. Most veggies can be eaten raw, and you can walk there every day for exercise. B&B food is more than likely to be pretty heavy, calorie-dense and limited on the fresh veggies. You might want to see if you can find a sports center which has a one-month pass so you can get some physical activity in as well, and maybe make new friends.

Good luck. It might be tough-going, but you are aware which is the main thing.

patrikc333

Marks&Spencer and waitrose have the better offer of ready meals in my opinion, with nutritional info, so you know what you are going to eat

it'll be a challenge to estimate cals if you eat at the B&B

buy a small microwave and fridge

balance your meals, do exercise and try to over estimate a bit just to be on the safe side

I've been on holidays in the US for 16 days, my recipe was a daily run, a low cal meal, eg "home"made turkey sandwich (oh if I miss you, lovely turkey/ham/roast beef slices, cannot find anything similar here), and restaurant for dinner. it would have been really though without all the run to estimate correclty if I was going out for every meael

nxd10

I travel a lot for work - all international - and it is hard. I love big breakfasts. But what kills me is the sauces on many restaurant foods and the very large portions - even in the UK. If I'm traveling with my husband, we split all meals. When I am not, I eat the big breakfast at the hotel, get a light lunch at a shop (fruit and a salad), and then order on the light side for dinner.

You can log everything while you're there just like you're doing now.

- Watch sauces
- Go low on 'starches' - potatoes, pasta, don't eat the bread, skip the butter
- Eating a bowl of soup and an appetizer is a light and often very tasty meal that will fill you up
- Just because you're not cooking at home, don't make the mistake of eating two large meals plus that lovely breakfast. It's really easy to have two dinners when you're traveling. You can also - and I often do - have a large lunch and then eat half of it in my hotel room for dinner.

I'd also recommend buying a pedometer or similar. You may be walking a lot and earning a lot of calories back, which can explain your hunger.

Finally, if you can't weigh, you can measure. But if you're logging, I don't see why you would. But do be careful. 20 years ago I gained 20 pounds in like 3 months while traveling and over-eating just because I was out all the time. I finally took it off 3 years ago. Don't do that! And enjoy your travels.

yirara

Right, we extended our vacation to 5 weeks and also found some kind of solution for the B&B: The owner has one room with a small fridge, which we'll be getting. That's at least something. I tried renting a furnished flat, but as all goes via rental agents who want to do background checks first even for just one month of renting - and we don't have a bank account or rental history in the UK yet this won't really work. How we'll be able to rent at all is a different question, but we'll see about that once we're there. My new employer hires lots of people from all over the world, and I guess those people are not sleeping on the streets

SlimBride2Be

They will very likely take a rental reference from someone back home - just get a name, number and email address for your last landlord. Most people get around the rental reference (if they can) by putting up 6 months rent in advance. Your company may provide an interest free loan for that if it's a problem.

yirara

SlimBride2Be wrote: »

They will very likely take a rental reference from someone back home - just get a name, number and email address for your last landlord. Most people get around the rental reference (if they can) by putting up 6 months rent in advance. Your company may provide an interest free loan for that if it's a problem.

Yep, we planned to pay for several months in advance. We're currently living in employer provided accommodation, and the HR department has not answered my email about a reference yet. My previous landlord only speaks a Scandinavian language and won't sign an English reference, simply because he doesn't understand it. Not so easy. But at least the B&B issue is kind of solved for now.

sk1982

I am sure if you asked the B&B they could provide some other sort of breakfast rather than a cooked breakfast. Porridge or cereal is usually always an option?

yirara

I'll be buying bread and cheese/delimeat. That's the kind of breakfast I'm happy with.

mymodernbabylon

Will the people you are working with write a letter of recommendation for you? When I moved to London, my job wrote a letter to the bank & to the letting agency which let them know I was on a 2 year contract, was earning X amount of money and that helped a lot (both to get a bank account and a flat). I also offered to put in an extra month of rent outside the normal 6 weeks plus initial month so that the landlord felt better about it.

melaniecheeks

I think of you're there for 4 weeks you should have a word with the B&B owner and make some suggestions about what sort of breakfasts you'd like.

What sort of shops/ restaurants are there nearby, we UKers could make better suggestions if we knew what you had available

Francl27

yirara wrote: »

Right, we extended our vacation to 5 weeks and also found some kind of solution for the B&B: The owner has one room with a small fridge, which we'll be getting. That's at least something. I tried renting a furnished flat, but as all goes via rental agents who want to do background checks first even for just one month of renting - and we don't have a bank account or rental history in the UK yet this won't really work. How we'll be able to rent at all is a different question, but we'll see about that once we're there. My new employer hires lots of people from all over the world, and I guess those people are not sleeping on the streets

Great news for the fridge!

yirara

mymodernbabylon wrote: »

Will the people you are working with write a letter of recommendation for you? When I moved to London, my job wrote a letter to the bank & to the letting agency which let them know I was on a 2 year contract, was earning X amount of money and that helped a lot (both to get a bank account and a flat). I also offered to put in an extra month of rent outside the normal 6 weeks plus initial month so that the landlord felt better about it.

Yes, I suppose I'll be getting that. I'll ask. I also got a rental reference from my current place, though I suppose if someone actually phones them up they will not get much of an answer as this compound is too large.

yirara

melaniecheeks wrote: »

I think of you're there for 4 weeks you should have a word with the B&B owner and make some suggestions about what sort of breakfasts you'd like.

What sort of shops/ restaurants are there nearby, we UKers could make better suggestions if we knew what you had available

Shops is no problem. There's an Asda on the edge of town and an Aldi. Restaurants are a bit odd: no chains, but lots of fastfood type food. It's a small seaside resort. I guess with the fridge available we'll be eating raw veggies, bread, pot noodles and fruit until we found a place.