Advice for long road trip

littlebear0121

My family and I are going to go on a road trip to and throughout the eastern U.S. for three weeks. We will be tent camping and eating either cold food or cooking on a campstove most of the time.
We'll be driving with quite limited cooler space and limited storage space. Some days on the trip we'll be getting a lot of exercise, and some days we'll be mostly driving. Do you have any advice for how to maintain or lose weight during this time?

Maxxitt

On the driving days, eat at a slight deficit. On the lots of exercise days, eat at maintenance. Do the best you can but for sure enjoy the experience. Since you are driving, you will be able to stop at grocery stores for provisions along the way (it's great bag-of-fresh-apple season, too) so a lot of storage isn't going to be a problem. One of my go-to camping breakfasts was overnight bulgar (or you could do oats) made by putting boiling water from the night's campfire into a thermos along with the grain and a little bit of salt), and depending on the timetable for the morning, pancakes made with said overnight cereal plus pancake mix (either the boxed kind of something you make at home and put in a zip-lock bag). Save your cooler space for milk, eggs, butter, cheese rather than taking up space with bottled water/soda.

spiriteagle99

We do a lot of long road trips. On some I gain weight, and on some I am able to maintain. It depends mostly on two things: how much exercise I get and how often we eat out. On trips where we eat out more often, I always gain weight. We mostly camp, but our truck camper has a 3 burner stove, so I can cook fairly normal meals: hamburgers, chicken, Hormel roast beef, hot dogs, pasta, etc. with vegetables. The roaster chickens you get at the grocery can be great when you're on the road. Add salad and you're good.

thisPGHlife

I feel like I would do the opposite of @Maxxitt and eat at maintenance on driving days and at a slight deficit on exercise days. That part is going to come down to personal preference and how hungry your are. The rest of his tops are awesome.

Also, you can also portion out shelf stable things like nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, and granola into little baggies and mark them with how many calories they are. Also, to go along with the overnight oats, if you like them creamer, you can get dry milk and add that. I would also suggest getting powdered peanut butter. It's lower in calories, shelf stable, and adds some flavor to your oatmeal and apples.

I would try to avoid things like ramen that aren't as filling and opt for more filling things like grains and legumes. One of my favorite things to bring camping is tuna. They even make single serve packets. I hate the waste but they are convenient and they give you a lot of protein for very few calories. There are also packets with flavors so you don't have to worry about bringing things to make tuna salad.

As weird as this sounds, you can also dehydrate scrambled eggs. If you do go the ramen route, which I have done while camping because though they aren't as filling, they give you quick carbs when you've done a ton of hiking. Throwing dehydrated eggs in and some powdered cheese is really tasty and gives you some protein.

For your driving days, bring books! Also, you may want to consider taking up a hobby like knitting or cross stitching that is portable. If your hands and brain are busy it's harder to eat. Or you could take up writing or journaling and use the trip as something to write about.

I'm really jealous if your trip. Good luck and have fun!

Edited because grammar is a thing.

littlebear0121

skram01 wrote: »

I feel like I would do the opposite of @Maxxitt and eat at maintenance on driving days and at a slight deficit on exercise days. That part is going to come down to personal preference and how hungry your are. The rest of his tops are awesome.

Also, you can also portion out shelf stable things like nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, and granola into little baggies and mark them with how many calories they are. Also, to go along with the overnight oats, if you like them creamer, you can get dry milk and add that. I would also suggest getting powdered peanut butter. It's lower in calories, shelf stable, and adds some flavor to your oatmeal and apples.

I would try to avoid things like ramen that aren't as filling and opt for more filling things like grains and legumes. One of my favorite things to bring camping is tuna. They even make single serve packets. I hate the waste but they are convenient and they give you a lot of protein for very few calories. There are also packets with flavors so you don't have to worry about bringing things to make tuna salad.

As weird as this sounds, you can also dehydrate scrambled eggs. If you do go the ramen route, which I have done while camping because though they aren't as filling, they give you quick carbs when you've done a ton of hiking. Throwing dehydrated eggs in and some powdered cheese is really tasty and gives you some protein.

For your driving days, bring books! Also, you may want to consider taking up a hobby like knitting or cross stitching that is portable. If your hands and brain are busy it's harder to eat. Or you could take up writing or journaling and use the trip as something to write about.

I'm really jealous if your trip. Good luck and have fun!

Edited because grammar is a thing.

Thanks for the awesome advice, skram01! I'm going to re-learn how to knit tomorrow and make some washclothes while I'm in the car. I put several audiobooks on our iPad to listen to as well.

Thanks for your tips, SpiritedEagle! I haven't thought of using rotisserie chicken before, but my family loves it, so that is a great idea for us!

Thanks for your helpful tips, too, Maxxit! I'm not great at eating where I want to eat yet when I'm in the car. I've lost 25 pounds since February on MFP, but unfortunately the days that I go over on calories are the days when I have a long drive. Hopefully I won't have that problem on this trip, because my husband will be doing the driving. I have trouble staying awake when I drive and eating helps this problem (at least in my mind.) I hope to try the overnight bulgar. That is a much lower sugar and salt option than other ideas I have for breakfast.