Staying on track while travelling

MirrorMe33

Hi all!

I'm off to London shortly and would love some general tips on how to keep achieving your goals while away from home. I'm away for around two weeks and will be staying in an apartment so won't have the luxury of a free gym.

For people that have traveled and managed to maintain or continue to lose I'd love some tips!

Breakfast shouldn't be an issue for me as I'll be able to prepare my own food but most lunches and dinners will be out. I'm hoping the increased activity will help prevent any major relapses.

I'm hoping to take a plethora of protein bars to snack on during the day which should hopefully help a little. Fruit is also my biggest weakness at the moment and have really had to limit it as much as possible. I have heard though that having fruit and protein at the same time can be helpful?

Also for those MFP users around the London area, do you have any places to recommend for healthy meals? I come from a climate where we don't exactly have a winter so I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to track down the sorts of foods I'm used to eating. How do you all deal with the cold weather food cravings? We just had a cosy 43 degrees C yesterday so I'm not sure how my body is going to cope!

MirrorMe33

.

Ninkyou

I recently went on a 9 day holiday in Florida/Disney the beginning of December. Breakfast was eaten in, as I was staying with my sister-in-law, but lunch and almost all of my dinners were eaten out. For the meals eaten out, I looked up the restaurants menus as soon as I knew where we were going. If I couldn't find the exact food/place in the database, I searched for something similar and picked one with a higher amount of calories to cover myself. I did allow myself to go over, but I tried to stay in the realm of my MFP calorie goal and my maintenance calories. I did, however get alot of exercise from walking at theme parks and unpacking an entire apartment to help offset my overage of calories.

So I guess my advice is to eat between you MFP goal and maintenance, and to be as active as possible while enjoying your holiday. If you go over calories, don't worry about it too much, it is vacation, after all.

ETA: I ended up losing almost 2 lbs during that 9 day period.

olyabe

It is hard, but London has a lot of restaurants to choose from, and also most semi-fast-food places (popular sandwich/soup shops like Pret and Eat etc) have some relatively healthy fare AND they post calories for all their products on the labels, so it's easy to pick out the least damaging option. There is also a lot of temptations of course. Waitrose and Tesco will have prepared food sections where most products have calorie counts clearly posted - and plenty of vegetable choices.

To me the key in London is to avoid Indian food (so sad.. I love it, so I can't just taste a little bit)... if I steer clear of Indian (and alcohol...), I'm usually ok.

jennegan1

I went away over the Christmas break to visit family in FL. I knew that I wouldnt have the luxury of working out so much or eating so healthy at my dispense. They did do alot of home cooked meals but I still brought my own breakfast and lunch foods...This is what I did a week before I left I upped my calories by 1000 calories this way my body would get used to eating some extra calories on certain days hoping to maintain the weight that I lost...Figured I wouldnt lose any while being away.....Then when I got home I lowered it back down to 1000 on the 28th. Weighed my self and only gained a .5 lb....Just an idea it might help you

MirrorMe33

Thanks heaps guys!

turtleball

is this your first time in London? are you going to be going again?


I think I would just try everything, not eat tons.. but just try everything. after all you are on vacation.

essjay76

I've traveled quite a bit while still enjoying the local food and maintaining. I think it's just like anywhere you go. London proper will have some good eats! Try saving one meal for the local must have food that might be the highest in fat and calories, then balance it with your breakfast and a trip to the grocery store. Plus, if you shop at the grocery store, you can get away from touristy, expensive food, and see how the locals shop.

And +1 to trying everything, not just a ton.

Enjoy it!

MirrorMe33

This won't be the first time I've been but usually I just go kind of crazy and inhale as much food as I can. I'm trying to keep myself away from the whole "you're on holidays it doesn't count" thing. Moderation sounds like the best idea so hopefully I can stick to it!

DamePiglet

Walk whenever you can & eat in moderation. And if you have Internet access, keep logging!

Also, while this may be stating the obvious, I keep a water bottle (sports type) handy so I keep up with water. If I don't, I tend to forget and eat when I'm actually thirsty!

Crumpet_Girl

You must be a Queenslander (Aussie) experiencing the 43?