Heading to the USA & need food/shopping tips pretty please!!

aoifebr

Hey everyone,

So the time has FINALLY arrived my big trip to the USA, I've never been before & its my first holiday in 18 months. I land in LA then Vegas, Dallas, New Orleans & New York before I get to see my family in Ireland. You have no idea how excited I am. So here's my challenge - in total I've lost almost 30 kg (10 before MFP & c20kg here) so I have a limited wardrobe at the moment & need to shop...

I was thinking of shopping Vegas (someone said premium outlets north) & New York - any suggestions? What shops should I hit - I think I'm a US8/10 & pretty much need everything work clothes, casual, training gear. I've still got pretty big arms/bingo wings & tights.

Other issue is food - I've heard a lot of mixed messages about how health/not the food is in the USA. I dont want to undo all the good work & want to look amazing when I get home. I'll be traveling a lot (tour bus for a bit) but health options would be great, are there "good" restaurants I should look out for?

Any other tips/advise would be great - Thank you. :bigsmile:

Crystal817

I was thinking of shopping Vegas (someone said premium outlets north)

Outlets are great. There's also a mall on the strip.

milaxx

There are tons of places to shop in both Vegas and NYC. Since the US dollar is not as strong you should have a great time shopping. Vegas has several outlet stores, the hotels can probably direct you to the best ones. There are also major chains like Macy's, that are fairly mid range in terms of price and clothing quality. I think I would try to shop more in Vegas than NYC. NYC may have more fashionable things, but they also have sales tax (10% I think).

As for restaurants, like anywhere some are good and some are bad. However we have many Whole Foods and Trader Joe's markets where you can get healthier options. Chain restaurants usually have their nutritional info listed online. One of my fav is called Season52. It's a chain, but they tend to have healthier menu options.

Enjoy your trip!

Here_kittykitty

I'm in North Carolina, so there probably isn't much you'd like to see here. If this is just a vacation, then I'd say don't worry about your diet. If I ever had the chance to visit another country I'd want to eat all the local food - good and bad! Have a great time, and don't deny yourself anything. This may be your only chance to experience a truly foreign experience, since so many cultures are based on food!

I had the privilege to stay/live in Sicily, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was all about the food, and it was AWESOME.

Have a wonderful time in the States!

YogiGirlLucy

Hi!

As far as food, you should be able to get really good salads at almost any restaurant. And don't be afraid to modify, or go 'off the menu'. More and more upscale markets are all over, like Whole Foods, that have prepared food and salad bars, too.

I don't know much about shopping in Vegas, but outlets are great. Here in Cali., some of the outlet stores I shop at are J. Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, True Religion and Levis. Also Saks Off Fifth has good prices on high end jeans. Maybe they have the same ones in Vegas??

My fave stores in general are J. Crew, Banana Republic, Lucky, Limited, and Express. Nordstroms for shoes. I also like Macy's for INC. and Hudson & True Religion, and Free People and shoes. DSW is a great discount place for shoes, they have TONS of boots and shoes.

Anthropology is a great store, and I like American Eagle for jeans as well.

I used to live on the East Coast and you should be able to find most of these there, too. Also, you will find the major department stores there as well.

I love clothes, and I love to shop!

Have a fantastic holiday ... and happy shopping!

Lucy

midwesthiker

Sounds like fun! I have only been to a few of the cities you listed, but be sure to try some of the local foods. They won't be the best for you, but it is vacation! I love the food in New Orleans. I went there for a week earlier this year and with all the walking around I actually lost weight - even though I was eating beignets and gumbo and all that tasty stuff all week long.

As for shopping, just get out of the touristy parts and you will find places to shop. When I was in New Orleans I found a mall on the north side and was buying all kinds of clearance clothes from JC Penny, Marshalls, etc. I came home with more than I took.

Have fun!!

dlaplume2

Sounds like a great trip. You are deffinitly up for a challenge to maintain your weight. If you are taking a bus, you will be sedentary a good chunk of the day. Make sure you squeeze in time for your workouts. Shopping will equal walking, but not the brisk pace you need to burn calories. I agree with the sales tax thing from Nevada and NY. NY has state and local sales taxes even on clothes, so you may want you use caution on that.

As far as the eating. It will be very difficult in our restaurants. Most resaurants that are chains, do have nutrition guides if you request them. You can also look online at the restaurants nutrition info. Make sure you eat no more than one splurge meal a day. It is really easy to blow through your calories eating out 3x a day. Have a healthy breakfast, and lunch then go out for dinner. You can carry snack bars and fruit with you to snack on. Watch for hidden calories, like salad dressings, sauces and glazes.

Best wishes and happy, safe travels.

_Ben

The US is not as unhealthy as people make it out to be. Its not like we butter our lettuce or anything. You just need to make smart decisions. Check out websites for resteraunts before you go, see if they have a low cal menu (a lot of places do). I wouldnt be to stringent on that personally, because you could miss out on some great eating establishments. Before you leave you should try:

-New Yorker Style Pizza
-Chicago Style Pizza
-In and Out Burger
-Some of the great seafood of New Orleans
-Maybe a good steak in texas.

Its more about portion control too.

bregalad5

The US is not as unhealthy as people make it out to be...Its more about portion control too.

Stole the words right out of my keyboard. There are sooo many misconceptions about eating in the States. It's insane. It's not like every restaurant is McDonalds.

If you drive past a place you're thinking about hitting up, take a look online and their nutrition info should be there, or if you just stop in, don't hesitate to ask for a nutrition guide. They might look at you funny, but they should have one somewhere in the establishment.

First and foremost, though, HAVE FUN! :drinker:

dad106

Premium outlets is a great place to shop. I'm from Illinois, but we have them, and they have a lot of good deals and nice shops. Make sure to check out Times Square while your in New York.

As far as food goes, you can eat at pretty much any restaurant and they will modify food choices to your needs. If you can, make sure you stop in a Sweet Tomatoes./Souplantation. It's a soup, salad and desert buffet.. and it's quite amazing if you've never had anything like it before.

MzBug

Vegas or Dallas would be your best bet for major clothing deals. LA and NY will have higher prices as well as taxes. Of course you will want to at least do some window shopping in NY! Try to get out of the downtown areas, ask for the outlet centers or malls .... most large cities have at least one in the area. You should be able to get some change of season clearance stuff too. What ever city you are in there is always Marshalls, Ross and TJ Maxx to pick up the overstock, discontinued or slightly flawed high end stuff.

Keep in mind that it may be cheaper to box up your purchases and ship them home rather than pay for the extra baggage fees on the plane! Ask a friend if you can send packages to their address and pick them up when you get home.

Enjoy your trip!

JennsLosing

all i have to say is dont skip out on the food in new orleans....it is GREAT. And when you go to texas "my home state" you need to go to a good bbq joint and eat some brisket = )

kyylieeeeee

My advice would be to not miss out on trying local foods just because you worry about their nutritional value. Try EVERYTHING that you can that is particular to a region (and it seems like you are really doing a good range of cross-country traveling)...because once you go back home, you'll probably have had a more memorable experience trying things than passing them up because of the need to diet. But with that said, remember, portion control will be the key, because in the US, you WILL be served far too much food no matter where you go!

As far as outlets go, the Woodbury Commons is about 1-1.5 hours outside of NYC (you can get a bus there for about $30 round trip). It's the biggest outlet mall in the world, and if you've got a fair bit of money to shop, you can really find excellent deals. It's the only 'mall' I shop at, because they have J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, Sak's 5th Ave outlet, Neiman Marcus outlet, and an outlet for just about every high-end designer that exists. But this would be a full-day trip, and it's an outdoor mall with like 200 shops, so be prepared for a legit workout to walk around the whole thing. It's an excellent choice if you're serious about shopping, though!

And one last recommendation: in NYC, don't spend all your time in midtown. If you're really interested in some [much] cheaper and more varied food choices, as well as more interesting shopping, head downtown or to Queens or Brooklyn (but if you're in the outer boroughs, make sure you plan ahead of time so you don't wind up in the wrong neighborhood). There will be a lot fewer tourists, cheaper everything, and probably more adventures. And the best slice of NY pizza? Ben's Pizza on W 3rd and Macdougal by Washington Square Park. I get it like once a week, and I never get tired of it.

Have an awesome time!

aoifebr

Wow guys thank you SO MUCH for all the tips. I'm not sure I'm going to have enough time to finish up all my work and research all the shopping and food options before I leave but I will give it a good go....

I have to admit its amazing that restaurant would have nutritional info on their site's that means I definitely have to buy a sim card when I land otherwise I will run up a massive roaming bill checking them all out...

Oh & I totally plan on enjoying myself while I'm there its all about the 80:20 rule right... Thanks again :bigsmile: