On the road, away from home, eating out

dipteshr

Hey all,

I'm an existing MFP'er so just to make the point that this isn't a New Years resolution failure!

I am a software consultant so I'm always on the road and away from home. I've been reasonably good at maintaining my weight since I lost 22kg but I want to lose some more but I'm finding it difficult (I wasn't a consultant when I lost the 22kg)

So my questions are as follows...

If I'm away for several consecutive days, what can I buy from the normal supermarkets which doesn't require any cooking or a kitchen to prepare

Also, what can I make from home and take with me which will last for 2/3 days without going bad.

If I'm in a hotel without a gym, what kind of workout can I do?

And any other advice you may be able to give.

Thanks in advance!!

Dave198lbs

for workouts check out nerdfitness.com

for food...nuts and fruit

lauristewart

Do the hotels you stay in have a refrigerator or microwave? I always make sure the places I stay have those. I also go to Ruby Tuesdays a lot b/c they have a lot of good, healthy choices. Chicken and steak with green beans, broccoli, asparagus, spaghetti squash.....There are plenty of restaurants that serve veggies now. You can take protein powder. I also have a portable dvd player, so I take it with me and do my workout dvd's. They are more fun than a treadmill anytime!

Hope this helps! Lauri

rainghirl

Hi - I'm also a software consultant that travels a lot and have managed to lose weight whilst travelling and I'm UK based.

I usually make sure I have bananas with me or access to them - they are a really useful snack item any fruit would do really. Also things like Alpen bars - the lo-cal ones, and bags of seeds and nuts.

I find that the M&S salads are pretty good, if you are travelling by train at all you can buy these to eat on the train rather than train food which is really unhealthy. Boots do some good flat bread wraps that are fairly decent. I suspect that Sainsbury's and Tesco do a few salads, I find they tend to be a bit high in mayonnaise though - M&S is far better for avoiding it.

If you have to eat out a lot, just have a main course. I try and go places like Pizza Express or Zizzi that have low calorie options, or I'll go for a curry and stick to things like Channa Masala with boiled rice or chapatis - you could also go for Tandoori chicken or prawn - the dry type meals. Avoid any of the creamy meals that hotels like to do and above all avoid having a dessert.

If the hotel doesn't have a gym I'll try and go for a walk or a run if at all possible. Even in London recently I managed to walk round the streets being a tourist just to burn a few calories - if you can stay near a park you can get a run in without too many people getting in the way. I guess you have your laptop with you, so you should be able to get some fitness DVDs you can watch or look for things on You Tube. Just doing squats and crunches is probably pretty good - though try not to annoy the person in the room downstairs (It might be me!).

caribougal

You can try requesting a fridge. Sometimes they'll bring one to your room. You can call ahead to request. If not, you can also put leftover dinner in your ice bucket to save for breakfast. I also suggest trying to stop at a supermarket near your hotel to stock up.

I second the nerd fitness site. He has great body weight workouts.

AverageUkDude

On the odd occasion i have to go onsite and get put in a dingy hotel I will take my Nexus 7 with me, put a few workout videos on it and do one or two in the room,

MuslimFitnessInstructor

for food when out. I order from my phone. i will type in the resturant and see what my fitness pal says. for workouts.

if I am watching TV. during the tv ad's I will do sit ups, squats etc. once they are over I go back to watching my show then repeat.

dipteshr

Thanks so much for all your quick responces! It'll all be useful when I get back to work in a few days...

I tend to be reasonably good already (because of the fear of putting on the weight I lost)... but the flipside is I'm living with the folks at the moment becuase I cant justify a place just for the weekends and i have two younger sisters who also live with them so when I get home I'm faced with stacks of unhealthy stuff which I cant resist!

When I managed to lose the weight before I was in a totally different place mentally. Recently I've deviated a lot and cant seem to get back to that place but I'm hoping that the New Year and a new start will help reset my mental attitude!

thanks again for all your words!

haroon_awan

Lots of food lasts days without having to be chilled. The supermarkets/government get a bit over the top about "Keep refrigerated" etc.

But a good cooler bag.

Buy thinks like cooked chicken breast and veg and just eat that. It's not going to be tasty, but much better for you.

Do home workouts like P90X.