Eating while traveling for work

Adirafox

It looks like I am going to be away from home for a full work week soon, and only two weeks before my cruise!!

I have become a super control freak over what I eat....for example, we are going to Roadhouse tonight and I already have my dinner planned out.

At home, I can easily control what I eat....a green smoothie for breakfast, a planned healthy lunch, a weekly meal plan for dinners.

For this week I will be eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner out! Eek! What are your recommendations for eating healthy while gone. Suggestions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all appreciated.

TimeForMe99

It's not as hard as it seems. Lots of people eat out daily. I'm on the road four days most weeks and only have problems when I'm at home where snacking is sooo easy. I spend a lot of time at our Pittsburgh office and eat at Cheesecake Factory two or three times and still lose weight. Preplanning will give you the control you need to feel confident. Hit the gym at the hotel or opt to walk rather than take a cab (if safe, of course - don't know where you're going).

Check with the hotel to see if a refrigerator will be available. If so, Greek yogurt and fruit is a good breakfast. Otherwise select wisely from the breakfast bar - regular yogurt, hard boiled eggs, cereal - and grab a snack for later. If you have a car head over to the grocery and grab a few items. If no refrigerator is available then put them on ice in a cooler brought from home or the ice bucket.

Check around your work location for lunch options. Panera, SaladWorks, or one of the soup chains will give you variety and healthy choices. A good deli is perfect and most make salads as well as sandwiches.

For dinner, preselect your restaurants and make a list of the best options for you. Remember that you don't have to clean your plate so that 1,000 calorie pasta dish is really only 500 calories for half and you can add a salad. If you have a fridge then you have lunch for tomorrow as well. And watch out for alcohol. Save the drinking for vacation.

Finally, water - lots of it. Bring your own water bottle and fill it regularly. Restaurant food generally has more sodium than we use at home and can cause issues with bloating and water retention.

Adirafox

I'm not entirely sure where I am going to be staying. I'll be in a college town, and I will be on the campus during the week, but it's hard to do research beforehand. Maybe when it gets closer and I know what hotel I will be at.

I definitely plan to work out, but I'm nervous especially about breakfast. It seems really hard to find healthy breakfast options that are filling. I can't do small breakfasts.

sarahthin

I find that by eating a wide variety for my meals gives me more of an idea of what I can do when we are out. Breakfast can be a bacon and egg sandwich with cheese, oatmeal with fruit and nuts, cold cereal with fruit and yogurt. We are getting ready for a week of vacation in the mountains. We will have a kitchen but my husband tells me we will be eating out more than I planned. I planned one meal a day, he says at least two. I will have my snacks of fruit and granola or protein bars and lots of water. Will laso be doing a lot of walking. It can be done.

cwl1

I travel a fair amount for work and bring a lot of snacks. I bring Lara or other bars, 100 calorie packs of almonds, and apples. Those all travel well. For breakfast I try to find a starbucks and would get tea or a skim latte and their oatmeal plain or with a banana. For lunches I try to find just a plain green salad w/ protein and have a snack. For dinners I'm usually w/ a group w.o control over where we are, so I stick to the sides menu. I'll get a side salad, then a baked potato with a side of veggies. I try to scope out menus in advance when I can.