Travelling OverSeas. HELP! How can I stay on track?!?

eat alot of protein like eggs for breakfast maybe a salad with chicken or other meat for lunch get dressing on side or just use oil and vinegar and fish and veges for dinner stay away from carbs they make you hungry expecially without your protein shakes. good luck you can do it. i think your goals are right on and very doable.

If its any help I travel on business regularly here in TX and Louisiana (which is sort of like a foreign country), especially the food. It is more difficult. I hit a grocery store when I arrive and buy apples, fiber or protein bars to try to maintain a semblance of normality. I also make sure where I stay eother has a gym or is near a Gold's so I can keep up with some modified work outs.

When I eat in restaurants I immediately cut the portions in half, or order only an appetizer and sald. It takes some thinking and planning.....and I log on here daily just to keep up with and remind myself what my targets are.

Good luck with it!

Hi there!

I started my weight loss plan around November of 2011. Last summer (2012) my husband and I went to Europe for thirteen days. Not only did I stay on my weight loss plan but I continued to exercise daily and I even lost weight! What I did was made sure I exercised almost every day. (I think there was one day I didn't do anything). We flew to Rome and went on an eleven day cruise so temptation was EVERYWHERE! I decided to eat moderately for breakfast and lunch as I knew dinner would probably be extravagant. So breakfast was usually oatmeal with fruit and brown sugar. Lunch was some type of salad or other healthy choice and lots of fruits and veggies. I REALLY paid attention to portion control too. For dinner I kind of compromised. One day I would have an appetizer but no bread or dessert. The next day I had bread but no appetizer or dessert. Then, the day after that I would have dessert and no appetizer or bread. Of course there were one or two nights when I didn't follow the plan exactly but I did make a huge effort to be mindful most of the time, which is the key.

You have to be mindful of the fact that change in location does not mean a change in goal or plans - even though it will probably be harder. Keep your goals in mind at every meal - as well as in between if there are snacks around. If you're in a hotel with a gym workout everyday. If you know you're going to splurge on a particular night (business dinner, etc.) then eat lighter during the day - but enough to keep you full so you don't over eat at dinner or workout longer. Try drinking mostly water so you don't drink your calories when you don't have as much control over your meals. Take the stairs when you can and walk as much as you can. If the hotel doesn't have a gym ask if there is a gym that works with the hotel or a walking trail nearby.

As for eating out you can choose how your meals are prepared. Eat mostly vegetables and a healthy serving (3-4 oz or fist size) of protein. If you eat starches (breads, potatoes, pasta, corn, etc.) eat small amounts. Watch butter, oil, dressing, fat (etc.) intake. You can always ask for all of the fats on the side so you control how much you eat. And, if you do splurge and over do it on a particular day enjoy yourself and do better at the next meals. It's not easy but it can be done!

In any event, enjoy your trip and good luck to you!

Where will you be in the UK As us Brits could help! Do you have to eat in the. Hotel if nt we could pull together some good places to go for dinner.

Pretty much everywhere has the calorie counts either displayed on the menu or online now Pizza Express do pizzas with salads in that come in around 550 calls I believe, and Pizza Hut do free unlimited salad with your meal.

Pretty much every supermarket has a range of pre-packaged sandwiches, all of which have the calories on somewhere.

Our nutritional grids on packaging differ from how yours are laid out, so you may want to do a google image search for some UK nutritional grids so that you can use them quickly when you come here.

Myfitnesspal has data base of international foods, this website works in most european countries, just scan barcodes

Using the website from her phone will cost her an arm and a leg, though (unless she's in WiFi) so shell have to track by paper.

Well I live in the UK but have to work out of a hotel one week a month so I do feel your pain.

Find a Marks & Spencer (it's a clothes store but they also have a food market - sometimes you'll just get the food market on its own as 'M&S Simply Food'.) Eating out is difficult because, in the main, you just don't know what calories you're consuming so I tend to buy my dinners from M&S and eat them in the hotel. They do a lot of pre-made salad bowls (there's a king prawn and citrus one that is a cracking big salad for only 135 calories), pots of fruit salad and then I'd hit the deli part for things like poached salmon/trout, tandoori calamari with dips, lean cooked chicken etc. You'll find lots of snack packs of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and lower-cal popcorn. DON'T get pre-packed sandwiches in supermarkets...it's a rare day that a sandwich is under 300 calories...most of them are crammed full of mayo.

Other options I go for are to go to a sushi place (Yo Sushi is the generic one you tend to find in cities) and get a big box of sashimi.

If you get a supermarket like Tesco, Sainsburys or Waitrose nearby then head to the wholefood section where you'll find all the nuts, seeds, dried fruit for snacks. They all do pre-packaged salads, smoked and poached fish, lean cooked meats etc.

Eating out - well that's anyone's guess on the calories. When I eat out on business I follow some rules of thumb:

1. Avoid things in sauces as you have no idea how much butter/sugar/cheese has gone into them.
2. Keep it simple - my first choice would be fish, my second would be a steak and I'll order extra veg sides if necessary.
3. Avoid chips (fries), in UK restaurants the popular thing is 'triple cooked chips' which have actually been through a process that par-boils them, then fries them once and leaves them to cool, then a final deep frying to crisp them. So major calories there!
4. If you're drinking out beware that the standard glass of wine sold in pubs these days is about 250ml (approx 8fl oz) so quite a lot in one go unless you specifically ask for a small glass. Avoid lager, go for Real Ale which is generally lower calorie and much nicer.

I am an American living in Scotland--you can eat just fine here. Salad instead of chips, eggs at breakfast, go to the supermarkets for snacks and meals that you're not eating in restaurants. Indian food is popular--I always have a tandoori entree when we're out for Indian. Avoid the obvious stuff and eat what you know is healthy, just like you would anywhere else in the world.

Enjoy your trip. :drinker:

DON'T get pre-packed sandwiches in supermarkets...it's a rare day that a sandwich is under 300 calories...most of them are crammed full of mayo.

The 'basic' or 'essentials' sandwich ranges are usually a bit lighter. And frankly, a meal should be at least 3-400 calories anyway, if you're travelling around and walking a lot...

The 'basic' or 'essentials' sandwich ranges are usually a bit lighter. And frankly, a meal should be at least 3-400 calories anyway, if you're travelling around and walking a lot...

Yah they are, but they're usually pretty thin not that nice. My philosophy is why blow 400 (and 500+ for some of them) on a pretty small sandwich which is going to leave you hungry an hour later when for the same calories, or often fewer, you can get a huge salad, fresh fruit and poached/smoked fish or lean meats.

Supermarket sandwiches in this country are empty calories IMO - but naturally that is just my opinion.

The other thing I'd say is if the hotel is doing crap breakfasts or your company isn't coughing up for breakfast, stock up on porridge pots that just require you to add hot water. All the major supermarkets do them.

I've traveled internationally a few times since I started getting in shape. The longest trip was 10 days in Tunisia. Since I couldn't log daily on that trip, I did my best to watch portion size with filling healthy options. When I got back, and after the sodium-based water retention disappeared, I had maintained my progress.

Of course, if you can access the Internet and log, you shouldn't have issues. If you eat in restaurants, do your best to estimate the calories (I generally estimate high to be safe).

For someone who travels a lot for work, I would encourage you to find the hotel's gym and ensure that you stick to a regular workout and maybe work out more than you would at home, just to ward off those extra calories. Maybe try to do a heavier work out in the morning and then a light work out in the evening.
Also avoid the carbs, and many hotels offer light menu options.
When eating out, stick to the bake, grill, or broiled option, fish is always good and chicken.
I hope that helps, but I truly think the working out will be your biggest help.

This is perfect advice! I went on a weeklong cruise and was able to lose a pound doing exactly this. I walked as much as I could and went to the gym on the ship. When it came time for meals, I tried to fill up more on fruits and salads and then ate as well as I could with the rest. I did enjoy some other things too but in MODERATION! It drove me nuts not to be able to log everything but once I got used to that, I was ok. Think about your goal and how far you have come already...you don't want to lose that progress.

I haven't traveled overseas, but I did travel out of my time zone, from Pennsylvania to California a few times while on MFP. I don't advocate skipping meals, but on vacation we tend to be likely to go out and eat a large breakfast at like 10:00 am or so and then have a big dinner later. Fill the rest of the day with small snacks. A business trip is different than vacation as you may have meetings to go to etc. that will keep you from eating a big late breakfast though, so I would just space out small meals so you don't have a chance to get super hungry at all while you body clock is a bit off.