Touring musician looking for weight loss help!

shero7785
shero7785 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey!

First post here. I started using MFP two weeks ago to track my calories. I'm about 45 pounds over weight and aiming to lose it slowly and permanently over the next year or so. So far I've gained 2.5 lbs since I started tracking, not a surprise since I did go over my calorie limit most days. Steep learning curve! I love how you can see trends in your eating habits with MFP though. I'm a touring musician, I'm on the road about 3 weeks of every month on average. This means lots of fast food, rider snacks and free booze provided most nights. Not too mention working late into the night, so late meals and not much sleep. The lifestyle is definitely hard on your body but I love my work and I'm not about to switch careers. I want to learn how to be healthy within this context. From tracking I notice that snacks (grabbing handfuls of chips or cheese/deli meats that are usually in dressing rooms) eating late and drinking cause the calorie surplus in my diet. I make pretty good choices at meal times. Wondering if anyone has advice on how to cope with losing weight while travelling, not having a kitchen at your disposal or even working nights often. Also tips for avoiding tempting high calorie foods when they are always around and free for the taking : / any advice is appreciated!!!

Thanks guys

Replies

  • juliesare
    juliesare Posts: 2
    I keep lots of protein bars, ect around to help with the snacking. Special K Chocolate peanut butter bars are my favorite and they have lots of protein so they satisfy your appetite for longer. Fiber one bars are another good one. I feel like I'm eating a candy bar.
  • Codilee87
    Codilee87 Posts: 509 Member
    Buy a small food scale that you can bring on the road and use it to weigh out your snacks and meals - accuracy counts and it can be very eye-opening to see how much food actually qualifies as a 'serving'. Try to bring your own food whenever possible.
  • juliesare
    juliesare Posts: 2
    Oh! The cheese and deli meats are so bad as long as you aren't over doing it or eating them with lots of crackers and stuff. Good luck!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Very good insight. A general approach I have found helpful is to take a single problem, troubleshoot a solution, test for a week or so, and re-evaluate. If it works, keep doing it. If not, try something else. So I'm going to give some tips. Pick one and give it a try. Then add a new habit, and so on.

    lots of fast food
    • Research the best choices from the big chains so you know ahead of time what you will order
    • Eat half
    • Good-bye fries
    • Good-bye sugar pops and sodas

    rider snacks/grabbing handfuls of chips or cheese/deli meats
    • Use the diabetic method and have a little protein with a little carbohydrate for staying power
    • Carry a measuring cup so you can keep track of how much you are taking in.
    • Have an emergency stash of better choices. I've blogged my list of portable proteins, link below. One easy way is to eat half a protein bar. I pre-cut the bar so I am not tempted to go over.

    booze
    • Take your drink early in the evening and sip it to last. Refill with water.

    Consider that a diabetic in similar circumstances would have no choice but to make adjustments. So with planning this can be done.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jgnatca/view/mid-day-snacks-722504
  • shero7785
    shero7785 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks guys! And your blog is great Jgnatca, just checked it out, super helpful sound advice! Good luck ya'll!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Buy a food scale and prelog your days.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited February 2015
    I'm assuming the usual musician weight loss program while on the road is not suitable (poverty + cocaine + groupies), so yeah...

    ...for me, when I'm travelling a lot, I go over chain/fast food menus in advance, pick out a few items I know will meet my needs, and stick to them. It gets boring, but honestly, making conscious food choices is the last thing I want to be doing 3 weeks out from home, so putting it all on autopilot is the next best thing.

    For me, YMMV, etc.

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