Hello everyone!!! Army vet and truck driver here!!!!

Canned meats like tuna and chicken could help some. Get a cooler w/ some diet cokes, waters, and prewashed carrots and celery for snack. Maybe some pre made chicken saladd from the grocery store. Focus more on the calories anyway. Stay away from junk. Count you liquid calories too.

Another idea cut out one meal but keep the rest of your meals the same.

Do some push ups haha. Been there.

Good luck man.

There are definitely ways to eat mostly unprocessed foods while constantly on the road. It just takes a lot of planning

I eat a ton of raw unsalted tree nuts from Kroger's bulk food dispensers to get in a lot of my fats. This is not an option for people with a nut allergy so that may or may not be an option in your case. I keep tuna with a pop top can and packed in virgin olive oil to manage my carb limit and get in more fats yet moderate protein.

It is not always handy I am sure for you to stop and eat towing a trailer but I often eat at McDonalds now that they serve breakfast 24/7. I get the fresh cracked in store ROUND eggs and cooked in real butter and sausage off the Al la-cart menu and small coffees with 9 added creams to get extra fats. Not eating any grain gives me more room for my fat calories.

I eat this way for pain management but am down 50 pounds over two years from max weight plus it fully resolved my years of serious IBS.

Best of success and give yourself a few years to learn the best way for you @mturbo08 .

mturbo08 wrote: »

Hi just like stated above I'm an army bet turned truck driver....I left the army in 2012 around 210 lbs, and I am current 291 that's 81lbs sense leaving the military and most of that was gained in the past 2.5 years sense I've started driving a truck...and I've had enough of it!!! I have been tracking my food and drinks for a week now and I have to say it has greatly helped with watching what I eat and drink and I do good as far as calories go but getting the fat and sodium levels down has proven to be extremely difficult being that 1. I'm a picky eater and 2. Everything I eat is some sort of processed food (which I am sick and tired of) I know this next part will sound like an excuse but it is extremely difficult to eat healthy when you live in a truck (no way to keep things cool or cook for myself nor do I have room for things to be able to do that as I am in a ram3500 and not a semi) I really want to lose this flab and eat healthy but I'm at a lost on how to get my sodium levels and fat levels down? Anyone have any ideas?????

This is really hard but doable. I don't usually give food advice but feel compelled to give you my opinion. First, keep 2 gallons of water and a super large reusable glass of ice with you at all times. Drink up to a gallon of the water each day so you don't mistake hunger for thirst. If you drink coffee, get used to it black. Then, decide if you want to eat once a day or 3 times a day. If you eat only once (and this might seem obsessive), buy a kitchen scale and a pouch to carry it in. If you eat a salad bar pull your scale out and tare the plate/bowl then fill it up with lettuce or spinach and snap a picture so you know how much you're eating, tare the scale again then add your chicken or beef and snap a picture. Do this for whatever you put on your plate. Later when you have time you can look up the calorie content of your food. It's a real eye opener how many calories you can pack into a salad. Also skip the pickles. There loaded with sodium.

If you need to eat three times/day think one Egg McMuffin for breakfast, grilled chicken and small salad for lunch, and maybe a 6 inch sub for dinner. The secret is to get them to go so you're not tempted to order more food just because you can. The hardest thing is giving up the Monsters, Red Bulls, and Mountain Dews. Since you're likely sitting for 10 or more hours/day it gets really hard to burn off any excess calories. If 1500 doesn't work to lose, dropping the calories a few hundred won't kill you but you might want to take a men's multivitamin. I don't know how you can lower your sodium levels except for avoiding pickles and pickled products but if you need to lower fat levels get things without cheese, skip the mayo and salad dressings, avoid fried foods, and go easy on burgers made from fatty beef. Hopefully this helps some but I know from experience that it's tremendously difficult to stay healthy while living on the road.

One more idea is to use the gyms at some of the T/A's & Flying J's for 30 minutes at least 3 times per week. Cardio and elliptical workouts are good for lowering blood pressure and sleeping good. They didn't have these when I was OTR. I used a jump rope and worked my jumping time up each week. Here's a link for more info on the gyms.
http://www.atbsshow.com/truckstopfitness