Avoiding weight gain while travelling
celticgirl2512
Posts: 3 Member
Over the last 3 years I have had to travel abroad several times a year for various reasons. Each trip caused me to gain weight and before the next one, I couldn't always lose those few pounds I gained from the previous trip and a few more would go on etc. Therefore after 3 years I probably gained about 30 pounds 
. Now I need to lose the whole lot. When I travel I stay in hotels and have been eating in restaurants. However, on my next trip (in 2 weeks time) I need to do things differently because I cannot afford to gain any more weight. The doctor won't give me my birth control anymore unless I lose some.
I am going to be in Australia and New Zealand for two weeks. I have already looked online and found some "healthy" cafes/restaurants near my hotel selling a lot of salads and some even had calories on the menu. I'm vegetarian which makes it more difficult too. After this trip though, my travelling schedule is reducing a lot and I will have four months before I need to go anywhere else (not had a big gap like that in 3 years). After that, it will be less in the future which will probably be better for my weight issues.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid weight gain while travelling?
. Now I need to lose the whole lot. When I travel I stay in hotels and have been eating in restaurants. However, on my next trip (in 2 weeks time) I need to do things differently because I cannot afford to gain any more weight. The doctor won't give me my birth control anymore unless I lose some.I am going to be in Australia and New Zealand for two weeks. I have already looked online and found some "healthy" cafes/restaurants near my hotel selling a lot of salads and some even had calories on the menu. I'm vegetarian which makes it more difficult too. After this trip though, my travelling schedule is reducing a lot and I will have four months before I need to go anywhere else (not had a big gap like that in 3 years). After that, it will be less in the future which will probably be better for my weight issues.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid weight gain while travelling?
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Replies
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It's hard because restaurant and hotel portion sizes are way bigger than they need to be. If they will let you order from the children's menu then do that, or just ask for half the amount of an adult meal. Also if you're ordering a salad, ask them to put the dressing on the side because I find that if you order a salad out it comes absolutely drowned in dressing.
Not sure what vegetarian options are like in Oz, I know that in the US and Canada when I was travelling the veggie option was basically lots of cheese. Not great! I ate mostly salads and asked them to hold out on croutons and other toppings that were really high in calories. If you're in a big city then you should be able to find a veggie/vegan restaurant.1 -
First of all ... I'm in Australia.
Secondly ... can you exercise? Do your hotels have gyms? Can you walk around the neighbourhood or rent a bicycle or go for a swim?
When I travel, I often exercise more than I do at home.
Oh, also, you'll want to walk a lot in the airports prior to your flights. Don't sit and wait for the plane ... pace.
Thirdly ... if you've got a little fridge in your hotel room, and if you can get into a grocery store or market, pick up snacks like fruit, low cal yogurt, Bulla cottage cheese, Ryvita crackers, etc..
Happily, one of the reasons I went with MFP is because the food database has Australian foods. So you can keep logging things in order to make an effort to remain under your calories or at least at maintenance.2 -
It's hard because restaurant and hotel portion sizes are way bigger than they need to be.
Less so in Australia. Except maybe pub meals ... pub meals tend to be larger. But if you do go for a pub meal, you can usually order a bowl of steamed veggies, and you'll get a good-sized bowl of steamed veggies.
This is a popular restaurant (not a pub) in Victoria, with a few in a few other places. It provides a nutritional guide, with calories: La Porchetta
http://www.laporchetta.com.au/our-menu
I usually order:
Italian Salad [GF] [V] - Fresh lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives with a balsamic dressing (680 kj)
(I often get it without dressing)
Cannelloni [V] - Fresh pasta wrapped around a ricotta and spinach filling, topped with tomato and basil sauce (1447 kj)
E
(the E = Entree and means a smaller sized meal)
Chocolate Mousse [GF] - A temptingly rich, whipped chocolate delight for chocolate lovers of all ages (680 kj)
Total: 2807 kj (671 calories) ... which isn't bad at all for a dinner that includes all that.
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Where are you staying?
I don't think grabbing ready made meals, or pre-prepared ingredients in Australia is as easy as the US, but if you make smart choices you should be ok. I usually avoid breakfast to save calories,try and walk a lot, and make sensible food choices unless something is really special.
Adding poached eggs to salads would be possible at many places, to help bump up protein. Vegetarian/vegan is popular in areas so you should be able to find something you can eat!1 -
Eat less and walk more. Roughly track your intake using appropriate guesstimates of your meal contents.2
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Thanks everyone. I am staying in Sydney city centre. I don't think the hotel has a gym but I will be doing a lot of walking. I have been looking online and I have saved links to various vegetarian restaurants and restaurants/cafes specialising in healthy food such as salads and wraps. Some even had the calories on the menu. I stayed in the same area last year and there are lots of small grocery shops around so I should be able to buy snacks like fruit. I remember last time I was there that the chocolate in Australia was 3 times the price of chocolate in the UK, so that would put me off buying it at least! I need to keep some fruit snacks in my room because I will wake up feeling starving during the night due to jetlag. In New Zealand, I was delighted to find a vegetarian restaurant very close to my hotel with lots of options. I don't drink alcohol so I'll be sticking to water or diet coke. The weather is vey hot at the moment which hopefully will make me feel less hungry!0
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It's hard because restaurant and hotel portion sizes are way bigger than they need to be.
Less so in Australia. Except maybe pub meals ... pub meals tend to be larger. But if you do go for a pub meal, you can usually order a bowl of steamed veggies, and you'll get a good-sized bowl of steamed veggies.
This is a popular restaurant (not a pub) in Victoria, with a few in a few other places. It provides a nutritional guide, with calories: La Porchetta
http://www.laporchetta.com.au/our-menu
I usually order:
Italian Salad [GF] [V] - Fresh lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives with a balsamic dressing (680 kj)
(I often get it without dressing)
Cannelloni [V] - Fresh pasta wrapped around a ricotta and spinach filling, topped with tomato and basil sauce (1447 kj)
E
(the E = Entree and means a smaller sized meal)
Chocolate Mousse [GF] - A temptingly rich, whipped chocolate delight for chocolate lovers of all ages (680 kj)
Total: 2807 kj (671 calories) ... which isn't bad at all for a dinner that includes all that.
Thanks for this! They don't have a restaurant but they have one in Christchurch right near my hotel! I can go there with piece of mind because I just found the food listed in MFP. Very happy 1 -
See if the hotel will give you a little fridge. Then cut your portion in half at the restaurant to take back to the hotel. I do that a lot when I travel. I travel mostly to China and walk a ton and eat small portions of food. I think portion size is your enemy here. Watch out for sweets as well!0
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fiddletime wrote: »See if the hotel will give you a little fridge. Then cut your portion in half at the restaurant to take back to the hotel. I do that a lot when I travel. I travel mostly to China and walk a ton and eat small portions of food. I think portion size is your enemy here. Watch out for sweets as well!
Australia as a general rule doesn't tend to do let you take food away (unless the place is also a takeaway restaurant). Portions here aren't generally that massive0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »fiddletime wrote: »See if the hotel will give you a little fridge. Then cut your portion in half at the restaurant to take back to the hotel. I do that a lot when I travel. I travel mostly to China and walk a ton and eat small portions of food. I think portion size is your enemy here. Watch out for sweets as well!
Australia as a general rule doesn't tend to do let you take food away (unless the place is also a takeaway restaurant). Portions here aren't generally that massive
Yes true ... having lived in Canada and spent quite a bit of time travelling in the US ... portion sizes here in Australia are, for the most part, quite reasonable.
Meals also don't come with a lot of extras. In Canada and the US, you'll often get garlic bread, a salad, and a dessert included with the meal or for a couple dollars more. Here, each of those things will likely be an additional $8 or so. If you're on a bit of a budget, chances are you won't want to pay $18 for the meal + $8 for the salad + $8 for the garlic bread + $8 for the dessert. You'll just stick to the meal, or maybe just go for the salad.
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