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Old 06-22-2008, 01:00 PM   #1  
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Default Need some ideas for work trips!

Hi everyone,

As usual I'm having some problem with my diet and could use our collective mind for help. If I stay OP at home then I can get to 163 within a week and a half. But then I have to do a 10 day work trip to Kansas and I jump back up to 169, and then work my way back down. Today I'm a solid 165 but I leave for Kansas on Tuesday.

I know my problem: I eat out too much while in Kansas. It's just dinner, but still, I'm pretty sure that I get in way too many calories and way too many starches.

In any case, this is my diet while in the field:

before work:
LF yogurt with fiber one, or kashi go lean AND
half a cup of oatmeal with splenda and cinnamon

snack:
gnu bar or an apple or a cheese stick

lunch:
either one of the South Beach lunches for 240 calories (~18-20 protein)
or
a tuna sandwich (tuna mixed with relish or LF LC italian dressing, healthy life 35 cal per slice bread)
or
PB&J sandwich (same bread as above, natural PB w/ omega 3's, sugar free preserves)
AND
carrot sticks
AND
gnu bar or an apple or a cheese stick

Snack:
I always take a gnu bar, apple, and cheese stick with me, so whichever one of those I didn't already eat.

Dinner: RESTAURANT PIG OUT FEST!!! With beer if it was HOT

Obviously dinner, is my problem. I have given up trying to control myself at the restaurants. First, I can't check their menu online (we all hate chain restaurants), and second I just came back from 8-9 hours in the heat, with mosquitoes/chiggers/ticks, walking around a prairie and if a girl wants a beer after that then she deserves it!

or not.

Anyway, I need some dinner ideas. The difficulty is that I'm in a hotel room, I have a mini fridge (with freezer) and a microwave.

I'm ready to take with me my spices so that I can microwave some frozen vegetables. But, what's my protein? I can't microwave an egg. I can't bring with me my toaster oven. Luckily I'm in Kansas and not in Kenya so just about everything is available to me.

Any other ideas or adjustments to my field diet would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks!

Last edited by JayEll; 06-22-2008 at 04:00 PM.
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:14 PM   #2  
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You can microwave eggbeaters, I do it all the time. I make tortilla wraps with eggbeaters, salsa and spinach leaves, they're pretty good.

I hear you on the work dinners in restaurant. I am not good at it, but I would tell you what I tell myself - go thinking you're NOT going to order a drink. Just take that off the table. Plan to get a salad (dressing on side), grilled meat (chicken or fish, ask for no butter) and extra vegetable (instead of a starch like potatoes or rice).

I'm still trying to drop 3 lbs from a week long work trip to Vegas I took earlier this year!! I do so well at home, but as soon as I travel - wammo!
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Old 06-22-2008, 01:29 PM   #3  
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How about Lean Cuisines or other frozen dinners? I know you can't probably fit a lot in a small freezer, but could you swing a few trips to the grocery store every week? What about canned soups? I LOVE soup. You can bring some bowls from home. And the frozen dinners and soups, depending on what kind you get, can be full of non-starchy veggies.

What part of Kansas will you be in?
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Old 06-22-2008, 02:16 PM   #4  
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Hey archy,

I sometimes have similar problems when I am on call--mine is just for 24 hrs but I can either be real organized or eat out--I know what eating out does to the scale. I don't drink beer when I am on call though.

Do you have access to a grocery store?

You could buy a rotisserie chicken and work your way through it. You could have tortillas and low fat cheese and canned beans and make burritos. I have microwaved scrambled eggs in the past. You could bring preboiled eggs and store them in the fridge. You could microwave oatmeal mixed with protein powder. You could have the same kinds of things for dinner that you have for breakfast and lunch.

But I'll bet that dinner out is a nice thing--to hang out with your co-archeology people and have a change of scenery.

The problem with restaurant meals is that there is little control over the calories. Even grilled chicken breast seems to have more calories in a restaurant than at home.

So.....
You could split an entree with someone.
Order off the kids menu for portion control.
Have a broth-based soup and a side salad.
Order lean protein with veggies.
Skip the bread or chips/salsa.
Order as clean as you can and don't get sucked into the huge portions.
Easier said than done. That's why splitting with someone is nice, cause you aren't tempted to eat their portion too. Or boxing up half immediately.

I think you were the first one in our midst to identify the Bermuda triangle of weight loss---those dreaded 160s. The doldrums of weight loss. Shudder. Many enter and fight for months before passing through. It is such a pain in the patootey to relose the same pounds over and over and over again. It may come down to what you want more---a nightly beer or to hit the 150s. Do you order light or low-calorie beer?

Stay strong, archy!
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Old 06-22-2008, 03:58 PM   #5  
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Ooh, great ideas already!

Glory: I can microwave egg beaters??? Seriously did not know that. I'm adding that to the shopping list. My breakfast burritos are back!

HarpoChicoGroucho: We work in Fort Riley, so we mostly like to stick to Manhattan (we were there for the tornado). This time though, there's Stampede, or whatever it is, so we're gonna have to go into Junction City (ick!) and then Abilene for the weekend. I've never been to Abilene, so I'm hoping for the best!

The frozen meal/soup idea I'm keeping for a couple of days. They don't have the kashi ones I like at the Dillon's there, and I know I can't take 7 days straight of Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine. Although all the salt in there doesn't bother me as much since I sweat so much.

midwife: Yeah, I'm still in the Bermuda Triangle of Weight Loss. I swear the day that I see 159 on the scale I'll probably cry.

Good idea on bringing the pre-boiled eggs. I don't know about the chicken, I'll have to ponder it a bit more. I've binged on rotisserie chicken before, so that's why I'm nervous about it. Weird, I know. People binge on ice cream, sweets, chips, cookies, but not me. It's rotisserie chicken, pasta, and rice for me.

I'm using all the tricks in the arsenal for the two meals I'll allow myself to eat out. The first place we go to is the Panera, so salmon salad for me. That's fine. The last night it is tradition that we all eat out as a crew at the Little Apple Brewery. No light beers there. I've decided to only have the salad bar and soup there. And 1 (ONE) beer. I've already got the excuse ready that I'm too poor to eat out every night. We're all college kids, so that's something that they all understand.

My self control at restaurants there really go to crap by day 3. I'm tired, I'm STARVING, and in the field the only thing my crew talks about after lunch is food and beer. At my heaviest weight I've been known to drink a beer in the shower
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Old 06-22-2008, 04:06 PM   #6  
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Hey archy,

I don't know if this tip will work for you or not--but, order club soda or sparkling water with lime as your first drink, and drink that as fast as you would that first beer. Then wait ten minutes and order yourself that (1) beer.

I'm thinking you are probably really thirsty and tired after a day in the field, and so get hydrated first... You may find you drink less.

You already know to limit the carbs and so forth, so I won't tell you about that.

And maybe eating more earlier in the day would help, although your foods look pretty darn good to me.

Jay
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Old 06-22-2008, 04:44 PM   #7  
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There's a few good books for you, that I"m reading/studying as I travel for business and eating out and not exercising during 7-10 days at a time every other month hurts. It's also hard to get back into the home routine when I return. I just did a speed read at the bookstore of the Wall Street Diet, I'm going to go back and buy it because it has the greatest tips on how business people who travel can pack food, what to buy on trips, what to eat/not eat at restaurants, how to make choices on a little alcohol or bread, ideas on exercising etc. Another good book is The Traveler's Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road. Another is the Ultimate Workout Guide For the Road. I'm creating an exact list for my next trip like you are, on what I can bring in a small cooler (what I have used in the past and what I didn't), what I can buy at convenience stores, what to keep in my car/purse, what restaurant and items to eat out, things to buy at grocery stores, and a few "cheat" ideas like a beer here and there but how to make sure everything else has been clean if so. The Wallstreet Diet has some forms to fill out that are really good. I'm finding that my traveling has been a huge problem for me, and returning too when my home is cluttered and the fridge is empty (I'm a single mom and take my boy with me on trips) so there's ideas on how to readapt when coming home, even if it means having Lean Cuisine for a day so you don't just pig out like I've done in the past. My next trip I'm going to figure out before hand how exercise bands work, and have a routine to use them, and also a hotel workout routine like pushups, crunches, lunges etc that don't require anything but my own body weight. I've gotten more into exercising in the swimming pools at hotels with my boy, making laps up and down the pool, doing knee ups, etc for 1/2 hour or so, that's invigorating too. Of course if your hotel has a fitness center you can use that before you start your day. At the very least you can walk/run or even walk up and down hotel stairs. For my my trips are going to be "spa vacations" too next time. Instead of being cheap I'm likely going to make sure any room has a small fridge (tried to take a portable plug in one and used my truck adapter and it ran my battery down) and microwave. I think easy ideas for microwaves are pregrilled chicken with brown rice. Oatmeal premixed in containers with flax, dried berries, protein powder and wheatgerm. Apples and oranges are easy to travel with for fruit. Also take along your protein bars and almonds, plus beef or turkey jerky. I'm going to premake some wraps with turkey/chicken this next time. And the Rye crackers with Skinny Cow cheese tends to tide me over. I think it's key to develop an at home plan as well as a travel plan for those of us who travel a lot, plus a transition plan for leaving and coming home. I'm going to have a travel binder myself with lists of what to bring food wise as well as clothes, makeup, etc - check lists. I find it hard to even get on the road as it's hard to come and go, and stay organized. Discipline seems to be the key to being thin and fit for life. Travel isn't going to prevent me from it anymore...
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Old 06-22-2008, 04:45 PM   #8  
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Also the book Eat This Not that is a bestseller with TONS of ideas on what to eat when you go out.
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Old 06-23-2008, 08:41 PM   #9  
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Thanks horsey. I'll see if I can get some of those books used on Amazon.

ICK, I freaked out and had a quesadilla this afternoon! I need to relax and pack. Relax and pack.
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Old 06-24-2008, 04:03 AM   #10  
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Here are a few other ideas for protein:
- Canned or pouched tuna: You could make tuna or salmon sandwiches or wraps. Or the tuna and salmon fillets in pouches are pre-seasoned and make a great meal when microwaved. I get the Bumble Bee Meskite Grilled tuna in a pouch and top it with salsa. The Bumble Bee Tuna Sensations (in cans) are also really good.
- Canned crab meat: You could make crap salad with crab meat, lettuces, veggies, and a low calorie shrimp cocktail sauce or salsa for dressing.
- Pre-cooked chicken strips: You could use them to make sandwiches or wraps, or make salads. I also like to make a meal out of 1/4 tube pre-cooked polenta (you could also use pre-cooked vacuum sealed rice), pre-cooked chicken strips, refried beans, and salsa. Put it all in a bowl and microwave until it is warm.
- Pre-cooked ham: You could use it in salads. Or you could just eat it by itself (maybe top it with some pineapple) with a side of veggies or fruit. I also like to add pre-cooked ham to canned split pea soup (sometimes I eat it over pre-cooked rice). You can also get pre-cooked smoked turkey.

I'm not sure how much protein is in them, but another idea for dinner might be those pre-cooked Indian meals that are sold in vacuumed sealed pouches.

And, in a pinch, there's always lunch meat for sandwiches or salads.

Last edited by BlueToBlue; 06-24-2008 at 04:03 AM.
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