Hey, are any of you other fabulous ladies on the "road" a lot (aka, traveling for work?) I've been traveling a lot lately (used to be once a month but now its every week or every other week). I also travel with my boss (who loves Mexican food, Chinese food, pizza, you get the picture). I'm fine when we go to a steak place (I can order a small steak with side salad and not feel too bad) but can't order anything healthy at Mexican places (I hate fish so fish tacos are out) or Chinese places.

I guess this is just a rant because I need to eat something when we go out (we are with clients and it would be really rude to just get a side salad or something...most of the places we go don't even have side salads, anyway). Ugh, in two days I ate great for breakfast (on my own, so just fruit) but lunch was usually a sandwich (not bad) or a (one) slice of cheese pizza (not good). Dinner was usually a gormet burger (really not good) or Chinese (really, really not good). I am NOT looking forward to weighing in on Saturday and I'm back on the road starting next week Tuesday.

Anyone else have this problem?

I don't think its rude to get a side salad at all. If thats what you prefer then do it. Since you said most places don't have salads try eating small amounts of your meal instead of the whole plate. Eat half the burger save the other have and so on. Just because its in front of you doesn't mean you have to eat the whole thing.

So true and I didn't finish the Chinese food (I was neither stuffed nor hungry 1/2 way in). The burger I woofed down (with fries- cringe) and the piece of pizza? I tried, and succeeded, at not eating a second slice...I was still really, really hungry. I'm ravenous by the time we eat on the road...we start our days around 6-7 am working (so we are up at 5-6 am), continue all day until we can grab a 15-30 minute working lunch around 2 and then continue working until 8-9 pm (where it is a working dinner usually). Bedtime doesn't happen till midnight (have to finish up work after dinner in our respective hotel rooms) and then we are up again, starting all over again.

Maybe I will try and bring a few granola bars next week. I feel akward eating in front of my boss, my clients, other counsel, etc. during our meetings but I'm so hungry by the time we eat (at the places my boss and clients want to eat = unhealthy) I do eat everything on my plate usually.

The best thing I've found at mexican resturants are veggie fajitas. You have to account for the oil, but if you get corn tortillas and only eat half of the serving, you're doing much better than the many other unhealthy (and delicious) things you could get.

Good luck and safe travels!

see i'm bad I consider Pizza healthy haha. Maybe instead of granola bars go to the grocery store and stock up on fruits would be a much better idea, and do you get any little breaks in between like an 30 minutes to an hour or so to yourself? Maybe do a small workout if you can (if possible) unless it's just continuous as I read. It's probably a little harder to do on the road but there are plenty of options also water is your best friend, drink lots and lots of water.

I get this problem quite a lot. I haven't been on the road since last summer but I have my first tour of the year coming up in March and I'm panicking about what I'm going to eat and how I'm going to do any exercise!

I would stock up on fruit but I have no time to myself on these trips to go to the store (it has to fit in my carry-on if I want to take it with me on the trip and not sure how well fruit will travel). I would work out but I get no time to myself really...I work from 6ish in the morning to around 8-9ish at night (and then get to go to my room to work for 3-4 more hours. Heck, sometimes it is an all-night deal as well where all you can eat is what they cater in (usually pizza). And you are starving and can't leave to get your own meal (at all). I'm going to try to really work out tommorrow and this weekend and try and get back on track for things. Working out on the road is not really possible if you want to get 5-7 hours of sleep.

If I could pick the places we eat at I would probably be ok on the road but I don't really have a say.

As far as Mexican, veggie fajitas isn't a bad option. Maybe I will just get the fajitas with chicken but no tortillas? Don't know what to do about Chinese food. Are there any good dinner options for Chinese food?

I need to order a dinner dish if I'm with clients- they order apps, salad, dinner and desert so ordering just something like an app is sort of looked upon oddly. It is so uncomfortable to sit through everyone eating apps, salad, dinner and desert when you just order a salad. Know what I mean?

Can you have a say in where you eat? Perhaps research restaurants in the area you are traveling and find a place with healthy choices. Say to your boss, "I've heard this restaurant is really good! And I'd love for us to take our clients there tonight"

The other thing you have to do is... be honest... Is it weird and embarassing for your clients or for you? I had a come to terms moment with this, I used to think that too, then I just started ordering how and what I wanted. Yes, they commented at first, and I had to explain that I needed to count calories these days. And guess what, they respected it, and still give me compliments everytime they see me.

There are good choices everywhere you go, don't be embarassed to pass on an appetizer, order chicken fajitas and just eat the chicken, order steamed veggies and brown rice at a chinese place.

Really, nobody is going to think less of you for caring about yourself and your body.

Also, when you get back to your room take 20 minutes and do the 30 day shred, then get on those last couple hours of work.

I travel a ton too. You can do this!!!

I also wanted to add a couple other tips.

Bring luna bars in your carry on for snacks. When your plane lands stop in the arriving airport stores and grab some water and fruit there, it wont go bad on your way to the hotel.

At hotel breakfast grab extra fruit or an english muffin or even a small box of special K that you can eat later as a snack. This way you wont be going out of your mind, crazy hungry at dinner.

There isn't much you can do about pizza being brought in for lunch unless you can figure out who is ordering in advance and ask if they will order some salad with the pizza... and yes, I've done this before. Nobody said a word and actually loved the addition of some leafy greens.

A lot of people have given really great advice. You say you can't get ANYTHING healthy at mexican, chinese, etc. restaurants. I don't think that is the case. If this is really a lifestyle change and not just a diet you should realize that you can eat healthy anywhere.

Mexican food, real Mexican food that is (not americanized versions of mexican dishes), is extremely healthy. Ditto corn tortillas instead of flour, chicken instead of beef and skip tons of cheese and sour cream. For chinese restaurants, go with steamed veggies and chicken. Avoid anything deep fried and with sugary sauces (sweet and sour, general tso's, etc.). I like Mongolian chicken, which is usually just chicken and veggies with with a light garlic sauce. I think a lot of these dishes are roughly the same number of calories as a restaurant steak (which is cooked with tons of butter on top of it) and salad -- maybe even less.

And yes, I would avoid ordering JUST a side salad when everyone else is eating a full meal. I once had a date where he ordered just a side salad (not even a full one) and I was STARVING so I ordered a full meal. I felt uncomfortable making him pay and continuing to eat when he was done. He asked me out again and I said no because of this (well, this and the fact he ate his salad with his fingers!)

Ok, that is some really helpful advice, all. Also helpful encouragement.

I don't have a say in where we go to eat about 90% of the time.

I'm back on the road on Tuesday next week and am going to try some of these tactics. I guess I've been too embarrassed to be "picky" and stand out for anything other than my "smarts." I know that sounds silly.

I also know this is me projecting but I feel like if I order something healthy at a restaurant (or act like Sally in "When Harry Met Sally" with all the caveats she put on her restaurant orders) people will look at me like "what is the use." Again, totally me projecting and I need to get over it.

In my mind there wasn't anything "healthy" in the Mexican/Chinese places we go to...maybe that isn't a fair statement. I'm just scared of the food at those places because it is a total "unknown" calorie wise for me. I'll do the best I can in ordering the veggies, steamed stuff, avoiding chips, etc. Also going to try the luna bars/fruit ideas for snacks so I don't go crazy when I do get a chance to sit down for a meal.

Another thought: When you're at chinese restaurants, you can always get tofu instead of meat. When did you last see tofu at an American restaurant? If you can't choke down tofu, shrimp is also a really great option. You also have the luxury of ordering soup at chinese restaurants.

If your main concern is that you just don't know where things stand calorie-wise, go to daily plate and do some research on basic components of a dish.

Example:

Corn tortilla from one company: 55 calories
Flour tortilla from same company: 110 calories

Brown Rice: 218 for 1 cup
White Rice: 252 for 1 cup

Mongolian Chicken from Panda Express (5 ounces): 170 calories
Orange chicken from Panda Express (6 ounces): 540 calories

I doubt you're eating at panda express, so the calories aren't exactly the same, but what will hold true is that one is 4 times healthier than another. With a little research, you can easily ballpark your calories.

As a point of comparison, a classic sirloin meal (smaller portion of steak) at Chili's is 1010 calories. At Cheesecake Factory, the only steak under 1000 calories is the petit filet mignon and it clocks in at 700. Their salads are around 300 each. So, if you are okay with a 1,000 calorie dinner, you should be able to really find something good at a mexican/chinese restaurant.

If you can overcome your qualms about being picky, I think it will help a lot. I used to travel for work every week, work insane hours like you described, and be forced to eat out at places where there weren't really many (or any) healthy options, so I had to be picky or continue gaining weight.

Think of it this way: your clients may not eat out as much or have the luxury of expense accounts so of course they order apps, desserts, and drinks to maximize the benefit, but when you have to eat out for every meal practically every day, you can't think of the restaurant meal as a treat meal or a special occasion because it's really not.

Our tricks were to split entrees (this really draws attention though and it helps to have someone with a similar mindset to split with), ask for dishes without the butter/sauce/cream/cheese or whatever it comes with or get that stuff on the side. I always got dressing on the side for salads because most of the time, they come dripping in dressing. Avoid the bread/chip basket. Cut back on alcoholic drinks. Take extra fruit from the hotel breakfast to snack on. Drink tea or seltzer throughout the day instead of juice, soda, or snacking. If you're getting chinese food a lot, ask for steamed rice (preferably brown) instead of the fried rice or noodle stuff and try for more soy sauce based dishes instead of the ones with the sticky, sweet sauces that add a billion calories. I would also be cautious of the tofu in these dishes because sometimes it's fried and the tofu can act like little oil sponges. The gourmet burger isn't a great option, but it's not the end of the world if you can do some damage control like getting a side salad instead of fries, skipping the cheese in favor of ketchup, mustard, or pickles, or maybe not eating the whole bun...although that last bit might draw some comments too

Good luck! It is possible - I lost about 40lbs while on the road, but I was also exercising too- at 5am. I had to do it in the morning because it was just too hard and too much of a hassle to fit it in later. However, I think it was more of the dietary changes that made a difference because you can easily go over your calorie budget by thousands of calories in these restaurants if you're not paying attention.

Sweet chicago girl and cheryl.. Whatever you two do for a living, i do too! Im actually going to ITALY for 3 weeks next week. How this is gonna work, i dont know. Ive got a gym membership set up and keep tlling myself that ill go nuts eating next tim, but im pretty stressed about the whole thing.. But not stressed enough to negate the exitement of getting to go!