Is there no way you can work some of those things (cheese and sausage, maybe) into your daily calorie allotment? The protein in them would probably go a long way in curbing the cravings for the other, less healthy stuff (processed foods). Just a thought.

My favorite car snacks for trips are fruit and protein bars or southbeach diet cereal bars. I know they're processed but they keep me satisfied for a long time and that counts for a lot to me when I'm in the car!

Good luck!

Sorry, but I gotta pick up on this line. Why would you feel deprived by avoiding high calorie/high fat foods? Helloooo, you are doing a WONDERFUL thing for yourself by avoiding these foods. Most certainly NOT depriving yourself. When you think about it, what we did BEFORE was depriving ourselves - of a healthier and happier and more fit and productive life. You're actually treating yourself wonderfully and doing the best possible thing for you and your family. Moving right along.....

We've been traveling a lot lately this summer. Almost every weekend. And it's IS difficult. Just being so inactive in the car for so long is hard. And it's easy to get munched. So, I know EXACTLY what you mean when you said you're struggling to lose every ounce and don't want to undo all your hard work.

We travel with a cooler. I freeze non fat/sugar free yogurts ahead of time and keep them in a cooler. They're 60 calories a pop, 5 gms of protein. I love them and they are a great snack in the car. You can also keep hard boiled eggs in a cooler.

Like you mentioned, grapes and baby carrots. I also snack on grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers. An apple. I also like to pre measure 1 cup of Kashi Go Lean cereal in zip loc bags and snack on that.

I hope you enjoy your trip and I wish you lots of good luck. When your trip is over and you've stayed on plan you will feel marvelous, simply marvelous.

If I were you, I wouldn't let your kids have cheese and smoked sausage either. It's not good for anyone, especially on top of McDs for lunch!

That said, if you can't take the hard and virtuous line that Robin has laid out, I say work it into your calorie plan. Allow yourself half a serving of goldfish (count them out), one small piece of sausage and an ounce or half ounce of cheese. Then eat your grapes, which will help to clear the fat out of your mouth and help you to resist eating more than your allotment.

You could also pop a few 100 cal bags of popcorn. It takes a long time to eat and feels treat-like.

or beef jerky and string cheese instead of regular cheese and sausage?

How about:

• Laughing cow mini cheese-bites (little tiny squares of cheese about 7 calories each) (if you have a cooler)
• Mini rice cakes
• Other kinds of fruit--nectarines, berries, peaches, and plums are all in season now. I picked up some baby pluots at my farmers market that the farmer swore would taste like candy and wouldn't you know, he's right, they do taste like candy. Do you have a local farmers market? You could pick up some awesome fruit for the road there. I also love bananas when traveling. In this situation I would pretty much allow myself all the fruit and veggies I want.
• Cherry tomatoes
• Sliced fennel bulb (like celery but stronger, with a slight anise flavor)
• Pickles (and other pickled veggies). I saw single serving packs of pickles at my grocery store the other day.
• Sugar free candy or gum. Both are great because they last, keep your mouth occupied, and are only 5-6 calories a piece.
• 100-calorie energy bars (for when you need something more substantial)
• shelled pepitos (pumpkin seeds, look for them by the nuts). Unlike nuts, I find a little of these (say even just a couple of tablespoons) go a long ways.

I also might treat it as a maintenance day, rather than a progress day. In other words, my calorie goal would be to maintain my weight rather than lose wieght. This would not undo any of your progress, it just delays your future progress by one day, and gives you around 500 extra calories to play with so that you could eat some of the snacks your family is eating. Sometimes you just have to do this; not every day can be a progress day.

Also, in that situation, it helps to remind myself that I can stop dieting and eat that stuff any time I want. I don't have to be thin, there's no law. Knowing that I can choose to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, helps me to not feel so deprived.

Are the sausage and cheese are coming from the Cheese factory? When I first read the post, I interpreted it as some kind of traditional stop on the way to vacation. If it is and the rest of the family is looking forward to it, it would be hard to substitute other foods. Or is it shorthand for Cheesecake factory? But would that make sense with dinner only a couple of hours later?

I like all these suggestions - bringing more healthy snacks for everyone, bringing some substitutes for yourself, incorporating some allotment for special car trip foods into your plan for the day. I don't know how goldfish compare to Kashi cheddar crackers, but the crackers are pretty tasty and nutritionally not too bad.

Thanks everyone for all the awesome suggestions!

I love the idea of having as many fruits & vegies as I want, rather than trying to keep to my normal menu of balancing carbs/protein,etc. I have Trader Joe's low-fat cereal bars and I may buy some cheerios and bag them into 2 cup portions. I will also buy a bunch of small, easy to eat fruits and cut up a bunch of vegies.

Also changin my mindset that this is a maintenance day, while that might have been obvious to some of you, it never ocurred to me. I'm so focused on what I need to do to lose weight, that it never occurred to me to change my focus for the day.

This road trip is a big family tradition...luckily the kids and dh are thin and have no food issues. In fact, if I ate 100% like they do, and was as active as they are, I would weigh a whole lot less!

Stopping at the cheese factory (a place where they make cheese, not cheesecake) is a big deal...dh always buys some kind of bag of cubed, hard cheeses with smoked sausage and passes it around the car. I guess growing up his family stopped there and did the same thing. The place has been around forever.

Barbara- I think I may have had the same little plums you did...dark, sweet and yummy! I had a bag of 20 and the kids ate them with every meal until they were gone!

I need to get to the store! Your suggestions were awesome. I can stay in control! Thanks again!!

Instead of smoked sausage why not try the little Slim Jims. They are 45 calories a stick and delicious. At least I think so! And I take carrots and some lf dip and apples and peanut butter. If I eat just sugar I get sick so I make sure there is a variety.
Also, what I like to is look up different lunch ideas that are good cold and cut them up into smaller portions. If it's something that everyone likes then all the better