Hi Ladies,

I have a very daunting task ahead.

I am a teacher and take students to visit different countries in Europe each year. It is a food nightmare for several reasons. I have no control at all over our meals. I have a "have to eat when and as much as I can" mentality because I'm such a picky eater that I often don't like the meals we're served or because we're going from 6 am till 1 am on most days.

As wonderful and life changing as the trips are, they are a huge responsibility and my stress goes off the scale till we're back home. This is complicated by a smaller issue and that is that I'm also trying to create lifetime memories for my son, who will travel with me. We have had a nutella crepe under the Eiffel Tower on three different trips. We have had churros in Barcelona. The first time he had sushi was in Paris. Etc. Etc. So, I do want to splurge a little bit when it will be something for him. I'm fine with taking a bit and letting him finish - unless I'm starving (which is sometimes the case).

I'm taking dried fruit and organic jerky along. There will be A LOT of walking. Miles and miles and miles on some of the days.

But, I usually gain on these trips. This time we'll be in Berlin, Prague and Munich. I won't see vegetables or lean protein for nearly 2 weeks.

I think I can handle the "making memories with my son" part. What I'm most worried about is my "eat as much as you can when you can" mentality.

I need a strategy for accepting both stress and hunger and NOT giving in.

I need to maintain.

I cannot handle the idea of gaining.

So far.. I've not thought of a strategy. I'm hoping for the best.. but.. there has to be something I'm overlooking. Some idea to keep me going.

Grrr.. I'm getting worked up thinking about it now.

I consider you all to be experts. Any wisdom or advice for me?

I promise to update this thread when I'm back in response to your expertise.

If you're still reading and have something to offer, I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks so much.

Are the people in these countries all obese? What are they eating? Do they have grocery stores? Butchers? Fruit & veggie stands? farmers markets?

Why do you have no control at all over your meals?

Hi seagirl,

Great question.

I have no control because we are on a guided tour that includes all meals in the cost of the trip and I must be with my students at all times.

There is zero free time for me to search for foods that are healthy.

I would suggest eating the local fare, making lots of food memories, and simply watching your portions. That's all. It sounds like you don't need any extra stress. It really doesn't matter if you don't get your usual quota of veggies and lean protein for a couple of weeks.

Just my two cents' worth.

F.

What do the actual meals consist of? You are doing some all or nothing thinking here. Even if you are faced with a buffet of foods, you can make choices. Even if you are served a plate, you can make choices of what to put in your mouth.

Pause, think about what you can control and put a plan in place.

Hi Beth4365,
My best advice would be to bring the healthy snacks (I would look for high protein snacks measured out - bars, nuts etc) and have 3 on you at all times. Drink a lot of water throughout the day since you will be walking so much you will really need it. Since you are eating pre-planned meals see if you have any control (steamed , no sauce, dressing on the side) and pay more attention to portions. For me personally, making sure I have had enough protein and water seems to really help. Feeling a little hungry is probably a good sign. Having the high protein snacks in your purse/backpack is really important, so that you can eat in between the meals.
You may want to write everything down in a tiny notebook so that you stay accountable (even "two bites of churro"). Finally, if you are staying at hotels maybe you could bring your scale so that you check every few days.
I just got back from a week in Disneyland and usually I gain weight ,but this year I lost a pound. I used the above strategies. I did have the luxury of being able to bring my own instant oats and having that for breakfast. I did feel hungry at times and drank a ton of water. I hope one of these tips will be helpful. I wish you the very best and hope you have a wonderful time!!

Practice Portion Control. I haven't been to Munich, Berlin or Prague but I have been to Norway, Denmark , The Netherlands and France, in those countries at the hotels they offer enormous breakfasts , just about anything you can imagine, you could eat enough for all day. Among other things they offer bread, butter, cheese, cereal, fruit and different kinds of meat and eggs.Will they be offering anything like that ? You could select a good breakfast from that and reasonable on the calories if you select the right things. Walking will be a big help in keeping the pounds off.

If you've already had 3 Nutella crepes under the Eiffel Tower, you can probably pass on having one this time. I mean, how special can it be, really?

I went to India earlier this year, on a guided tour where like you I didn't get to choose where I ate most of my meals. This was the approach I took: I evaluated the "specialness" of each eating opportunity, and where it wasn't particularly special, I just exercised some control with what dishes I chose and how much I ate of them.

For example, at a buffet where the food was only so-so, or not particularly different from Indian food I get here at home, I ate sparingly, just enough to sate hunger, and chose mostly light fare.

On the occasions where the food really was special - regional specialties that I can't get in the US, or food that was particularly extraordinary for some other reason, I indulged a little more - but still without going overboard. That is, I'd choose either rice or bread but not both, avoid eating seconds, eat no sweets or only a small taste of sweets, etc.

And, I avoided alcohol entirely.

Now it sounds like you go to Europe often so you probably won't have too many eating opportunities that are so one-of-a-kind that you can't pass them up. That's what I meant about the comment I started with - a Nutella crepe under the Eiffel Tower sounds delightful, but you've already done it a bunch of times. You know you don't need to do it again.

One final word of advice - you say you "can't handle" a gain. Get over this. You can't control when your body decides to hold onto fluids, and travel is notoriously disruptive for this sort of thing. Even if you don't gain and ounce of fat on your trip - heck, even if you lose some fat - your body might decide to hold onto a few pounds of fluid for a few days after you get back. You might see a gain. Handle it - don't let it be the end of your plan.

I've been to Berlin, Prague, Munich and a bunch of other European cities. I actually lost weight on those trips because I was walking all the time.

Remember weight gain is usually about eating too many calories—if you watch yourself you should minimize gains. This means that you don't need to have every "treat" that you see—like carter said, you've already experienced them, no need to do it multiple times on the same trip.

You don't have to clean your plate when it comes to your meals. The food tastes the same whether you eat one bite or the entire plate. Europe may not have the large portions that America does, but if one is eating out for all of their meals it can become easy to overdo it no matter where you go.

Do you hotels have breakfast buffets? Most of the European hotels I stayed at had lovely breakfast buffets with healthy foods. Load up on the protein and stay away from breads, pastries, etc. which will make it easier for you to eat less during the entire day. I would always smuggle a piece of fruit out of these buffets too so that I had a healthy snack later in the day. This helps so that you're not starving at your next meal.

It's hard, but with a few wise choices you can maintain your weight during your vacation

There are some great ideas and advice here.

I've selected some healthy things to keep with me and I will work hard to remember this thread when the going gets tough.

Thanks to everyone who responded and best wishes for all of us on our continued journey!