The Road Warrior’s Diet (Keep Your Progress Intact While Traveling)
Eating on the road…
To someone trying to lose weight, there’s nothing more worrisome than the specter of an upcoming trip.
Any sort of travel is a normal part of life and one of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn to manage it so it doesn’t wreck your progress or convince you that losing weight and being healthy just isn’t in the cards.
Where you go, your health goes and everything you do to either improve it or ruin it goes with you.
Making good choices on an everyday basis is the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. We’re going to have to reconcile our version of eating with living in the real world and that means doing it while traveling.
It’s always important to make sure our daily meals are made up of foods we enjoy because, if we don’t, it’s not going to last. That doesn’t change when traveling for work, it’s just more difficult due to the foods available and how they’re prepared.
We like to separate eating based on whether it’s a vacation, holiday or work trip. With any of them, there are pitfalls you’ll typically face while being away from home and eating in a restaurant or at a work event. You’ve already seen how difficult it is to prepare meals that work for your healthy lifestyle in the familiar environment of your own kitchen. Living on the road for a week or so and eating out is much harder. Even if you have a kitchen at your hotel, it’s just not the same.
We’ll focus on business trips because that’s typically a situation where you want to continue, or at least maintain, your progress. If you’re someone who travels often, the amount of time you spend on the road makes staying on target important because, if you’re trying to lose weight, the diet will last forever, and we already know that’s not going to happen. At a minimum, you’ll give up the results you worked so hard to get and that makes maintaining your health impossible.
When I had a real job, I traveled quite a bit, and I found out the hard way that it’s a fool’s errand trying to make progress when you spend most of your time eating whatever looks good on the menu. It’s important to develop a system that keeps you on target or you’ll end up quitting in frustration when you don’t make progress or you keep seeing your results leave town as often as you do.
We usually treat a work trip differently than a vacation or a holiday visit. For us, a business trip is nothing more than working on the road instead of from home. We try to keep our routine similar and, with a couple of exceptions, work hard to stay on target the entire time we’re out of town.
Vacations are completely different. They’re unique events that are made to be enjoyed. We work the entire year so we can take advantage of them because, hopefully, they’re bucket list items. No way are we going to try to “diet” when taking the family truckster to Wally World. Holidays are similar but we try to limit them to the holiday itself instead of the weeks before and after it like the TV commercials insist.
No matter what it is – a vacation, holiday or business trip – it doesn’t mean we eat and drink as if we’re soon to be marooned like Tom Hanks in Castaway. We don’t gorge ourselves simply because we can. We loosen up and enjoy it while being guided by our vision of a healthy lifestyle and the things we want to accomplish. We put in the work to hit our targets 80% of the time so we’re able to indulge the other 20% without worries or regrets.
The most important rule we have is to make sure we don’t eat anything that’s not worth it to us. Everything we eat has a cost, of some sort, to our progress so we have to be okay paying the price. Anyone who has tried to lose weight can look back on the things that got them into trouble in the first place and realize most of it was stuff they probably could have done without and, in all honesty, wasn’t that good.
If you think it’s worth it, then don’t worry about it. If not, skip it because I guarantee something will come along that is worth it to you and you’ll discover that by doing it this way, you can enjoy it guilt-free and without any real impact on your progress.
Our strategy, when we’re traveling for work, is to keep calories at or below our maintenance level (most of the time), find a way to get as much protein as we can and limit carbs and fats to a reasonable amount. A good rule of thumb is to try to fill your plate with twice the amount of lean protein they normally serve at a restaurant while working to halve the amount of starchy carbs and fat.
It can be difficult but you can do it with a little bit of planning, by being patient and by carefully selecting what you order at restaurants or your hotel. Much of the time, it's about limiting the damage. That's always our primary concern.
Whether we’re on the road or not, calories are the number one priority. We’re not discussing whether to count them just that it’s important to understand that calories are the only thing that matters when it comes to weight loss. An accounting of some sort is required whether it’s an app to help figure out what we’re eating or one of the many methods to help gauge portion size. At some point, going over either diet or maintenance calories will eat into progress (pun intended). Go crazy and it will further endanger things when the frustration becomes overwhelming and we throw in the towel and call the whole thing off.
The second priority is protein. Getting adequate protein is hard enough even when you have control of the food supply. It’s a Herculean effort when you’re on the road. Steak and chop houses are hard on the wallet because protein is the most expensive of the three macronutrients so it’s smart business for any restaurant to limit it. When you’re out of town, be prepared to fight to get even close to the amount of protein you’re used to eating when you’re at home.
Conversely, fats and carbs are inexpensive ways to fill both the plate and your stomach. Fats have quite a bit of mouthfeel and carbs can be prepared either sweet or savory so they each contribute to enjoyment and the restaurant experience. No matter what any of them tell you, restaurants stay in business by selling food that tastes great not because it works for our health and fitness purposes. The goal when we’re on the road is to cut them back to a more reasonable level.
Depending on your hotel and how work and work-related events have been scheduled, you can help your cause by making a trip to the store when you arrive. Having a readily available supply of your own snacks will help you avoid the high calorie noshing that often occurs when you get hungry and devour the nearest thing you can sink your meathooks into.
Buying a box of protein bars is always a smart move and they’re easily put in your carry-on bag before you leave home. This helps in the quest for protein because what's often available at a point-of-sale display are carb and fat bars disguised as protein bars. Jerky is also an excellent source of protein and very portable. Pick up a few pieces of fruit while you’re shopping or grab some from the breakfast buffet at the hotel and you’re ready to go.
Protein powder is a wonderful thing to take with you but it’s not conducive to airline travel. Trust me, not only will you have to wash all your clothes when you get there, it’ll be a lot easier to throw away your suitcase and get a new one. It’s quite a bit easier if you’re traveling by car or you don’t mind buying a bag when you get there and tossing whatever is left over. Normally, the only time I use protein powder is to make things like my famous Flexible Yogurt Snack or Protein-Balanced Pancakes but when you’re on the road, a shake often contains as much protein as anything you’ll eat in a day. If you’re eating cereal at the hotel breakfast it’s also a tasty addition to the milk (skim, of course). If you can do it, it’s a great tool to have in your travel kit.
There are also times when you can make your lunch at the hotel and take it with you. I’ve been on many trips where I made my lunch a few days but went out on others and enjoyed my favorite local spots. I’ve been on longer trips where I had a small suite and did the same thing with dinner. A good balance between eating out and staying in keeps you sane, the trip enjoyable and doesn’t have much impact on your health or fitness goals.
When you’re eating at a hotel or restaurant there are certain pitfalls you need to be aware of because calories will creep in from where you least expect.
If you’re having breakfast from a buffet or the free breakfast served at your hotel, stay away from anything that’s served in a chafing dish. It’s usually loaded with butter and oil and packs almost as many hidden calories as the main food itself.
While those little muffins at the free breakfast might look delicious (they usually aren’t), they’re a calorie bomb. We Southerners love our biscuits but along with the rolls they serve at dinner, they’re a trap, too. And while I love waffles and pancakes as much as anyone, take care because they’re high in calories and that’s before pouring on the butter, syrup, chocolate chips, slivered almonds and the giant mound of whipped cream that goes on top.
If you can, go to the omelet bar and tell the chef you'd like an egg white omelet made using cooking spray instead of oil. Choose plenty of vegetables and ask for a small amount of cheese. Ham is delicious and a better option when it comes to a breakfast meat but turkey sausage is good, too. Bacon is always awesome (it’s a superfood, right?) but it can quickly lead to trouble so enjoy it sparingly. You can add a whole egg to the egg white omelet and get the flavor of the yoke while allowing the egg whites to pump up the protein. Here’s a pro tip: get the egg cooked over-easy and bust the yoke over the egg white omelet. (Don’t pretend you’re not impressed!)
Keep the calories in your toast in check by ordering it with the butter and jelly on the side. Round out the healthy options with fresh berries or other fruit and make sure you snag a banana, apple or an orange for the road.
Lunch and dinner are interchangeable in terms of when you eat them because work events may dictate a dinner-type meal at lunch or, at other times, you may have an evening event to go to. You’ll have to play those situations by ear and, as always, be smart about it but also realize you can throw down the cheat meal if it’s worth it to you.
If you know where you’re going to eat, you can do yourself a solid by getting online and checking out the menu, if it’s available. It’s much easier to make good decisions about what to order when you’re alone at the office compared to sitting at the table with everyone staring at you. Even better, this strategy can often help you trade empty calories in the main meal for dessert or a nice glass of wine. Forewarned is forearmed.
Always remember that the typical protein-carb-veggie served at a restaurant (apart from beef) will have most of its calories from the items added to it, not from the base food. Think of marinades, cooking oils, salad dressings, sauces, toppings, breads and, of course, the bottomless basket of chips at a Mexican restaurant. (Yes, they’re fabulous but they’re not without cost so you’re going to have a decision to make.)
Ask for beef, chicken and fish to be dry seasoned and grilled without butter or oils.
Be careful when selecting your protein because most restaurant beef contains far more fat than what you’re used to getting at your local supermarket. Items such as chicken breast or a white fish are a better option when it comes to keeping protein high, fat content reasonable and calories in check. Shrimp is another smart choice because it’s not only delicious; it’s incredibly high in protein and low in fat. If a shrimp meal is high in calories, it’s usually from butter or oils. If you decide to order beef, select a tenderloin or a strip because they’re the leanest cuts. Yes, T-bones and Porterhouses have both but you’re into cheat meal territory and, no, the Old 96’er will never work, especially when they make you eat all the fat and gristle in order to get it for free!
When it comes to starchy carbs like rice or pasta, be careful because the portions served at a restaurant are far larger than you’re used to. It’s easy to make it look like you’re getting great value for your money by serving a big bowl of pasta or a plate with a huge mound of rice on it but a normal serving is only the size of your cupped hand. Compare what’s served on your plate with your hand and the amount you normally have at home, and you’ll be able to keep the calories to a reasonable level.
Just like at home, vegetables can be a great way to stay full by pumping up the volume while tamping down the calories but be careful. If you think ordering a veggie is automatically healthy, you’re going to be shocked. Sauteed vegetables are delicious but restaurants aren’t going to use butter or oil sparingly when they cook them. Keep a watchful eye because that’s one of the places where you’ll think you’re keeping your calories in check only to find out that innocent looking broccoli has ten times the calories you thought. Obviously, steaming them is the better way to go but that’s not always available. Grilled vegetables like asparagus, zucchini or squash are also a great choice.
Order any dressings, sauces and condiments on the side so you can control what you put on your food.
A salad with a base of four or five vegetables has very few calories. Dump cheese, croutons, dried fruit, nuts and dressing on it, and it goes up dramatically. A baked potato the size of a small football isn’t more than a couple of hundred calories but putting butter and sour cream on it with a mini-ice cream scoop, along with the ball of shredded cheese and two or three slices of bacon chopped up into bits is like adding a Powerball to the calorie total.
There’s nothing wrong with those items. You can enjoy them all but it’s always a better idea to order them on the side and use them sparingly. This allows you to flavor the food while keeping the calories under control instead of overwhelming it – and the calorie total – with half a bottle of Ranch.
If you let your server know exactly what you’re trying to do, they're usually very helpful. Their livelihood depends on it. I’ve had servers who took great care of me by getting the chef to cook the food the way I asked. Tipping didn’t hurt nor did being extremely nice to them.
Take control of what you’re eating because you’re the one that’s going to pay for it (results-wise).
We’ve never said you should eat something you don’t like just because you’re “on a diet.” Make it something you enjoy but make it work. The trick is making it delicious while still hitting your targets or, at the least, limiting the damage.
If you’re out of town and there’s a place you love that you don’t have at home, then go enjoy it. You can’t get a real Philly cheesesteak anywhere but Philly. The same goes for pizza in NYC or Chicago. Make it your cheat meal and let it go at that. If your company is taking you to Peter Luger’s (lucky you) then all bets should – and better – be off. You’ll never work that one in anyway.
We've talked about it before. Be reasonable and pick and choose carefully because, if you cheat every day you’re there, it’s going to lead to trouble.
You can enjoy any place you go in a reasonable manner. Everything you eat has some sort of price in terms of your progress but if it’s worth it to you, then don’t worry about it. The trouble, and the psychological angst, comes from losing control and eating something we know in our hearts wasn’t worth the price. While a tomahawk ribeye that requires your best deadlift form to pick up off the plate isn’t necessary, if you’re determined to have it – and it’s worth it to you – then put on that lifting belt, tuck in that napkin and get to work.
A lot of times, depending on where you are, it’s about limiting the damage but if you're careful, you can get pretty close to your targets. It takes practice and patience. Use the things you learned here and remember we’re doing this for life. There are going to be plenty of situations just like this one so taking the time to learn to do it is the difference between being successful and always struggling. There are also going to be plenty of situations where things didn’t go the way you planned and that’s part of it, too. Forgive yourself, learn your lesson, put the mistake in the past and move on.
Keep the calories in line, protein high and cut back on the carbs and fat. There are always hidden calories that can be cut without noticing they’re gone. Many times, it will allow you to enjoy other foods while avoiding the regret that goes along with blowing your diet. It's about balance. Once you see you can do it, you’ll realize just how much power you have over your progress without diminishing the enjoyment of life.
Remember what we said before:
You have complete control over what you eat. This is one of the few areas of your life where you’re the only one who has a say in what happens. It starts in your mind ...
Always see yourself as someone who makes healthy but reasonable choices even when you go a little off plan. Direct your mind where you want it to take you, and it will lead the way.
Life is about having fun. Taking the time to learn how to eat while traveling will keep you from feeling guilty or giving up and throwing in the towel. Once you get it down, a trip out of town takes on a new perspective. Your business trips will become stress-free and enjoyable, and your confidence will grow right along with your results.
Stay in the fight, learn the tough lessons and do the hard work required to build a healthy lifestyle.
No one said it would be easy; just that it would be worth it.
Give us a call and we’ll help you kick it up a notch.
Regards,
Henry
Our goal when we started Shifting Years was to give clients the advice we wish we’d received. Our programs deliver white glove treatment with an unforgettable coaching experience.You’ll be guided through a total body transformation that includes business travel, holidays and vacations.We’ll help you develop a program that works for you based on your individual lifestyle, eating habits and goals.We’ll show you how to do it and you’ll realize the new way is far better than anything you’ve tried before.
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