Notta Darn Thing

DAY 29
Notta darn thing

Ok, I know I've missed a few a days. I'm been swamped at work and traveled to the windy city yesterday and just got back today. I was too busy to even catch a few minutes in the gym at the hotel. It was a crazy, fast trip. I knew it was going to be that way so I intentionally focused my efforts on eating right. Thankfully this was a scenario where I did not have to go to client dinner kinds of things. I was on my own for food...which was a good thing. I started the morning (3am) with my usual coffee, yogurt, cereal and a banana. That got me through most of the morning and my two flights and some early morning meetings till about 1pm central time. Then I was able to grab lunch.  I went to this place that was in "walking" distance from my hotel and grabbed a chicken sandwich and a side salad that was actually quite good. The remainder of the day was spent in meetings so there was no time for snacking opportunities. I will confess that I did have a Coke at the office because "there was no coffee." I couldn't believe it! I was dragging my arms like an ape and I needed some caffeine desperately (I also had some coke on the plane. Not whole cans though, they only give you those small plastic cups). Yesterday evening (after 9pm) when I got back to the hotel, the restaurant across the street was closed but the hotel has a menu. They didn't offer much and it wasn't super healthy (burgers, fries, etc...and I didn't want another salad or sandwich). I ended up going with a very small flat-bread white pizza with artichokes and some other healthy stuff on it and a low calorie Gatorade. So all in all it was relatively healthy trip. I snacked on almonds in the airport today and drank water - no caffeine today.

Of course this got me thinking about staying motivated and eating healthy when you're traveling on business (which a lot of my friends do). Here are some tips of mine that I try to follow.

• Find out whether the hotel serves breakfast and what kind of options are available. Continental breakfast versus the full breakfast menu. At least this way you can choose cereals, yogurts, etc...like this morning. I was able to have essentially the same breakfast I have at home. Greek yogurt, cereal, some toast with peanut butter (small amount since it wasn't my PB2).

• If you can't avoid the business lunch that you know is not going be offering a lot of healthy meals, then eat breakfast and do the best you can with less-healthy lunch choices. That's life sometimes. If you can grab some healthy snacks (i.e., low-fat snack bars to eat before lunch or before dinner) that helps too.

• Dinner out: Stick with grilled chicken; that's a safe one. Shrimp is good or a good piece of fish. If you can get side salad and order the dressing on the side (so you can control the portion) that's a good one too. Wine or Beer? Limit yourself to one and drink lots of water.

• This is obvious, but squeeze in a little exercise each day, even if it is just running up and down the hotel stairs for 10 minutes and doing 10 minutes of calisthenics in your room if the hotel does not have a gym.

Ok, I know this doesn't "look" all that great but it actually was a very good lunch. I was pleasantly surprised and I did the best I could with what was available.

 

 

Thought for the day: I'm bushed! Back in the saddle tomorrow with a workout in the gym. Looking forward to it after being cramped up in airports, planes, conference rooms and a hotel room.