My First Week On The Road!

This week I had my first opportunity to try out my travel skills since leaving Hilton Head Health. I find it surprising where my challenges were this week. I planned my trip to come early on Sunday which would allow me time to get to a grocery store. I did well on the plane but was surprised that the meals in first class do not have any nutritional information available. In that situation, go with what you have learned. There is no question that the chicken breast sandwich was the UNWISE or maybe just BETTER choice vs. the chicken breast salad. It was the BEST choice available. The dressing was on the side so I knew I could dip and spear. Fortunately, the tiny breadsticks had calorie information on them as did the brownie that I just looked at. Fortunately, chocolate is not my vice and it was fairly painless to let it slip away.

Let’s talk about groceries. Publix has horrible produce. Just junk. I managed to get apples, bananas, grapes, Rainier cherries and carrots with a new dip from Marzetti that is a greek yogurt, feta, dill dip and low in calories. I hope I can find that at home!

The eating out went well. I can always get lean filets, fish (especially here in Florida), salads, plain baked potatoes (with lemon....try it!) and grilled veggies. I did have a server at Bahama Breeze suggest that I have my fish grilled with olive oil because A) it has less calories than butter and B) the seasonings in the butter would add too many calories. Um, no….wrong and wrong. Butter actually has a few less calories and seasonings generally have none. Is it any wonder why our country is growing at the waist like it is? What I found amazing was how when I ordered FIRST as Bob suggested, every night, people in my group would follow my lead. More people would make healthier choices than those that did not. Many would just say, “I’ll have the same as Lyle!” I have traveled with these people before and KNOW how they normally would order. That is just amazing to me.

I worked out but was frustrated with the treadmills at the Hampton Inn. I think they have a weight limit of about 200 pounds as they slipped underneath me. I decided to not be defeated and hit the pavement. This is the first time I have walked/run on tar and it really beat up my joints. No more of that for a while. The rest of the week I just did fitball and resistance band stuff with dumbbells and managed to get enough work in.

The challenge came at breakfast. Two of my favorite items are the cheese omelet and the bagel toppers. Why did I even open the steam table cover? Still, I managed to have a poor man’s version of breakfast whack which was Total cereal, strawberry yogurt and a banana. Having the sweetened yogurt and the banana made it WAY too sweet compared to the Real Breakfast Whack but at 280 calories, it sufficed and filled me up. I really did not imagine that the breakfast would be my biggest challenge of the week.



One more night then off to home in the morning. I know where my calories have been but it feels like cheating when you eat out every night. I am curious to see if the scale shows what my food log says it should!

My next challenge will be in a couple of weeks when I do back to back 3 day trips to Cincinnati and Austin. I will be traveling with executives and will not have any opportunity to get fruits and veggies for snacking. Lunches will also be provided which means less chance to make a good choice. Control will be the key. This is my life though and I must learn to deal with every aspect of it. The great part about this week was that I proved that it can be done. Even though everyone has big eyes when you say you have to travel, knowing that it means eating out and in their mind, that means you have absolutely NO chance of keeping control, it is refreshing to know that it is possible with only a little preparation and knowledge. For that, I thank Bob Wright!