Traveling

I get asked quite often about traveling and staying on plan with WW.   I travel A LOT, or at least more than the average person does.  I'd say at least a weekend (or long weekend) a month (and some months it's every weekend) and a few weeks a year (maybe more, I'm not really sure).   The biggest question I get is how do I plan for it.  Most of the people asking me know that I plan everything that I possibly can - that's just how I am and it keeps me sane.

There is a fairly simple answer to this - I pack food.  I pack a lot of food sometimes, and it's usually more than I end up eating.  I try to anticipate what I'll be doing each day and the possibility of the availability of reasonable food.  Let's take, for example, a trip I went on last summer.

I am a cake decorator and belong to a national cake decorating organization.  They have an annual convention in the summer, and the location varies every year.  Last summer it was in Charlotte NC.  I packed an insane amount of food to bring with me.  It helped tremendously that I was driving down.

There were a couple of meals they were providing for us (breakfast two days and dinner one night), but for the rest we were on our own.  I was unable to determine beforehand what the lunch options would be to purchase lunch, and also to purchase breakfast (I have to eat breakfast every day).  The uncertainty of all of it started to make me a little anxious at first.  Then I decided, the only way to curb some of the anxiety was to plan and bring what I could.  I HATE HATE HATE not having any other option when it comes to food I don't want to eat.

So, I started planning.  I decided to bring breakfast for myself for the days it wasn't provided.  I packed food for lunches in case I didn't like the offerings available at the Convention.  I did not pre-plan anything to do with dinner - I figured that was enough of a variable and decided to leave it.

For my breakfasts I brought a Chobani yogurt and a Carnation pre-mixed breakfast drink for each day.  I don't normally drink the carnation drink (I MUCH prefer skim milk) but with  the uncertainty of a refrigerator this was the best option.  I did have a cooler that I transported food down in, and though it would have been fine for the yogurt, I am very picky about my milk.  For lunches I brough a package of Thomas Hearty Bagels and packets of peanut butter.  I also brought a box of Special K and my food scale.  I believe that I also brought some protein bars also.  Every night before going to bed, I would weigh out two servings of Special K, and pack up my lunch bag for the next day.  I was able to relax and enjoy the Convention knowing that when I got hungry, I had food I wanted to eat and didn't have to rely on buying food there. 

As it turns out, I was VERY glad I had brought food for lunches.  The only options for lunch were an italian place and BoJangles (which is basically fried chicken).  I hate fried food and never would have been able to eat that for lunch for 5 days.  Blech!

I make smart choices at dinner and had a great week.  I even lost weight when I weighed in after returning home.  Oh, and a friend brought me a box of real belgian chocolates from belgium, and I had one every night (and shared with everyone too).

I am heading out on Wednesday morning on a trip, and this time I'm flying.  I knew I couldn't pack all the food I wanted to bring in my suitcase (precious precious weight in my checked bag!), so I wrote out a list of what I wanted to bring, and packed up a box of food and mailed it to the hotel I'm staying at.  I again packed the carnation drinks, oatmeal packets, peanut butter packets, cinnamon (for the oatmeal) and GNU Bars.  I don't normally eat bars, but these are filling and make a great snack when I can't eat.  The trip I'm going on is mostly for meetings, and there are set times for lunch break.  I normally eat lunch at 10am and 2pm, so I need something to get me to noon when our lunch breaks are going to be.  Breakfast is not being provided, so I am packing the oatmeal to make for myself for breakfast.  I am also going to go to the store when I land and get apples, bananas, grapes and yogurt.  I am bringing my lunch bag and freezer packs (we have a fridge w/freezer in the room) so that I can pack my day of snacks every morning and know that I won't be starving by lunchtime.  I only shipped the food I know will get eaten while I'm there.  I am bringing some "maybe" foods in my luggage.

I am also packing my own snacks for the plane (apples, bananas, bread, peanut butter packets, and a few GNU Bars. 

I hope that is helpful to someone!  I know I wouldn't be as successful on this plan if I didn't plan ahead for trips.

~Chelle