I really miss the old postings. I need to check up on how other folks have managed their meals while on vacation. I know there was a lot of good advice about what to while on the road. I don't eat out very often and I do all my own cooking from scratch so I can control the ingredients. Somebody please post a few creative suggestions. I also have a problem with portion size; how do I keep track of that without a kitchen scale or measuring cup!

I have really struggled to lose the 14 pounds I've lost so far. I started in March and that's all I've lost. I really don't want to gain those pounds back if I can help it. If anyone has advice to offer, I sure would like to hear it.

Thanks,

Weaverdan

Weaverdan, I took pork rinds with me and peporoni chips, and boiled eggs. It's gonna depend on whether or not you can keep a cooler with you on vacation. Also, if you are eating nuts and berries, I bought little 1 oz bags of nuts from Sam's and put blue berries and strawberries in ziplocks to help control portion size with them. If I ate out, I looked for places that I could get a piece of meat with a salad or even a cheeseburger or chicken sandwich and a salad on the side and threw away the bun. If you want something fancier, go for steak and salad. You're always safe with salad, I think. I eat lots of them. If I had to have coffee I looked for the little half and half creamers at fast food restaurants and they always give you too much so I would take them with me and add to the cooler. The hard boiled eggs are for snacks or breakfast, very easy to keep and eat. I took a small tub of cream cheese with me also, since I had a cooler, and used it for a snack with berries sometimes. These are just a few things, I'm sure there are veterans on here that can help more. Have fun on vacation and good luck with the food choices. If you really want to stick to low carb, you can find lots of things out there to eat that will be acceptable for you.

As far as portion size, you may want to eat really slowly and try to judge by site. There is a website somewhere that talks about portion size and how to compare it with things such as your fist and a deck of cards and such. I will see if I can find it again.

shawny

Sounds like fun to me! What kind of vacation - camping, staying in a condo, hotel, staying with relatives?

In addition to nuts, a good on-the-go food is the tuna or salmon packed in foil pouches. You can go to a deli or cafeteria and stockup on some small packets of mayo and mustard to make a tuna salad (you can mix it right in the foil pouch).

I didn't want to pack a whole bottle of da vinci, but I did transfer about a cup to a travel squeeze bottle for my coffee and to add to the unflavored yogurt I bought on the road.

If you have access to a refrigerator, try to stock it with some good veggies. Celery is good, especially if you have some cheese, sour cream, or peanut butter with it.

When you eat in restaurants, ask for extra veggies instead of rice or potato. So far, every place I've been too has been very nice about accommodating my request.

If you drink, try to stay away from concoctions mixed with fruit juices - they just induce cravings, and the alcohol makes it much tougher to resist the cravings. Drinks like scotch and soda or rum and diet coke have less carb impact than beer or wine. If it's practical to bring some along some da vinci syrup, you could add a bit to your spirts and soda to liven up a mixed drink.

If you think you may go off plan at times and you get stomach ache from eating the unaccustom carby meal, pack some Pepto Bismol tables. Or, perhaps, you could use a starch blocker before the occasional high carb meal? I haven't tried those, but apparently some people use them when they know there just won't be any good low carb options available.

~~~Teelbee

174 (Mar. 2002, highest weight), 164 (Jan. 2003, begin LC)
164/135/137-134
remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic

Kokle (Ilse) previously posted a very handy reference for figuring portions without any instruments, i.e. 4 oz. of meat is the size of a computer mouse, an ounce of cheese is the size of a pair of dice, etc. Hopefully she'll see this thread and be able to refresh that info for us.

As for keeping your weight stable while you're gone, my suggestion would be to make sure your vacation doesn't center around food. Lots of vacations get planned something like this:

"...we'll have breakfast at home, and then stop for lunch in Chicago, and have dinner in Green Bay, and then we can order a pizza when we get to our motel. The motel offers free breakfast, and we can get lunch at the park and be back in time for the buffet..."

Try to focus on relaxing and enjoying your time away, and really involving yourself in whatever activities you've got planned. Fit in some physical activity, eat lots of delicious lc food when you're hungry, and have a great time!

Sky
186/144/under 150

[This message was edited by Sky68lark on 09-12-03 at 12:44 PM.]

I posted some ways of estimating food portion in the "Everything Else" forum.

I think there are a lot of LC choices a person can make on a trip. I always liked finding a breakfast buffet that also had salads to eat. Otherwise, almost any meal can be made low-carb by not eating the carby stuff that comes with it. An other alternative is to eat like you are doing CAD and have 2 LC meals and any snacks and if you have carbs during a third meal, make sure it is in a balance of 1/3 lc veggies, 1/3 protein and no more than 1/3 carbs. The CAD plan also calls for this meal that includes carbs to last no more than 60 minutes to reduce the impact of insulin on your system.

I hope this helps.

Ilse

380/304.6(WW)/154
5'7"
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"
Walt Disney

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I almost never go away from home on a trip, and you've really given me some ideas to think about.

I will be spending a week in a hotel in the Osarks so I won't be able to take a cooler with me -- though I'm making a note of the suggestions for stocking a cooler for next time.

Has anyone used the starch blockers for more than just a day or two? I'll be careful not to indulge in high carb foods if at all possible, but I'd be interested in knowing more about the starch blockers as a possible safety net if my best intentions miss the mark.

CAD diet? Is that Carb Adicts Diet? I haven't investigated that one; am I missing a bet here?

Agani, thanks for all the help,

Weaverdan

Here's a link to a prior discussion about carb blockers:

Carb Blockers

~~~Teelbee

174 (Mar. 2002, highest weight), 164 (Jan. 2003, begin LC)
164/135/137-134
remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic

Carl's Jr., Burger King, Pollo Loco are all great. As far as the carbs go, I'm not sure. I suppose you can just guesstimate it based on the amount of fixin's they put on your burger.

***********************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."