Strange one for ya. Living in a hotel and eating healthy

gsxr1

I have been called away for work. For the last 4 weeks I have been living in a 4 star hotel and will be for the net year at least.

I cant complain . It is very nice.

I get a breakfast and dinner for free every day.


But its not what one could call a healthy way.

At home I cook for my family, balanced with an eye on calories and fat intake.

In the hotel, well, you can imagine the bar menu and breakfast in a hotel. I have no access to a kitchen.

I use the gym 2 times a week and run outdoors once. But the weight keeps coming. 2 KG I have put on. I dont need it.



What would you do? Im thinking of missing dinners . But it will hurt.

saa

If its a good hotel and you're staying there for that amount of time I think it would be best to set up an arrangement with the hotel after looking at the menu if there is anything that needs changing i.e half portion, not cooked with butter, large clean salad on the side with meat, etc.

A good bowl of porridge should set you up for the day and keep healthy snacks in your room.

Mellor

If you track calories at home when you cook your dinner. Then you should have an idea of calorie in meals from the hotel. Just adjust the portions sizes as needed.
You don't need to eat everything

syklops

Dont skip dinners. It will do more harm than good. Just try to be a bit more conscious of what is going in. We often get bogged down in being "health-conscious" and forget to be calorie conscious. (I wont get into the debate of "calories in versus calories out" over "Good calories and bad calories")

For example, hotel buffets usually include free orange juice, which I often spring for. Hotels tend to be too warm for me so a small glass of chilled orange juice is really appealing, but, and it does vary, orange juice can pack in between 120 and 150 calories in just a single glass, so maybe skip it and have water instead.

I mentioned this before on Boards. I was in the US last year and stayed in a few hotels for about 10-12 days. Most places I went to had the calorie count on the menu, so calorie counting was really easy. One night I was having a prime rib steak and thought I would "be healthy" and have a salad too. According to the menu, the plain salad packed on 300 calories and the dressing another 300. All in all, it cost(calories wise) more than the steak did.

In those 2 weeks I lost 5KG just by being able to keep an eye on what was going in, and I had a lot of steaks.

There is few things nicer than steak and chips, but chips are the worst thing in the world for causing weight gain. Keep an eye on how many you are having.

Dressings, sauces etc tend to have loads of sugar(the main enemy) in them to taste good so avoid them

Boss:"I know this place with the best blue ranch dressing ever!" - Calorie wise - Cha ching!
You:"How about Sushi instead tonight?"

I assume your going out a fair bit aswell, either with work colleagues or with other business people.Keep an eye on the gargle, as again its basically sugar in a glass. Maybe every second or third drink have a large glass of water instead? I did this on paddys day and got home surprisingly sober.

If I come up with any more tips ill post back, but dont starve yourself or, skip meals. Its very unhealthy and will mess up your metabolism.

gsxr1

great stuff. Thanks
I have to admit , the lure of a pint of larger each evening is strong. But I keep that pleasure for a thursday night before we head home for the weekend.

I was stuffing myself with salad (and dressing) thinking I was doing it correctly.:(
I crave food after the gym and have a overindulgent urge for meat after.

I will start by not finishing the whole plate and boiled spuds intead of chips maybe?

With the better weather, Salthill is I nice place to be out and about , instead of sitting in a hotel bar. Hopefully that will aid my weight loss.

HeidiHeidi

If this set-up is going to last for at least a year (if I understood your OP correctly), then I'd be asking for a different arrangement! No way could I depend on someone else's cooking/catering for that long!

Is there no way that you could arrange rental of an apartment - assuming of course that you'll be "away" in the same place for the whole time, which in fairness isn't clear.

syklops

gsxr1 wrote: »

great stuff. Thanks
I have to admit , the lure of a pint of larger each evening is strong. But I keep that pleasure for a thursday night before we head home for the weekend.

I was stuffing myself with salad (and dressing) thinking I was doing it correctly.:(
I crave food after the gym and have a overindulgent urge for meat after.

What do you call overindulgent? After a gym workout you need fuel to help rebuild muscle.

gsxr1 wrote: »

I will start by not finishing the whole plate and boiled spuds intead of chips maybe?

If you are hungry, finish the plate, but boiled potatoes is not really a healthy replacement for chips if you are conscious of your weight. While the method of cooking them is different, they are the same raw ingredient. If you are having salad have some balsamic vinigrette, not caesar dressing, thats 200 calories right there.

gsxr1 wrote: »

With the better weather, Salthill is I nice place to be out and about , instead of sitting in a hotel bar. Hopefully that will aid my weight loss.

Salthill has an awesome swimming pool. Maybe spend an hour or two there of an evening. That alone would resolve many of the issues you are seeing.