Dieting on vacation: it IS possible!

I started a new diet about two and a half weeks ago (more on the specifics in an upcoming post), right after I got home from a family visit to Colorado. I’d known for a while that October and early November were going to be nuts, and they were. Besides Colorado, I went to Las Vegas for BlogWorld on the 7th.

I’d never been to Vegas before, but I tried to do my research ahead of time. I booked a room near the convention center so that I could walk, and scoped out the local restaurants on Google Maps to see what was to be seen.

This worked so-so; I found out about many options but some of those that were missing would have been nice to know about (for instance, eGo in the hotel right next to the convention center).

Based on my prior research, I knew there was a McDonald’s about a quarter-mile south of my motel. Now, McDonald’s wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice for healthy eating, but despite (or probably because of) all the bad press about their nutritional choices, there are actually some very good choices.

McDonald’s is also the exception to many restaurants in that they actually post their nutritional information online, and in a location that’s easy to find.

Being the geek that I am, I turned this into a spreadsheet so I could sort it by my preferences (I deleted the items that weren’t appealing to me, and then did some crude math to find the healthiest choices).

I also had the brilliant idea of packing some food to guarantee that I would always have a healthy option, at least for meals where I was close to my motel. I packed some pre-measured bags of oatmeal (having read the observation somewhere that the in-room coffee maker is ideal for such a purpose), a bag of protein drink powder (counting on finding milk at McDonald’s), and two apples for each day I’d be there.

This strategy generally worked well (though you really shouldn’t underestimate the brutality of the baggage handlers; my extremely cushy packing around my apples was no match for acts of luggage violence, apparently, but I mostly just ate around the bruises).

I wasn’t sure what my food options would be at the convention center itself, but I asked a knowledgeable employee and she pointed me to a cafeteria-style restaurant where I was able to build a killer salad. I also carried some PowerBar Harvest snack bars to keep me from plunging into desperate hunger in a pinch.

My general routine was an apple and protein shake in the morning (it turns out my coffee maker was busted, but I’m too much a coffee novice to have figured that out right away; I just thought I was doing something wrong), a salad for lunch, a snack bar during the afternoon, and something reasonable at McDonald’s for dinner.

My bodybugg was a tremendous help. I logged all my foods for four out of the five days I was there, and closely watched my calorie deficit, and ended each day I tracked with my target 1000-calorie deficit. You could definitely do this without the bodybugg, but it sure made it easier.

Honestly, the only hitch in my plan was the parties. There were two big parties, both at night clubs, both at dinner time, both serving a wide array of high-calorie foods.

The first party, the food was actually so “creative” that most of it didn’t appeal to me anyway. They did have a chocolate fountain, though, and that’s a big weakness of mine. Happily, I spotted some fruit that was designed for the fountain, and helped myself to a plate of strawberries and pineapple. This worked great because it satisfied my sweet tooth, and more importantly, gave me something to do with my hands (have I mentioned I’m socially awkward? and that I don’t drink?).

The second party didn’t go quite as well from a diet perspective. It was my last night in Vegas, I’d been spectacularly good on my diet, and I was tired (and tired of apples). So when they offered me such yummy looking fried things, I took them. Not all of them, mind you (I’m still a picky eater, after all!), but probably more than I should have (”fried” being a helpful clue). That was the day I didn’t track my food.

However, when I got home, I had a slight loss, and I can’t say that’s ever happened to me while on vacation before. And I’ve continued to lose at a steady pace since I’ve been home, so I’m definitely counting this a victory.