Hi all,

This weekend I'm a lucky one going to the Alps skiing for a week. It's going to be great!! :tu: The one thing I fear, is that I'll return with all my - or some of - my kilos/lbs that I have lost by now, because of the change in diet. :p I can tell already that it won't be all healthy food, since eating out just is impossible to keep healthy and clean at all times. (Restaurant food at all meals.. :d_frown: )

Another thing is that since my activity level will increase dramatically, (I repeat myself when I inform you of my neck trouble that has kept me from exercising), I'll be loads more hungry, and probably have trouble controlling myself with the intake. Lucky for me, I am able to stay away from alcohol - it will be small amounts a couple of times I guess - so that's not my biggest worry.

Please, can anyone help me with tips on what to do?? I do eat fruit in my diet, so I plan on having some with me during daytime and eat while in the slopes, but still, that won't satisfy me nor my stomach..... I know myself too much. I believing in having a plan before I go, that will make things easier and not so impulsive, if you know what I mean. So is there any help to get on a diet plan out there in this forum???

For information, I'll not be the toughest gal down the slopes, I still have to be careful, but my fysiotherapist has incouraged me to go on this trip. And I'll be loads more active than the past months no matter how careful or slow-motioned... For hours each day!

What if I came home a few lbs less??!! That would have been wonderful!!

Thanks in advance! :d_smile:

Well let's see. First you'll want to be serious about what your goals are. I know for me there have been times in that past when I was like "I'm just going to enjoy the week and 'try' to do my best...then I'll get back on track afterwards." It's true I'd usually get back on track at first, but making excuses became easier and easier until I was right where I started. SO my advice to you is keep your goals and what you want in your head every time you sit down for a meal. Yea it'll be looking good and tempting...but is it worth all those hours at the gym and watching what you've been eating? Also, there's loads of healthy food options! When you go out stick with grilled chicken, broiled fish, salads, all that fun stuff. :eat: Healthy does not equal bad flavor. Stay away from all that fried, oil swimming, crap. Go for healthy, natural tasting flavors! You can do it...but ultimately it is a matter of how strong your goals are. For me, I've forced myself to not give up no matter what until I get exactly what I want...yea yea, we all say that. But even this morning my wimpy part of the brain said "egh, I'll just run for half the time"...then I told myself "well tough, you're going to do an hour...sorry" and I did. Excuses are very big no no's and often lead to ending up where you began. For me, I'm tired of on/off routines and I've been on track since I've started my pep-talk. Anyway, enough chatter...and :gl:

I just posted this the other day. I disagree that it is "impossible" to eat healthy at restaurants - that is making an excuse up front to eat what you want. On the other hand, will you always have a perfect meal or be able to manage calories, etc.? No - but you can certainly make better bad choices. And it's okay to enjoy yourself - you can have some tasty meals that are healthy to boot. Here's the article with tips:

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=102&catid=13

Jeremy

Thanks for your adwises and support, and what you had posted the other day was a great guide, JeremyLikness. What I meant is that for all meals at restaurants over one week, are hard to get clean. So I'll try starting my tour with not having any "cheat-plans", and remember your adwises. Woodenkey, I agree with that being serious with my goals is important. I'll "brain wash" myself, thinking of those yummy salads and chicken breasts, and keep a granola bar - the low fat kind - and fruit in my pocket, and drink loads of water.

These are things I have thought of myself, but it's SO helpful to hear the same from others, I feel being kicked in the right direction. Thanks!

I'm just afraid I'll be starving most of the time, since I'll be loads more active than what I have been since November... With increased activity level I'll need more calories, but probably not as much as my eyes and stomach think I do. :p But I'll do as good as I can - I WANT THIS TO WORK!

I'm thrilled about the possibility to have lost a few pounds during the trip, though!! :jumping:

"When eating out, trim your portion sizes up front. We are raised with the “clean your plate” mentality. Even if we know we are supposed to eat half of the chicken breast set in front of us, we end up eating the whole thing! Instead, cut it in half and stick the other half on another plate or push it to the side. Do the same with all of your food, and then just focus on what you chose to eat, not what the restaurant chose for you! (Split desserts with others at the table and order to-go boxes up front)

I think that's the MOST important rule. My brother lost and has kept off about 70 pounds by doing nothing more than what you said there. He eats WHATEVER he wants, but instead of "cleaning the plate" he NEVER eats more than 1/2 of what he orders.

If you're anything like me with your skiing, you are going to need to UP UP UP your intake.

Forget trying to stick to your normal levels, you're going to be doing tons of activity and need to eat accordingly. Of cause everything about eating clean still applies best you can, but if you're a 1500 cal per day guy, i'd seriously suggest going 2500 while you're away or more depending on your level of skiing.

As a rough estimate i recon i burn a minimum of an aditional 2k a day when skiing. On the plus side we ski so hard we don't usually do much night life and get a ton of sleep.

one handy tip, go to the supermarket and get some bread milk and cereal for your room. When we're finished for the day we always went back to our room knackered and starving with a few hours to go till evening meal. With out anything in the room we usually went to the pastry shop and just got like 5 cakes each, or chips from the take away place.

Well, first of all, eating on the mountain is ridiculously expensive. I'd try to maintain your usual eating habits. Try to have steady meals, 4-5 a day. A "good" way of doing this is to get some protein bars or some meal replacement bars. At least you can control what you're eating, and you can eat on the lift!!

If you ski/snowboard with a pack, pack sandwiches or lunch in the bag. saves $$$ and lets you control what you eat.

Remember to drink lots of water. You get tired much much faster if you don't rehydrate yourself adequately.

Bingeing at restaurants isn't a problem, because we typically get condos with kitchens or kitchenettes, and cook our dinners.