Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2015

STRATEGY TIME: What to do when you travel

STRATEGY TIME
What to do when you travel 

One of the biggest challenges that I have experienced with flexible dieting and have talked to many others about are maintaining both sanity and consistency when you have to travel. The biggest issue for me when I am on the road is that I have less control over the foods that are available and the schedule that I have established for hitting my numbers throughout the day. I travel much more frequently now with work and am still in the process of figuring out the best way to make this system work when I am on the road.

Ultimately, I think there are three strategies for when you are on the road: 

1: Take a break and enjoy - sometimes this is the best opportunity to just take a little break from the counting, tracking and planning. This is definitely the strategy I would recommend if you are going on vacation. Take full advantage of the situation and just enjoy yourself, the people you are with and the destination. As long as you are not totally out of control everyday, you will be able to get right back on track when you get home. Your mind and body will thank you :)

2: Do your best, don't stress and estimate as best you can - This is the mid range option and probably the most practical. This will allow you to still keep things in check as long as you aren't stressed out by the fact that things may not be exact. 

3: Plan and pack - If you have a very specific goal and really want to stay dialed in while you are gone then is the the most involved and consistent option. With this strategy, you can pre-package and plan all of your meals for your time away to make sure you are able to meet your numbers with accuracy. This will take a lot of preparation and creativity but is definitely achievable.

All in all, every one is different, every one has different goals and every trip has it's purpose. These are just the three tactics that I will use when I am on the road depending on the situation and how I am feeling with my current training and nutrition goals. 

I recently bought these two travel friendly options to try and make this situation a little more manageable: 

Digital pocket food scale This is about the size of my cell phone and easy to toss in my purse or carry on to use as needed
*bought on Amazon -- click the link above*







Travel size bathroom scale This is about the size of a license plate, lightweight and easy to toss into my carry-on
*bought on Amazon -- click the link above*

Sunday, October 18, 2015

WIN THE DAY: Ideas on foods that will help finish your macros at the end of the day

WIN THE DAY
Ideas on foods that will help finish your macros at the end of the day

A lot of people find it hard to finish off those macros at the end of the day in order to get those last couple grams of carbs, protein or fats in without totally throwing off one of the other numbers that is already maxed out. Below is a helpful list of foods based on different macro make-ups that will give you some ideas of the foods that I use frequently based on the numbers I need to fill in to hit my numbers. This is just a start and I will continue to update it as more ideas come to me-- feel free to leave other ideas of foods that you use in the comments sections, the more the merrier!! Let the games of 'Macro Tetris' begin!

Some of the foods in these groups might have small amount of other macros but I tried to come up with as many ideas as possible for each of the categories below. 

Carb Only
Fruit
     High: Bananas, apples, pineapple, berries, dried fruit (raisins)
Potatoes
Rice
Rice Cakes
Cereal
Canned pumpkin
Spaghetti Squash
Applesauce
Instant pudding mix
Candy (not highly recommended in large quantities but sometimes it's the only option)
Poptarts
Carrots
Non-fat Yogurt

Fat Only
Oil Based Salad Dressing
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil 
Shredded Coconut, unsweetened
Coconut Butter
Butter
Full fat Coconut milk
Macadamia nuts
Ghee

Protein Only
Egg whites
Protein powder
Sliced Deli Meat
Chicken breast
Gelatin powder
Shrimp
Canned tuna

Carb+Fat
Ice cream
Avocado

Protein+Carb
Non-fat Dairy products (cottage cheese, greek yogurt)
Veggies (snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower)
Beans
Quinoa
Lentils

Fat+Protein
Salmon
Cheese
Red Meat (steak, bison)
Whole Eggs

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