How to Survive BFL While Travelling?

This week has been hard - I left Atlanta to come to San Diego for a week long leadership conference in Carlsbad. You all know what leadership conferences mean - lots of food, full schedules of presentations, brainstorming sessions, and meetings. It also means late night events, hospitality suites open until 1am, and all the liquor you can possibility drink.

How can you survive BFL for events like this?

So far, I've been successful and keeping to the program 100%. Here's my tips:

1. Use the gym! The resort I'm staying at has a great workout facility, so I've been hitting it up either every morning or late afternoon after the sessions close and before dinner. Take advantage of the opportunity to try some new workout equipment.

2. Bring some food. I made sure to stop by a grocery store when I arrived and picked up a cooler with ice. I stocked it full of apples, yogurt, and string cheese for snacks. I also brought from home Myoplex protein mixes for breakfast (skipped the buffets), Myoplex protein bars for lunch (skipped the lunches), and multivitamins.

3. Choose carefully at the dinners. I've been lucky so far to find some things not covered in sauces and sweets. Last two nights I've had lean meat, and I've kept the portion sizes down to a BFL level.

4. Get to bed early. With the hospitality suites open until 1am, I've made every effort to avoid them after our evening events. Last night, we went to Miramar (home of top gun) for a dinner event and concert with Kenny Loggins, and afterwards, I called it quits. Skipped the hospitality suite completely.

5. Avoid the booze. For me, even a few glasses of liquor alters my judgement around what I should eat. I drank diet coke on the rocks last night. Amazing how good it feels to get up in the morning while all of your peers are dragging in!

6. If possible, choose healthy activities. Yesterday, we had the choice of golf, surfing, kayaking, sailing, or visiting the massage. I would normally jump all over the golf choice, but I know myself too well. If I play golf, I'll drink beer. If I drink beer, I'll end up eating a bunch of garbage. Instead, I took the massage and spa. A 1-hour massage, time in the steam room and sauna did the body good.

I'm back home on Thursday night, so I'll make sure to weigh in the next morning to see if I've lost/maintained where I was before I left. I suspect I will.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race - Week 8

I did my weight in for the start of week 8 today, and I'm down another pound. Came in at 155.6 lbs. As they say, "slow and steady wins the race!"

This week should be good, but I'm a little worried starting on Sunday. I'll be travelling for work Sunday - Thursday for a conference, and it's hard when you're on the road to stay away from the food and liquor.

I'll post up my plan to keep on the path prior to leaving for the trip.

50% Done! Start of Week 7 & Updated Pictures

Week 7 started today, so I'm at the 50% mark!!! The official weigh in was 156.6, so a little less than the previous day. In 42 days, I've lost 15.4 pounds.

Attached are the week 0, 4, and 7 picture comparisons.

End of Week 6 - 2/11/2008

Today marks the last day of week 6 - I'll have completed 50% of my Body for Life challenge by the end of today. I'm pretty excited about the results after just 42 days!

Start: 172.0
Current: 158.0

I'm down exactly 14 lbs, and that exceeds my target for the half-way mark. I would have thought I'd me more near 161. My overall goal was 151.6, so I only need another 6.4 lbs to meet that. The stretch goal was 148, so there's a good chance I'll make that, also!

Updated pics coming after my official weight in and pictures in the morning.

Week 5 Wrap Up - 2/5/2008 (Day 36)

Today is the start of week 6, and I did my weight in again this morning. I ended up at 159.6 with 17.5% body fat. Since I started 36 days ago at 172.0 and 20.50% body fat, I'm down a total of 12.4 pounds.

Overall, the week was good - I managed to hit all my workouts in addition to playing ice hockey 3 times during the last 7 days. My free day wasn't terribly bad as I was able to keep my beer intake down to just 2 beers and a rum & coke on Friday.

Bring on week 6!