1. Get your mind right! Realize that food or dinning out is not a reward. The trip, the experiences, and your time together are your reward or your treat! You eat to fuel your body not to make you feel happy. Budget your spending before you leave for the trip, when you are still thinking clearly and not in la la vacation land. If you can’t afford to eat a $150 steak dinner, don’t eat a $150 steak dinner! You can cook one just as good if not better when you get back home and spend about $15-20….put a little low fat blue cheese on top, with a baked sweet potato and some asparagus and a spinach salad…mmm…but I digress… J If you want to spend the money why not do it on something fun instead of food? Go to a show or an outdoor activity or street shopping! There are plenty of people in vacation spots, just waiting to take your money if you want to spend it!
2. Plan Ahead! Make it at
home and pack it!
We
made a double batch of protein bars* (24) a couple of days before leaving, cost
$5. We had about 16 left and took them
with us. This gave us each a protein bar
for snack each day for only $3.35. Since getting back, I have found this great recipe for granola bars/cereal that you could easily and cheaply make at home and pack
too.
$3.35 for 16 Homemade Protein Bars
$64 for 16 protein bars at the convenience
corner at the mgm $4 each x 16
1,424 calories in 8 homemade protein bar
1,840
average calories in 8
protein bars purchased
We
also brought tea bags. Nate and I drink black tea daily as our source
of caffeine! We also drink a detox tea
in the mornings. We packed both of these
things, cost $2.50. This saved us from
buying coffee each day, because in Vegas apparently you don’t even get coffee
pots in the room. We boiled water in our
portable steamer, that we happened to have brought with us, and then just
steeped the tea in the glasses in the room or our travel cups that we also
packed. We carried our tea in our travel cups to our meetings throughout the
day.
$2.50 for 8 days of morning tea, brewed in
our room.
$48 for 8 days of coffee purchased average
$3 each x 8 days x 2 people
0 Calories in Black Tea, if we sweeten
we us Stevia in the Raw (all natural)
0 calories in a plain coffee, however
you could get as much as 440 calories if you ordered something like a Peppermint
White Chocolate Mocha. For 8 days that would be 3,520 calories. That is more than 1 pound!
3. Hit up the grocery store
on day 1! On this trip we stayed at a fabulous
hotel that really wanted our money, so they put no fridge in the room! There of course was also no microwave or any
way to cook anything. So, we had to keep
that in mind when picking up food for the week, we had a rental car, so we went
to WalMart. There were grocery stores
near the hotel but since we had a car we went a couple miles down the road to
hit up the cheapest place. We spent
about $25. We bought, a bag of apples, a
bunch of bananas, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a loaf of whole wheat raisin
bread, a jar of natural peanut butter, a bag of plain almonds, a box of whole
wheat crackers, a case of water bottles and Styrofoam cooler to keep the waters
cold, while we were out in the desert. This food took the place of our breakfast and
two of our snacks each day!
$25 for 14 breakfasts, 30 snacks, and 24 water
bottles.
$482 for 14 breakfasts ($18 each), 30
snacks ($4 each), 24 water bottles ($4 each).
4,375 average calories each of us consumed
over our 7 breakfasts & 15 snacks
36,750 average calories each of us would
have consumed over our 7 breakfast buffets & 15 snacks if we had purchased food
around our hotel and training. Average amount of calories consumed at a
breakfast buffet is 4,500!!!
We did buy one breakfast each and one
snack each, which is why the numbers 14 breakfast instead of 16 and 30 snacks
instead of 32. We typically eat 3 snacks
per day, one we discussed earlier was a homemade protein bar. The numbers for purchased food and snacks is
very liberal! The breakfast buffet at
the hotel was on special for $17.95 per person and a room service breakfast was
$29 per person! The bottles of water at
some of the functions run by our company were $5, but I did see them other
places for $4.
4. Take your Shakeology for
lunch or breakfast! We used our Shakeology for lunch as we do
every other day of our lives. And thank
you Beachbody for our Shakeology, because my body was certainly craving veggies
and nutrients on this trip since we were not able to cook and eat like we
typically do. We typically get our
Shakeology in the big bag, because it is less costly that way, so we zip locked
bagged it with the scoop and packed it, so we didn’t have to take our big
bag. This is how we typically travel
with it. When we were going to be out
and about during the day, we put the powder in our Shakeology cups and either
packed a water bottle for it or used a water fountain if they were around. Just add water and shake. Lunch is served! J Coach cost of
Shakeology is $3 per meal.
$42 for 14 Shakeology lunches
$280 for 14 purchased lunches
1,120 calories in 7 days of Shakeology
10,500 calories in 7 days of purchased
lunches
Again, these numbers are very
liberal! I used $20 average lunch
cost. The sandwich shop and fast food
were the only not OUTRAGIOUS places to eat nearby and the cost for lunch
started at $12 at those places. There
were plenty of restaurants that had lunches for $100 per person! As far as the calories average was about 1500
per lunch meal!
5. Split a plate when you
do go out! We did have to eat dinner out every
night! We also ate out one lunch, one
breakfast and one snack. We ordered off
the menu each time and did not eat at any of the crazy buffets! Why would
you? Have you EVER left a buffet feeling
glad you did that? We haven’t! And we have done it enough times that we
finally learned our lesson! If you are
cheap like us, you always feel like you have to get your money’s worth when you
go. Anyway, we picked a couple Mexican
places, because generally you can find meals consisting of beans, tomatoes,
lettuce and tortillas. To stay as
healthy as possible we stuck with lean meats, turkey, chicken or fish and as
many veggies as possible for sides. We
noticed that a lot of people were bringing out plates of leftovers and so Nate
and his muscular and hungry self agreed that we would split a plate and order
an appetizer. We were stuffed! We
continued to do that at each place we went.
And if they brought out bread or chips, well score one for us because
then no appetizer needed! Our total
cost of eating out 7 dinners, 1 lunch, 1 breakfast and 1 snack was $189! Here is another article to help when going out to eat. Dine Out Without Diving Off Your Diet
6. Don’t do fast food!
I mean you guys already know this, but even we were tempted, because we
couldn’t cook our own food and we didn’t want to spend a fortune just to eat,
but don’t do it! Resist the temptation,
your body will thank you! Did you know
that the FDA only requires food establishments “meat” to only be 40% actual
meat!!! You can instead go to a nice restaurant
and share a meal and keep it under $20, if you are careful about where you
go. Look at the outside menu before
going inside. If they don’t have prices
on the outside, go somewhere else.
7. If you want to drink
alcohol, do it in your room before heading out!
Take it with you or buy it when you get there and mix your own drinks
before heading out! If we drink, it is
typically Vodka (lowest calorie). We
just mix it with black tea or crystal light lemonade. Quick, easy and
cheap! We bought a 1.5 liter of Vodka
for $20 and packed it to go with us.
However, one night we bought one drink each at the bar, totaling $22!!! And one night Nate bought one beer at the
bar, $7!!! Those three drinks cost more
than 1.5 liter of Vodka, which we drank off of all week and shared with friends!!
9. Don’t take a cab. Rent a
car! We had several places away from the hotel
that we wanted to visit. So, we rented a car 3 of the day we were there. We were able to rent the car for taxes and
all about $20 per day. A cab ride from
the airport (3 miles) was $20! This also
really enabled us to travel to some of the less touristy areas, which were the
most enjoyable on our trip. BONUS: Those
places typically don’t have the up cost to them like the tourist places do.
10. If you are going to gamble, set a limit and consider it entertainment. Don’t expect to win. Play the penny slots and you can get the excitement of playing a lot without spending a lot. We spent $8 and were entertained for nearly an hour. We walked away with $8 less than we went in with, but we had fun!
We hope this helps, as we know that it can be very difficult to travel and stay fit! Don't forget to HAVE FUN!!!!! Feel free to comment and share any tips that you have found helpful as well!
*register for a copy of the e-cookbook for this recipe! It is free! You can do at the top left of your screen.
*register for a copy of the e-cookbook for this recipe! It is free! You can do at the top left of your screen.
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