How to eat healthy while living in a hotel

I worked as a management consultant for 4 years.

For 2 of those years I traveled, living in hotels 4-days a week.

In total, I spent over 250 nights in a hotel.

There are good and bad aspects to long-term weekly travel, but in this post I am focusing on one of the worst: trying to eat healthy while living in a hotel.

Eating Healthy while Traveling for Business

If you haven't experienced long-term travel then this problem may sound trivial, but I promise you it's not.

Business travel presents a lot of obstacles to staying healthy: unpredictable daily routines, added stress, lack of good food options, poor sleep, limited exercise, etc. In the face of these obstacles, most people just end up shovelling down whatever comfort food they can find so that they can get back to the two other priorities of life during business travel—working and sleeping.

The net result is that eating healthy while traveling is at best a daily annoyance and at worst a recipe for increased stress, poor health, and fat gain.

When I first started traveling for work I tried to rely on willpower to eat healthy. This worked some of the time, but unfortunately, there are times when you have no willpower and you are going to eat whatever is convenient. I realized I needed a better solution while sitting at the Minneapolis airport eating Chick-fil-A on a Thursday night for the third week in a row...

5 Steps: Travel Diet Plan

My solution was to create systems that guaranteed I'd eat healthy regardless of whether my willpower was high or low.

History had shown that my decision making and commitment was fallible, and therefore I needed to remove myself from the process by making healthy food the ONLY option (or at the very least, making it much MORE convenient than the unhealthy options).

Here are the systems I used. They are not perfect, but they helped improve my diet and decrease my stress during long-term travel.

  1. Fill a bag with healthy, non-perishable snacks and leave it at the hotel. I always left an extra bag at the hotel over the weekend filled with dress shoes, gym shoes, a suit, and healthy snacks. The clothes reduced the amount I carried in my suitcase each week, and the healthy snacks meant that no matter how crazy my travel or workday was I always had food waiting for me at the hotel. If I was staying at a different hotel each week then I'd leave the bag at the client site. Here's an example of what I'd have: protein powder, Greens+ powder, mixed nuts, beef jerky, dark chocolate, almond butter, coconut chips, etc.
  2. Negotiate a healthy dinner with the hotel. The first week at a new hotel I'd call the hotel restaurant, ask for the manager, and arrange a custom fixed-price room service meal. From then on I'd just call room service and get my pre-arranged dinner sent up without having to leave the hotel and think about where and what to eat. For example, on one project in Minneapolis I ate grilled salmon and two big plates of mixed steamed vegetables with butter almost every night, and it only cost $20.
  3. Go to the grocery store the day you arrive. Most Monday night's I'd make a grocery trip to buy some fresh healthy snacks like veggies, berries, bananas, or even a whole roast chicken. I'd store the food in the hotel mini-fridge for the week (you can request one from the hotel if you room doesn't have one). I'd still eat my pre-arranged room service meal or go out for dinner, but it was nice having extra snacks and a back-up option if I had a late night and everything nearby was closed.
  4. Take advantage of the breakfast buffet. This one depends on where you're staying, but most places will have a decent buffet that you can access for free if you have hotel status. While not everything in the breakfast buffet is healthy, there's almost always some good options (eggs, meat, veggies, fruit, smoked salmon, etc.). I'd always take the opportunity to eat a guaranteed healthy meal so that no matter what happened the rest of the day, I'd know that I'd have a head start. If you are trying intermittent fasting then you can ask for a to-go container and save the food for snacks or lunch.
  5. Eat before the airport. The airport is where many, many diets go to die. It usually happens on the way home late on Thursday night when you are exhausted, hungry, and lazy. My approach was to buy two lunches and save one to eat before, on the way, or at the airport.

Does anyone else have systems they've used for eating healthy while traveling consistently? Leave a comment below.


Alistair Clark is a former management consultant and current exercise and nutrition coach that runs worklifeiftness.co. He has a free guide to exercise and nutrition that helps busy professionals get better fitness results while saving a few hours each week.

 

Yes, and there are probably a few ways to go about this. From my experience, there are two scenarios for how it could work:

Scenario #1 - Most consultancies allow you to stay in the client city over the weekend (or travel to another city) and will cover the cost up to what a typical round trip would cost. For example, if your round trip flight usually costs $500 then you have $500 in value to spend on hotels over the weekend (or a flight to another city) and then you'll pay the remaining balance.

Scenario #2 - On some large projects (hundreds of consultants in one city) there will be corporate housing arranged. This is basically an apartment that you may or may not share with a colleague. In this scenario, it is basically yours for the duration of the project and you can stay for the weekend if you want.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

I never thought about the pre-arranged meal but that's a good idea. I always try to make one meal a day a salad with protein and the dressing on the side as well. Then I figure that between a healthy breakfast and a salad, even if I get stuck eating something at whatever office I'm at, I've gotten 2 out of 3.

I end up going out to dinner a ton for work and I usually push for a steakhouse or sushi. You can always get a fillet or grilled fish and grilled vegetables at a steakhouse and sushi places have tons of healthy options.

 

Sounds like you have the right mindset of "aim for good instead of perfect". In my opinion getting 2 of 3 healthy meals is better than stressing all day trying to get 3 of 3.

Steakhouse and sushi are my favourites as well. I've also found good options at Mexican and Greek restaurants, but you have to be more selective about sides and toppings.

www.worklifefitness.co
 
Alistair-Clark:

Sounds like you have the right mindset of "aim for good instead of perfect". In my opinion getting 2 of 3 healthy meals is better than stressing all day trying to get 3 of 3.

Steakhouse and sushi are my favourites as well. I've also found good options at Mexican and Greek restaurants, but you have to be more selective about sides and toppings.

The problem is when a company orders in bulk food for lunch. We were doing a deal down south where the CEO/owner would order a metric ton of Chic Fil'a 4x/week. It's tough to say no to a guy buying you food and it tastes and smells so good but it's a good way to have a heart attack when the deal takes months.

 

My big 4 allows a certain amount max per dinner on away jobs. I usually just submit the non itemised card receipt with total. Has anyone ever done something along the lines of eg buying a sandwich in a store for dinner then using rest of money to get a gift card? Eg if your allowance is 50$ then buying a 8 $ sandwich and 40$ gift card and then submitting non itemised receipt? Feel like I'm getting fat from constantly ordering a starter + main + 2 glasses of wine. Obviously I could also spend less but I feel I'm under compensated as it is so extract value however I can lol

 

I've never encountered that scenario. My company gave a set per diem each day, and you'd get the cash regardless of how much or little you spent.

Can you use the $50 at the grocery store? This way you could buy your dinner and some extra food for later. Also, if you go to a place like target and just submit a non-itemized receipt, then you have a bit more flexibility on what you spend that money on...

www.worklifefitness.co
 

@ feeling under compensated for spending less....it definitely sounds like you are in a constant state of lack and limitation. If you seen your world as abundant and showed gratitude for what you have you wouldn't feel like something is missing from under spending in regard company sponsored meals. At the end of the day you are only hurting your self by over consuming calories/alcohol.

I suggest you concentrate on extracting value from your mind, vs extracting from your company credit card/financial source.

Dely D

 

I used to stay 3-6 days/week in a hotel. While the luxury part is arguably good, the food actually is questionable. I once asked for an apple milk-shake, and they gave me a flavored milk! There were days when the cookies were damp - I felt as if I chew a sponge!!! - and pizza's were like rubber!!!

Frankly speaking, I love to avoid hotel food - my health takes a toll, plus the extra calories and germs. Their focus is "how do I make the food tasty?"

Now-a-days, I prefer steamed veg food (break-fast, lunch and dinner; I avoid snacks at hotel) and milk (during break-fast).

 

Similar lifestyle (albeit not as a consultant, so cannot comment on meal comps, etc). But to stay healthy, a few tips -

> try to start lunch/dinner with a large salad. > high protein, higher fat, low (or no) sugar diet.
> meals out with a friend (statistically, people eat more alone). > cardio at least 4 times / week. > weight training at least twice / week (day passes at random gyms)

 
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