How the hell do u stay healthy?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Michigan1983, Apr 22, 2012.

  1. AZS

    AZS Honk if anything falls off

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    tried ben jerrys greek yogurt tonight, banana and peanut butter flavor. gooood. Still high in calories (800 for the whole container) but good substitute for ice cream.
     
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  3. Female Driver

    Female Driver Medium Load Member

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    Thank you.

    I think I will most definitely buy a folding bike as soon as I get my own truck. I saved your Dahon on Amazon, and will keep it in mind when making my final decision on what exact bike to get. I'm not sure I want a single speed though. However, I only say that so it's easier for me to get up hills... I suppose not having that luxury would be more beneficial to my health and weight loss though, lol.
     
  4. Rocks

    Rocks Road Train Member

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    I love that OIKOS Greek yogurt (plain flavor). I mix it with fruits and honey... hmmmm...... de-li-ci-ous..... It is a much... MUCH better substitute for ice cream. :yes2557:
     
  5. AZS

    AZS Honk if anything falls off

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    that's hardcore. :biggrin_25523: one day I will get there.
     
  6. chompi

    chompi Road Train Member

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    Femaledriver there is all kind of different equipment you can store aboard for exercise. Hell you don't even need a fold up bike. You could put a regular bike right on the catwalk of the truck! I used to have those Bowflex selectec dumbells and a weight bench aboard my truck.

    There's all kind of stuff you can do. Just be creative.

    I don't know bout the rest of ya'll but I had to break my bizalls to lose weight over the road! I starved myself and worked out hard every single day! Took me awhile but I did it! Maintaining is almost as hard.
     
  7. Kit76

    Kit76 Bobtail Member

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    Jul 10, 2012
    West Lafayette, IN
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    Hubby and I are preparing to go back OTR after 6 years off road. During that time, we've had to go gluten-free.

    I've spent the last month or so experimenting with inexpensive, non-refrigerated foods that will sustain our health and give us ample protein carb ratios. To ramp up the challenge even more, our daily costs were capped at $10/person.

    Initially, I had us squeaking in at $9.87/person, utilizing UHT milk and all other kinds of crazy stuff that would've taken up craploads of room in the truck. Then the idea of powdered milk popped into my head, and I discovered these AWESOME protein bars at Target that are gluten free. (No, I'm not a super healthy-crunchy vegan palate type person - I'm a very picky eater, so finding a protein bar that tasted good was a miracle.)

    I've now gotten my meals down to $6.37/day, which provides me with 88 grams of protein, 1448 calories, and 180 grams of carbs.

    Here's the breakdown:

    Breakfast: 16 oz water + 1/2 cup powdered milk + 1 serving Starbucks VIA Carmel flavor and 1 nutrition bar (details on brands at end)
    ~~Protein: 30g ~~Calories: 420 ~~Carbs: 60

    Lunch: 1 Capri Sun V (similar to V-8 Splash, but cheaper), 2 nutrition bars, 3 pieces dried pineapple
    ~~Protein: 28g ~~Calories: 568 ~~Carbs: 79

    Dinner: 4 turkey sticks (similar to a beef stick, but more protein), 1 nutrition bar, 1 Capri Sun V
    ~~Protein: 30g ~~Calories: 460 ~~Carbs: 41

    Dinner and lunch can be stretched out throughout the day, as well as interchanged for variety if desired. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the nutrition bars, so I don't mind having them all day. I'm currently trying to wean away from the flavored Starbucks VIA to the regular Italian Roast Starbucks VIA. This will reduce the carbs in the morning and reduce the sugar start to the day. Even though it's only 13g of sugar, that's still a sugary jump start that will be better if I can avoid. I love Starbucks, so this combo is a real treat for me.

    All this I can get for $45/week.

    For breakfast, I bought a "blender shaker bottle" at Target (similar to this: http://www.target.com/p/blender-bottle-white-and-light-green-bottle-with-lid-28-oz/-/A-13722321 ). The little whisk shaped ball helps the powder and water combine easily. The only thing I will need to refrigerate in our truck is water. And worst case scenario, we can either fill a bottle with cold water from the soda stand at a truck stop or buy a 16 oz bottle of cold water if our fridge stops working or something. I settled on Sanalac dry milk, which comes in a nice canister type container. I bought these on clearance at Target, so I may have to refill them with other brands packaged in other ways, but at least it is a good container. If you can't find one like this, maybe use a Tupperware container. I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and put two scoops in with 16 oz water. This size scoop is small enough to fit inside the blender bottle so the powder doesn't go everywhere. Then I add either 1/2 of the Iced Caramel VIA or 1 of the Hot Caramel VIA packets. They both dissolve the same, the only difference is the Iced packet has two servings and the hot packet has one. (Since they are priced the same, it is cheaper to buy the iced one and split it with hubby for half the cost.) I even tested a worst case scenario where we didn't have time to wash out the blender bottles until our evening showers. I left the blender bottles out with the remnant milk and coffee, did not refrigerate, and was able to wash at the end of the day without undue stench or remaining stench in the bottle. This means we can take a small amount of Palmolive in the shower with us and wash our blender bottles at that time.

    The nutrition bars are Market Pantry brand (Target's generic), and my favorite flavors are chocolate peanut butter and fudge graham. I can't have graham crackers anymore, so the fudge graham is as close as I can get to S'Mores anymore while being gluten free. There is a similar type of bar brand named Zone or something like that. They're not much more expensive, maybe 30 cents a package, so if you don't have a Target in your area, maybe you can find the Zone brand in your preferred store.

    The Turkey Sticks are from Aldi's. Pork doesn't always agree with me, so I always have to go with beef or turkey. Hubby is allergic to pork, so we generally just avoid it all together.

    The dried pineapple is also from Aldi's - better quality and cheaper than anywhere else I've tried. A bag of 20 pieces (6 servings for me) is only $1.49. And because it's dried, I don't have to worry about it going bad in just a couple days if I don't eat it fast enough.

    The Capri Sun V is a fruit and veggie drink. I HATE vegetables, but I know they're good for me. This is a way for me to get some veggies in without tasting them. They also have 3 grams of fiber in every drink. Inside it has grape, apple, sweet potato, corn fiber, carrot juice, strawberry juice, and assorted vitamins, flavors, etc. At 13g of sugar (natural sugar, no added sugar), it's a sweet treat that tastes great.

    Throughout the day, TONS of water.

    We're using this time off the road to get used to a lower calorie diet so that it's not a sudden shock to be under the stress of in the truck OTR and eating less at the same time.

    Hubby's diet is a little different because he requires a lot more calories and he loves tuna (Eww), but his daily food clocks in at $8.71/day.

    Breakfast: 16 oz water, 1/2 cup powdered milk, 1 serving Starbucks VIA, Carmel flavor, and 1/3 cup Soy Protein Isolate.
    ~~Protein: 36g ~~Calories: 300 ~~Carbs: 39

    Lunch: 1- 6.4 oz pouch of tuna, 8 mayo packets (these are the least healthy aspect of his meals, but for now he needs the extra calories), 1 small can low sodium V-8, 1 nutrition bar, 1 large can veggies (he loves his veggies, unlike me), 1 Capri Sun V
    ~~Protein: 62g ~~Calories: 1240 ~~Carbs: 95

    Dinner: 2 nutrition bars, 1 small can low sodium V-8, 1 large can veggies
    ~~Protein: 36g ~~Calories: 580 ~~Carbs: 79

    His totals:

    Protein: 135 grams
    Calories: 2120
    Carbs: 213


    We plan on having a nice hot meal at least once a week when we stop to do laundry. This will probably be some form of eggs and potato with orange juice. Definitely a nice treat.


    Anyway, this is our approach to healthy and inexpensive while on the road and gluten-free. We're not gluten-free by choice - our bodies reactions require it. Trust me, you don't wanna be around either one of us if we accidentally get "glutened."


    To do this on your own, I recommend a simple spreadsheet with the following colums:



    1. Food Item
    2. Quantity
    3. Price/quantity (For example, if a 5-pak of bars costs $3.99, the bars are $0.80 per bar)
    4. Subtotal (I used a formula here for =sum(b3*c3) to get the subtotal)
    5. Protein
    6. Calories
    7. Carb

      Then you can play around with quantities, prices, nutritional content, etc. until you come up with one that works for you.

      We used http://www.calorie-count.com to find out what calories we needed to maintain at our current weights and what calories were safe to lose weight with. For protein, take your current weight and convert it to kilograms (divide by 2.2) and then multiply times 0.80. This will tell you how many grams of protein you need per day minimum. So for someone weighing 200 lbs, (200/2.2 * 8.8), they need 73g protein. The carb ratio is 1/8 of your total calories. So if your calories are 2,000, take 2000/8 = 250, you can have up to 250 carbs per day within those 2000 calories.

      We are also looking into close quarter training, or exercises that can be done in a small confined space. Think of how you would exercise if you were captured and imprisoned, and those are exercises you can do in your truck.
     
  8. Kit76

    Kit76 Bobtail Member

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    Jul 10, 2012
    West Lafayette, IN
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    The calculation with the crazy smiley face should be (200/2.2 * 8.8 )
     
  9. Ghost Driver

    Ghost Driver Bobtail Member

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    Jul 13, 2012
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    Kit's got her act together - I know, I'm her hubby. ;)

    Protein is the #1 nutrion focus - if you don't get enough protein, you could lose weight out on the road, but guess where that weight comes from? Your muscles - quickest way for your body to regain protein it needs for everything else, is to steal it from what gets it the most. Keep your muscles fed with good protein and you'll have more energy than you know what to do with - more than those stupid energy drinks and sodas give you.

    Second is carb balance/sugar load. Load up on too much sugar (Yes, I'm talking to you soda lovers out there) and you're going to stay bouncing off the walls on a sugar high and then crash really hard. Eventually, the caffeine and sugar won't work anymore and so you're only drinking them for flavor. And you're doing it all with empty calories - high carb, no value. Avoid that junk and stick to things like water, tea, coffee (Just be a real trucker - no cream, no sugar) but consider this - for every cup of coffee, drink two bottles of water. It's important and your kidneys will thank me later.

    A cautionary tale to add to this - if you drink soda like there's no tomorrow, especially something like Mtn Dew or one of the other caffeinated bevs...switch out to some coffee, tea, anything else with caffeine that doesn't have the sugar - otherwise you're going to have one hell of a migraine for about a week before it cleans out of your system.

    Third is your vitamins. Take a multivitamin once a day and be sure to eat your veggies - why? There's fiber in them there veggies...and if you've ever been praying for something to pass in a stall in the middle of nowhere, you'll thank me for the advice.

    Last is fat. Why's it last? Because fat's not as bad as what people make it out to be. That combined with the fact that if you focus on the things above, you won't get too much of any kind of fat to worry about - it'll be just right. Just don't go soaking everything she suggested in gravy or smearing a half a stick of butter on it and you'll do just fine.

    Last but not least, when you focus on the things above, in that order, you'll find out that you're going to be able to eat more good stuff for less calories. With the meals she's come up with for us, I eat like a horse - 6.4oz of tuna a day, with a pile of mayo, 2 full cans of veggies (and I'm talking the 3-4 serving size cans, not those little dinky ones!) a couple protein bars (that actually taste like I'm eating junk food!) a couple of the small V-8's (which I love) and believe me, I'm one stuffed guy by the end of the day!

    Only down side is, I actually have to exercise before I go to bed, or I'm just wide awake for hours, ready to roll because I have so much energy left over. Now granted - I'm not lumpin' freight or hopping in and out of a truck all day anymore (but I will be soon again) but having that much energy tells me I'm eatin' right.
     
  10. Wisc-Badger

    Wisc-Badger Light Load Member

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    Jul 21, 2011
    Winston Salem, NC
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    Popeye's chicken is the BEST!

    It's expensive though, especially at the I-80 rest stops in Ohio. Probably not the healthiest food, but you have to treat yourself sometime.

    I do alot of shopping at Walmart when otr. I'll buy fat free yogurt for breakfast, packaged ham to dress-up veggie subs at Subways, pita bread and hummus, the salsa in the produce section is good, celery - I eat alot of that.

    Popeye's is STILL THE BEST!!!
     
  11. vinsanity

    vinsanity Road Train Member

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    South Florida
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    Yep. Anyone can eat healthy, but to eat like that takes endurance. It will make a man out of you. People who eat healthy always look weak and pale.
     
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