Truckers Diet

Stay away from the buffets, unless you go heavy on the salad.

 

places to work out at truck stops are a rumor. The very few I've seen have been on YouTube and are twice as big as a closet with a treadmill or elliptical and a TV. You can eat as much or as little as you decide. In 20 years of driving I have eaten a sit-down meal in a truckstop 3-5 times. I got sick twice. I bring my own groceries with me and spend about 1/3 what it would costs to buy my meals. I eat on my schedule and don't expect shipper/receivers to feed me in a timely fashion. Trucking is what YOU make of it. BTW walking costs nothing and requires you wear clothes and shoes if you do it in public. If you go to Gary, IN good luck. I hear people in Syria say "at least we're not in Gary."

 

I'm in a similar situation just a ahead of Coastie as I recently started driving again after a refresher course.

I'm disappointed in the ability to rely on a cooler. My company doesn't want us to Idle. I do have an IdleFree battery based APU, but my truck will only keep a cooler going through most of one night. If I keep running every day, I'm okay, but if I stop or do a reset it's hard to depend on the cooler.

So with that said, I wondered if anyone recommends Non-Cooler foods. I've been taking a long a bag of apples but I need to stock up more since I run for 2 weeks. I've also been trying some Meal bars for quick breakfasts, nuts, granola bars, sometimes beef jerky for snacking, or even munching on mini peppers. It's been trial and error and during my next time off I want to do a better job of stocking up on groceries.

The other thing I want to plan better on is counting my calories.

 

Along the line of exercise, has anyone ever seen a bicycle strapped to the back of the cab?

 

Buy groceries from Walmart or grocery stores rather than trying to stock enough food for the time away from home.

When I was OTR I ate tons of processed meats (cold-cuts and canned stew etc) and wound up getting gout in my clutch foot. Try oatmeal and fruits & vegetables. the instant oatmeal only needs hot water, comes in various flavors and is cheap enough. The blander and more boring your food the less likely you are to stuff yourself and gain weight. You need LESS food driving than you need at home. You can adjust your "normal" food intake gradually and lose weight. If you reward yourself every time you have a hard day you will need one of those small diameter steering wheels.