Day 4

Today started off well enough, though breakfast ended up being another protein bar since the hotel only served carbs and fruit, neither of which are allowed.

Breakfast #1 730am

Supreme Protein brand Peanut Butter & Jelly bar

PAGG

Water

Coffee at the hotel before we left, maybe 3/4 of a styrofoam cup worth

Breakfast #2 930am

Chorizo omelete, no cheese from Rum Bar

Tomato Slices

Not bad so far, and filling enough that the omelet served as brunch since we started our day at 5am.

But then things went to hell at work and we had no food and little water until evening.

Dinner 645pm

Turkey burger patty from Rum Bar

Black beans

Diet Coke

PAGG

So, yeah, roughly 9 hours with nothing whatsoever. Not pretty, and we were all feeling the affects of hunger and dehydration by the time we finally arrived back in base and rushed to have dinner before our flights home. At least I got to stick with 4HB-style meals all day, and the little I did eat was great.

I weighed in once I arrived home, had a shower and all that; probably not the best time to do it but I was curious if I was successful at all at work because it didn't feel like it even though I was doing my best to conform to the limitations of 4HB and what's available in the airports or hotel areas we were at. The scale says I'm down 2 pounds! :) So, it must be working. Now I'm home for a few days where I can really give it my all before the next trip.

Day 3

Breakfast within one hour of waking wasn't going to happen, so I had a protein bar during our first flight.

Breakfast 9:40am
This time was an Oh Yeah! brand Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly bar which clocked in at 27 grams of protein, 32 grams total carbs, 4 grams of fiber. 10 Points Plus on the Weight Watcher's calculator.
PAGG
18oz water
Tall coffee from Starbucks with Truvia and a little half & half

Lunch 2pm
My flight attendant rescued me from despair about the gross vegetables from that horrible little Chinese place. She said S'barro's has fresh steamed vegetables! It's all the way down on the C concourse though, so no time for the whole "buh bye" thing while passengers are deplaning, I have to haul ass.
S'barro: steamed veggies (broccoli, squash, carrots)
Tequileria: black beans
PAGG

Workout 540pm
15 minute workout with the Workout Trainer app. Crew was hungry, didn't want to wait on a longer workout

Dinner 630pm
Teriyake salmon and shrimp
Vegetables: broccoli, carrots, baby corn
Edamame
Miso soup
Salad with ginger dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers
Green tea
Water

Not sure how that fared overall with 4HB but it was the best I could come up with. The restaurant was very, very nice but does not accommodate substitutions. Forgot to take a PAGG with me so I'll skip it and just do the Night PAGG before bed.

The veggies from S'barro were awesome so they just became my new favorite place next month while I'm at work. Pairing them with a side order of black beans worked great for a filling lunch.

Day 2

Today made me question even more how this is going to work while I'm at work traveling.

Breakfast 9:30am
The hotel serves breakfast so I picked the only few items that fit 4HB
2 sausage patties
1 egg "omelette" I think they were made from powdered eggs, and no cheese, which isn't allowed on 4HB anyway
Container of around 0.7oz peanut butter
PAGG
Coffee with 1/4 container half&half and Truvia sweetener

Probably not enough protein to start the day, but I took the last omelette and I don't think I could have stood a second one anyway, or a tried sausage patty. I also had a little water while getting dressed, and more once back to my room. Nowhere near the recommended amount though.

I had a little time before work so I tried one of the fitness apps for the first time. I chose Workout Trainer which was nice other than not supporting landscape view for tablets. I did the Beginner Blast workout, which was about 20 minutes of low-impact cardio and low-resistance yoga. I had just enough time to shower and get my uniform on to catch the van to the airport.

Lunch 2pm
I brought a few protein bars just in case I was hungry in flight or would not have time to get food before the next flight. I've never tried the brands I bought so this is an experiment into itself. Today I chose the Supreme Protein brand Rocky Road bar. 30 grams of protein, 2 grams fiber. The Points Plus calculator says it's 10 points! The thing was a monster and took about 30 minutes to eat, though part of that I was busy doing my job.
PAGG

Dinner 6:30pm
Turkey sandwich no bun from Carolina Pit BBQ
Tomato cucumber salad
PAGG

This ended up being a lighter meal than planned and I was hungry a few hours later.

Dinner #2 8:30pm
Turkey burger patty from Bad Daddy Burgers, no bun
2 slices of tomato

One of the big lessons so far is that vegetables are not easy to come by. There are 3 places that serve black beans, a couple where I can get tomatoes. Some of the kiosks sell trays with celery and cheese. Can't have cheese so it ends up being really expensive celery and I can't even have the ranch dip. There's a terrible Chinese place that slops some "grilled" vegetables. Tastes horrible but I may have to just suck it up to get some vegetable intake.

Day One

Yesterday was the first day of my trip. 5 legs plus my commute flight for a total of 17 hours from waking up to arriving at the hotel. Needless to say, no time for physical activities, which is often the case at work.

Friday's meals consisted of:

Breakfast 8am
1 whole egg, over medium
3 strips of no nitrate turkey bacon
Cottage cheese, just a guess maybe 3 tablespoons worth
Spinach, roughly 1/2 cup or more once cooked
Coffee, sweetened with Truvia, 1 teaspoon non-dairy creamer
PAGG tablet

Lunch 2pm
Black beans from Tequilaria; no idea how much, more than I expected. 2 cups is my estimate.
Diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon guacamole; I was hoping for sliced avacado but no luck. Not fond of guacamole.
PAGG tablet

Lunch doesn't sound like much, but it was quite filling thanks to how much black beans they served. That should fit the bill for caloric-dense legumes and protein for that meal.

Dinner 6:30pm
Turkey burger, patty only from Rum Bar
Black beans, 1 cup or so
Salad consisting of greens and lettuce, carrots, celery, tomatoes and "tropical vinegrette" dressing
PAGG tablet

That meal was larger than it may sound and was very filling. Or so I thought. Around 9pm during our break before our final leg, I was getting really hungry. That's typical, you have to eat more with 4HB, and lunch may not have been caloric-dense enough or something. I was tempted by a small frozen yogurt from Pinkberry's but ended up snacking on a slice of Naturally Delicious brand banana bread. Bread is obviously a "bad carb" but I was out of options at that time. It came up as 4 Points Plus on the Weight Watcher's calculator, which is a typical WW-brand frozen dessert value.

By 12:30am I was in my hotel room, and took the Night PAGG tablet. Wow, that thing smells! That must be the one loaded with the most garlic or something.

What Day One At Work tells me is that I didn't plan well enough in what I packed with me, and what would be available at the airports. I knew this going in, however -- this project was a very impulsive last-minute decision Thursday and I spent a lot of time driving around picking up random things that came to mind, including the PAGG stack which I've never used before, so didn't really get a chance to outline a better plan. We'll see how the rest of this trip goes and if I can take lessons this week and apply them toward the rest of the remaining month.

The Mission

A few days ago, April 24th, was exactly one month before my birthday. I am currently 7 pounds over my target weight of 147. They are a stubborn 7 pounds, so I'm forcing the issue by attempting a most-likely tweaked Slow Carb Diet. I did it -- the Four Hour Body version -- once before with great success, but at the time I was on vacation with a couple bonus weeks off work. My job is the bane of many things, 4HB among them. Random hours, never knowing when or what I'll eat next. I've tried packing my own foods, but have been unsuccessful at keeping it cool enough to stay fresh with no refrigeration on the aircraft and never guaranteed a refrigerator at whatever hotel we happen to be in on any given night.

So, 7 pounds by May 24. I plan by starting with as close to the 4HB program as I can get on the road, then if it works, start migrating off the "diet" mentality (means to an end) back into more of a healthy lifestyle, which I mostly sorta-kinda do anyway.

I will try to document my progress and thoughts here along the way!