A little about me...

This week I am in Annapolis, MD. It's a pretty cool little city. The Naval Academy is here and it's really close to Washington DC so there's a lot of good site seeing and eats in the area. Typically my travel schedule can put me in a different city every week but I'm actually suppose to be in and out of here quite a bit over the course of the next few months. So why not start finding the best restaurants and hang outs? Oh I plan to. This area has some really good seafood and I was told to look for something called a half smoked (???). But first things first... what's up with this blog?

Just over 2 years ago I was weighing in at 252 lbs. That is the heaviest I've been my whole life. Doesn't sound like much but when you're 5' 7" it's a lot. I had a fairly active lifestyle and probably went to the gym to lift weights at least 4 times a week but cardio wasn't in my regimen of exercises very often. That year I managed to get down to 192 lbs by the end of the year by simply cutting my portion sizes (in half) and adding running to my schedule and I was able to maintain around 200 lbs for about a year. Here are some before and after pics:





Here's where the traveling comes into play. In September 2008, I started a new job that put me on the road about 3 weeks out of the month. My schedule was to fly out on Monday morning and fly back either Thursday or Friday night. I ate out for every meal from the time I flew out til the time I got back home. The best part of it was every meal is expensed so I got to eat some really good steaks, seafood, BBQ, and what ever else you can imagine. Since I got to eat such good food and so much of it, I was spending less time on my workouts and my cardio sessions were going from 45 min or an hour to just 15 or 20 min. Sometimes even less. Needless to say, my weight jumped up to 225 lbs. Here's what I did about it.

About 8 to 10 weeks ago, I started looking for a hotel with a kitchen if possible. Ideally, I will cook dinner for every night of the week but allow myself to eat out one time a week. If I want to eat out one other time then that's OK too, I just don't let it get out of hand like before. When I cook, I make enough to bring into work for lunch the next day. I actually liked cooking before starting this regimen. If you don't' like to cook or don't know how all I have to say is if you can follow instructions to make Ramen Noodles, you can pick out any recipe off of google and make that too.

This means you have to make a trip to the grocery store too. This week I plan to have salmon some kind of veggies and my alternative food is homemade soup with pork neck bones and veggies. I also got me some fruits and 2 gallons of water for the week. Here are some pics of my dinner tonight.




I bought sushi grade salmon that was probably enough for 2 meals. I also made sauteed onions and mushrooms and spinach with garlic also. I had some non-stick olive oil spray and brown rice from a previous trip (I just saved the non-perishables at the office in a plastic bag) and bought some mangoes, kiwis, and cherries for the week to snack on or to have as my desert. Every once in a while, I'll buy a six pack of beer but will probably only drink 2 or 3 of those during the week. Yes, sorry, I do have to waste the beer sometimes which is why I don't buy it as often.

I also had a chance to go running today. The workout facilities is not good at all at this hotel so I just picked out a road to go run down. If the safety of the neighborhood is in doubt, I'll Google a park that I can go running at or I'll pull out my trusty resistance bands or jump rope. I also have the P90x workouts iso'd to my laptop so I can get in one of those workouts for variety.

All of this seems like a lot of work but I really think it's worth it. Not only do I get to see a bunch of different cities, but I get to eat good and healthy, and more economically during the these hard time. I'll try to make entries when I'm not traveling too. I'm aiming to show that there doesn't have to be a huge difference in your lifestyle on the road than when you're at home. Check back with us later and leave some comments. I'm looking forward to them.

Thanks,
Traveling Dougie