Help! I don't want to ruin my diet!

My time here in the hotel is coming to an end... Yippee! I can't wait to get back into a house and start living normally. I know it may sound fun to live in a hotel but it looses it's appeal after about 3 days. Anyways, as from previous posts you can see that all I had was a microwave and a mini fridge. While I tried to eat out of my "dream kitchen" as often as possibly sometimes we just couldn't escape having to eat out. I'm proud to say that I found the best thing on the menu AND even tweaked those choices to be even better. If you walk away learning only one thing from this post it's to ask your waiter (or the cashier at a fast food restaurant) to make the dish the way you need it made. After all, you're the paying customer and 99.9% of the time it's not a hassle for them to prepare it your way.

Live by these rules on the road and you won't break your diet:
1) Pretend you have food allergies. Most of the time the extra calories are what's going to kill your calories for the day. Cream sauces, cheeses, butter, etc are all very high in bad fats and if you say from the start you have milk allergies the restaurant will omit these items and therefore omit hundreds of unhealthy calories. And while you're at it, pretend you have celiac as well and leave off those croutons and crispy tortilla chips!
2) All calories are not created equal. When you're looking at a menu makes sure the dish is primarily made of vegetables, then a lean protein source, and finally slow digesting carbs (preferably non processed such as potatoes, beans, corn etc). If all else fails order side salad and pay for them to add grilled chicken.
3) Download a food diary app for your phone. While looking over the menu you can quickly look up a foods caloric nutrition as well as the macro nutrients. If you don't have a fancy smancy phone ask the restaurant to provide you with their nutrition information. Try to keep meals below 400 calories.
4) No drinks here, just a nice tall glass of water (or coffee or plain tea).
5) If the dish is too large in portion, immediately ask for a to-go container so you can put away what shouldn't be eaten at this meal time. If it sits on your plate, you'll be likely to pick at it even after you're full.
6) Think paleo. As in paleolithic time period. If you chose dishes that could have been made by a caveman then most likely you'll be ok. So think chicken, lean cuts of beef, lean cuts of pork, avocado, nuts, vegetables etc.
7) Skip dessert (unless dessert is fresh fruit).

I've also decided to include some of the dishes I ordered so you can't get a feel for what you should order.
Baja Fresh: Chicken Ensalada with no cheese, no tortilla, extra salsa.
Chipotle: Chicken Salad Bowl, chicken, black beans, lettuce and salsa only.
Sweet Tomatoes (Soupplantation if you live in Cali): Salad bar was a free for all. One bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup (I fish out the chicken so I get more chicken than noodle). And some grapes for dessert.
Chilis: Light Salmon, plain no butter or oil. Broccoli steamed only, no cheese.
Promenade Cafe (kinda like Jim's Family Restaurant : Vegetable omelette, no cheese. Sourdough bread served dry. 

Oldie But Goodie #2

Buon Giorno Breakfast Cake This is a higher protein, lower carb (and lower sugar) version of a Honey Cake. I had it for breakfast with a little cappuccino. Delicious.   1 1/4 Cup Oat Flour (can make this by putting oats in blender) 1 Cup Almond Flour 1 Cup Soy Flour 2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice 1 Tsp Baking Powder 1 Tsp Baking Soda 3/4 Tsp Salt 2 Cups chopped and peeled Granny Smith Apples 2 Tsp Orange Zest 3/4 Cup Egg Whites 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar 3/4 Cup Honey 3/4 Cup Coconut oil 1/2 Brewed Coffee, cooled     1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all three flours, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt into bowl. Set aside. 2. In large bowl, beat egg whites fast with wisk for one minute, then add brown sugar, honey, coconut oil and coffee until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat until combined. Fold in apples and zest. Pour batter into tube pan. 3. Bake 1 to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. 4. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes, then loosen from sides and center. Invert on cooling rack, cool completely.

Oldies But Goodies

Im going to start posting some of my older recipes that I haven't published on this blog. First up... Healthy Monkey Muffins? Wet ingredients: 1 egg, 1/3 cup egg whites ¼ cup coconut oil 1 baby food jar of squash 1/3 cup agave syrup 1 medium mashed banana Dry ingredients: 1/2 cup chocolate protein powder ½ cup almond flour ½ cup cream of rice cereal ½ cup wheat germ 1 cup rolled oats ¾ tsp sea salt ¾ tsp baking soda 3 tsp cinnamon Optional: 2 squares 70% dark chocolate, made into shavings.   1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray a 12-pan muffin tin with oil. 2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together wet ingredients thoroughly. 3. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. 5. Combine the wet ingredients into the dry mix bowl. Mix together with a wooden spoon. Gently fold in dark chocolate shavings. 6. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve. Calories in muffins with dark chocolate: 210 Without chocolate: 198

Protein Powder Free Breakfast Bars

For those of you who do not bake with protein powder. A protein filled delicious breakfast bar.1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1 cup pumpkin purée, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup agave syrup (or honey), 1 cup oats, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking powder. Put all into a blender on low and blend until just barely smooth. Pour contents into a bowl and add an additional 1 cup regular oats (this makes the texture chewy). Pour into 8x8 bar pan and bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars. Back and biceps workout today. 4 sets pull ups till failure. Seated hammer strength lat pull down, 10, 8, 6, and 10 with two drop sets for the last one. Seated unilateral cable row, 15 reps each arm, no rest, 8 sets total for each arm. That one was killer! Bilateral bicep curl with cable machine superset with close grip barbell bicep curl (12 reps on first exercise, second exercise till failure, 3 rounds total).