Five flights in one day. Helsinki, Stockholm, Geneva, Copenhagen, London.
My client Erik used to run weeks like that in his finance days. He's 52 now, down 30 pounds, and his eating system was built for exactly those days.
“Battle-tested at the worst conditions.” As he says.
And we built it all around the idea that his control over his food disappears throughout the day.
Breakfast, he picks everything.
Lunch, he still picks from a menu.
Dinner, he’s entertaining clients in a city he flew into that morning. Someone else picked the restaurant, the courses run long, the wine keeps coming, and he’s there to build the relationship, not study the menu.
But the old Erik had it backwards.
Careful all morning with coffee and a sad muffin.
Then going in to dinner starving, still hunting most of his protein, trying to be disciplined at the one meal where nothing was up to him.
Now he flips it:
1/ Breakfast is where he hits 50% of his protein for about 30% of his calories. Even on the road this is your opportunity to really control the meal and get ahead.
400g of ground/sliced turkey or smoked salmon
couple tbsp nuts/seeds
pineapple, kiwi
2/ Lunch is a plug-in. Restaurant portions run small, maybe 125g of protein, and that's fine, we planned for that with breakfast. So by the end of lunch he's at 70% of his protein and under half his calories. Order a-la-cart to make it easy.
Grilled Chicken, cod, or tuna, plus a side salad or grilled vegetables.
3/ Dinner gets maximum leeway. Least control and most unknowns, so he saves it the most room. Protein's already handled, and he has saved plenty of room, so he can relax, be present with his clients, and order pretty much whatever he wants.
And for snacks, he keeps beef jerky in his bag, but any little grocery store sells 300g packs of smoked turkey breast or some greek yogurt too. If protein is short at the end of the day, those close the gap.
And this goes way past the airport. Trade five flights for back-to-back meetings, school pickups, the night the family orders pizza.
If someone else usually controls your evenings, front-load your mornings.
In your corner,
Coach Zack
P.S. Reply and tell me which meal your schedule wrecks most. I'll tell you how I'd build the day around it. I read every reply.