I hit 58 pounds gone between rental cars and room service

I keep a “location” column in my spreadsheet next to daily weight and 7-day rolling avg. Weird pattern: my rental-car weeks usually bump the scale 1.5–2 lb by day 4, then it drops back by day 2–3 home.

It’s almost all sodium/restaurant food/less sleep, not the actual trendline. The thing that flattens it for me is a 20-min walk before the breakfast buffet even opens and a rotisserie chicken + bagged salad in the hotel fridge.

Curious—do you weigh daily on the road, or only when you’re back? Your 58 in 31 weeks is a cleaner line than mine.

The buffet timing is smart—protein before the patry fog. I lift 4x/week at home, but travel is where I’ve had to lower the bar: resistance band and suspension straps in the carry-on, and a 20-minute hotel-room circuit if the gym is trash.

Keeps me in recomp mode instead of just “losing weight.” Curious—do you track protein on travel days, or just aim for a palm-and-a-half per meal? That’s the one thing that slips for me when room service gets involved.

I’ve started logging grocery receipts by airport code. Last trip: DEN eggs $4.29/dozen, rotisserie chicken $6.99, bagged salad $3.49, 32oz Greek yogurt $5.49 — about $20 for 3 days of car lunches. SFO same list hit $34.

My trick is a $3 collapsible cooler in the carry-on; hotel ice + ziplock, so I’m not gambling on drive-thru. Curious: what’s your one non-jerky shelf-stable protein that doesn’t get old by day 4?

I do a hotel-room “snack audit” now: spread everything on the desk and log it in my notes app before I even shower. Sounds extra, but it keeps me from treating the minibar like a food group.

Also stopped by my little pharmacy before this last trip—they couldn’t do a vacation override, but my insurance app had one. Do you weigh on hotel scales or wait till you’re home? I’ve had two hotels add 4 lbs of pure mystery.

58 in 31 weeks while living out of a carry-on is legit. I’m in a stubborn plateau myself, so I’ve been trying one new travel rule: pre-order dinner before I leave the hotel room—pick the spot, scan the menu, log the exact order, then stick to it.

Sounds rigid, but it kills the 9pm room-service slide where I used to “just look” and end up with fries. Also started walking the terminal instead of parking at the gate; a 40-min layover is an easy 2 miles.

Do you have a go-to dinner move when you land late and every place is closed?

One thing that helped me on rental-car weeks: I keep a roll of paper towels and a small bottle of dish soap in the suitcase, then buy a rotisserie chicken and a bag of slaw at the first grocery stop. I portion it into hotel-room plates/coffee cups and eat that before I even look at a drive-thru.

In the trials, higher-protein meals tend to blunt appetite, but I mostly like that it removes the 7pm decision. Curious—do you have a go-to order when you’re stuck with a client dinner and can’t control the menu? That’s the piece that still gets me.

I see the car stash a little differently—it would backfire on me. If snacks are within reach I graze while driving, and with two kids anything in the minivan vanishes by day two.

What worked on my last hotel stretch: grocery run for rotisserie chicken, bagged salad, pre-cut fruit, and microwave rice cups if the room has one. Rental car only gets gum and a phone charger.

Is your car food truly emergency backup, or does it become a rolling snack drawer like mine?