Dieting and First Class
 

We all know working away from home can be tough on the diet because it's so easy to get carried away when you have an expense account. As hard as I try sometimes, that boarding announcement on the flight home can be the death knell of a week spent trying to eat right and working out away from home.

Maybe it's just my greedy butt, but does anyone else here skip the upgrade to first class on a meal flight just to avoid the unneeded calories? By the time you finish an inflight meal, you're well over 1500 calories and drunk off cheap booze.

I know this is funny, but I've set a goal of losing 30lbs this year. As I've been downgraded to PLT, no more free upgrades and I've decided to save my upgrade stickers and see coach as diet tool. :D

.... as long as the flight is under 2 hours.

Dieting and First Class
 

Not sure what they serve on the flights that you take, buys salad with a piece of fish is good for the waist and heart. You don't need to put on weight eating awful food. And you can even skip the main dish for fruits.

No.

Of course post 3/3/12 my upgrades on United have gone down by 95%, so now I just get the calories at fast food places before boarding to my E+ seat ;) :D

Cheers.

'Tis a far better thing to die from the calories from First or Business Class meal and beverage service, than to succumb to the calories in the fast food sack I carry aboard when seated in Y.....

Since OMNI, in general, is for topics other than miles, points and travel, we'll move this over to TravelBuzz!

Enjoy at it's new home.

Thanks.


_____________________
Cholula
OMNI Co-Moderator

Sounds like you're more committed to your current lifestyle than to the lifestyle you claim you want. Breaking up is hard to do.

I'm amazed that you can say "no thanks" to an upgrade, but not to an unhealthy meal.

I lost just over 70 pounds and have kept it off about 10 years. Here's a trick I use.

Anywhere you're given a big meal that you find you want, eat half of it, then wait.

Your brain will be screaming to eat more, but try to remember it takes about 20-25 minutes for your stomach to getting around to telling your head that it's full (this is one reason people overeat without realizing it).

after about 20 minutes, more than likely you'll feel full and won't want to eat the last half.

Secondly, I'm a food "carrier". I always pack a few healthy options wherever I go, usually pieces of fruit or a low calorie/high protein bar. Even trail mix is preferable to fast food crap.

But give up first class? Not me I'm afraid. Oh yeah, I'm not in first class to begin with. You're welcome to come back a few rows and tell me about it if you really feel a need to do so.

dcman2

If it's domestic FC I just skip the meal. It's processed and gross. The wine choices aren't that great either and I find I don't miss the alcohol that much.

If it's international FC I say to hell with it and eat/drink whatever I want.

I would never skip an upgrade but can and do skip all or part of the meal. I realize I am in the minority here on FT but alcohol has no place in my air travels so that is never a problem.

But don't you have a bit of a conundrum? The flights under two hours - the ones you're willing to ride it out in coach - don't serve much (if any) food anyway. And the FA's these days come by so infrequently in F that it's impossible to kill that many beers to begin with. At this point in time, it's really just the transcons that are an issue in terms of ability to throw down some serious calories.

If it were me, I'd continue to upgrade and just be choosy about my food and drink. I've never had anything on an airplane that was so irresistable I couldn't say no to it if I had to. Especially nothing that AA serves in the domestic F cabin... :eek: I mean, we aren't talking about upstairs on an LH 744 here... ;)

Never! I don't drink booze on flights, so that is not an issue. And you could always take your own food on-board. But no way would I give up the extra room

I've started avoiding all bread - and out of airports where I can get a decent salad, I just bring my own and avoid c/f meals.

Truer words have never been spoken. :)

I'm on day 2 of Atkins and it's quite interesting. I wanted to try it out for a month, but it seems the toughest part is the induction phase. One day at a time and the first day is shockingly tough.

No fruit and veg has been quite difficult.

I had a big lunch of meat with a side of meat, so I think I'm going to go for a light dinner of a couple boiled eggs and tea. All this while living in a hotel.

I figured if I can do this away from home, doing this from home should be easier.

I can't even get a Chipotle Burrito bowl because I'm a fan of their salsa and Chipotle without salsa is just not right.

OP, I think you need to switch FF programs.

While you may be in danger of overeating as a result of the laudable F service on AA, I can assure you, no such danger exists on Delta. :D

I lost a significant amount of weight about six years ago and have maintained an ideal BMI/body habitus since then.

While you certainly need discipline and a plan, it definitely does not need to affect your FF/premium cabin habits. Unless you're flying in F every day or two and consuming ridiculous amounts of calories, you can still enjoy the typical F meal, even drinks, and still lose weight. Make sure you're keeping track of your eating habits somehow (Excel spreadsheet calorie counter or something similar).

You can always compensate on other days. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

I would never pass up upgrade to avoid the calories. In fact when I am stuck in coach I buy two snack boxes to get the variety. Anyway, those calories can be burned in a few days once I'm home. My rule is I diet strictly when home, when I'm on a trip I eat whatever I want.

For DL, UA, AA, all will be the same:

Domestic: Just eat the healthy items.

Drink: Tea with lemon, Iced Green Tea. Helps digestion.

Skip: Potatos, Pasta, creamy soup, Sundae. If you can skip the Sundae that's a great start!

The second meal would probably be breakfast. I would just eat the fruits if I could get up. If I don't then I wouldn't lose much.

I would skip all the snacks at the lounges. Sometimes it is tough but you have to give it a start.

Just politely decline the alchol, drink diet sodas or water, and choose the low calorie option.....

Why put yourself through the delights of Y when you can sit up front....

As the old anti drug advert used to say... "Just say no (thanks!)"

Meat and a side of meat - nice - I'm on a slightly simpler plan, which is pulling all starches and keeping my carb count for the day below 40 or 50 (great app for the iphone I've been using alled "carbscontrol" btw has lots of pre loaded menu items from chains etc). I'd read that people experience a "carb flu" the first few days, didn't think much of it and then experienced it!

Thanks - that's the kind of diet humor I like.

That's the issue - I travel every week and sometimes find it hard to get back on track.

What I need is a swift kick to get used to the idea and that means being super strict about it.

Similar to smoking, I smoked for over 15 years and when it was time to quit, trying to reduce the number of cigs did not help - tried the patch for a couple days and that was miserable. What helped was quitting cold turkey. Worked for a year and then I thought I could have the odd ciggie - bad idea - so I went cold turkey again and it's been almost a year since a cig.

For now, I need to eliminate all aspects that could tempt me which is why I'm not requesting upgrades. Once I get avoid the extras and make this a good habit, I'll be okay. Another incentive is my upgrades require upgrade stickers which I can save for a trip to Hawaii while I wait to qualify for EXP.

I've been skipping the sundaes in domestic F for at least the past 12-13 years.

As in....that's the last time I actually saw one in domestic F. :(

The most elaborate domestic F service I've seen in years has been on US. Yes, US. They bring out a snack basket that has 3-4 choices (chips, cookies, *and* pretzels!!) UA is just snack mix.

If I get to a third Heineken, I feel like I've seriously overworked the FA. :o

Good to know there's still a little grub on the transcons...

I do a lot of ORD-OGG sometimes routing through DFW/LAX and the grub is not as bad as some people say about airline food. There are a couple unpleasant meals like the mushroom pasta of some sort which ends up an oily mess or the roasted chicken breast with petrified green beans, but hey.

I've had the sundae on a few flights and by the time they've added all the toppings, you're in sugar heaven.

I think the big sources of calories and fats are the warm nuts (love those), bread and butter, dessert (cheesecake), free drinks, etc. Those alone can easily pack on over 1000 calories.

Maybe it's just me, but I generally don't have those types of foods at home so there's less of a chance to eat them. As I eat them frequently, I then buy them and it's all goes downhill. LOL

I've done low carb for over 10 years. It gets easier over time and it really does work. I lost over 60 pounds in the first 4 months and I have kept it off. The key is to committing to a permanent lifestyle change. And you can make some foods on planes work. I don't avoid meals, I choose wisely...

Congratulations on your weight loss. It's not impossible, but it's takes commitment.

Thanks. I don't want people to get the impression that I skip meals as a weight loss tool - because that's unreasonable - but I wanted to see what changes people make to help them make better choices. Many times we eat without thinking even when we're not hungry, so by eliminating the calorie bomb and sitting in coach offers more positives than negatives.

It's a short flight, I save upgrade stickers, and as long as I have the exit row, I'm comfortable. Also, I'm not disappointed when my upgrade does not clear. Positives :)

I just can't do it. When I see the cart it calls out to me. I love the whole experience of choosing toppings and having a baileys and coffe to chase it.

^

That is why I workout -- so I can do this once in a while and really enjoy it. Screw domestic F -- the food is terrible.

Well, I couldn't do it either...if I was ever on a flight that actually had the sundae cart!!

Actually, when I do want to have a sundae on the flights, I ask them to put the ice cream into a salad bowl (instead of that little glass sundae holder), and to pour the Bailey's right over the ice cream :D

Nice! I'm doing that next time!

Genius idea. I am on a tran-con this Sunday, EWR-SNA. I'm gonna try that. I'm thinking Kahlua may be an even better ice cream topping.



An ingredient in the "Chopped" basket should be airline ice cream sundae.

Decline the alcohol?! :eek: No, no, no...

At least, you get me. I've been doing so well though and I don't really miss F. The AM flight is no biggie bcos coach is hardly full and it's not worth the upgrade tickets on a 2 hr flight.

The return is no bad as well. I drink tea in the AC and read a little on the flight back. Who knew coach could be this.....decent? It's been a few years since I sat in coach regularly. LOL

Writing down what you eat is a very good habit - you might be surprised at what you are and are not eating (hidden sugar, missing nutrients) My fitness pal is free, and has a web-iphone/ipad with sync interface, a very large database of food.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

The truth is, Y is not that bad. To me it's a matter of keeping occupied, and it's never really a problem nowadays.

I'm not sure if the airlines will do this any more or not, but when I was really watching my calories and diet I would order a special seafood or vegetarian meal. I had to call the airline in advance to do this. It was always very good and usually a light seafood salad or something else light. Does anyone know if you can still order special dietary meals?