All athletes have a harder time playing away games than playing at home, so they need to make a special effort to compensate. It’s the same with the Football Diet. Here’s the key: even when I’m away from home, I stick with offense or defense.
I will often choose to go on defense if I know I’ll be travelling that week. Knowing I’m on defense, I don’t have to fret if my healthy eating choices are limited for a given meal or my schedule keeps me from exercising for a day or two. But I’m still on defense. So I still look for healthy choices at the restaurant. I don’t stuff myself with airplane snacks. I still pick a place to stay that has a fitness center where I can work out. And if that doesn’t work, I make sure to take a good walk each day.
Some of my most satisfying Football Diet experiences have come when I was on offense while travelling. It’s amazing what you can do if you set your mind to it for a limited, focused period of time. I remember one week when I was traveling for work while on offense. I got up early and went to the hotel’s fitness center. For breakfast in the hotel restaurant, I actually had granola and low-fat yoghurt, which I never do at a restaurant, because I’d rather have eggs benedict. But since I was on offense, I had granola and yoghurt and felt great (and incredibly smug). All day long, I walked up stairs instead of taking escalators, and drank water instead of soda. And then in the evening I went back to the fitness center and watched an entire James Bond movie while biking.
Could I do that all the time? No. I don’t have the will power to sustain that kind of thing. But for 3 days in the middle of an offense week? Yes!