Staying Fit on the Road

Tommy has hit the road, doing the Woodworking Shows thing with the Woodcraft crew. Up until now, following his new nutrition plan has been relatively easy, with Rachel stocking the fridge with permitted foods and preparing healthy meals. On the road, however, it’s a completely different story.

We caught up with Tommy as he landed in Indiana to talk about the challenges of sticking with his new healthy lifestyle while on the go.

TMT Blog: First of all, how is “new Tommy” doing?

Tommy: Great! I feel great. It’s the best I’ve felt. I’m down to 182 and I feel fantastic. I haven’t had a headache in weeks, I don’t have any back pain and I’m sleeping better than ever. I’m not walking around with garbage in my system. It’s amazing.

TMT Blog: Obviously, being on the road presents some challenges. No more of Rachel’s home cooking, for example.

Tommy: Yeah, now we’re into it. It’s starting to get difficult, as we knew it would. It’s tough to find healthy alternatives while on the road. Like in the Terminal, I go into Hudson News to grab a packet of trail mix – the kind with nuts a dried fruit. I’m about to buy it until I read the ingredients. It’s saying there’s 18 grams of sugar in this bag. And one bag has two and a half servings. That’s 50 grams of sugar right there. I might as well eat two Milky Ways. So I put those back and grabbed a simpler version of trail mix — just some nuts and raisins and a bottled water. And I’m good to go!

TMT Blog: But you can’t just eat trail mix for four days straight. How else are you managing?

Tommy: Well, we’re lucky in Logan [Airport]. We have a Sbarro’s. Now I know everyone knows them for their amazing pasta and pizza to die for, but they also make a great salad. So I passed up all the other stuff and went with a big green salad with some chicken. It’s completely satisfying.

TMT Blog: How about hotel breakfasts? Not a lot of options there.

Tommy: True. The hotel has a typical breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, a waffle machine. It’s hard not to go with those, but I went for a couple boxes of corn flakes and cheerios and four hard boiled eggs. And a couple cups of black coffee. And it’s not easy. I’m learning it’s just a question of mental toughness. I’ve always considered myself pretty mentally tough, but this is really testing that.

TMT Blog: When you’re doing these Woodworking Shows, there’s always going to be those big group dinners at nice restaurants. How do you deal with being surrounded by others who aren’t on the same eating plan?

Tommy: It’s really hard. The gang went out to dinner the other night to this amazing steak and rib joint. The kind that serves all the food I would normally love. There was nothing on their menu that looked like it was going to work for me. All the salads had feta cheese…So I just asked if I could have a field green salad with tomatoes and olive oil. For dinner I ordered chicken with a vegetable medley and a baked potato. No butter on the veggies and just a plain potato. Before I might have loaded the potato up with sour cream, bacon, the works. But I just go plain, and you know what? It’s completely satisfying. And yeah, I take a little crap from the guys at dinner, but I just keep telling myself that I’ve made a decision. Sure, I can whatever I want. No one’s telling me I can’t. But I’ve made a decision and that’s what I’m sticking to. And I feel great.

TMT Blog: Sounds like you’ve got this thing whipped. Best of luck in your travels and on-the-road diet, Tommy.

Tommy: Thanks!