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Most people tell me that traveling, vacation and restaurants are the three hardest times for them to stay on track with their low carb diet.
I personally LOVE eating low carb on the go!
I make a game out of it actually, and really enjoy exploring all of the fun low carb food options on my travels. 🙂
When I’m traveling, or out & about, is also when I want to look and feel my BEST. It’s NOT when I want to feel bloated or lethargic. 😛 If I were ever going to eat off plan, it would definitely be at home in my PJ’s, lol…
6-Day Low Carb Road Trip
Here is a super quick photo tour you can scan through for ideas & inspiration the next time you go out to eat, take a road trip, or find yourself anywhere but the kitchen. 😉
It includes six full days of traveling, 13 hours of driving and 4 days in a hotel. It also includes Low Carb Sushi and a DELICIOUS stop at a bakery I love…
Low Carb Meals On The Go…
I had eggs for breakfast & a Bojangles’ Roast Chicken Bites Salad for lunch at home before I left. I didn’t finish the salad, so I grabbed that and took it with me to eat on the road.
I had to stop at a Walgreens on the way to pick up a few things for my trip, and also found some great low carb snacks there – on sale! 🙂 The Atkins Bars were “buy one get one half off” and so were the meat & cheese snacks:
My first stop: Johnson City, TN
I didn’t have wi-fi where I was staying so I went to the McDonald’s for a hot coffee and to hop online & get some work done.
While I was there I had “2 sausage patties and 2 round fried eggs, please” for breakfast that first morning.
My daughter and I had lunch together at the Label Restaurant in Johnson City, which was fabulous! Starting with a big plate of Edamame with sea salt to share. 🙂
I only ate a handful since they are higher in carbs than other greens, but still relatively low carb.
I also ordered sushi – low carb style! 🙂
I got the Spicy Salmon Roll and simply asked for cream cheese instead of rice. So it had salmon, cucumber, cream cheese, wrapped in seaweed and topped with spicy mayo:
Delicious! I’ve been missing sushi – and I didn’t even miss the rice!
For lunch I ordered their house cheeseburger topped with cheddar and gouda (no bun, please) and sauteed spinach instead of fries.
Between the sushi, edamame and the lunch – I had leftovers to enjoy later. 😉
I stayed at my daughters that night, and did have some of my low carb snacks from Walgreens before I went to bed.
From Johnson City, TN to Asheville NC…
Next I headed out for my 4 day stay in Atlanta, and I left early… so I ate my very last Keto Brownie Low Carb Nutrition Bar as I drove over the mountain toward Asheville, NC.
I stopped for a delicious Low Carb Brunch at the Well-Bred Bakery in Asheville, NC.
They have a GREAT crustless quiche. I got spinach & roasted red pepper quiche with broccoli salad on the side – and just picked out the raisins.
I got settled into my suite in Atlanta that evening and unpacked.
Here are the low carb snacks I brought with me for on the road and in my room:
That night I met up with other low carbers in the area for a fun Low Carb Dinner Meetup in Atlanta at a Ruby Tuesday. 🙂 We had a fabulous time!!
I wore my new navy blue Fabletics dress (so comfortable!!), and ordered the Double Decker Chicken with Double Green Beans:
Here’s a close-up of the Double Decker Chicken at Ruby Tuesday. It’s two chicken breasts with bella mushrooms, parmesan, bacon and parmesan cream sauce. Delicious! I also ordered an extra side of the parm sauce to dip my green beans in. 😉
I was in Atlanta for a 3-day conference, and the hotel didn’t have an on-site restaurant. They did offer a free hot breakfast, but nothing on it appealed that first morning… so I had some of my snacks instead.
For lunch I met my friend Alice at the Louisiana Bistreaux restaurant a few blocks away, and had the Blackened Ribeye topped with garlic butter and Sauteed Spinach on the side:
That is the BEST ribeye steak I’ve ever had!!
My suite was GREAT. Very roomy, and it included a sink and coffee maker and refrigerator – which was super convenient.
My room didn’t have a microwave though, and I had leftovers from both restaurant meals – so I used the microwave in the breakfast nook down in the hotel lobby and enjoyed those for dinner. 😉
Later that night I went out with some of my local friends for a little dancing. 🙂
I had a rum & diet coke and 2 beers, got in plenty of Fitbit steps, and still met my “20 net carbs max” for the day – even with the beers.;)
The free hotel breakfast buffet didn’t appeal to me the next morning either, so I was really glad I brought my own low carb snacks along!
I did grab some Turkey Sausage Links off the bar though – which were much better than I expected, and than they looked. 😉 I think I ate six of those…
For lunch I ate at Ruby Tuesday again, and this time I got a chicken sandwich without the bun (grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, swiss) with green beans instead of fries:
The service was slow and I was talking to friends I had met for lunch, plus I needed to make it back in time for the next topic at the conference (a great one, given by a friend of mine!) so I got my lunch to go:
I sat in the back of the room and enjoyed the conference AND my lunch… and the lady beside me passed me this note. 🙂
That absolutely made my day. 🙂
And of course we had a great discussion later!
For dinner I met a group of business peers at the Louisiana Bistreaux Restaurant down the road, where I ordered a Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad (no croutons, please).
Morning 3 at the hotel, and the ONLY thing that appealed to me on the hot breakfast bar was the bacon – so I grabbed some of that.
Actually, that didn’t appeal to me either so I brought down some pecans and an Atkins bar and the new Keto Love Carrot Cake Almond Butter to try too.
Several of my friends and peers there are low carb, organic, gluten free, sugar free, etc so I invited everyone to try the new almond butter…
NONE of us liked it. 😛 YUCK, lol. It’s too sweet/fake with a bad aftertaste. Ick! 😐 I’m thinking maybe it will be better refrigerated (?) and spread on a nice low carb biscuit maybe – where there is something else to offset the “fake sweet” taste…
For lunch on that last day I was back at the Louisiana Bistreaux again with more friends, because there were so many low carb options on the menu I wanted to try! 🙂
This time I had the grilled Pork Chop topped with garlic butter and Sauteed Spinach. Their spinach was SO good!!
That lunch was actually mid-afternoon, and then I drove home that evening – and just ended up eating an Atkins bar on the drive home…
I don’t eat Atkins bars often, but I do like the Peanut Butter Granola bar, and I was glad I had them with me on this trip… because I was out of the Keto Brownie Bars. 😛
I think my preference of ALL low carb bars would be a serious toss-up between the Keto Brownie and Sticky Bars. 😉
I managed to stick my “20 net carbs max, 70% fat minimum” through the ENTIRE trip – easily. 🙂 I simply tracked on the MyFitnessPal mobile app as I went.
I also got plenty of exercise on the trip, and made it a point to stay active – which I track with my Fitbit and the Fitbit app, which conveniently syncs with the MyFitnessPal app. 🙂
I hope gives you some ideas & inspiration for eating low carb on the go, and easily sticking to your macros when you’re away from home. 🙂
It’s VERY easy to do, practically anywhere – no matter the location or situation.
You have to eat anyway, right? So it’s simply a matter of choosing WHAT to eat.
As you can see, there are pretty much always low carb options. And there’s always a Walgreens along the way 😉 or the low carb foods you pack yourself…
What about you?
Do you tend to do best when you’re at home, or do you ENJOY traveling or dining out low carb? I love it! I get BORED with my usual low carb foods & meals at home, and love all the creative new low carb meals & options when I’m out & about. 🙂
My advice: make it FUN. I treat it like a challenge or a game, and scour the menu for great meal ideas I’ll ENJOY.
And of course, always be prepared with something on hand you DO like… just in case you need a quick bite, and don’t want to blow your diet or throw yourself out of ketosis. 😉 *cheers*
Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler
p.s. I just got my Keto Krate box!! I was trying to finish this note to you before I dive into it, so now I can go do that. 🙂 Stay tuned to see what’s in it – I’ll share all the details in my next note.;)
They are shipping out the next batch on Tuesday so you still have time to get a September box if you sign up today – before they sell out. Tip: Sign up by email at that link for the current discount code. 😉





Discount Code: LOWCARBTRAVELER

Oh I live near Atlanta. I would have loved to have met you. I don’t have anyone to talk low carb with. Glad you are doing well.
Thank you, Amy π I hate we missed that opportunity on this trip! I’m in Atlanta a few times a year usually, so hopefully next time we can make that happen. π I love getting to meet up in person every chance I get!
Are you in my low carb Facebook group by the way, or on my low carb Facebook page at least? Both are GREAT places for fun discussions and a good low carb community. And even Instagram too. It’s SO nice to have others to talk to along the way on this journey. π
http://www.facebook.com/lowcarbtraveler
http://www.instagram.com/lowcarbtraveler
Hi Lynn,
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Q: I saw the two bars you chose: Atkins and Keto Brownie, and I noticed the brownie has more fiber than the Atkins bar. When choosing a bar to eat do I want more fiber than sugar alcohol, like the brownie? Doesn’t fiber fill you faster?
Also, I still cannot get my net carbs to show up on myfitnesspal. And, how do you subtract sugar alcohols? Thanks
Hi Darlynn π
I definitely prefer the Keto Brownie bar over the Atkins bars, for taste and quality of ingredients both. I love that it doesn’t have sugar alcohols.
I only had ONE left though lol, so I enjoyed it – and had to grab what I could to have on hand for the rest of the trip. Note to self: stock up on Keto Brownie bars! π
The net carbs plugin only works online in Firefox or Chrome browsers (not in the mobile app) and here are the instructions to set that up: http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/4448/myfitnesspal-hack/
If a food has sugar alcohol, you have to find an entry where that has been subtracted. I do this by adding “net” or “alcohol” to my search in MyFitnessPal. So I will search: atkins peanut butter granola net – or atkins peanut butter alcohol – and then double check the entries by my label to find one that is accurate.
I ordered the sample keto brownie. I enjoyed it…. but I thought of it as a nutrition bar not a brownie. I think if you open thinking brownie you’ll be disappointed, but open it thinking a chocolate nutrition bar without tummy troubles you’ll really like it! I liked that it wasn’t super hard to chew!
Your meals look great!
Confession: before I go out to eat I type the place into your search bar and just order what you order… it’s easier that way!! It kind of back fired on my tonight a little. I ordered mild wings from dominos but they only had hot so I got those and they came with buffalo sauce under them. I guess there was some miscommunication somewhere. I wiped as much off as I could (idk the carb count but I’m not a huge fan of buffalo sauce). Next time I’ll just order plain wings.
I agree with you on that Patricia, and think that may be where some of the mixed reviews came from: thinking of it as a “brownie” instead of a nutrition bar. π I love them!!
I always blot all the sauce off my wings too, but I’ve always preferred them more dry. In fact my favorite are just plain Smoked Wings from the local bbq place. π Domino’s publishes their nutrition facts on their website. I think the hot or buffalo sauce wings are 2 carbs for 4 wings, but I’m going by memory. You can google it and find their PDF file pretty easily to double check that…
Stay tuned, I’ll share what I’ve been eating this week since I’ve been home. Lots more great meal ideas for both at home and local restaurants you’ll love! π
I found those salami and cheese rolls last week on my lunch break, I had to pay bills and pick up a couple things on my lunch break and I figured id pick me up some pepperoni or something so I wouldn’t mess up my diet. I found those and they are my new go to snack. If I remember right they only have 1 carb which is awesome and they actually taste great.
I’m starting to do better when we go out to eat. Yesterday I drove 3 hours to Indianapolis to see my mom and we all went out to eat and they chose Golden Corral which I personally find hard to stay on track there, but luckily it was their sunday brunch time. They had lots of breakfast, steak, grilled shrimp. I was so proud of myself!
I have been stalled for the last 3 weeks but this morning I noticed that I have gone down a belt notch! So something is working! lol
Thanks for your page, I really enjoy ready these!
Oh Golden Corral is always sooooo hard for me!! I love that place! I used to seriously over eat there. I’m proud of you for being good in such a hard situation!
I like to dip those meat and cheese roll ups in ranch, yummy!
I might be way behind on some of these tasty easy low carb snacks but a new one I found recently is low carb yogurt (and it’s waaay better than real yogurt!)
1/4 cup sour cream (daisy)
1/2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1.5 tablespoons of sugar substitute
Extract of your choice
I only use 1/2 tablespoon swerve and 1/2 tablespoon sugar free honey. I add maple and almond extract and a handful of pecans. Even my kids love it better than their regular sugar filled cotto candy flavored yogurt.
That sounds amazing! I’ll have to try that out and see how it goes!
Way to go, Samantha! π There are always more than enough foods on pretty much any buffet to easily enjoy a very filling meal.
I find it helps me most to focus on the company and the social aspect of the meal (like the great conversation!), and remind myself that “food is for fuel”.
I find I am ENJOYING people and situations SO much more now that my focus is not strictly on the FOOD, lol. π
Good for you for sticking it out through a “stall.” Those are totally normal, and the number on the scale is only one little part of the overall picture. I go through very long periods with no real weight loss, being so close to goal weight, but I just keep “eating for my health” and am grateful I’m no longer losing/gaining the same weight over and over – or just gaining consistently. π
We are on a 4 day trip. You’re meal/snack ideas are so helpful! Thanks for the daily encouragement!
I’m so glad, Connie. π I really love being able to share creative low carb meal ideas, on the go and at home, and especially love that it helps others easily stay on track. π That made my day!! Have a GREAT trip. π *cheers*