P.E.T.A.

People Eating Tasty Animals

 

I take my running clothes and shoes with me on every trip. If I can't go for a run outside, I will usually get in a session or two on the hotel's elliptical trainer or treadmill.

I try to make reasonable food choices. I stay away from fried foods and red meat for the most part. I try to eat a lot of grilled chicken and relatively low fat stuff. I also try to get whole grains as much as possible.

I take these high quality nutritional supplements. They are not cheap. But I don't drink coffee... so I figure I'm spending monthly about the same as most folks do on Starbucks. I have definitely noticed that I get sick less often since I started taking these five years ago.

 

I do CrossFit at home and the workouts are portable for use on the road. I can always find something that works no matter what kind of gym the hotel offers. Actually, you don't need a gym or equipment at all to get an adequate workout.

That said, I carry a jump rope and the requisite running gear.

 

I gave up coffee a few years ago too and noticed the same thing along with no more coffee stains on my teeth. You supplements look familiar too, this is what I take: A-Z Products List | Metagenics | Wellness Essentials for Men

 

KFC double down. It's all protein right?

 

Depends on what shape you're looking to stay in With that sandwich, my guess is round.

 

Stop teasing me...

 

CrossFit is getting hugely popular in pilot circles...

I run. Run outside if I can, otherwise its indoors on a treadmill. Crappy hotel treadmill? Then I get on an elliptical or, worst case scenario, stationary bike. For me, cardio is king and I use being on the road as an opportunity to see new cities and train for the road races that I run.

As far as food goes...when I was at a regional I packed a small cooler. I took 4 peanut butter sandwiches, almonds, Power or Cliff Bars, fruit cups, microwavable low-sodium soup, bananas, etc. This could sustain me for at least 2 days and not only helped save per-diem but kept me away from crappy airport food. My most common airport snack was chocolate milk. Yes, that's right, I looked like I was 6 years old...but even with HFCS for the flavor it was still substantially healthier than 90% of the other choices available.

Now that I'm corporate and have a credit card for expenses, I can buy pretty much whatever I want/need to for meals. I try to control portion size, get more vegetables than potatoes, limit myself to one beer (if any) and no more than one soda per day. I also single-handedly keep a couple Smoothie King franchises in business.

Unlike others, I'm a coffee junkie. Typically I have two cups (maybe 16oz) with milk for breakfast and sometimes that's all I have - it typically sustains me to lunch with minimal hunger pangs.

The lifestyle associated with this profession requires dedication & discipline to maintain a healthy body...but for me all it takes is one stroll in a major airport or FBO to see all the morbidly obese pilots with their guts protruding from the bottom of their shirts to motivate me to go out for a 4 miler!

 

I wish I could run, but I can't. Unless it's associated with playing a sport or pure interval sprints, can't stand it. Love the elliptical., However, some of the P90X cardio workouts are pretty good as well. Also, they are HIIT.

True, chocolate milk is actually not that bad for you. And some don't use HFCS as a sweetener. Also, it makes a good post workout recovery drink. Google it, you'd be surprised. As far as diet goes, it can be tough. But what many pilots DON'T realize is that most fast food places sell salads ALSO. I can't tell you how many salads and chicken sandwiches I ate while doing P90X.

Same here.

 

Even if you can't stick with the entire P90X program on your trips it's worth having as you can do almost all the workouts in a hotel room. The exceptions are the upper body workouts that require a pull-up bar or free weights. Of course if your goal is to just stay/become healthy, you can tailor the program to what you need. The other parts of P90X deal with cardio, flexibility, core, etc which can all easily be done by pushing the bed out of the way in a hotel room.

If you just do what you can in a hotel room, supplemented with various types of pushups for upper body, then you'll be most of the way there. There is a fitness test that you should at least read before you begin P90X as many pilots are not in good enough shape to handle the moderately intense workouts right off the bat. You probably won't need to actually do the fitness test, but just reading it (and being honest with your self-eval) you'll know. I've spoken with several guys that pushed it too hard, too fast and ended up hurting themselves. One of them did a pretty good number on his knee. Just ease into it (as much as you can with P90X) and you'll be fine.

As far as food on the road, I second what the others have said. I usually pack a small lunchbag size cooler with a sandwich or two for the first day of the trip, and as much fruit as I can squeeze in there.

Eventually you'll run out of your stash and have to go hunting/gathering in the terminal or around your layover hotel. I've made a huge effot to cut out french fries (I only allow myself fries once a month, max). If you're eating at a restaurant avoid adding cheese and mayo to burgers/sandwiches - you'll hardly notice they're not there and you'll be skipping a ton of fat/calories/cholesterol. When you get a sald, have the dressing on the side and ONLY use a very little bit of dressing; just enough to choke down the lettuce. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the back of the Ken's dressing packet for the nutrition information. If you drink the whole dressing packet, you might as well trade the salad in for a cheeseburger.

Speaking of burgers, I flew with a guy that had a rule for himself. If he had to have that cheeseburger on a layover, he would substitute brocolli or steamed carrots for the fries. This kept him from: A) eating the fries and B) forced him to eat a few veggies along with his indulgence.

I always try to order water from the FA's and when eating out. I prefer my liquid calories in beer so I try not to waste them on soda during the day

Summary: eat your fruits and veggies and stay somewhat active on layovers and you can avoid being the waddling pilot that we all see in the McDonald's lines at airports around the world.