Worse than the Freshman Fifteen – Breakfast Edition

The dreaded freshman fifteen. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s the 15 pounds pretty much every college freshman gains as a result of too much beer and dorm food. The freshman fifteen doesn’t have ANYTHING on your first year as a frequent business traveler. I know, I packed on a few pounds myself. What do you do about it for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s also the hardest to get a decent bite that isn’t loaded with sausage and syrup and calories. I normally stay at the Holiday Inn Express in whatever town I happen to be in. I bypass the bagels and cinnamon rolls at the Deluxe Continental Breakfast, and instead have a boiled egg, yogurt and coffee. I can do a lot of things, but skipping my morning coffee is not one of them.

If your hotel of choice doesn’t have the free breakfast or you need to get something on the go, I’ve found one decent solution. I never thought I would say this, but it’s McDonalds. The fruit and yogurt parfait with a large coffee. You can even get Splenda for your coffee. The parfait is 160 calories and 2 grams of fat. And it’s pretty tasty.