Post: #1

Anyone hear ever travel with protein powder and supplements?

It seems like every time I travel away from the U.S. for an extended period of time, I don't hit the gym enough (if at all), and I don't get nearly enough protein in my diet. I hear some countries like Brazil it's easy to get protein powders, but I'd imagine in a lot of places it's a major chore.

I am planning a 6-8 week trip to Mexico at the end of the month and would like to take a case of whey protein and a bunch of supplements (vitamins, green tea tablet, acv tablet, anti-oxidants, etc.)

However, the thing that I am kind of wondering about is the temperature and the climate that I will be traveling in. I know my whey protein and most supplements say on the bottle "store in a cool dry place". If I am traveling around the Oaxaca and Carribean coast where it could be very humid and 80+ degree temperatures, could it cause my whey protein and supplements to go bad?

Sorry if this is a silly question, I just legitimately don't want to bother carrying a case of whey protein, etc. if there are any unforeseen problems I'm not aware of. Anyone done this before or have any thoughts on it?

I am hoping to find a gym and do all my essential lifts once a week, and get 100 grams of protein or more a day in my diet. Add to that, I feel healthiest and feel like my skin, energy, focus, and overall vitality are at it's peak when I take my supplements. The idea is that I can take all that stuff with me and not have to sacrifice as much of a loss in my health.

Post: #2

Protein powder will definitely clump in humid weather. But its should still be edible.

Here's another option I've used. Buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/Heater-Portable-Im...ter+boiler
Then buy eggs when you travel and use the above tool to hard boil them in a glass in a few minutes. Each egg white has about 5 grams of protein. A dozen eggs will give you 60 gm of protein. Eat meat at meals too to get up to 100gm. Also, you could spread out your protein throughout the day. Boil 12 in the morning and eat one every hour or so. Helps you travel light too.

Post: #3

I live in the caribbean and I haven't had any problems with protein powder.

Post: #4

just drink milk/yogurt. and bring multivitamins.

Post: #5

Drinking milk and eating yogurt is good, but won't get me enough protein a day. I'm the kind of guy where I lose muscle FAST, I have no doubt that even getting into the gym once a week, I will lose a great deal of my overall strength and muscle mass by the time I get back from my trip.

As most of you already know, the simple principle for body builders is get one gram of protein per pound of body weight, I weigh 190 lbs, so theoretically I need 190 grams of protein a day. That is a shit ton of protein and I think I only probably average somewhere around 120-150 grams a day. I eat some combination of eggs, meat, seafood, cheese, at every meal, but it order to crack 100 grams of protein, I need to make myself a protein shake.

Fortunately, Mexico has a culture of raising cattle, eating a lot of beef, and cheese, so hopefully there will be a decent amount of milk and yogurt. A lot of counties I have traveled to do not have a culture of drinking milk, and milk can be extremely hard to come by.

I just bought a tub of whey protein to take on my trip, now aside from they whey protein possibly going bad in the heat and humidity, I am worried that it could attract pests like ants, roaches, and even rats. I know it tropical climates there can be a lot of them, and when they smell food, they go all out. I guess I will just go for it, and deal with any problems arise, I just hope I don't walk up to a huge rat trying to chew into my bag to get at my protein powder.

Somewhat funny and true story, when I first arrived to the jungle village of Tonsai in Thailand I dropped by bags off and threw a couple things on my bed, in the bungalow I was staying at. It was a well built bungalow that looked clean, etc., I took a walk down to the beach, checked out the village and area, when I get back to my room about an hour later, I find that a large rodent of some kind (assuming huge jungle rat), had gotten into my room and shit all over the entire bed! I'm talking huge rodent turds every where, it was fucking disgusting!! Needless to say I was not amused. I got moved to a different bungalow and checked out and moved to a different hotel in the morning. The guy claims that it was likely the person staying in there before me had brought in some kind of food into the room that the rat had smelled. The rat then ransacked the room hoping to find food, and I guess decided to leave me a house warming gift in the form of shitting all over the place.

Post: #6

Whey Protien will go rancid and bunk quite easily if it's exposed to warmth. Your big batch if you don't have proper storage for it will probably spoil. You could maybe try a bunch of moisture packs to keep it fresh but in all honesty I would just try to eat more meat instead. If your not moving around much and you can keep it in a dark place where your staying you'll be fine but if your moving around a ton with your baggage then it may most likely spoil.

Post: #7

That's not a silly question, I have the same problem, it's easy for me to lose muscle mass when Im travelling... and Im flying to Japan in 2 weeks to stay there for one year. Im also wondering if I should bring my own protein powder or if I can get enough protein from japanese food.

Anyway, I suggest that when you order a sandwich or steak, just ask them to add more egg white with it. They might think it's weird at the beginning but that's what I did in Taiwan and they used to know me in a restaurant where I used to have breakfast every day, I was the french guy with 6 egg white sandwich !

Post: #8

You can get protein powder at any pharmacy in Japan.

(01-29-2013 08:02 PM)Matosan Wrote:  That's not a silly question, I have the same problem, it's easy for me to lose muscle mass when Im travelling... and Im flying to Japan in 2 weeks to stay there for one year. Im also wondering if I should bring my own protein powder or if I can get enough protein from japanese food.

Anyway, I suggest that when you order a sandwich or steak, just ask them to add more egg white with it. They might think it's weird at the beginning but that's what I did in Taiwan and they used to know me in a restaurant where I used to have breakfast every day, I was the french guy with 6 egg white sandwich !

Post: #9

You can go without the gym for 3-4 weeks without losing strength. However if you are a hard gainer like me you will lose some hard earned muscle in that time, unless you eat around 150 grams of protein every 24 hours. This is difficult to do when traveling especially in Asia where the food you buy has limited protein and it is difficult to find protein supplements. I would recommend mail delivery protein powders when traveling, obviously this is impractical to do for a short trip but for extended stay in one place this is the way to go.
Ultimately if you are traveling for 2-4 weeks the muscle you will lose is negligible and you will not lose strength. If you are traveling for longer try to keep your gym routine and look into getting protein supplements.

Post: #10

Asia has plenty of eggs and tuna.

Post: #11

Dont know much about Whey powder but going through Oaxaca and Qta Roo will be absolutely humid. Some resort hotels might have gyms or weight lifting eq, but most of Oaxaca is very poor and I dont think I saw one gym down there. I wasnt looking though and you might be able to find one in Oaxaca city...but I would not bank on being able to lift man.

Post: #12

In every major Mexican city (DF, Cancun, GDL, Monterrey,...) youll be able to get Protein Powder. Its just a little more expensive. Anyways, Mexican food is great and they eat lot of meat so I wouldnt worry too much.

Post: #13

(01-05-2013 09:20 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  Sorry if this is a silly question, I just legitimately don't want to bother carrying a case of whey protein, etc. if there are any unforeseen problems I'm not aware of. Anyone done this before or have any thoughts on it?

One of my workmates who used a lot of protein powder was leaving Cartagena to go back stateside. He had just received a large jug of protein powder from home and didn't want to throw it away. So he dumped it into 2 large ziploc bags and packed it in his luggage... See where I'm going with this?

He was stopped at the airport by security and taken into custody. He, legitimately, did not make the connection, but the authorities originally thought he was smuggling blow. After testing it and seeing it was just protein, their suspicions turned to the thought that he was either probing security to see if he could get away with it or planted the bags there on purpose to tie up security personnel while another bag leaked through security.

In the end nothing happened to him. But he was arrested and detained, missed his flight, incarcerated in a Colombian jail with real Colombian bad guys, and had to call the embassy who sent an investigator over and initiated an investigation.

I wouldn't travel with it due to the inconvenience it could cause. Not to mention with baggage weight restrictions and the need for space in my kit, it would just be easier to buy it when you get to where you are going or eat more meat, fish, and eggs.

Post: #14

I just spent 4 months in mexico, including Oaxaca.

Elevation is more important to temperature than latitude. Even in september/october it was not very hot in mexico city and oaxaca city. If you go down to the coast you will hit seriously hot weather.

However, there were a surprising number of places you could buy supplements in Mexico. You should be able to find most of the typical supplements in even a small city. In Mexico City they had supplement stores in subway stations.

It will probably be harder to find protein powder than ACV and more universal supplements. But you should be able to find it anywhere if you look around.

Post: #15

So I´m in Oaxaca right now, just arrived today. I doubt that I´ll be able to find protein powder here, although I did find a gym online that looks pretty sweet and I plan on trying to get a day páss and work out tomarrow. I did end up bringing a bit of protein powder with me, in individual sealed packets, I brought about 8 packets of whey protein (terra whey brand), and it seems like at least in Oaxaca city the temperatures will be cool enough that they whey won´t go bad. I certainly wouldn´t count on it at the coast though because it´s supposed to be hot and humid as hell there. I also packed about 4 packets of hemp protein poweder, and another 4 of this vegan protein that I got free samples of.

I´d imagine that the hemp and vegan protein won´t go bad on the coast, but even still I only brought enough protein to last the first 1/3 of my trip. Oh well it´s better than nothing though, I suppose. I also packed a bag of free range beef jerky that I will snack on periodically to boost my protein levels.

On top of the protein I brought a grip of supplements, which are weighing down my bad and taking up room, but oh well, I´ve got a multi-vitamin, fish oil, vitamin D, vitamin C, lysine, COQ10, alpha lipoic acid, collagen, green tea tablet, and maybe a couple other things I´ve forgot. Thats probably about 2/3 of what I usually take on a daily basis.

First impression of Oaxaca are alright, only got here today, spent the first 3 hours in bed and will probably do jack shit tonight, just kick back and read Iceburg Slim´s ¨Pimp, Story of my Life¨. It seems like very few people speak English here, if I had to guess probably only 10%. Fortunately I got the Pimsleur language CDs so I learned a little bit, but definitely not enough to spit game. Overall the women here are not very attractive, walking around I saw a handful of 7s and maybe one 8, but I did get good eye contact, so if I spoke Spanish I probably could pull something. Not a whole lot of hot tourist chicks either so far, but I´ve yet to hit any nightlife venues. There´s a group of hot Aussie girls at my hostel, but so far they seemed standoffish and disinterested in me, and as I type this, they are sitting like 10 feet away getting hit on by some Argie guys.

Ah well, definitely not a pussy paradise, but I think I´ll still enjoy myself none the less. Hopefully, the coast at Puerto Escondido will be better, unfortunately, my low key, more conversation based game, seems like it will be less effective, than the outgoing brash style that a lot of guys have.

Hopefully I will have some stories to tell, but either way I may drop a trip report in a couple weeks, just to give guys an idea of what shits like here.


Peace,


OG

Post: #16

Couldn't you scoop out individual servings and vacu-seal them?

Post: #17

(01-30-2013 07:58 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  First impression of Oaxaca are alright, only got here today, spent the first 3 hours in bed and will probably do jack shit tonight, just kick back and read Iceburg Slim´s ¨Pimp, Story of my Life¨. It seems like very few people speak English here, if I had to guess probably only 10%. Fortunately I got the Pimsleur language CDs so I learned a little bit, but definitely not enough to spit game. Overall the women here are not very attractive, walking around I saw a handful of 7s and maybe one 8, but I did get good eye contact, so if I spoke Spanish I probably could pull something. Not a whole lot of hot tourist chicks either so far, but I´ve yet to hit any nightlife venues. There´s a group of hot Aussie girls at my hostel, but so far they seemed standoffish and disinterested in me, and as I type this, they are sitting like 10 feet away getting hit on by some Argie guys.

Ah well, definitely not a pussy paradise, but I think I´ll still enjoy myself none the less. Hopefully, the coast at Puerto Escondido will be better, unfortunately, my low key, more conversation based game, seems like it will be less effective, than the outgoing brash style that a lot of guys have.

Mexico in general is pretty bad when it comes to chicks and Oaxaca and Chiapas are as bad as it gets.Of course, there are beautiful Mexicanas around, but the vast majority is rather short, chubby and hairy. Anyways, the country itself is amazing, enjoy your trip. One piece of advice, if you are not into rancid hippie-chicks stay away from San Cristobal...

Post: #18

(01-05-2013 09:20 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  Anyone hear ever travel with protein powder and supplements?

It seems like every time I travel away from the U.S. for an extended period of time, I don't hit the gym enough (if at all), and I don't get nearly enough protein in my diet. I hear some countries like Brazil it's easy to get protein powders, but I'd imagine in a lot of places it's a major chore.

I am planning a 6-8 week trip to Mexico at the end of the month and would like to take a case of whey protein and a bunch of supplements (vitamins, green tea tablet, acv tablet, anti-oxidants, etc.)

However, the thing that I am kind of wondering about is the temperature and the climate that I will be traveling in. I know my whey protein and most supplements say on the bottle "store in a cool dry place". If I am traveling around the Oaxaca and Carribean coast where it could be very humid and 80+ degree temperatures, could it cause my whey protein and supplements to go bad?

Sorry if this is a silly question, I just legitimately don't want to bother carrying a case of whey protein, etc. if there are any unforeseen problems I'm not aware of. Anyone done this before or have any thoughts on it?

I am hoping to find a gym and do all my essential lifts once a week, and get 100 grams of protein or more a day in my diet. Add to that, I feel healthiest and feel like my skin, energy, focus, and overall vitality are at it's peak when I take my supplements. The idea is that I can take all that stuff with me and not have to sacrifice as much of a loss in my health.

Won't there be lots of fresh fish and seafood available if you are on the coasts?

Tuna, oysters, etc have a lot of protein

Post: #19

I'm here around Puerto Escondido right now, didn't bring any supplements but food is insanely cheap.
Gonna drop a report of the different towns around here when I'm back.

Post: #20

1.1 lbs of Chicken breast has about 115G of protein. Dice it up, boil it, and eat it in 2-3 servings. Will supplement all the other stuff you eat very handily.

Post: #21

I have brought with me whey protein, creatine and other sorts of vitamin into Thailand a number of times and never had any issues.
Probably will help to keep them in the original packaging in case someone asks questions.

Post: #22

It can be more pricey but you can find a place that sells supplements in most cities. I had a tougher time because I have a lactose allergy. Just make sure you find a legit place especially in Asia because they counterfeit the good brands.

Post: #23

I was actually thinking about this very subject the other day. In a few weeks I'm heading to Sweden for almost 3 weeks, and like you every time that I have traveled abroad, I have shriveled up and lost most of my gains in the gym from not eating and supplementing properly. What I am personally going to do this time is pack in my suitcase all of my creatine and multivitamins, no explode etc. When I arrive, i'm going to head out into the city and buy a 5 gallon container of protein and go get a temporary gym membership. It's not worth losing the Gains!