Diffuculty organizing a good nutrition plan.

[brooklynnn]

Due to time constraints I up pretty early in the morning and don't usually get a workout in until about seven and may even eat dinner later than that which i usually do how can i organize a healthy eating plan with the time contraints i have and the whole not eating after seven suggestion. Thanks in advance!

[Connie Brown]

If you give us an outline of your day and your constraints it will help. I know others have dealt with that PM training and late dinner thing.

here would be an extreme example:

up at 5
drive through food
2 hour commute
9 hour day no breaks
lunch wagon
straight to gym

etc

[brooklynnn]

An example of a typical weekday

up at 4:30am
1 to 2 hr commute depending on traffic
8 hr work day usually with a 30-45min lunch break depending on work load I maybe able to squeeze a snack in or two
1 to 2hr commute depending on traffic
If I don't have class(psych major) i wind down a bit before workout
Workout usually anytime after 6:30 except on class days when i get home really late about 9:30pm
dinner usually right after workout
Then go to sleep usually an hr or so after dinner between 10-11pm

[patflanagan]

Hi Martin,
That is quite the schedule you have. I don't know if this helps you at all but for me organizing a healthy eating plan for a day occurs well before the day itself. I also have a real busy schedule between working full time, massage school, CST, and other responsibilities.

For me everything hinges upon my one real free day a week. On that day I plan out my all my meals for the week, go shopping, and cook whatever I can on that day and freeze away some. That way when I am really busy during the week I can eat quick, healthy food. For me it all comes down to the planning because it is so easy to cheat when you are that busy. As far as the eating before 7 is concerned, don't get me wrong it is the optimal thing to do, but your only human and do the best you can. Don't beat yourself up if its not possible that day.

[Connie Brown]

Well Martin, I'm sorry to keep asking you questions piecemeal, but what have you tried so far and how did it go?

In your shoes I would eat before I worked. So breakfast before or during the commute (or is that yucky), lunch during break, and dinner before the evening.

Please don't be discouraged at finding a solution. This sort of thing is NOT trivial and it drives me nuts when people don't give this problem the respect it deserves.

Basically it looks like you have no time or routines right now for cooking or eating clean, and since nutrition comes even before movement, that's a #1 project.

I want Jeanne to chime in on this one because she has a tight window between work and lots of evening workouts, and I seem to remember that she moved her dinner earlier and liked it better.

[Connie Brown]

Well Martin, I'm sorry to keep asking you questions piecemeal, but what have you tried so far and how did it go?

In your shoes I would eat before I worked. So breakfast before or during the commute (or is that yucky), lunch during break, and dinner before the evening.

Please don't be discouraged at how much fiddling it will take to find a solution. This sort of thing is NOT trivial and it drives me nuts when people don't give this project the respect it deserves.

Time and routines for cooking or eating clean, since nutrition comes even before movement, is a #1 project.

I want Jeanne to chime in on this one because she has a tight window between work and lots of evening workouts, and I seem to remember that she moved her dinner earlier and liked it better.

[Coach Gostnell]

I may be recovered enough (yawn) from Iota & the traveling to work up a little "chime" here...


So breakfast before or during the commute (or is that yucky), lunch during break, and dinner before the evening.

This is pretty much what I do. I get to work a little early so I can fix my breakfast here. What made it easier was when another business moved from the building & left behind a mini-refrigerator. We (ahem) requisitioned it for our Unit, so I'm able to keep food on hand for several meals.

If we hadn't procured that one, I would have invested in one anyway, although whether you can do that depends on your work setting, Martin.

If there's no refer or kitchen area available, there's some good-sized, insulated lunch boxes available these days that can hold lunch, snack & dinner.

The second component, for me, is shopping (which I hate), more than cooking - or rather the Pre-Shop Planning, since I want to spend the least time possible in stores. By having at least a mental outline of what I'll eat for the week, I buy what fits the plan for the meals I'll be having in town.

It also saves me from impulse eating - running out to Taco Bell or whatever at lunch because there's nothing else.

Since the whole purpose of actually cooking is to get leftovers, I make a couple big meals on the weekend that will provide other lunches/dinners; although my husband is often the one to reap that benefit, which works too.

I've been working through Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, first cookbook I've bought in 30 years. Some good, "clean food" recipes and others are easily adjustable.

[brooklynnn]

thanks for the suggestions, i haven't really tried any particular diets or schedules i usually just wing it. as far as moving my dinner up to earlier in the day is a good suggestion but my only problem with that is i work up a good appetite when i workout so should i just have a light snack or something after even if its late. again, any suggestions are appreciated.

[Scott Sonnon]

Martin,

As you change your meal timing, after practice so too will your patterns of hunger. Hot tea is superb post workout after 7PM to begin your fast for the evening. But this depends upon your biochemistry currently and throughout that specific day.

[Connie Brown]

After-workout snack sounds fine, and keep an open mind. If you "front load" your fuel earlier in the day you might not want as much later.

I do think it's a good idea to let the digestion rest along with everything else while you sleep, just my opinion.

[Coach Gostnell]

should i just have a light snack or something

There is the Potatoes Not Prozac suggestion of a baked potato (WITH the skin) as a pre-bedtime snack. I do that if I'm hungry again after a long evening.

(No one's gonna believe this, but having a Yukon Gold or other tasty variety KILLED my appetite for Ben & Jerry's Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream :mrgreen: as the preferred snack. Go ahead. Laugh. Scoff. It's still true.)

[Connie Brown]

Jeanne I believe you! I don't use the potato much any more but it happened to me too.

One hot September I even tried vichyssoise (sp). Wow was that good

[Coach Gostnell]

I even tried vichyssoise

I've always been afraid to try it because of the spelling! :lol:

[Connie Brown]

and I've never pronounced it in my life :lol: