Training & Nutrition - How to eat healthy with a crazy schedule?

Hi,

I work a pretty insane schedule and find it hard to get motivated and make myself things that are good for me, rather than what they have in the vending machine at work.

3am: Wake up
4am: Work
630am:15m break
830am: 30m lunch
1030am: 15m break

I need things that are as minimally time-invasive as possible to prepare in the morning when I wake up or the night before I go to sleep.

Any good ideas?

Get a different Career?

I put oatmeal and raisins in a bowl and put on the counter at night beside the microwave, beside it I put a cup that holds the exact amount of water needed.........I can then make breakfast while still asleep and on the way to the shower

What's so difficult? You find time to ride during your busy life, no?

Find time to by good stuff to eat and then pack it up every morning (or the night before--this is highly recommended) and take it to work Make sandwiches and freeze them; this can be done with many lunch meats, or simply divide the meats up into small ziplock baggies, freeze and do the same with bread, Keep small jars of various sandwich spreads at work--You do have a fridge there, no?

the biggest thing is to make the commitment to do this. You can take dinner leftovers, cereal and milk, fruit, raw or leftover cooked veggies; the possibilities are endless.

Do you have extra time on your day off?

What works for me is to make a whole bunch of meals ahead of time that I can eat throughout the week.

Try making a list of foods and recipies that you like, then plan some sort of weekly menu and make and freeze the food ahead of time. For snacks, try some fruits and veggies that you can grab as a quick snack.

If you are really pressed for time a little planning can really help out. You can segregate your food according to which day you plan to eat it, then when you go to work you just have to grab the corresponding food package and you are ready to go.

Here's what I used to do when I waitered and bartended:

Cary vitamins with me
Always have a half dozen navel oranges in my bag
Once a week make a huge pan of broiled boneless chicken breasts so I can have them cold anytime
Make a huge thing of rice so I can have a tupperware container of it anytime
Boil up hardboiled eggs by the dozens so I can have eggwhites anytime I have a sec.

Here's what I used to do when I waitered and bartended:

Cary vitamins with me
Always have a half dozen navel oranges in my bag
Once a week make a huge pan of broiled boneless chicken breasts so I can have them cold anytime
Make a huge thing of rice so I can have a tupperware container of it anytime
Boil up hardboiled eggs by the dozens so I can have eggwhites anytime I have a sec.
How does all that taste? Strikes me as a bit bland.

For snacks, try some fruits and veggies that you can grab as a quick snack.


+1

Fruits make great snacks: a piece of fruit is healthy and requires almost no preparation. I can down an apple or bannana in about 5 minutes if I'm pressed for time. An orange might take me a minute longer since I have to peel it.


Strikes me as a bit bland.

While I have limits, I follow what my Dad taught me: I eat to live, not live to eat.

How does all that taste? Strikes me as a bit bland.

Navel oranges= delicious

Chicken breasts: I prepare them a variety of ways, there are lots of healthy rubs and seasonings one can use, then broil them. Another great way would be to BBQ them if you have an outdoor grill.

Rice: I like Thai rice, very flavorful and not bland at all. I would sometimes dice up the chicken and mix it in, a little pepper and you're good to go.

Egg whites: definitely bland! But, a really great way to get a little extra protein.

I need things that are as minimally time-invasive as possible to prepare in the morning when I wake up or the night before I go to sleep.Yeah, what you need is a "Mommy".

PS - Don't forget to brush.......

You can try making your meals in larger quantities. Stews reheat well, so does pasta. You should do the whole pound of pasta anyway because it saves energy. I like looking at Vegetarian Times for ideas. My favorites, for example, are things like lentil and rice salads and blanched veggies dressed in light vinaigrettes. You can get your meat almost anywhere, Grilled McChicken or something, but the good carbs and veggies you really can't buy except at a fancy restaurant, then it's two bites and you're done. ;)

Mypolex Lite Drink: Chocolate Fudge...190 cals, 25g protein, 2.5 g fat, 20g carbs...simple, portable, and tastes like chocolate milk. :p

Sorry, Friday (brain not engaged) Myoplex that is

I guess I don't see anthing crazy about your schedule other than you starting the day early (I do as well). You appear to have breaks approx. every two hours which is awesome and a good time to snack on some of the things that the others have already suggested.

The only difference is that "lunch" might be around 8:30AM for you instead of the normal person's noon-ish. That is consistent with the hours you are awake verses the hour you go (well, should probably go) to bed.

Try and look at your day as normally as possible> just shift it back to your wake-up time. A bowl of Oatmeal or some whole-grain waffles in the toaster with fruit, yogurt, or something that you like doesn't take much time in the morning and will provide energy and make you less hungry as the morning wears on.

If you have a fridge at work or are willing to bring a small cooler with an ice-pack, whats wrong with bringing chicken breasts, veggies, or even some tasty soup for snacks and/or lunch. Don't fall prey to the vending machine. I did that for a while when working midnights and I felt sluggish and like heck all of the time.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't understand how the schedule you posted is "crazy" or why you would have any more difficulty eating good food on a schedule like that than most of the rest of us.

You start work at 4 am, and I assume work 8 hours till about noon. Is that right? And you've got the usual number of breaks during your work day from what you wrote. Is that all you do? What do you do in the afternoon and evening? Do you have another job? Do you go to school?

Many other people also work an 8 hour day, with the only difference being that it starts a bit later ... like at 6 am, or 7 am, or 8 am. So all you do (all we all do) is shift your whole schedule to match. Just like if you had to be up at 7 am, you'd go to bed at midnight ... if you have to be up at 3 am, go to bed at 8 pm. That way you wake up alert enough to make yourself whatever you need to eat.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been my "crazy" schedule days the past semester. I have to be up at 8 am on Tuesday to get to class ... I attend class straight through till 3:30 ... I dash to work to get there for 4:00, and I work to midnight with two short breaks. Then I rush home, down "supper", and get to bed so I can get enough sleep to be up for 7:30 am and my Wednesday classes which go straight through till 5:00 pm. If I have something due Wednesday, which was assigned at the last minute, I stay up most of Tuesday night finishing it.

The college is far enough away from external food sources that I don't have time to go out and buy something off campus, and my books, etc. are so heavy I can barely carry them let alone food I've prepared. On those days I "drink" Ensure, and try to get something quick and relatively healthy from the cafeteria.

During my breaks on my job on Tuesday nights, the cafeteria is not open (it closes at 4:00, I think, about the time I arrive), so I've been bringing those tuna and cracker combos you can get in Superstore or Walmart for about $1.20 each. They are cheap, they taste good, and they are no-brainers to put together ... I just toss them into my work bag and I'm done. Sometimes I'll also bring a frozen dinner of some sort (there's about a million of them on the market now!) which I can heat in the microwave, and some fruit.