Weight loss lifestyle for commuters?

r3cycl0ps

I have an hour+ driving commute and live between more than one home right now. Finding a way to eat healthy and not eat out every meal has been difficult, as has been finding bandwidth to exercise. Does anyone have advice for losing weight and being healthy during a busy commuter lifestyle?

callsitlikeiseeit

i have an hour commute each day.

lots of people do.

prep and prelog your meals if youre too tired after work to do it (and i get it- I am too, which is why I ... prep and pre log). I spent all morning making dinner or prepping what i could for this week.

I take my lunch to work. I take snacks to work. All premade and logged.

bbell1985

I commute two hours per day as well. Nike.

quiksylver296

My gym is located half-way between home and work. I hit it at 4:30 in the morning. If I don’t get my workout done in the morning, then I hit it again in the afternoon to finish up. I pack my breakfast and lunch, pre-log my entire day and use the crock pot for dinner a lot.

asonrody

I live about 40 minutes away from work and on days I have to work I meal prep lunch and dinner, which is usually a sandwich and fruit/veggies. I get off at six so I'll eat dinner in the break room while I wait for traffic to die down a little. If I don't bring my dinner I'll still bring some baby carrots and a drink as a snack.

hotskytrotsky

This doesn't apply to every commute situation, but for me, I can choose to take a faster bus (45 min) that comes closer to my house and drops me off closer to work, or a slower bus that's farther away (1 hr+). Sometimes when I haven't had time to exercise and I feel like I have time to take it slower and stay later in the evening, I'll take the farther one to get some walking in. I almost always take the slower route with more walking on the way home.

I also try to walk a lot when the weather is nice - e.g. I'll spend my lunch break just walking around. Or on the weekends if I have to go do something and I have time I'll walk, even if it's over an hour. I don't do a real workout every day, but I do longer workouts 2-3 times per week.

I do some meal prep/snack stuff too:
-buy a bulk thing of yogurt and portion it out into small containers at the beginning of the week, and keep it all at work
-keep fresh veggie snacks (snap peas, carrots) at work
-keep nuts at work for when you need some calories/energy ASAP
-also have sort of "faux-healthy" snacks like prepackaged chickpea crisps and kale chips for when raw veggies are not doing it
-drink herbal or decaf tea throughout the day if I want to snack but I'm not truly hungry

When I'm totally wrecked and tired at night my sad convenience meal is a tortilla and fried egg. Doesn't involve any vegetables, but it goes from zero to in your stomach in less than 10 minutes, it's homemade, and pretty wholesome.

concordancia

I spend a lot of time driving around town for my job, so I have a bunch of portable go to meals and snacks. I keep high fiber protein bars and nuts in my backpack so that if I am caught without an actual meal, I have that as a back up.

Easy to eat, easy to fit in a lunch cooler and easy to prepare:
-greek yogurt and berries
-salad: kale salad mix is sturdier than leaf salad mixes, add a protein, maybe some olives and cheese for flavor, and good to go. I also like red cabbage as a salad base.
-leftover roasted/grilled vegetables with goat cheese and/or leftover proteins. I just had asparagus and lamb most recently. Delish even cold.
-sandwiches
-raw veg and cheese (with bread, if you are into that kind of thing)

cwolfman13

I commute an hour each way. For exercise, I either get up early and go for my ride or I do it when I get home depending on the day and whether me or my wife is on KP that evening. I also make sure that I use my weekends wisely in regards to exercise...I take my two rest days during the week and make sure I exercise on weekends when I have more time.

We do a bit of meal prep on Sundays. I usually grill up a bunch of chicken tenders for my wife and I to take for lunches. My wife cooks a big batch of quinoa and roasted sweet potatoes so we can alternate those things throughout the week. My wife is big on salads...I usually just take some steamer vegetables for my lunch.

My wife also makes a big thing of steel cut oats on Sunday so that we have that for the week...I buy pre-boiled eggs at Costco and take those along with oats for breakfast...sometimes beans if I've made a batch.

Dinners are usually simple during the week...some kind of protein on the grill along with some veg and a starch or grain.

Cbean08

I go early and beat traffic. I figured out that if I leave my place at 6 am, I can get to the gym (right next to work) by 6:30 am, workout for an hour, shower and then be to work by 8am. If I leave anytime after 6:15 am, I'm stuck in traffic for an hour.

Find a gym close to work so you can go before. You have time to exercise and eat well, but you might have to re-prioritize your time.

Also, you can easily eat out regularly and still lose weight. Make good choices for foods that fit into your calorie allotment. Really, it's about will-power. You're either committed to it, or you're not.

jennhascooties

I purposely go to a gym that’s about halfway home. It helps me get through some traffic, and I’m able to make it to the gym before being completely exhausted after getting home.

Another tip I’ve picked up is to always keep snacks handy. I usually have a piece of fruit paired with some form of protein, usually a hard boiled egg, cheese stick, or turkey slices, and eat that on the way to the gym.

I also keep plenty of snacks and sometimes even an extra meal at work. I generally always have cut up veggies, bananas, turkey slices, and hummus in case hunger hits. Hope this helps!

juliamfu161

I go to the gym in the morning before work and pack all my shower/makeup supplies with me. So I end up getting ready for work at the gym. Usually I also bring something simple for my meals. A fruit for breakfast, some nuts/seeds/jerky as a snack, and a salad for lunch. Or, I will take those costco chicken dumplings since they're actually really tasty. For dinner, it's usually crockpot stuff. I do like to cook on the weekends though, and do freezer meal prep.

mbaker566

food prep helps me make good food choices
you don't need a gym if you don't want it. walk after dinner. or run, do bodyweight exercises while watching a show, park farther away, use stairs. take walks on your breaks.

HoneyBadger302

My commute is a bit shorter now, but used to be a good hour, close to two on bad days (one way).

Going to the gym had to be a commitment. I started getting up a little earlier (15 minute increments), and doing shorter workouts at home to fill that time, and eventually moved the alarm back to where I could make it to the gym, and I'd go there before work. After work simply didn't happen often enough (too tired/worn out/needed to run errands/etc), and being a woman, any lunchtime workout was just a PITA and there wasn't enough time, especially if I got sweaty at all.

I started basically working through my lunch break so I could get out of work that much earlier, and just used my shorter breaks as my "away from my desk" times.

Eating is something that is still a work in progress for me. I'm attempting to get started with some meal prep, where I prepare lunches and dinners in advance (or VERY easy to throw together), and dinners in a couple dishes with maybe one easy side to prep at night. Quick and easy is going to need to be the name of the game for me.

I work 7 days a week between my regular job and my part time gig, so free time is really, really hard to come by. Some things I'm trying to help make this meal prepping more feasible since I don't have a day off to do this stuff:

--Making use of grocery delivery. I put together a menu, figured out what I need, and then have my groceries delivered. Saves me a good hour or two right there, plus the frustration.
--Buying as many pre-prepped items (like pre-cut veggies) as possible.
--Using items I can cook at once and then divide up in different ways (such as roasting several chicken breasts and then slicing, saucing, chunking into various dishes).
--I have the MealPal flex plan for lunches when I really just don't have the food/time to pre-make them. Portions tend to be more reasonable, with plenty of healthy choices in my area.

Honestly I'm new to the whole meal prep thing as most people seemed to spend HOURS a week doing it, something I simply don't have. So, I've been brainstorming and gathering ideas on how to make it happen since it's still a priority, and these are the big ones I've come up with.

r3cycl0ps

These responses are so helpful! Thanks everyone.

Momepro

I eat fast food or pack finger foods to eat. Generally at McDonalds or Jack in tbe Box I can get plain eggs, or sandwich less meat fillets to eat on the drive. Add a lunch cooler with fruits, veggies, and an icepack and I can eat healthily on my drive. Exercise wise, I can usually get up an hour earlier tomorrow go to the gym, or go between work site sessions, and I try to walk and do stretching exercises as much as I can get away with at work or in front of the TV at night.

Megg82

Early morning workouts at home have been a lifesaver. I wake up between 4:30 & 5am to do it, but then it’s done and I know it’s done for the day. I have some barbells & circuit training & HIIT videos. I didn’t log food for a month because it got too chaotic. Made healthy food choices but still didn’t see much results.
Now I’m spending time on my pass days to purchase foods and prep in advance.
Makes logging and tracking easier especially repeating items. I’m going super simple with meals as well. Meat, potato, veggie.
Last week it was mango habanero chicken sausages with kale & sweet potato. Also roast beef & Swiss roll ups & a protein shake.
This week it’s Cajun chicken breasts with sweet potato & arugula salad, smoked turkey breast & protein shakes or Rx bars.
I also do intermittent fasting which makes my life much easier. I only eat between 3p & 7pm.
Black coffee or with 2tbs milk in the AM.
Then water or black coffee all day.
I’ll have a protein shake at work at 3pm, sometimes an Rx bar on the way home, then eat dinner at home.
It really saves a TON of time.
No worrying about breakfast or lunch.
I only have 1200 calorie allowance tho so it makes getting my calories in a short time frame easy to do for me.

Semele0

r3cycl0ps wrote: »

I have an hour+ driving commute and live between more than one home right now. Finding a way to eat healthy and not eat out every meal has been difficult, as has been finding bandwidth to exercise. Does anyone have advice for losing weight and being healthy during a busy commuter lifestyle?

So my commute is slighly less then 1 hour, but I hade a longer commute in the past, so I know how it feels. I don't like to prepare all my meals before hand, so I just prepare my luch togheter with my dinner, and only chose very simple things to cook that I can cook in less then 30 minutes. As for the time to workout, I do it in the afternoon, I can't do it in the morning. If I get off work at 6 pm I' m home by 6:50, change, pick up my gym bag, and I'm in the gym at 7, then at 8 I'm finished, I go home (I searched for a gym that is near home), shower, then by 8:30 I start cooking and by 9 I'm eating (that is a totally normal time in the day to eat here, and in this way I don't have night snacks because I'm not hungry). So in the morning I just pack what I cooked the evening before, plus some snack to eat before the gym, during the commute, and I'm done. The secret for me was to find the right food to cook in little time. There are some things that I cook beforehand, or maybe I cook a larger quantity and then eat them for more then one day, but generally I cook every evening dinner+lunch. Your commute is longer, so maybe you won't be able to fit everything in there, maybe you can workout during the lunch break (I did so when I had a longer commute, I searched fo a gym very near work. If you have your lunch packed you don't need much time to eat)

Edited to add this: the more important thing is: this is the rough outline of a normal day, but if I don't want to cook, or I want to take an aperitivo with a friend or order takeout with my boyfriend, I do it. It's not one evening when I don't follow the plan or I skip the gym that's going to ruin everything. Otherwise all this feels very constrictive. The more important thing is to find the right balance between discipline and relax.

jesguinn

I commute about three hours a day and agree with others that preparation is key, and if I don't get my workout in early it's probably not going to happen. Most mornings I wake up at 4:15 and leave the house to workout with my work clothes in one bag, breakfast and lunch in another, and often another bag packed with clothes for the ballpark or whatever the evening activity of the day is. Taking food that is easily eaten on the go for breakfast (usually a banana and an RxBar) is key. Also, I usually do some weekend meal prep and make sure to cook nutritious foods for dinner with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. It's tough, but definitely doable if you can get past "I don't have time."

WholeFoods4Lyfe

I commute about 3hrs every day. I spend time on the weekend meal planning and food prepping. I make my lunch and breakfast for the entire week in ready to grab containers.

I park about .5 mile away from my office so that I'm forced to walk every morning and afternoon. It's far enough to get my heart pumping, but not so far that I'm sweaty mess when I get to the office.

I also eat my lunch at my desk so that I can go for walks on my lunch break.

I keep a drawer full of health snacks at my desk. Right now it has: clementines, canned sardines, 100 calorie packs of nuts, Lara Bars, tuna packets, raisins, Epic Bars, and I just looked an apparently there is a random York Peppermint Patty in there LOL

I need to start a workout program in addition to the walking that I do and am looking to join the gym near my office. My plan is to come in the morning dressed in workout clothes and bring my work clothes. The walk from the parking lot to my gym will serve as my warm-up! Of course, this will mean leaving my house at 5am, so we'll see how that actually goes.

endermako

I commute over an hour one way.

I prelog and prep all of my food on my day off so i have no stress during work days. I also usually make a hand held or through a straw breakfast for easy use in the care. It's manageable.