Woes of a Waitress

Kaelinnn_102

Hi, guys! My name is Kaelin, I’m 26 years old. I work two waitressing jobs 5-6 days a week. For the last couple of years, I haven’t given much thought to what I’ve eaten, or HOW MUCH I was eating. Unfortunately (but, unsurprisingly) this led to a hefty weight gain for me. I am only 5’3”, and at my heaviest I was 215 pounds.

For the last 2 months, I have been trying to eat right and get serious about my health. Since getting my second job (around 2 months ago, as well), I felt it was important to take care of my body to the best of my ability. My jobs are hard enough on my body as is! Since then, I have lost 22 pounds! I would normally be excited about this, but I feel it’s simply because I have drastically reduced how much food I take in. I’m running around so much, that I don’t have time to eat the way that I used to. Some days I only get the time (or have the energy) to eat one small meal, at best. I’m no fool, I know this is terrible, and that once my situation changes I’m likely to pile the weight back on (not to mention how it may be impacting my health)! I would love to pack meals and snacks to take with me to work, but I am legitimately a miserable cook. Lmfao. I’m posting in hopes of getting some meal prep ideas that I could use to help me get proper nutrition, but also, meal prep ideas that are quick (as I only get a few minutes to eat at work). Sorry if this post is everywhere, and thank you in advance for the help!

nickssweetheart

You want to know what I seriously have called dinner on more than one occasion?

Open a can of black beans and drain it. Open a can of corn and drain it. Combine. Stir in some salsa to taste. If you have it, you can eat it over lettuce or top with avocado, but you don't need to. It's surprisingly tasty, very filling high fiber, complete protein, comes together in 30 seconds, and you don't have to be ANY kind of a cook.

Before I went vegetarian I would do something similar with 1 can of tuna, a can of green beans, a can of corn, some lemon or balsamic vinegar, and lettuce. Kind of a poor man's salad nicoise.

What do you have access to at work? Is there a microwave? You could bring cans of soups, crackers, canned chili, etc. Would the restaurants you work at be willing to prep you up a plate of lettuce or spinach so you can just top it with things you bring from home? You could bring chickpeas, almonds, apples and oranges, a bottle of low calorie dressing, etc.

Frozen vegetables are very cheap and even come in a "steam in bag" preparation sometimes. You could steam them in the microwave at home and take them to work with you. You can bake a potato at home, take it to work and top it with canned chili. Have that with a side of broccoli and you'd probably be full for hours.

Google sheet pan dinners for some very, very basic and easy cooking that could easily make you several days worth of meals. Also, do you have a crockpot? You can dump a bunch of stuff in in the morning, then go to work and let it do the cooking for you and come home to a meal.

toxikon

Cooking is a wonderful skill to learn - everyone starts somewhere, and the more you practice, the better you'll get.

I personally do a ton of meal-prepping with my Instant Pot - it's definitely my favourite kitchen gadget and very easy to use and find recipes for.

You could also pack lots of protein bars, meal replacement shakes, nuts - to get you through the workday.

HarveysBud

Been there Kaelin, exactly. Restaurants jobs where food was snagging some fries or bread and on top of that some booze - the pounds just piled on. Food prep is definitely as hard or easy as you make it out to be. First recommendation would be a good protein shake. Low cals, filling, tasty. Start your day off right. I have a great go-to vegan powder I use. Hit me up if interested int he name of it. All the best!

hesn92

I found working as a waitress made losing weight a lot easier lol. Basically power walking all day with no time to eat a meal! Ha. I grew up in a household where we hardly ever ate home cooked food. I had to teach myself to cook. The only thing is to just jump in. Just pick a few meals that you can try out and find recipes online, or in a cook book. Spaghetti is easy. Lasagna is easy but takes a while. Tacos, soups. You can start out with more premade ingredients like jars of sauce etc rather than making it from scratch

Lounmoun

A sandwich or wrap is easy and not unhealthy. Raw vegetables, fruit, cheese, nuts. Yogurt.