I need some serious help

anniemae_harrison

Hello everyone. I am a restaurant manager and i am required to work 60 plus hours a week AND I have a 2nd job as a graphic artist that i work on my lunch break from the restaurant. I have unpredictable hours and only one day off a week. I eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, 3 oz grillled ckn on a garden salad for lunch, and usually dont have a dinner break until 9 pm or later bc when everyone goes out to eat, i go to work. I get home around 11 p.m. and wake up at 5 to start all over again. I literally have no time to work out. Im at my wits end trying to figure out what to do. Im at least 35lbs overweight and slowly gaining more. There no chance that i could quit the 2nd job.

SnuggleSmacks

Wow, that's a tough spot to be in. I understand...I finished school while working full time, and one semester I added up that with travel time, I had over 86 hours of my week booked before I ever even did homework or slept.

First, it's quite possible to lose weight without exercise. In fact, weight loss depends solely on a calorie deficit. Being a restaurant manager could be to your advantage in this regard: you're probably constantly on the move and on your feet, which means you burn a good bit of calories just from your normal work activities. Also, being the manager, you can go off menu for meals and you have a good idea of the ingredients in everything in your work kitchen, so it should be fairly easy for you to put together healthy meals within your calorie goal.

The only things I can suggest are 1. patience. Look for ways to alter your work situation, but until then, it is what it is. 2. If you can afford it, get a fitness tracker like Fitbit or Bodymedia. Get one which will work with your phone for optimal results so that you can see your progress throughout the day. It will help you greatly to know how much you burn throughout the day and therefore exactly how much you can eat and still lose weight.

chadya07

you dont have to find time to work out. if you are gaining weight it is because of too many calories. you can monitor your calories here, on a smart phone, while on the go.

exersize would relieve your stress and make you fit, but doesnt make you lose weight. thats food. it does let you eat a little more food but if you dont have time, just eat less calories.

Alatariel75

Agree with the above! You can totally lose weight without doing extrsa exercise, you sound like you're crazy active at the moment anyway. I can honestly say that most of my weight is from when I stopped being a restauarnt/bar manager!

It's all about the calories. I wouldn't go stressing about not being able to fit in exercise if I were you.

6ftamazon

I feel ya. I work in my family's restaurant 40+ hours on top of school. My best bit of advise is to prelog your meals and to bring as much of your meals as you can to work (rather than eating restaurant food). You really can't do much about the timing, but timing is irrelevant to weight loss anyway. Since it can be a long time between meals, I strongly suggest high fibre and moderate fat and protein to stay full longer.

anniemae_harrison

Thanks to you all who replied! I will try to wake up early and fit a small workout in when possible. I did feel better when I split the focus on diet and exercise. I don't have a meal plan that works for me at the moment and it's a lot of trial and error on my part. Some meal plans say increase fiber with beans and others say stay away from them. Any thoughts on protein shakes? Since I'm not getting a real work out in are they something that I should avoid? Do they give you sustained energy? Every single response has given me hope. Thanks again for helping!!

Francl27

You're gaining weight because you're eating too much. Log everything you eat. I highly doubt you'd be gaining weight if you only had oatmeal, fruit, 3oz of chicken and veggies, and a light dinner.

cheripugh1

Hello everyone. I am a restaurant manager and i am required to work 60 plus hours a week AND I have a 2nd job as a graphic artist that i work on my lunch break from the restaurant. I have unpredictable hours and only one day off a week. I eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, 3 oz grillled ckn on a garden salad for lunch, and usually dont have a dinner break until 9 pm or later bc when everyone goes out to eat, i go to work. I get home around 11 p.m. and wake up at 5 to start all over again. I literally have no time to work out. Im at my wits end trying to figure out what to do. Im at least 35lbs overweight and slowly gaining more. There no chance that i could quit the 2nd job.

I agree with others here, log your food! I think you should switch dinner and lunch... have that big meal at lunch and that nice salad at dinner... If you are gaining your are consuming too many calories so again log everything!

cmazurek85

As long as the protien shakes are within your daily macro requirements, go for it! Try sticking to whole foods (meat and veggies, fruit, nuts). You'll feel better!

sherambler

I didn't see anyone else mention this on here...but you're only getting 5-6 hours (tops) of sleep a night. And that's if you're going right to bed when you get home. You're schedule is packed, but it might be worth it to see if you could sneek in a few more hours of sleep. Lack of sleep has been linked to heart disease, increased stress levels, wonky metabolism, and raising cortisol levels later in the day. More sleep won't help you lose the weight by itself, but it would definitely help supplement your efforts.

summerlinangel3

Everyone has already given you some very good suggestions so I just want to wish you great success in reaching your goal. Just relax and work with what you have. Eat a big lunch and smaller dinner. Being on your feet and moving around all those hours will help to burn calories.

anniemae_harrison

So i found out that i have endometriosis and my hormones are out of wack. Now that i have an idea of whats going on, hopefully i can find a way to deal with this. I do keep a food log--if i bite it i write it and i am staying right at my suggested calories, sometimes 20 under, but still gaining.

dittmarml

Are you logging here on MFP? If so, consider if you're willing to open your diary; we can have a look at it and make better suggestions.

anniemae_harrison

I use Galaxy SHealth on my phone.

Derpes

That is an unreal schedule to maintain!

It sounds like you may be on your feet quite a bit. I do not use one, but some people swear by step trackers such as fitbit.

I really do not know much about them, but it is worth looking into.

Additionally, eating at a calorie deficit will take care of weight loss. Good luck!

Oneironaut

As others have said, all you need to lose weight is a caloric deficit.

If you want to get some exercise in as well, I would recommend getting some adjustable dumbbells to keep at home. You can get a good workout with those with around 20-30 minutes of work three days a week, and that time doesn't need to be consecutive.

anniemae_harrison

Thanks. With creating a calorie deficit, im worried about becoming tired. I stay under 1350 a day. Can i take a multivitamin to help?

anniemae_harrison

And I just downloaded the fitbit. Thanks for the advice

ghuppert1

One thing to really keep an eye on is your protein intake. I was so careful about my calories that I didn't get enough protein. Found myself tired all the time and actually gaining weight. Since upping my protein (1 ram for each pound of body weight) have finally started to get my energy back and weight is moving in the right direction again DOWN. Good luck.

jennifer_417

Weight control is all about the calories. Drink protein shakes if you like 'em, don't if you don't. Set a reasonable calorie deficit (plug your numbers into MFP and go by what it tells you, though it is a common mistake to set your initial weight loss goal at 2 lbs per week and MFP will give you 1200 calories, because that is as low as it is allowed to go, and isn't enough for most. Since you don't have that much to lose, I recommend aiming for 1 or even 1/2 lb per week), log all your food, BAM.

Veronnie87

You have said that if you bite it, you write it. But what about drinks?

My fiance was under the impression that the four juiceboxes he was drinking every day didn't count as calories because they were "real fruit juice". *facepalm*

I inadvertently add on a ton of calories with my drinks. Even diet soft drinks - even though they have no calories - have so much chemical crap in them that I find they make me bloat and then I crave sugar afterwards. If you're in a restaurant environment it would be easy to drink a lot of things like lemonade, iced tea, anything carbonated that could all be adding up to put you over your daily calorie goal.

Log everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.!

Good luck!

anniemae_harrison

I dont drink sodas and take my coffee black. But ginger green tea with lemon No Sugar and water are my go to drinks. Maybe once a month I'll have drinks with my friends.

ParkerH47

Though endometriosis must suck - I can't seem to find any info suggesting it might affect weight gain. Keep logging - try to stay accurate, and don't worry too much about exercise get a pedometer or fitbit and consider your job exercise. Try asking the kitchen to make you a healthy meal after your done - or bring your own food. Fruit and veggies for the win!

RET68

It's not that endometriosis can cause weight gain, but hormones being out of whack, can cause both. Also, as the above poster said, you need more sleep. HGH, human growth hormone, can only be made when you are asleep. Without it you lose muscle, and your metabolism will suffer. Are you maybe eating your chicken etc at work. Do they use MSG? or anything like that. Any foods with glutamate of any kind can completely mess up your neurotransmitters, and eventually your liver which makes it very hard to burn fat. As people are fond of saying weight gain is all about calories in vs out. If the body machine is functioning appropriately. If it's not, you gotta work on vitamins, toxins, whatever is gumming up the works, so it can do what it is supposed to. Good luck, :yawn: I need more sleep too.

anniemae_harrison

Cut the calories and now I have these awful headaches. Any suggestions?