Lunch / Pm snack combo ideas for a male perty please!!

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chasetwins
chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey,

So after being tempted to try carb cycling - I have decided...its back to cal counting for this Fam!! Here is part of our problem. My husband leaves the house at 5 AM - due to after work cals I like to make his day time food no more than 900 calories. The remaining 1100 are dinner, an iced coffee and his 7:30 PM snack.
He eats a banana first thing in the AM (approx. 90 cal), then a protein bar on his way to the office to grab his truck which is about 200 cals, I pack daily fresh fruit ( 100 cals give or take on particular fruit chosen, sometimes I include 2 if cals allow) and a greek yogurt ( 90 cal ) He has the fruit and yogurt at various times depending on when he feels like it- that leaves approx 420 cals. for actual lunch or lunch and additional munchie. The previous items are legit every day.

Keep in mind 80% of his day...he is sitting in the work truck driving around Boston :/ ( we take an hour walk after dinner to counter that)..keep in mind he does not have a means to heat up his lunch. Sandwiches tend to be just full of calories that do not always fill him so I limit those. Salads - which I try to make a mix of healthy fats and with a protein punch can get calorie heavy in order to fill him. The are satisfying to him - but I would like to limit those a bit going forward. Plus...variety is a good thing ;0

So, I am looking for creative - different - filling and cold lunches for him. Anyone else out there have the same issue with their job where they have to have lunch out of a lunch cooler?

Thank you in advance!!

Replies

  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
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    I like the igloo take alone, and those six cup Pyrex rectangle things. It fits perfectly in the bottom and still lots of room. I use those flat square ice packs. You can get disposable dressing and dip cups at the dollar store.

    Steamed asparagus bundles wrapped w thin prosciutto, Brown rice salad, artichoke with ceasar dressing and a little Parmesan, chicken or turkey breast (freeze in individual portions and put in frozen if the weather is warm), cherry tomatoes, baby food Vienna sausages, pitta sandwich w little lamb meatballs, and lots of veggies and tazikki. Hummas and veggies, salad with beans instead of meat and cheese, seven layer dip (leave off meat and cheese, or use turkey instead of beef) and tortilla chips, lean steak slices with low cal toasts a laughing cow wedge and mustard, plain popcorn, guacamole and veggies, tabouli and green leaf lettuce, or topping a salad. Try buckwheat for cold salads. I was shocked that my boyfriend likes it. It’s lower calorie than rice and gluten free.
  • chasetwins
    chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
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    Sunnybrooke...you are amazing thank you!!! You gave me a bunch of new ideas ;)
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    Saving 1100 calories for dinner and an evening snack might be a little extreme if he has trouble staying full during the day. Why not allocate 100-200 of those evening calories to the day time? This might really just be a case that a 400 calorie lunch simply isn't enough to satiate him, no matter what it's made of.

    A 500-600 calorie sandwich is pretty large and should easily get him through the afternoon (with the addition of a small snack a couple of hours before dinner). It would open up a ton of options for him given his need to eat something cold and on the go.
  • chasetwins
    chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
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    DX2Jx2 - he is a grazer :(
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    chasetwins wrote: »
    DX2Jx2 - he is a grazer :(

    But then you really might want to reconsider that 1100 calories for dinner and a snack. Almost by definition, grazers get by by spreading their calories more or less equally across 5 or 6 meals per day. You have the right number of meals working for him, but the calorie allocations are a little thin during the day.

    Also, the fact that he doesn't stay full on a 400 calorie lunch implies that he might not be a grazer. He might do better with 2 decently large meals a day (lunch and dinner), and smaller 100 calorie snacks throughout the day.

    That said, you obviously know how he works better than me and I give you all the respect in the world for taking care of him so well. We should all be so lucky.
  • chasetwins
    chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
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    LOL Thank you DX2JX2 :smile: I try! He grazes when he is bored ( in the truck all day, relaxing at night etc.) He has gotten better over time but not nearly as active as I would like him to be. I would give him a healthy snack...10 minutes after he was done he would be in the cabinet for something. In the truck all day if I do not spread out the cals - he will stop at the gas station or dunks. So I spread out the cals a bit more for him than I. I work from home and only eat lunch and one snack during the day. Dinner we all eat the same thing ( two kids included) and then he likes a decent snack at night. Plus we both have a horrible love of iced coffee which I do not feel we need to give up and should not have to. ( I count it in and make it myself ) so that is where his night time cals come from.

    I think I will give your idea a try though - and see where it goes. Maybe if he is completely full from one meal...he will not feel the need to graze. I am also trying to get him to drink more water to fill him up a bit.

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