Scheduling

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Hi everyone, my main problem, is my lifestyle. I am a pretty active person and have certain responsibilities that take me away from home. Sometimes I have no idea what to have quickly, so I can get it in, at a reasonable time. The other thing is that I'm not really hungry. I am eating out of necessity. Do I miss meals if I'm not hungry or past the timeframe I should be eating??

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  • LisaMoxon155
    LisaMoxon155 Posts: 256 Member
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    You need to be eating something to fuel your body. You say "your not really hungry", which to me indicates u are a bit hungry so should eat.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,958 Member
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    You can eat one meal a day if that's all you have time to eat. Lots of people eat once or twice a day.

    Just make sure to get in all your protein and fats and your calories in that one meal.

    For weight management it's about calories. Find your calorie level and eat on any time schedule that works for you.

  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 878 Member
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    Forget about time when it comes to you eating. You do not need to eat at any set time. Eat when you have the time.

    But I'm a bit confused about what you mean....if you are traveling for work...are you able to get prepared food from a restaurant or convenience store or grab some prepared food from a super market? Something that you don't have to cook....that you just open and eat or throw in a microwave and eat?

    You might need to try to pre-plan or prep some meals on the weekend when you have time so you can have food during the week.

    Example: when I know that I do not have time to eat but I need to...I will have on hand par-cooked rice (I like the Veetee brand). It's two 'servings' per package but I often will eat the entire package. You just heat it in the microwave for like 1.5-2min. I will then get a pre-packaged/cooked protein (I like smoked salmon, or rotisserie chicken).....add some sort of seasoning or sauce and you have a quite large meal that takes ~5min to dump on a plate.

    I also keep shelf stable foods in my office/car (bc I drive between schools in a district for work) like jerkey/sausages, nuts, protein bars/Lara bars (or similar thing).

    Regardless of your perceived 'hunger' feeling...you need to be sure you are eating a sufficient amount of calories somehow.

    If you are really really struggling to get calories in from actual food...you could get something like BSN True Mass...which has protein, carbs, and fat (there is a version that is 3 scoops = 700 calories and one where a serving is 1200 calories)....it is intended for people trying to gain muscle weight lifting...but I've used it in a pinch when I knew I needed more cals when my running burns a lot and I know I won't have the stomach to each those calories. It tastes good....but do NOT rely on that as a meal replacement.

    Or you could look into soylent or something like that....but I don't think that'd be really enjoyable. But I really enjoy food.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,473 Member
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    I'm a police officer on patrol, working > 12 hour rotating shifts. By policy, we are given a lunch break, but people don't stop wrecking their cars or beating their spouses or shoplifting from Walmart or being Karens about the neighborhood kids playing basketball outside or or or or....I can't remember the last time I actually took a meal break. I have a small cooler, with one of those blocks of "blue ice," that rides shotgun in my patrol truck. Once/week, I prep meals for every workday, so before I leave the house, I grab one of those along with a couple of snacks (usually a protein bar & fruit. But given that Easter was yesterday, do I have candy in the car right now? Yes, yes I do!). I can eat the snacky stuff while driving, and I can eat my meal anywhere/anytime I can pull over into a (hopefully shady) parking lot for a few minutes (sometimes it'll take multiple attempts for me to get the whole meal down, like slam a few forkfuls and then off I go to the next call), or I've literally sat and eaten while waiting for a tow truck after a crash or while waiting on body removal at the scene of an unattended death. I just roll with it, because really, what's my other option?

    Not really sure what you mean about a particular "timeframe I should be eating." You don't need to eat at any specific time(s), nor is eating at any time or another bad (a lot of people believe that you're not supposed to eat after a particular hour, usually they say like 6pm or 8pm or something, but it does not make one bit of difference to your body). If you want to just eat 1 or 2 meals/day, and you feel positive you can get all your nutrition in that way, go for it.
  • Doug_T
    Doug_T Posts: 148 Member
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    Meal prep and take that lunchbox with you. If you find yourself eating out a lot, find some places with reasonable food choices. I did a project where I had to be all over town about 90 hours a week. I found local Bravo supermarkets and ate chicken leg quarters with rice for many of my lunches. Chick fil a grilled nuggets are also a great protein snack/meal.
    Secondly just eat the food. Admittedly it's not always enjoyable, even feels like a chore sometimes. But bodies are made in the kitchen more so than the gym so just eat it.