Diet advice for a Working Life

jackk1992

Hey! It may be just me but all the advice I find for loosing weight cycling and also maintaining a good diet for cycling, is all aimed at people who have plenty of time during the day to make these elaborate meals for example: Eggs, spinach, tomatoes and rye toast. Not only do I lack the time but I lack the budget to afford these meals. Unhealthy food is just too quick and cheap to buy and eat, it just seems unfair haha. I struggle enough for time in the morning to get on my bike for a quick spin let alone then get home and make anything special for breakfast before a 9 hours day in work.

I was just wondering if any of you guys or nutritional geniuses out there had any tips for loosing weight but still providing me with enough energy to get through a working day. I've always been a firm believer that if you want to loose weight "Move more, Eat less" but I'm starting to think that might be an old school way of thinking and that there is better advice out there nowadays.

If someone had a meal plan that they stuck (or sticks too) that works well, and shared it here, that would be awesome

Cheers for listening to my mini rant!

Nairnster

I lost weight pretty quickly eating a diet like this a couple of years ago

Breakfast: Porridge made with semi skimmed milk, glass of orange juice.
Mid morning: cereal bar, or homemade flapjack
Lunch: Salad, with either chorizo, tuna, chicken, with some low fat salad cream, salad topping , cheese etc
mid afternoon: normally after my bike ride, wholegrain toast with scrambled egg and tomato, or peanut butter, or banana
tea: grilled chicken breast (these were frozen from supermarket) with brown rice (often cooked with some chopped onion and chicken stock for flavour) and broccoli, or green beans (again the frozen kind)
Supper : low fat natural greek yoghurt, kiwi fruit/raspberries/strawberries etc, a crumbled meringue, and a teaspoon of golden syrup.

One day a week i would eat what i wanted, within reason.

This workef for me, and riding 5 days a week (15 to 20 mile rides) the weightcame off well (around 3 to 4 lbs a week at the start).

mobilekat

Low fat/ as close to fat free works well, was losing 1-2 Kg a week like that last year.(without exercising-as was ill with gall stones!)
Also little changes- drink tea/ coffee black etc does make a surprising difference

So breakfast- cereal with fat free yoghurt, or toast with jam, but no butter
Lunch- home made sarnie- ham or similar, with some salad
Dinner- lean meat, rice or spuds, with heaps of veg

Just avoid the naughty stuff, and the booze,

jackk1992

Thats awesome! Exactly what I was after!

Cheers!

bigmitch41

Get on Myfitnesspal.com its a free app that really works as a tool to help loose the weight.

JaseHawk

myfitnesspal is a great start. It might surprise you just how many calories are in food items you may consider healthy.

Think about what you're eating, I think dividing it into three areas is a good, simple way to start;

Meat, eggs, fish are all good sources of protein which will help repair muscles.
Rice, potato, chips(!), bread(!) are forms of carbohydrate, which will give you slow release energy.
Fruit/Veg - vatimins and all that is good for you, although avoid too many fruits as they contain a lot of (natural) sugar.

I would avoid eating carbohydrate in your evening meal - the energy is not used while you sleep and turns into stored energy (fats). Personally, I won't eat carbs after 2pm and when I do have carbohydrate (at any point), I wouldn't have more than 50 grams per portion. There are exceptions to this of course - for example racing XC the next day, people would "carb-load" in the evening.

There's a good analogy for losing weight - eat like a king for breakfast, a queen for dinner and a porper in the evening.

Whatever you eat. your body will either turn into energy if you are active during the period afterwards or stored energy (fats) if you're not active - sitting down/sleeping.

I would typically have:

Porridge for breakfast;

Meat/fish/egg, brown rice, veg for dinner;

Meat/fish and veg in the evening (small portion).

oh, and avoid alcohol - beer and wine have a lot of useless calories.

Hope this helps, I know it's a very simplified explanation but it's a start. Feel free to ask questions.

jackk1992

This is all great advice thanks! I've been looking all over the place for tips so as of next week I'm starting the "Health Kick". Below is the little meal plan I'm going to try stick too. Please pick holes in it if you think anything is "wrong" or could be done better

6:30 - 10mile or so Road Ride 3/5 mornings . This ride will be getting longer as the sunrise gets earlier.
8:15 - Bowl of Porridge with a bit of fruit (or other suggestions of toppings)
10:00 - Muller Light Yoghurt
12:00 - Chicken/Tuna/Bacon Salad
15:30 - Small piece of Homemade Fruit Cake (its my treat of the day and can't imagine life without it)
16:30 - Exercise of some sort (Running, Mountain Biking, Home work out)
19:00 - Chicken/Fish and Veg

The main meal of the day for me is Lunch. I work next to a supermarket and always find myself going and getting random "crap" for lunch and that's my downfall. Plus if i don't go, someone else goes and gets lovely stuff to eat and it kills me watching them. So if I have a fun, tasty and exciting lunch that's also healthy im more likely to stick to my plan

Any help is appreciated! Cheers

JaseHawk

Looks good, but don't eat too much that late on.

If you're hungry, it's always a good idea to drink some water - your body will often confuse thirst and hunger.

Also - drink before you eat your meal (this might have been posted before - sorry).

A meal plan is good, but also make sure you vary it - just incase you're missing out on something.

Remember - everything can be good for you, in moderation.

Goodluck!

cycleclinic

High fibre low fat and refined sugar diet. eat pasta rice and oats in any qunatity you like. These swell and fill you up. Limit your intake of bread and if you do eat bread make wholemeal. The problem with bread is is made with refined flour which the body turns into masses of sugar very easily. Meats should be lean So lots of fish, eggs, lean bacon, chicken e.t.c. and cut out the cakes biscuits and choclate. The recipie is simple and pasta meals are pretty quick and tasty.

diy

Eat whatever you like 5 days a week. pick 2 days and eat 1 meal a day of 500 calories as late in the day as you can allowing 100 extra for a bit of milk in your tea or coffee. drink more on these days.

You'll take about 3,000 calories a week out of your diet and drop a 1lb a week.

A good diet is one that you do forever.

If you have to train on fasting days then 3 desert spoons of porridge mixed with water before training will give you about 120 cals and get you through up to about 2 hours of training.

I've been on the above for 3 years, my Vo2Max increased as a result and obviously my w/kg went up too. All my personal bests have been on fasting days.

jamin100

diy wrote:

Eat whatever you like 5 days a week. pick 2 days and eat 1 meal a day of 500 calories as late in the day as you can allowing 100 extra for a bit of milk in your tea or coffee. drink more on these days.

You'll take about 3,000 calories a week out of your diet and drop a 1lb a week.

A good diet is one that you do forever.

If you have to train on fasting days then 3 desert spoons of porridge mixed with water before training will give you about 120 cals and get you through up to about 2 hours of training.

I've been on the above for 3 years, my Vo2Max increased as a result and obviously my w/kg went up too. All my personal bests have been on fasting days.

This ^^

Ive been doing this since January and have lost around 16lbs. At first i found it quite hard as i was ready to kill someone the first 2 or 3 fasting days. Now its really easy and i actually have to remind myself to eat on normal days...

This isn't a diet for me now, it will be a way of life. I have noticed that I'm faster on the bike too. only downside is that my clothes are nearly all too big now so money that was saved for new wheels will need to be spent on new clothes!

jackk1992

I dont like the idea of fasting to be honest. Just can't see it being good for the body. Thanks though.

Been having the chicken and veg for teas all week, but do you guys have any ideas of how to cook the veg differently to mix things up?

neilus

Something ive been doing which works well is when i have time boil up a load of veg. Give it a good seasoning with herbs and black pepper. I then keep it in the fridge and do it in the oven in bit of olive oil while my chicken or steak is being done. Its an easy and quick way to have some really tasty roast veggies...