Work Meal Advice

[q011519]

Lately I have been trying to get my eating habits in order and my work meals seem to be the easiest for me to regulate. Ever sense I started working out my appetite has skyrocketed and its a pain to try and keep my hunger urges in check. It also doesn't help that I work in an office in downtown Houston surrounded by evil temptation devils that always have damn good fatty foods all around me. (Damn you old ladies and your cookies!!!!) My will power has gotten stronger and I have been able to resist. I just want to have a meal plan set up so I am not hungry through-out my work day so I don't cave in around these people. Tell me what yall think.


All my meals are accompanied with water. I have a gallon of water at my desk that I try and drink through-out the day. I also have access to convenient stores like CVS/ small mom/pops shops.




Breakfast: (I take a Multi-Vita after eating)
Bowl of Raisin Bran (Regular or Crunch) with Fat Free Skim Milk
Or
Syntha-6 Protein shake (2 scoops with 200ml of Fat free skim milk)
Or
PB sandwich on wheat with FFSMilk



Between Breakfast/Lunch snack:
20oz can of Mixed fruits (lately it has only been cans of pineapple)
or
1 stick of Beef Steak




Lunch: (I take another Multi-Vita after eating)
Foot long chicken teriyaki with swiss,lettuce, tomatoes and mustard on wheat (Subway)
or
A Bowl of Chicken and Rice from Chicken Kitchen




Between Lunch/Dinner Snack:
Grey area here, it's very random what I eat. Sometimes it's leftovers from lunch. Any ideas would help.

 

[Riverhound777]

Well personally I tend to just snack more when I get those urges. I don't think snacking on healthy food is all that bad. I tend to have some wheat thins + cheese, banana, apple, orange, protein bar, ect. I eat breakfast at 5am so I have another snack around 7am and another around 10am, then lunch at noon. I'll have a protein shake around 3pm and then dinner at 6pm. After dinner I might have another snack before bed.

As for meal ideas, try making a meal for dinner and then leftovers for lunch the next day, rather than what your doing now. I have been eating Chicken and rice + veggies lately. You can mix this up a lot depending on how you prepare it and with the rice it will fill you up. Sometimes I chop the chicken up into cubes and cook it in a skillet with some BBQ sauce and hot sauce, then put it over rice and veggie(corn or peas). Other times I marinade the chicken and BBQ it. I usually use 1/2 cup rice with a can of veggies and two chicken breasts, this makes enough for dinner and lunch the next day, or lunch plus dinner that night.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Instead of having inbetween meal "snacks", make those meals. As in you'll eat 5-6 meals a day, not just little snacks. Sure, you might get weird looks when you eat your lunch at 10:30-11, or again at 3PM, but it solves having to bring a "snack".

I've done the smaller but more frequent meals for about 4 years now...I'll make myself huge portion of lunch, and eat half at 10:30-11, and the other half at 3.

If you must snack instead, go stock up on granola bars (Nature Valley make good ones) and assorted nuts, or possibly bring a protein shake with you as well.

 

[nervegrind3r]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Instead of having inbetween meal "snacks", make those meals. As in you'll eat 5-6 meals a day, not just little snacks. Sure, you might get weird looks when you eat your lunch at 10:30-11, or again at 3PM, but it solves having to bring a "snack".

this is the best thing to do, drop snacks, eat meals. I NEED to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours or else my stomach starts seriously growling. I usually eat my meals like at the following times: 8:30, then 11:30, then 2:30, 5:30, 8:30. Yes, people in the office look at me weird when they seem me eating 3 times in a day at the office, but who cares. I look at them weird when they eat a 3000 calorie lunch

A good quick office meal is some oatmeal, with cinnamon and splenda/stevia, scoop of protein power, and some berries on top (black, blue, or strawberries), or banana, or nuts. Oatmeal cooks in two minutes in the microwave, so its perfect for the office.

Seriously though, cook at home and bring stuff to work, and avoid going out to eat. I hit subway up maybe once a week/two weeks for lunch and get a turkey hero on whole wheat if I really dont have time that day. Or, I may hit up wendys and get a plain baked potato, small chili, and side salad (no dressing, sourcream, crackers or other garbage though). For the most part though, I am making my own meals and bringing them to work eat day.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: nervegrind3r

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Instead of having inbetween meal "snacks", make those meals. As in you'll eat 5-6 meals a day, not just little snacks. Sure, you might get weird looks when you eat your lunch at 10:30-11, or again at 3PM, but it solves having to bring a "snack".

this is the best thing to do, drop snacks, eat meals. I NEED to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours or else my stomach starts seriously growling. I usually eat my meals like at the following times: 8:30, then 11:30, then 2:30, 5:30, 8:30. Yes, people in the office look at me weird when they seem me eating 3 times in a day at the office, but who cares. I look at them weird when they eat a 3000 calorie lunch

A good quick office meal is some oatmeal, with cinnamon and splenda/stevia, scoop of protein power, and some berries on top (black, blue, or strawberries), or banana, or nuts. Oatmeal cooks in two minutes in the microwave, so its perfect for the office.

Seriously though, cook at home and bring stuff to work, and avoid going out to eat. I hit subway up maybe once a week/two weeks for lunch and get a turkey hero on whole wheat if I really dont have time that day. Or, I may hit up wendys and get a plain baked potato, small chili, and side salad (no dressing, sourcream, crackers or other garbage though). For the most part though, I am making my own meals and bringing them to work eat day.

Ditto! I hate people's excuses of never having time to cook. I work 50+ hours a week, go to grad school full time, (4 classes) workout 6 days a week, have a 19 month old daughter, have the chores that come along with having bought a house, training for a marathon, girlfriend, friends. They don't want to cook because they just don't really care about getting in shape/eating right. I hate listening to excuses.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: nervegrind3r

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Instead of having inbetween meal "snacks", make those meals. As in you'll eat 5-6 meals a day, not just little snacks. Sure, you might get weird looks when you eat your lunch at 10:30-11, or again at 3PM, but it solves having to bring a "snack".

this is the best thing to do, drop snacks, eat meals. I NEED to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours or else my stomach starts seriously growling. I usually eat my meals like at the following times: 8:30, then 11:30, then 2:30, 5:30, 8:30. Yes, people in the office look at me weird when they seem me eating 3 times in a day at the office, but who cares. I look at them weird when they eat a 3000 calorie lunch

A good quick office meal is some oatmeal, with cinnamon and splenda/stevia, scoop of protein power, and some berries on top (black, blue, or strawberries), or banana, or nuts. Oatmeal cooks in two minutes in the microwave, so its perfect for the office.

Seriously though, cook at home and bring stuff to work, and avoid going out to eat. I hit subway up maybe once a week/two weeks for lunch and get a turkey hero on whole wheat if I really dont have time that day. Or, I may hit up wendys and get a plain baked potato, small chili, and side salad (no dressing, sourcream, crackers or other garbage though). For the most part though, I am making my own meals and bringing them to work eat day.

Ditto! I hate people's excuses of never having time to cook. I work 50+ hours a week, go to grad school full time, (4 classes) workout 6 days a week, have a 19 month old daughter, have the chores that come along with having bought a house, training for a marathon, girlfriend, friends. They don't want to cook because they just don't really care about getting in shape/eating right. I hate listening to excuses.

Not having time to do something really boils down to not being committed to the goal. If you really, really, really want to do something, you'll find time to do it. Many of my computer buddies at school find time to play WoW 6 hours a day, until 2:00am in the morning, and still pass their classes and show up for work, so it's all about being really focused on what you want

I'm in the same boat - full-time college student, part-time worker, wife, big side projects, etc. etc. etc., so I do all of my cooking in the morning. I spend an hour cooking, exercising, and taking a shower and getting dressed. The first 20 minutes is setting things up (rice cooker, steamer, etc.), doing the small stuff (wraps, sandwiches, etc.), and tending the George Foreman grill, then I hit the exercise bike and take a shower while the rice and stuff is cooking. When it's all done I throw everything in Tupperware meal containers and put those in plastic bags to take with me.

The basic formula that has worked well for me is 6 meals a day - 3 larger ones, 3 smaller ones. The first meal is fiber (oatmeal, raisen bran, whatever) and the rest is protein and veggies with a little fruit. Eat no more than 3 hours apart and stop eating at least 3 hours before bed. Always carry a water bottle with you and stop drinking 1 hour before bed. Aside from keeping a meal schedule, the key is rotating the food. If you eat the same food every day you'll get so sick of it you never want to touch it again. So get yourself a good meal plan (see my thread for a recommendation) and stick with it. Because of my diet plan, I've enjoyed the following changes:

1. HUGE drop in monthly food bill (no eating out, no junk food)
2. No more arguing about what's for dinner or who's making it
3. 30 minutes of cooking time (1 hour of prep time total) in the morning, eat throughout the day, put the Tupperware in the dishwasher at night, repeat
4. Regular, solid bowel movements
5. Reduced waist size (along with 10 minutes on the exercise bike 5 days a week, I've lost 15 pounds in 1 month)
6. No cooking during the day - I'm free to do other things

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Kaido
4. Regular, solid bowel movements

I think we could have done without the mental image. Thanks for ruining my 3PM meal!