Help me set a diet

[moklepaul]

Hey everyone :)

I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to set a diet regimen for myself.

The problem is that my work ours are erratic at best. My schedule is 15 days on, 6 days off. During those 15 days, I have no set work times, but it's not uncommon for me to work from 6am to 10pm.

I work in the oil patch, so I don't have time to eat at certain intervals. I'm lucky to stuff down a sandwich every hour or so.

The work is very physical, so I get a good workout that way, but my diet is plain horrible.

On the typical day, I wake up at 5am, have a shower, take my multivitamin, and head to work. On my way to work, I stop at the convenience store and buy a couple sandwiches, a gallon of water, and then snacks: candy bars, beef jerky, chips (anything that I can eat fast, in under 1 minute).
Then I'll head to McDonalds (unfortunately:() and get a breakfast burrito combo, regular size, with coffee, double double.

Work for 3 hours, eat a sandwich and candy bar, work another hour or two, have another sandwich and snack, then finish work and eat the remainder of my food I had. Then I go back to the shop and we have to continue working there, servicing our equipment and vehicles. This usually takes a few hours.

Then I get home, late at night, and if I even have enough energy to eat, it will be something like delivery pizza.

All I drink is water, usually 1 or 2 gallons a day.

And my 6 days off, I try to get things back to normal, but I usually need so much recovery that I sleep till noon, then eat cold cereal, do some side work (programming), eat kraft dinner, ect...

A blind man could see that my diet is just awful. I'm slightly over weight, and I'd LOVE to cut down 6% body fat by the end of summer, if that's possible. I know I'll have to do some sort of cardio/workout routine during my 6 days of most likely.

Right now I'm 5'11", 230 Lbs, and 20% BF.

Could you possibly think of anything to help me? Specifically with my working days...

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

:newbie:

[Joe Black]

Hi Moklepaul,

Well at least you know it’s awful :)

I can see how you are finding it difficult to stick to a diet, your working patterns are going to make that hard, however it IS possible.

When you get home make your food in the evening so the next day so you do not have to worry about making one thing the next day. It’ll just be there to eat.

Make sure you get up earlier enough to have a large and healthy breakfast. It takes 15 minutes to make a big bowl of porridge, and hard boil some eggs, or make an ommellete. Or…. Scramble some eggs and have them on some toast. Anything rather than eat fast food on the way to work! Have a protein shake in the morning also.

You are one of those that would really benefit from supplements. Throw away the candy bars, eat protein bars, have a protein shake or a meal replacement shake. You could try Nitrean and Opticen which you’ll find at www.atlargenutrition.com Protein shakes and meal replacement shakes will mean you can get a meal in minutes and they are relatively cheap compared to buying from a fast food outlet.

Make things that are quick to eat in the day. Tuna, chicken, steak sandwiches, hard boiled eggs etc etc.

Its possible to eat well and do your job, its just harder for you than most people. The key is planning. Plan your diet so everything is easy and quick to eat and make it the night before.

Hope that helps.