After viewing several health sites and talking with some work friends about the conundrums of eating healthy, exercising and sticking to the goal...I have realised that it may be difficult, if I let it be. The "goal" calculator above was put together by a well known vlogger Scooby1961 who can be found on YouTube. I won't provide a link to his websites since it may come across as bad publicity to him...I'm sure you'll be able to find him. This post, I hope to outline some problems with having a busy work-life and trying to put on muscles, which requires an intake of plenty of healthy foods and protein.
So what seems to be one of the difficulties with maintaining a healthy diet to assist a complete body workout and to gain muscle, is sticking to the plan. What I believe needs to be taken into account when making a health plan is your situation. Firstly, the hours of work you do and the time that you are there can be critical: day-shit, afternoon-shift, graveyard-shift. The type of work, doesn't really matter I guess. If you are a student, then the schedule for the semester should be known. Work and Uni are similar in that they both follow a schedule and workout sessions must be planned around these two.
Next, is the workouts. As mentioned above, these need to be planned around all the stuff that keeps you busy. I've heard from many people that a workout in the morning is the best but some of us, including me, it cannot be achieved. Therefore, an afternoon workout is the only other option. What ever the case, workouts should be done in between meals. If you are using certain powders to assist muscle gain, i.e. creatine, then workout session need to be at least 1hr after taking a dose, and/or finish 30mins before taking a dose. It ain't rocket science, but it's no fun working out on an empty stomach, and the same for when you are full up from a meal, it just sloshes around and makes you sick.
Finally, hobbies and interests or study. Personally, I'm starting to read more, news sites like the Guardian or the Courier Mail make keeping up-to-date easy. Australasian Science is a good Australian monthly with articles that range from Astrology to Geological finds in Australia and these often tie in with my studies so it isn't a complete waste of time. Playing guitar is good also for me and very relaxing. It doesn't matter what you do to kill time, but you must always know what part of the day you are at and what is next on the health-agenda. What I mean, is always know what is next, protein shake, travel to work, morning tea, toilet time etc - and drink lots of water. So even though you may be just watching TV or checking flight prices for your winter holiday, in the back of your mind you should know what part of you day is next, food, water or workout. If you just focus too hard on the goal and the diet, you may find that even just thinking about it will become a drag and you will lose interest. Have a break. Think of something else. The only part when you should be thinking about your muscles is when you are at the gym concentrating of your form and your breathing. As soon as you leave, your body does the rest.
Now, add all that together and we have three activities that must be considered when planning a diet: Work/Uni, the Workouts, the Free-Time/Study. If you can draw up all the time slots for these activities, then you will be able to see the time in the week that is free. As a general rule, I keep the weekend free, gives me something to look forward to that I haven't planned. With this free time during the week, you need to be clever, because chances are you will not have much time to prepare food. A big time saver for me is, from Sunday - Thursday, cook a nice dinner and cook extra, enough for lunch tomorrow. That way, all you have to do is pack it in a lunch box, and you have a big lunch for tomorrow. Examples could be, Ginger and Lime Fried Chicken with steamed veges and rice, Thin sliced rump in a garlic soy sauce with rice or spaghetti bolognese (I love pasta).
The night time is the only time of the day when I can use a stove top so I utilize this time and make something nice, something hot. I actually enjoy cooking (wouldn't mind if someone else did the cooking) and eating and if all the fun and enjoyment is taken away because of a diet, then it might be a little bit harder to reach your goal.
Another problem may be if you like junk food, and I know that there are those people out there. All I can suggest here is to avoid junk-food outlets. Yes they are an easy option. Yes they appear cheap. Yes they can be convenient. But you can avoid this if you just do some clever planning. Find the times of the day that you have free, and prepare something that will be quick and filling. If you are wanting to gain muscle, you will know that you will need to eat 6 protein packed meals over the whole day. But no one ever said how long you need to eat for. Eating 23g of protein in 2 minutes is probably going to have the same affect as eating 23g of protein in 15minutes. Although you might get sick if you eat too quick...
If your timetable doesn't coincide with lunch at 12PM, then unfortunately you will have to swap it in for one of the quick meals, i.e. protein shake, and have the bigger lunch a bit later on when you have more time. Once you have mastered your eating times, you will no longer even need to think about it, and you can do more of what you want, finish that novel, finish that assignment!
Dieting is hard. I know. I'm an amateur. What I'm finding is that it is getting easier. I'm learning more about the food that I eat, and I'm picking up tips on foods I don't eat that are a quick and healthy option, Walnuts for instance. I've only been watching what I eat for the last three months and I hope that I can continue this for longer. My goal is simple, put on muscle. Therefore, keep it simple and enjoy it as much I can.
