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Hey all, I need some advice and ideas. I work 60+ hours a week, basically from 7:30a to 9:30p with very little time to eat during the day. I do get breaks but not really enough for anything complicated. I have all day Sunday available to cook and do my house-hold chores. That being said, I eat out a lot. Which is bad. I need to start eating better but I keep coming up with the excuse that "I don't have time". Basically, I wake up, get ready for work, eat out, come home, brush teeth and straight to bed. One of my jobs is at a health food store which is great because at least my options can be on the slightly-healthier side, but during the main part of the day I teach and it is hard to get away for more than enough time to say run to Burger King or Taco Bell (both across the street from the school) and head back. So, basically, I would love ideas for meals that I can bring with me for lunch and dinner and maybe some snacks that I can eat as a teacher and a cashier. I bought some protein powder and I might start doing shakes for breakfast since I can just drink that in the mornings on my way in and while I start my lessons. Is that a good idea?? I've never done shakes before but I am getting to the point where I am so lost and desperate that I will try just about anything. I NEED to start eating better. I feel like crap all the time and since I have anxiety and depression, my poor eating habits only make them harder to handle.

As someone who has lost 30+ pounds on two separate occasions on the knowledge of "Eating many meals a day will keep your metabolism fired up" and have never heard of intermittent fasting until a few days ago, I'm kind of skeptical about it. So my question is for the people who have successfully lost weight in the past based on eating many meals a day: Have you noticed any difference between the two methods? Does one work better than the other? Do you also only eat between the hours of 12PM and 8PM and skip breakfast? Isn't it difficult to workout on an empty stomach? Thanks for any and all info

Started the week off with a personal best. 3.58 miles pace 14:59 total time 53:37 That is just shy of 5 minutes faster than I have ever run before. ... Flies like the wind.... or more honestly a light breeze.. but for me it was FAST.

Happy New Year everyone! I'm back again to give it another shot. The last challenge I kinda broke even, this time I want to get straight A's! I am revisiting some of my failed tasks and adding others. My primary goal last year was to lose weight. This year I still want to lose weight but am also recording body fat % and aiming at a loss of 5%. I have no idea how realistic that is but do feel like I have at least 10 kg more weight to lose which is now more than 10%of my total weight so if I can do that then I can lose the fat. I realise it won't happen over the next 6 weeks but my tasks will help me achieve my goal eventually. 1. Ride 300km Previously I have aimed to do a 50 km ride in a challenge but I haven't achieved that and now realise that I am better off aiming to ride more often and more consistently in order to make a bigger difference. 2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day 5 days a week. 10 minutes was far too ambitious last time for someone not used to the process at all. I now know what to expect and feel confident of success in this task. 3. Strength training twice a week. I suck at this task. I have this weekend to come up with the program I will do and schedule it. No more excuses. 4. Lights out by 11pm 5 nights a week. I set this as a task on the Lift app last year and achieved it 44 times. That's woeful!!! I need 7 hours sleep a night in order to improve my chances of success with my other tasks so this is crucial. I will edit this with scoring and points during the day when I am on my computer.

Hi all, I did a search and couldn't find anything relating to the 5:2 fast method and was wondering if anyone here was adhering to it? I started a few weeks ago and am finding it relatively comfortable even though the idea of it caused me concern prior to actually doing it. So I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with it, be they good or bad that they would like to share. Thanks, Matt

Im not trying to lose weight, or bodybuild. I just want to look good, while feeling good. And im doing the looking good part, but i eat terrible, so i was thinking about paleo or intermittent fasting. whats you guys opinion?

I can't stand the taste of water. What's something fast, easy, healthy, and doesn't mold easily? I try to keep herbal tea going, but it's a PITA to keep up with and I get sick of it. Powdered drink mix is either heavy on sugar or it has a disgusting fake sugar in it.

I'm not much chop on coming up with snazzy thread titles or terribly imaginative thematics for my challenges. I'm just glad to be turning up for every challenge and increasing my participation level each time. I am here to lose weight. I am losing weight while participating in the challenges as well as making changes to my daily life over and above the tenets of what I am laying out here. Well at least I did on the previous challenge so now I get to incorporate some of those changes into this challenge. Faster During the course of the previous challenge I began the 5:2 diet which is a type of intermittent fasting revolving around 5 "normal" days eating and 2 days of fasting (600 calories). I want to continue this and will rate myself thusly; 12/12 Fasts over the 6 week challenge = A 10/12 Fasts over the 6 week challenge = B <10/12 Fasts over the 6 week challenge = Fail Available Points Con 2 Wis 2 Longer I am a scout because I enjoy riding my bike for exercise and i enjoy riding it long distances. In the last challenge one goal that I had was to do a 50km ride within the 6 weeks. I didn't achieve that so I am back again. 3 X 50km rides = A 2 X 50km rides = B 1 X 50km rides = C 0 X 50km rides = Fail Available Points Str 1 Dex 1 Sta 2 Stronger In the previous challenge I set myself the goal of doing 1 bodyweight workout over the period of the challenge and while I achieved that goal it's probably fair to say that the bar was set pretty low. If I want to make real changes to the way I look, feel, move and think then I need to ask more of myself. 12 X BWW = A 9 X BWW = B 6 X BWW = C <6 X BWW = Fail Available Points Str 2 Meditaterer I want to do something in terms of resting, quieting, helping my mind so this is what I am going to try. I have downloaded a couple of apps that people have big upped elsewhere on here recently and will attempt to do 10 minutes meditating 5 times a week. I have done it previously in very short bursts so if I am able to do 30 sessions over the course of the challenge that would be awesome. 30 X 10 minute sessions = A 20-29 X 10 minute sessions = B 10-19 X 10 minute sessions = C <10 X 10 minute sessions = Fail Available points Wis 2 Life Quest Connect/Reconnect I am a terribly antisocial person, well antisocial these days means something a little different so let's say that I am a terribly non-social person. Much like my current girth this wasn't always the case. I had a large circle of friends through school and for a few years after school I maintained most of those friendships. Then I kind of stopped being open to new friendships and got very lazy in keeping in touch with existing friends. I haven't really garnered any new friends over the past 20 or so years. I do have people who I count as friends but they have come through my wife's associations rather than mine and nobody that I would call up and say lets go grab a beer type of thing. That all sounds a little tragic when you write it all down but it's not as grim as it looks or maybe it is but I am just used to it. Soooooooooooo anywayssssssss this is by far the hardest task I have set for myself in this or any of my other challenges. Make contact with a riding group and go for at least 1 group ride and or call up an old friend = A Cha 2 The last bit seems like a bit of an overshare but i am happy with the rest of it. Edited to add Bonus Points Read a book I'm halfway through the 5:2 book and would like to read a "fun" book once I am done with it. I haven't read a book all year and last year my reading was focused mainly on baby, daddy stuff so I hereby declare 1 Bonus Point available if I can get more than 50% of the way through a book during the next 6 weeks.

So, easing into the paleo diet, and I would like some advice on breakfast. Seeing as cereal, toast and bagels are out of the question I was wondering if anyone knows of any good paleo breakfasts that are cheap (on a student loan budget) and fast, as I don't wake up with much time to spare before I have to leave. Which is why I like the ease of cereal! Any ideas would be much appreciated

What you need for one burger: two large mushroom cups 1 tomato 1/4 avocado 1 egg coconut oil salt, pepper and dill Instructions: 1. cut out mushroom stems and dice them up 2. slice tomato thinly, I used 3 slices for my burger 3. heat coconut oil in pan, fry mushroom cups on medium heat for about 2 min on each side, you want them cooked and soft but not to flobby as they will be your burger buns 4. as soon as you flip the cups on the other side, start frying the diced stems (I did it all in the same pan) and the sliced tomato 5. season everything with salt and pepper 6. crack your egg on top of the mushroom stems and scramble. cook as much as you desire. sprinkle with dill (I used dried dill) 7. place one mushroom cup on a plate, layer with a slice of tomato, some egg, another slice, rest of egg, another slice and on top some avocado. 8. eat and enjoy )

So I have this friend that has been working out and trying to get fit and I think I've almost convinced her to eat Paleo, or at least stick her toe in the water! She wants some easy yummy paleo recipes she can whip up for dinner because who wants to spend all night cooking dinner? I dunno about you guys but I'm hungry when I get home from work and I wanna eat! So I'm hoping you paleo's can give us some recipes that are tried tested and true to be both delicious and efficient (fast). I'm thinking the key to success might be cooking in advance and then it either being something that can be eaten cold or is a quick reheat, but don't limit the recipes to that! Thanks!!!

Score for me! TWO DINNERS IN A ROW WITH NO LEFTOVERS. When the husband and BOTH kids eat what I've cooked, it's a winner, and I'll post it. 'Tis a rare occasion since cooking clean dinners for myself (they eat what I eat, but I do add a grain for them. Freaking ectomorphs, all of them. Their eyelashes burn calories. Since they are also walking with me at night, I let them have grains. I'm nice that way.) 4 servings for normal people. Maybe 6 if this was a real cookbook Ingredients: 1 TBS of coconut oil 2 lbs Top Round (London Broil works) sliced thinly Two Broccoli Crowns (about 4 cups) Oh, and if you like water chestnuts, buy the kind with stalks. Peel and slice the stalks. Instant fake water chestnuts! 1 cup of baby carrots (because the younger spawn doesn't touch broccoli - throw whatever the heck you like in there veggie wise) 1 small yellow onion 4 cloves of garlic (Yes, we really like garlic in this house. No vampires here). 1 inch piece of ginger 1/4 cup of Tamari or Coconut aminos 3/4 cup of low sodium broth (whatever flavor you have is fine) 2 T fish sauce 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder 2 tsp Arrowroot powder Now for the preparation: Fair warning with my recipes - they are generally going to NOT include grass fed stuff, or organic fruits and veggies (unless I shop at Trader Joe's that week, where there's not a huge price difference). I use a LOT of stuff that comes in bags already shredded or chopped. I'm having fun learning to cook clean this summer after far too many years of heating crap in the microwave for the kids and hubby and eating a bowl of cereal for myself. But I work full time 10 months out of the year. Ain't nobody got time for chopping all that stuff up...wait, I was writing a recipe. So, You can spend some time lovingly mincing the garlic, onion and ginger, or you can do what I do, and put them in a Nutribullet and puree them. Heat the oil in a LARGE pan or wok on medium high. Add the minced/pureed/however you've made them into very tiny pieces of ginger and garlic and onion to the pan. Stir around until fragrant and slightly transluscent Add the sliced beef and stir till browned (five minutes or so) Add the Broccoli and the carrots and stir some more to mix all that pureed stuff in well. See how nicely the Tamari and broth and fish sauce all fits in your one cup measuring cup together, and you can put it all in there at once? BECAUSE I'M A NERD! Pour it into the pan. Add the five spice powder (this isn't really necessary, but it is the MAGIC) Cover the pan, and lower the heat and let it all simmer until the broccoli is bright green and as tender as you like it. Stir the arrowroot into a little water in that same measuring cup and pour in. Raise heat just a little and let the sauce boil until it thickens. Calories: 425 Carbs: 15g Fat 15g Protein 58g Sodium 1771g (use low sodium Tamari if this is an issue) Sugar 5 g I'm going to be the Rachel Ray of Paleo. 30 Minutes or Less, I tell you. One pan or pot if possible, because ain't nobody got time for a huge sink full of clean up either. Because I WILL cook healthy meals for my family. No more stopping at McDonalds because it's been a long day.