Any chefs out there?

[Kateniss]

Hello.  I'm not new to nerd fitness, but I definitely did not stick to it the first go around.  So I'm here, respawning, and trying out the forums for the first time in hopes of some advice and support.  My biggest challenges would be 1) sticking to a program and 2) my job.  I'm a chef for a high end catering company and my job is very demanding.  My schedule is all over the place which makes it hard to stick to a routine.  There are days that I'm working anywhere between 10-16 hours a day during busy season, which is about 8 months out of the year.  Aside from that, I rarely have time to take a lunch break so I either wind up not eating for way too many hours or I snack on whatever I can get my hands on because I'm so starved.  And there are not too many healthy options readily available in fine dining.  It's all about the fats.  I don't have time or energy to make my own lunch at home to bring with me, and I rarely have time to make a healthy lunch at work, even though I would be able to throw something together if there was time.  And then if I do manage to have a decent lunch at work, by the time I get home, after a 12 hour shift of being on my feet all day, plus an hour commute each way, I'm too physically and mentally tired to make even more food for myself and so I wind up getting delivery or fast food a lot and then crashing for what little sleep I can get.  And forget about trying to get a work out in.  I guess I just wanted to know if there are any other chefs on this forum that could relate to this and might have any advice on how to get on the right track and stay there.

[bker1370]

I'm not a chef, but I do work as restaurant cook (for the last 20+ years) so I can definitely relate.  How can I help?

[Kateniss]

I'm just looking for advice on how to maintain any kind of goals that I set for myself when most of the time I'm too exhausted. For instance, my week starts today, and I will be working at least 9 days straight, a minimum of 8 hours each day, but at least half of those days will be 12 hour days or more. And then I'll get one day off, and be back at it for at least 3 or 4 more days. And this will more or less be my schedule until around January or February. The days and hours will vary some as I work when we have events. And I know myself, when that one day off rolls around, I'm not going to want to do anything but just try to relax. Also, how do I keep myself from snacking on chicken strips or sweets when I haven't eaten in 10 hours and they're sitting right in front of me?

[PandaPaw]

Dude, you gotta do some batch freezer cooking. Take one day and make a mountain of paleo curry, meatballs, a crockpot of pulled pork, etc., then divide it up into individual servings in plastic bags, and freeze them. That way when you get home you can pull out one meal, take it out of plastic, put it in a bowl and microwave it!

 

https://onceamonthmeals.com/blog/recipe-roundups/50-freezable-whole30-recipes/

 

And also check out NomNom Paleo because honestly that woman makes the best stuff.

 

You can do this! try for one healthy meal a day first, and then see what happens. 

[bker1370]

The batch cooking is a good idea as it does help with the get home and too tired to do anything part, although I totally understand cooking all week and not wanting to do it on your one day off LOL.  I would recommend starting with something easy like throwing something you like into a slow cooker (maybe when you first get up that day off) then it can cook all day while you are relaxing and by the end of the day you have a meal + meals to be frozen/refrigerated for later in the week when you do not have the time or energy.

 

My schedule is a little more stable but still runs 9-12 hours 6 days a week (at least I always have the same day off LOL).

 

 As for the goals, start with something (or a few somethings) that are very small.  For example, if you are wanting to add exercise to your life don't start out planning some big workout routine.  Instead, set a goal to take a walk (maybe 5 minutes or even less if necessary) say 3 days per week.

 

The snacking is going to be the toughest one.  Long shifts around food without a chance to eat yourself WILL lead to some snacking.  The best you can do there is to try to minimize how much is happening and to make the best choices you can.  Another option is to find something healthy you can either make or buy that is portable that you can take with you. Some ideas would be things like a trail mix of nuts and dried fruits, various protein/meal replacement bars, etc.   Something that would survive whatever travel and storage is necessary but would be quick to grab and snack on when you get the chance.  A little bit of something healthy even every 4 hours or so would help curb the desire to grab whatever is in front of you (and probably less healthy).  Also, on a more scientific front about it, protein fills you up quickly and fat take longest to digest so something like nuts that have lots of protein and fat would keep you less hungry for longer than something sweet (carbs digest the fastest so quick in but also quick out and hungry again).

[Kateniss]

Batch cooking is a good idea, except for it means even more cooking on my time off.  For now, my goals are to get up early enough to make a healthy breakfast before I go to work, so that even if I don't eat for a while, at least I have something good in my system, to go for a walk every day, to do a mild workout when I can even if that just means 10 squats on my day off before I settle into nothingness, cut out fried foods and sweets, and to limit my bread intake to one meal a day. It can be a meal of my choosing, but if I have a bagel with breakfast, then I don't have a sandwich for dinner. My eventual goal is to cut out bread all together but it will be torture if I try to do that all at once. I like your snack ideas, the only problem is that I get burned out on granola bars/snack bars super fast. The nuts is a good idea though. There are always several types of nuts available at work.