any nutrition experts?

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 13:51

Is there a dedicated nutrition thread anywhere ? (couldn't find one)

anyway, i would like some advice from the fitness experts

even thought i do some fitness, i'll add that bit at the end of this post as i want to get the "base" done first so to speak

anyway, i now strongly believe I don't eat enough calories / best food for my daily work and im looking for some advice and what i can possibly change/add to my daily food intake

Currently I work in a labor intensive environment in warehouse doing lots of manual work in a 7.5 hour day (9 hours total at work) (i feel like im a builder!)

so a work day looks like this :

5am - Eat a Large bowl of Alpen NAS Muesli with probably about 1/2 pint of semi skimmed milk and a cup of Tea (white, 2 sugars please)

6am - start work

8:30am - 9am - Large bowl of Kellogs Fruit N Fibre with a 1/2 pint of Semi Skimmed milk and a cup of Tea (white, 2 sugars please) and a banana

13:00 - Cooked meal (home made from the staff canteen) and a cup of Tea (white, 2 sugars please)

5pm - 4 slices of white bread toasted with Red Leicester cheese and a Cup of Tea (white, 2 sugars please)

Evening - Banana (sometimes with snacks if im hungry)

Days off I swap Muesli for Porridge and add a banana and i dont eat another bowl of cereal

Not to mention i go swimming every Tuesday evening and try and do running 2-3 times a week !

I was thinking of swapping out the Kellogg's cereal for something else

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 13:58

thanks Tom

I do feel like rubbish hence why i posted

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 14:01

oh and i should add, high metabolism, i cant gain or loose weight !

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 14:08

even when i was growing up, used to it burgers chips and pizza a heck of a lot , and i never gained weight lol

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 15:17

Haze said:
I can eat like a horse and gain no weight, always been like that, people kept telling me as I get older it would change, 37 now and still the weight as when I was 17

same but im 41

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 20:26

When i was googling for advice/ideas, i came across an article about the Pyramid way
anybody heard of this ?

I think it good because, in the morning you want to fuel for the day, and the last thing at night, you want to be eating "less"

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 22:10

tom_e said:
It's based on the wrong thinking that you need less food at night because you're burning less. Your body doesn't care when it gets the fuel it'll use it. It won't just magically send it all to your fat stores because you eat a big meal and then go to bed.

ok thanks Tom
so basically ignore it completely then?

ShiWarrior · 27 Mar 2019 at 22:12

neoboy said:
Pyramid thing basically just looks like, "eat more fruit and veg" with low calories system?

Let's start with the basics, what are your goals, lose/gain weight or just want to maintain it but eat "better"? There's plenty of calorie calculators online so you can work out your maintenance/loss/gain calories and go building a plan from there.

Also I've noticed everything is vegetarian apart from the cooked meal which could be anything? Once I'm done with the gym tonight, I'll throw a few recipes out of my book to replace some of your meals so you can see if you like them.

thanks mate, appreciate that

i can't cook, but at 5am i have to "be quite" so I don't use the microwave (otherwise id have my porridge instead)

ShiWarrior · 28 Mar 2019 at 09:18

Thanks guys, good information there

Just started using my fitness Pal app.
3000 calorie target
1800 to go and it's 9am

ShiWarrior · 3 Apr 2019 at 19:38

thanks for all the comments everyone, really appreciate it

Quick update, using myfitness pal to eat at least 3000 calories a day now
im doing rough measurements

work can be difficult as they are not always there (or just 1 person that can only cook basic things like Fish and chips)

but, ive now added on the odd occasion the following :

Chicken
Salad
Chicken pie with Broccoli and carrots (had this tonight)
Greek Style yogurt with bananas
switched white bread to Wholemeal (but i might switch back to white, not liking the taste tbh)

myfitness pal was telling me i was getting no Vitamin A or C and practically zero protein before i added the above

ShiWarrior · 4 Apr 2019 at 08:37

tom_nieto said:
How much water are you drinking a day?

Not enough

Work days, 1 pint in the evening, very rarely drink water between breaks

Days off , generally around 2 pints

ShiWarrior · 4 Apr 2019 at 09:12

The ones in the little sachets ? I heard they were bad for you, I buy the big packet of Quaker oats.

Tbh I think a sachet won't be enough for me I'd have 2 of them

ShiWarrior · 4 Apr 2019 at 09:14

No staff in canteen today, they are going anyway. Looks like I'll be buying chicken sandwich for lunch and egg and something for snack

ShiWarrior · 4 Apr 2019 at 12:45

#Chri5# said:
No, overnight oats. You soak the oats overnight in your choice of liquid (milk / yoghurt etc), and add fruit / seeds / nuts / etc. Means no cooking in the morning.

Google will turn up loads of recipes if you need a starting point.

Ah thanks for that

IveI got salmon and cucumber sandwich in brown bread , followed by scotch egg

ShiWarrior · 20 Apr 2019 at 08:59

Well I'm getting enough protein, been hitting over 100 grams a day (too much) so I'm eating normally now, hitting about right each day

At the moment, large bowl of porridge with 1 banana and milk, snack time I buy a sandwich which I varey each day, normally fish or chicken, sometimes a banana too or an almond croissant or 2
Lunch is either cooked meal at work if they are in (until 29 April) otherwise sandwich again.
Evening usually toast with cheese, but looks like illI be doing vegetables with chicken or fish soon

ShiWarrior · 20 Apr 2019 at 20:21

Thabks

Been usung my fitness Pal

It says I needed 3000 calories a day, with around 130grams of protein

ShiWarrior · 20 Apr 2019 at 20:24

If I put it on active and maintain weight, 135 grams of protein and 333 grams of carbs a day.
2600 calories a day

ShiWarrior · 12 Jun 2019 at 20:30

Want to bring this back up and ask about counting calories..

my Step Dad has a fitbit, and tells me hes using up around 3500 calories a day
I wear a Garmin Vivoactive 3 and my Garmin is saying a lot less, but i am MORE active and he tells me i should be consuming around 4000 calories

although he goes to the Gym every day for 45 mins to an hour, his work involves a lot of traveling (driving) and tries to hit 10K steps a day
My job is very active ( i feel like a builder) and im doing heavy work a lot of the time, always on my feet, doing like 12K steps a day, also doing swimming AND running, hitting 22K steps in a day is possible/

I do not know if hes right (although hes a sports coach and RAF trained, he knows his stuff !!)
i just think is his fitbit inaccurate ? or do i really need to aim for 4000 calories ?

i do feel pretty tired every day

ShiWarrior · 14 Jun 2019 at 08:58

Somnambulist said:
Activity trackers are useful for seeing how consistent you're being, but not very accurate for gauging energy expenditure (they have been studied and there's lots of articles about said studies showing how off they can be). If you track your weight and it's currently stable, then your caloric intake is sufficient and eating more is just going to lead to weight gain, although maintenance calories exist within and range and it can be useful to see what the upper end of this range is. 4000 calories is way higher than most people would need to weight-stable; just off the top of my head, you'd have to be an extremely active 100kg male to warrant that level of intake.

If you're tired all the time, my first port of call would be to look at if you're meeting your caloric needs but food choices overall could be more healthful nutritionally in terms of macro and micro nutrition and if you're getting enough sleep. Doing heavy work all the time without giving your body much time to recover is inevitability going to lead to some form of fatigue as well - more food can't make up for a lack of rest.

Thanks, read your post last night and had a good look at myself. I'm now quite certain it's lack of sleep

I changed departments 3 years ago and it's been happening since then. I now get up just before 5am for work, so I'm only getting around 6 hours sleep sometimes less.
I eat quite healthy so I don't feel that is the problem.

Time to start going to bed earlier

ShiWarrior · 18 Jun 2019 at 18:13

well, protein is best consumed soon after exercise as possible, because that's when you start to "recover" so having protein aids recovery, especially if it was a hard session
i dont always myself though