I’m really curious how you all get in enough calories in. Here is my questions:
How much calories do you have to get in (if you dont want to say then at least answer this question) and how do you pull it off? Like, how many times do you eat a day, and what has high calories to get them in. I’m in high school for 2 more months (thank God), and try to eat right and get a lot of calories in for me. I also cant afford supplements (I do make my own shakes though), so besides shakes, what are some good, high calorie, and easy to eat food?
Those items are VERY cheap (esp. the peanut butter). What is difficult about eating your food? If you’re not allowed to eat inbetween classes, that’s fine. Make protein pancakes and just carry them around. Cheap to make, taste good (depending on your taste, but definitely not BAD), and quick enough to eat inbetween classes or eat without the teacher noticing.
To make:
Take the pancake mix, water, and a 2-3 scoops of your protein (depends on how big your scoops are and how many pancakes you’re making, but go by feel) and make your mixture. It will be a very thick texture. After this, use a griddle and cook. Simple as that. There are some other protein pancake recipes, but this is the easiest and quickest.
On the flip side, how hard is it to eat a sandwich inbetween classes? Turkey is a bit expensive, but ham isn’t that bad price and taste wise and you can eat at least half a sandwich inbetween classes, if not in class (explain to your teachers what’s up and eat–I’ve had only 1 teacher ever have a problem with it and she didn’t let anybody even drink water–go figure).
As far as protein goes, where do you get yours at. I make shakes, but stopped buying any supplements a while ago, except for multivitamin. So, would wal-mart have a good brand that is cheap? If not, where and what brand should I get?
Its not difficult to eat my food. But speaking of that, I do get in a nice amount of food, but I have to spread it out. I think my stomach must be smaller than others or something. What would cause something like that?
As far as classes go, I dont cause problems for my teachers, so they let me slide on things. I have only 3 classes, 2 an hour and 30 minutes long, and a double block class. Last period is an auto-tech class, but really is a free period to do whatever you want. So I can eat in the first and third, and can get water in my second.
I have a eggo and a sausage for breakfast, but am trying make it two eggos, and I drink a glass of milk and orange juice. I dont always have an appitite in the morning, but the rest of day is pretty good for food, so no real worries after that. So, maybe I could add something to the eggos or something. Your idea for making pancakes sounds cool and may try it.
But, another question, what do you do for lunch? My school lunch sucks, I cant even eat it. I either get a chicken sandwich from a side stand, and eat some stuff I bring around, or cook some frozen food in the microwave there. I want to try an bring my own food (not frozen), but I’m lucky if I dont have to cook my own dinner because it either not cooked, or not what I need. So, what do you do for lunch?
20oz (5 servings) of cottage cheese (low fat or no fat)
1 cup of probiotic, natural yogurt
Fresh cut pineapple (4-6oz)
Snack 1:
Turkey or Ham Sandwich (6 slices MINIMUM, I have had them be over 10 slices before) on whole wheat bread.
Occasionally more fruit
Lunch:
Chicken salad (10oz chicken, spinach, lettuce, carrots, and occasionally fruit on top). This is probably the lightest meal of the entire day, even snack wise, but then again, everything is so spread out it doesn’t really matter.
Snack 2:
This is often mixed in with my sandwich (maybe half and half), but I’ll have a lot of different stuff here. Sometimes beef jerkey, sometimes fresh granola/mixed fruit/nuts, sometimes more fresh fruit, etc. Lots of variety here, but nothing too bad (worst thing I will have is a granola bar and occasionally cupcakes or cookies that the girls bring to school).
Pre-workout:
Protein Shake
Granola bar or fruit or something else w/ carbs (on high intensity days).
I eat everything very slowly, so this is perfect. I take at least a period to eat each meal/snack (people on this board can attest to my slow eating). I don’t really have the problem of having a small stomach, but if I don’t watch it I gourge my food and eat it way too fast and way too much (I’ve eaten a double box of cheez-its in one day without realizing it until it was gone).
All of the food here can easily be prepared in ~1 hour on a Sunday for the entire week. If you look in my fridge, I have many containers sitting there with the food (cottage cheese/salads/fruit/etc.) for the week, but it’s very organized and easy. A mother helping is nice, but not necessary (doesn’t take that much skill to cook chicken and cut pineapple).
Vitamin World is cheap and I go for volume as long as the protein is decent (look at the ingredients). I can get Vitamin World brand or another cheap brand 20lbs for under $50 on certain days, so there’s no point in passing it up for a $35 of 5lbs for something with a slightly better taste. Others will disagree, but that’s my philosophy on it.
That is a helpful post. I have a few questions though.
I believe this is the big tub of it. So you eat the whole tub? What is the taste of it, seems like a lot of cottage cheese to eat. Yes, it is in high calories though.
Also, does snack one and two carry over to each other (the sandwich). I hear you talk about a sandwich in snake two, is this the same sandwich, or a second sandwich?
I will probably get protein powder later, but my question about this is, how many servings does yours last you (for about 50 bucks)?
I currently just buy the Boost protein shakes, and they aren’t two bad and last me about a week. But they have about 240 calories in them.
And how do you keep your salad and such with you and transport it in school. Just by an iced lunchbox? I do that with my frozen food, although its not perfect, it keeps it cold enough.
The kind of tubs I buy are 24oz, so yes, almost the entire thing (5 of 6 servings).
Also, does snack one and two carry over to each other (the sandwich). I hear you talk about a sandwich in snake two, is this the same sandwich, or a second sandwich?
It’s the same sandwich. I’m just trying to illustrate that not everything is set in stone. Sometimes I’m really hungry in the morning and I’ll eat both before lunch and other times it will be the opposite and more often just spread out. The more important part is the food being eaten (lean meat, whole grain bread, fruits, granola, etc).
I will probably get protein powder later, but my question about this is, how many servings does yours last you (for about 50 bucks)?
Because I was able to get it so cheap, I am not conservative in any way with my shakes and err to the side of more as opposed to less simply because I can afford it. 1 serving has 21g of protein and there are 72 servings per container (4 containers = 20lbs). I would say this will last me 6 months, possibly longer if I do not have as many shakes (all of my shakes are at least 1.5 servings, often 2+).
And how do you keep your salad and such with you and transport it in school. Just by an iced lunchbox? I do that with my frozen food, although its not perfect, it keeps it cold enough.
I have a lunch box and 1 coolie/freezer pack/whatever you call it. The cottage cheese is eaten for breakfast, so not much reason to keep it cool if you eat all of it (it will have been out of the refridgerator a max of 90minutes), so that isn’t necessary to keep cool. The same goes for the yogurt. The only other thing that needs to be kept cool really is the salad and maybe the sandwich to an extent, but both are easily kept as a good temp from a coolie.
Ok, your help was very helpful. I may have questions later, but I think you covered most of it.
I recently did an overview of my calorie intake, and think I solved where I’m lacking, which is breakfast. The rest is good.
I will try the cottage cheese, although probably not a whole huge tube. Never really have eaten it, and dont know if I could stomach that (not knowing what it tastes like). But I will add that and some yoguart in, and see if that will help.
I have just recently noticed I think I need more food, because I have missed a few sessions because I was so tired. It annoys me, but its happens once in a while. So, hopefully, eating a bigger breakfast will give me some more energy for the day.
A lot of people don’t mind cottage cheese (esp. if they mix in fruit and/or yogurt with it). I personally hate it, but what I do is chase every bite w/ water. I take big bites, so it doesn’t take long and isn’t difficult. Chasing it also helps I get enough water in early in the morning.
I will probably just eat 2 eggos in place of it. Anyways, I’m not even going to try to eat even a cup of that stuff.
Maybe another time though.
But I am going to add yogurt into the mix. I added up the calories with this new plan, and it looks good. I think that was the issue with me, that I wasn’t getting enough breakfast in.
There are alternative to get a good protein source from… Cottage cheese is great, but what about egg whites? 2 eggos is not gonna cut it, especially if you are looking to boost your calories… Whole eggs are great if you are looking for calories if you don’t mind the fat that comes along with them (very minimal)… I feel the fat in the yolk are not as bad as people think… When I make scrambled eggs, I usually use around 3-4 whole eggs, along with another 3-4 egg whites…
Cottage cheese is not great at first, I used to hate it! There are ways to make it good trust me… Cinnamon, coconut oil/milk, yogurt, fruit… Key is you should mix it in to help with taste! And yes, breakfast is key…
A good way to add extra calories to your diet is to eat more fat! Not crappy saturated fats but good fats such as:
Extra virgin olive oil
Peanut butter (the natural kind that you have to stir in the oil before you use it)
Almond butter
Flax oil
Oil blends (don’t want to mention brands but there are many good blends in the fridges of health food stores)
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Nuts (without salt!)
People shy away from fats but a low fat diet will give you low testosterone levels. So, increase intake (sensibly!).
Alright, I ate a bigger breakfast today, and felt good for training.
I would like to add eggs though to my diet. Is there a way to cook those things in the microwave? Like how and a good time to cook it at. I don’t care about eating the whole egg, so eating two eggs would be good to do.
Just crack two eggs into a bowl, add a teaspoons or two to the bowl, add 1 teaspoon of butter and scrammble. Add some cheese and stick in microwave for 1 minute to 1 minute and 30. Stir halfway through.
Psh in a microwave? It takes less than 5 minutes to cook them on the stove top. Just turn it up to a mild temp, spray with olive oil, and pour when it gets hot. Use a spatula and slowly move it around a bit. Takes no work.
Or it takes 30seconds to crack them open and pour them in your mouth. That’s what I do. And no, I don’t get salmonella. Just make sure the eggs are fresh and not cracked or damaged to start with.
This works too lol. I did have one friend get salmonella, but he’s been doing it for years and it only happened once–still a bit risky.
If you want taste (not cottage cheese), you don’t get quick prep time. Doesn’t take 3 minutes to clean-up either. Maybe 30 seconds, if that. If you really want to get down time wise in the morning, shave and brush your teeth in the shower; put out your clothes the night before; put your training gear packed in your bag the night before, etc.
