I should clarify, the issue isn’t necessarily the one meal… it is the lack of regular meals (every 2 or 3 hours) on my construction days I will likely get one break to eat… so my question was how will that effect or hurt my cycle… can protein bars be a good substitute or as others have suggested trying to prep smaller meals and trying to sneak a meal in…
Shakes are good. Protein bars are good. Also, not eating every 2-3 hours works pretty well. Like eating only 3 meals a day, or maybe even 2 if that’s all you can do. Just increase the cals at the meals. “But I need 5000 calories”. Great. milk, yogurt, protein powder, peanut butter blended up in a 8 oz shake and then eat a normal meal with it will get you a solid amount of calories. Pop tarts, pb and j, shots of olive oil, anything that’s calorie dense if you’re struggling to get in calories can be eaten at any time (early morning or late at night).
I wouldn’t stress out over not being able to eat every couple hours. And if you are, just eat literally anything that is easily portable and you like.
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Great! Thank you for that. I can make that work.
Bet you can’t guess which industry I’m in 
What I meant by that is that a Firefighters life can be quite dangerous, but most of the time it isn’t. Glad to hear you guys put a good numbers of hours per day training. Do you work shift work?
You need a big lunch box.
Mixing shakes heavy is Ok too. I like those 1l. or 750 ml. gatorade or powerade bottles with the wide mouth. Then I take a standard 500ml. water bottle and cut the head off of it 2 inches below the neck. This becomes a funnel for the powder, which fits nicely into the wide mouthed bottle. Then 2 scoops of protein into the big bottle mixed with milk. Typically that will give you about 450 cals./bottle.
Then sugary fruits like peaches, bananas, strawberries, pineapple to give you a nice kick to keep you running and contain some fiber.
1 or 2 frozen 1l. bottle keeps them cold and gives you a nice icy cold bottle of water to sip down.
Even the most anal retentive supervisor isn’t going to look twice if you knock down a shake and a piece of fruit every couple of hours. Especially if you’re properly fueled up and kicking some ass.
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That’s a good idea! I just want this first cycle to go off without a hitch. Still waiting on gear, got pins today and PCT will be ordered this weekend.
Yes, we work 24 on 48 off. Of course I work all my off days though since we make peanuts… it’s not great financially but the job in itself is very rewarding
Want a quick 200 calories that’s easy to eat?
A handful of walnuts or 2 tbsp. of peanut butter. Also has the good fats.
Take a tablespoon of olive oil.
Put chia seeds in your protein shake(blended)
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As a chef, I ate 2 meals a day for years before and after my shift. Granted, about 3500 calories each, then repeat 10 hours later. I got used to it.
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