99% of the time however, these problems are simply a matter of mindset, which is great because mindset is in your control while outer circumstances are not! I took an opportunity last weekend to walk my talk and to demonstrate, that even when traveling, being busy etc. you can still get your workouts done and stick to your diet as well.
Preparation is the key!
I knew that at 9:00 a.m. I was supposed to be at an event where I was presenting my job and consulting with people about how to improve their nutrition and implement it into their life. Knowing that I might not have an access to food (or the food I would enjoy and that supports my goals) I simply planned my meals and activities.
Although Intermittent fasting is the kind of eating schedule that many busy people adapt because they don’t want to think about the food, planning your meal is not a bad alternative either once you get a hang of it.
The evening before I cooked and prepared my lunch to take with me. On Sunday, I got up at 6:30 a.m. prepared my breakfast and I went for a run. When I came back, I already had a breakfast waiting for me.
Exercise during the day
After arriving to the event place and a short preparation, there was some time I could use to move. And every time I had an opportunity, I would move. It means, standing, walking, lunges, push-ups, tucked L-sits on a bench. I could even lift water bottles if I wanted to 🙂 During the day, from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. I completed:
- 85 pushups,
- 3 minutes of tucked L-sit,
- 100 deep step-ups,
- and a few pull ups when I got back home.
I also got my 10 000 steps during the day excluding the morning run. And this is more than I would do during a workout! I felt sore the next day! For comparison, during a typical workout, I do 3-5 sets of each exercise. Most sets are below 10 repetition. Put together, it means:
- 30-50 pull ups,
- 45-60 push ups,
- 45-60 leg raises.
So my typical workout is about half the volume of what I did during the busy day!
Eating
As I mentioned above, here is what I ate.
Breakfast
I prepared my breakfast first thing in the morning before the run. It was a typical oatmeal with fruits, seeds and nuts and veggies. The thing I considered was to increase the volume slightly so I would not get hungry and prevent making bad decisions later in the day.
Lunch
Beans, salad, buckwheat. My holy trinity.
On top of what to eat I had to also consider that I would have no access to a fridge, which you typically have at work. That meant I could not have foods that would spoil during the 30 degree Celsius weather.
Safe bet for these hot summer days is to dehydrate the food. You don’t need to use dehydrator but you don’t want to have them moist either.
I also packed it in a glass tupperwear, which held it cold for longer.
Dinner
Dinner is often the breaking point for many people when they don’t plant.
When you have no time to eat during the day, you will survive somehow, especially while your mind is occupied. We were not designed to die when we don’t eat for an hour or even a day.
But if you currently cannot manage your food cravings and binge eat in the evening, it is because of poor eating habits throughout the day. Your blood sugar is probably all over the place and your metabolism is not used to the lack of food.
Simply said, you set yourself up for failure.
What I had for dinner was exactly the same thing I had for lunch. Can it be any more simple? No.
Some people would argue that it is boring, in which case I recommend bulk-prepare more foods that you rotate. But for people like me, the lack of variety is actually a good thing.
Conclusion
You might have more or less time to work with. Nobody denies that you have four hungry kids at home and that it is harder for you to plan a perfect day.
But at the same time, it is not impossible and the most common and biggest mistake people do is that they strive for perfection. In terms of exercise it means that if they cannot fit a full 40-minutes workout into their schedule, they do ZERO.
What you can do instead is to split that workout throughout the day into smaller chunks. If you do 10 pushups several times a day. If you do 10 pushups in the morning right after waking up, 10 before lunch, and 10 before going to bed, you would accumulate 30 that day. And 30 is more than zero.
You might be interested in: Your complete guide to exercising
How to train smart even if you have little time.