What do you eat? (and when? and how?)

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[lbb]

Here's a mundane question: if you're going from work directly to the dojo, how do you manage dinner? Assuming that you don't have anyone else to cook for you OR anyone else that you have to cook for, what's the drill? Do you eat a late lunch and just have a light snack in the evening, or eat dinner late, or do something completely different, or what? And do you have any clever labor-saving tricks for doing this?

[Victoria Pitt]

Here's a mundane question: if you're going from work directly to the dojo, how do you manage dinner? Assuming that you don't have anyone else to cook for you OR anyone else that you have to cook for, what's the drill? Do you eat a late lunch and just have a light snack in the evening, or eat dinner late, or do something completely different, or what? And do you have any clever labor-saving tricks for doing this?

Crock Pot (slow cooker)
Fruit in my dojo bag to hold me over and water.

[Kevin Leavitt]

Clif bar and coconut water about 1 hour prior to class. Then late dinner (light) after practice. Usually left overs! Sometimes a protein shake I make in my Vita-mix instead of dinner.

[David Maidment]

I'm constantly attending training sessions without having eaten. It's quite stupid, really.

Lately I've taken to picking up a Snickers bar from a shop I pass on the way to the dojo. It gives me enough energy and keeps me satisfactorily full until I get home.

[ChrisHein]

I prepare everything I am going to cook before class, that way after it's done, I just have to do the actual cooking. I end up eating a lot later then I would like most nights, but I've found sticking to fat and protein (avoiding late night carbs) isn't too hard on my body.

Before class I eat as normal.

[Pauliina Lievonen]

I always cook for two days anyway, so when I know I'm going to be in a hurry a particular day, I cook the day before. Then just heat up a portion the next day, before class or after depending on how the time works out. Wouldn't work if you train every day though. :)

kvaak
Pauliina

[Shadowfax]

High protein snack and sport drink before class and a light dinner after.

I may do the sport drink in between classes ( I do two classes each day 3 days a week) now though. I find I'm loosing energy before the second hour is quite done.

I prefer to have my heavier meals at lunch time anyway. Don't like anything heavy on my stomach within 2 hours or so of a class.

[ninjaqutie]

I eat a small snack before class (wheat toast with peanutbutter, yogurt, etc) and then eat dinner after class. I train 2 to 3 hours a day 4 days a week. Seems to work for me.

[Chantal]

Snickers... keeps me satisfactorily full ...

Hmmm ... their slogan really sticks in our heads ... "Snickers, keeps me satisfied!" .... man, i should have been in advertising ;)

[Linda Eskin]

A handful of nuts or a Trio Bar (mostly nuts), and often a banana, just before leaving work for the dojo (about an hour before class). Light dinner (whatever I can scrounge up) about 10 p.m., after feeding the critters.

I've been trying to eat conservatively, because I've been trying to lose weight, but I'm finding that's not really enough to keep me going through two classes.

What I typically do before day-long equestrian events is to have a great big breakfast burrito (eggs, beans, and cheese) from the local Mexican drive-through (not Taco Bell) on my way there, and take a light sack lunch. I do really well for hours on that kind of fuel. Sadly, it contributed to the 30-some-odd pounds I just spent 6 months losing.

I guess I need to find a happy medium between those two approaches.