Advice for weight loss when you drive for a living

[MissusL]

I'm just after some Mumsnet wisdom for my husband. He needs to lose 5 stone, but has anyone any suggestions as to how he can plan his eating? He drives a delivery van for a living, and starts work at 2 in the morning, finishing late morning.

How can he plan his meals?

At the moment he is eating his main meal when he gets up at 12am, then he has said he'll eat sandwiches of some description when out on the road, then cereals before he goes to sleep in the afternoon.

I've suggested he eats a breakfast when he gets up at 12am. I've bought soup for him to have in a thermos flask for "lunch" and some bread thins, also thought he could take fruit as well, to eat when actually on the road.

Then when he comes home late morning/lunchtime he has his main meal then, as I think that's his evening, then he goes to sleep around 4pm.

Which suggestion is better and makes more sense?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

High protein, low carb, meals rather than grazing.
The main thing is that he needs to get out of the habit of eating at the wheel.
If he stops and eats while standing next to the vehicle and then does not eat again for several hours, his stomach will shrink
and with it the rest of his body.

I recommend the Myfitnesspal app if you have a smartphone or the website. It has worked for my husband (driving instructor). You set a calorie amount, then log everything you eat.
It gives you a real education in how many caloriew your favorite foods contain. My husband has lost 2 stone so far.

Thank you very much for the tips, I'll pass them on to him!

Hi there, I'm a personal trainer and nutritional advisor. I'm also a dad of 2 boys who has experienced unsocial working hours in the past. You are right to try and put a "normal" meal pattern around him, especially if that pattern is constant. It is difficult to advise on detail without knowing what works etc for him. The fruit snacks are great - bananas are my go to for everyone I work with. An amount of the weight gain could be down to sandwiches bought on the go - heavily processed food with sauces and condiments have high call and low nutritional content.

One major consideration is looking at the amount of sugar in the diet - this is not just added sugar - cereals for instance can be very very high in sugar. Wholemeal toast or an non clustered granola and natural yoghurt.

One main recommendation I have is though, he may not be active enough in the right way - as a delivery driver he is active, but it is sporadic. Enough (and it doesn't have to be too much) of the right exercise will help the nutrition plan to do it's job. Just 30-40 mins a day will have the body torching bad stuff -especially if the fuel is timed right and is the right stuff.

A food diary of everything eaten and when may help. If I can, please let me know.

Kris

Hi Kris

Many thanks for your comments, I've printed them off to pass on to him!

Agree with LifeforceHF, and would add that a 1km round the block run, taking 10 mins or so, after coffee but before breakfast, would help to get things going a bit, mind you check with a doctor perhaps as five stone overweight is quite a lot. My point is that just something to get the metabolism going is ok, it doesn't have to be a gym workout.

Sandwiches are indeed rubbish usually, and if he has coeliac's then even more so.

Green tea may be a good habit to get into, rather than repeated coffee breaks, and a large bottle of water to work thru helps also - though this is hard when he is driving, cos you need pitstops.

Vits supplements help too, to bolster things a bit: Magnesium to ward off chocolate addiction, CoQ10 also, Vit D3 for winter blues, chromium picilionate to ward off cravings. Not cheap admittedly, but then neither is sugar addiction.

)))))snacks(((((
)))))supplements(((((

Simple meals with gaps in between.

90% of weight loss is eating less, 10% is exercise