Help! how should I approach this schedule

[Fitwolf]

I work as a wildland firefighter and I find food REALLY difficult during fire season! I generally gain weight (fat) and want to avoid that this summer... can you guys suggest calorie ranges or approaches I could take to knowing how much to eat? Here are some of the things I run into:

1. My energy output varies drastically from day to day. One day I will work out for 1 hour and then spend the rest of the day in my office (easy day). The next day I will run a chainsaw for 6 hours, then get a fire (which can involve lots of hiking, digging, and late hours)(hard day). The following day I wil go back to that fire, have to hike some but not tons (moderate day). Unfortunately I can't predict what a day will be... or how many easy days in a row there will be (or conversely, how many hard days in a row).

2. It's really hard to eat every 2-3 hours... sometimes when we're really working hard I don't eat for 8 hours. I can offset this some by having bars in my pockets, but I have to eat really fast and can't eat much.

3. Maybe this is dumb, but I feel like psychologically food has more of a grasp on me during fire season... when I'm tired or worn down I always feel that I'm not eating enough. But since I gain weight that's obviously not true.

I'm considering coming up with a very easy meal plan that I eat basically everyday. Is it bad to eat the same foods (for all except one meal) for most of the summer? I was also thinking about alloting all my food into 200 calorie amounts so that I could keep at least rough track...

Should I try to alter my cals per day based on guessing about how much I work? Or should I just eat a steady amount and know that some days it isn't enough and some days it's too much. And how would I figure out calorie amounts?

My goal for the summer is to maintain, maybe put on a little muscle if it happens, but basically not gain fat.

I'm 5'6", currently 150lbs.

thanks in advance for any advice... I know this is a rambly post.

[Espi]

The trouble here is that you're creating a hyooge deficit on your hard days and not even all that much on the easy days? Did you know stress can lower metabolism? Trying to get in enough food even when you're fighting fires seems a good idea. If you can't do that during the fire, do it right before (can be uncomfortable) or right after. Whatever you do, don't wait too long even if you're not hungry.
This doesn't really need to be 200kcal meals. Proper timing is more important. Viz. get in the food ASAP after you're done by carrying food that's non-perishable and has enough protein and fats.


Beef jerkey is a good staple food as well as nuts and dried cranberries plus protein bars. Have protein powder in your office too.

[Fitwolf]

I guess I didn't phrase my question very clearly...

How would you suggest I approach 4-5 months of unpredictable and highly varying calorie needs?

[Bunny]

Your busy days - what's the biggest set-back to eating? portability? Time? I assume you carry some kind of pack with you? Can you keep it stocked with some bars, nuts, water & PP? I am guessing you'd be better off being able to have *something* in you throughout the day and less likely to overdo it at the end of a hard day.

I think having a set menu for easy days would be good so you can more closely monitor your intake.

Mostly it sounds like a matter or tracking as well as you can & making adjustments - maybe biweekly since things fluctuate so much. Doesn't sound easy! :hug:

[homeschoolmom]

You're in a tough spot. :hug: Could you plan out portable meals that are within your daily macros but also have meals planned that you can eat within the same macros for when you're not in an emergency situation? For example, For my meals I know that I need app. 200 cals per meal along with at least 20grams of protein, 10g of carb and 10g of fat. So I have a variety of meal options and bars/portable options etc that I can pop into any of those meal slots throughout the day. If you find yourself at the end of the day with a huge deficit because of an extremely hard day, add another meal. Is this kind of what you're looking for?

[Espi]

200 kcal meals seem like too many meals in a day when you can't spend that much time on eating. Doable on the off days though.

Cram in normal meals whenever you can and carry easy portable non-perishable food with you when you can't prepare meals nor spend a lot of time eating them. Think nuts, dried fruit, beef jerkey, bars (not even always protein bars).

Portability and being non-perishable is the main thing to think about. Try to eat enough on the days you really are spending tons of energy.

While I've never done any fire-fighting, I've done extreme cycletouring and randonneuring. It's been my experience that I would tend to undereat severely on the active days (and at times I'd be doing this for over a month at the time with very few rest days), upon which my metabolism would slow down so much when returning home, that I'd simply balloon upon resuming a normal eating pattern.

Now, armed with more knowledge on nutrition, if I'd repeat that madness again, I'd try to make sure to eat enough on the active days, come hell or high water (?) and go for foods that may not be 100% optimal but at least give enough calories and decent amounts of protein. Fat/carb ratio should be as your body prefers.

This way the energy comes in when it is needed most. If you still don't get enough, eat a normal amount of food on the off days. If you can eat enough, eat less on the off days.
If you have time on the off days, keep a food diary and do some calculations. But don't sweat it, OK?