One of the main challenges people face when looking to bulk whilst working a 9-5 office job is finding the time to fit food in.
Essentially what I’m going to do is talk you through some of my tips for fitting in food around your work life and show you my normal day of eating which I do Monday to Friday. At the moment I’m hitting 4700 cals per day on training days.
You can either watch the video below which outlines exactly the same, or read away!
As I train in the morning before work, the way that I structure my food will differ to people who train after work. But the same principles can be applied.
My first absolute key tip to life in general let alone training and nutrition is to be organised.
I have absolutely everything laid out before going to sleep, so all I have to do in a morning is put clothes on, eat and leave.
There’s nothing worse first thing in the morning than scrambling around, thinking “oh shit, I need to do XYZ”.
All I have to do is get my food from the fridge and get in the car. It just eliminates one of the potential fuck ups in the day.
My next tip is to start getting calories in early. I’m aided by intra on training days here, but before 10am I’m already up to around 1600 calories, and that’s because I’ve been awake and consuming for 4 hours.
Alongside this, I utilise fast and easy to consume foods, like cereal, shakes and milk in general to bump up calorie intake.
The key here is being able to both cook and consume what you need to in a way that doesn’t disrupt from your day to day.
In this day of filming, I had 3 meetings and a conference call, and was still able to get all of my food in. It’s just a simple trip to the microwave, bang food on and work away whilst eating in between things you have scheduled in.
My next tip is to space your food through the working day. I eat 3 times at work, mid morning, lunchtime and mid afternoon. This
- Breaks the day up a bit
- Breaks the food intake up
We’re getting regular nutrition, I’m mostly hungry but never overly full and have consistent blood glucose levels, which means I don’t really have a “dip” as such during the working day where most do mid afternoon.
Another little tip of mine when bulking is to eat ⅕ of your calories from “non-clean” foods. If you try to eat 4k+ calories per day of chicken and rice;
- You’re going to be eating 8 meals a day of chicken and rice
- You’re going to be really bored of eating
- It’s going to adversely affect your day
So by taking ⅕ of your calories and allowing yourself some dietary flexibility for a bit of shit food, you can enjoy the “worse” things you like, get easy calories in and still have them fall within your macros. Wonderful, right?
But essentially the most important part of the entire day and the main tip I can give you is to be prepared.
Every night, I prep my food, shakes, clothes, work. Literally everything for the next day. That means I don’t deviate from my plan, I hit the macros and calories I have set and I know what to expect through the day.
The food is consistent day to day, it doesn’t change. I effectively eat the same thing every single day and this helps for sure.
So there you have it my tips for fitting in bulking around an office job;
- Be organised
- Start eating early
- Be consistent day to day
- Eat easy to consume foods
- Load up your food at regular intervals through the day
But most of all, make sure to get your calories in!