How do you guys manage your time while gaining?

Hi all, I'm a male, 5'6", currently 135lbs (used to be 100lbs). I've been very happy with my gains and I am still gaining and looking to be around 145-150lb range. I currently eat about 3100 calories each day.

My problem is that ever since I increased my meals to 6 times a day, I've found that I have very little free time. I'm studying at home, which is great since I can cook fresh meals but I have very little time left to devote to my studies, and now I'm starting to slip behind schedule.

I've found that I spend about 30mins to cook, and then about 40mins to 1 hour to eat. Which leaves me about 2 or 2.5 hours before my next meal, and then I have to start cooking and eating again. And for most of my larger meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'm so full after that it takes about 20-30mins for the "sluggish" feeling to go away  lol! I eat alot of pasta and I think I can pre-cook it so I have a few days worth which will save some time.

Is there anything else I can do? Any tips? I really need to study, but I don't want to give up my gaining diet, they are both important to me

I've been falling behind on my studies latley too... cooking from scratch takes time!

I usually take 30-45 minutes to "cook" or prepare my meals, unless I pre-made them or have something frozen. I only take like 15 minutes to eat though, and I usually end up with stomach aches too - especially after lunch for some reason. You're not alone! I could use some advice too...

why do u have to cook everything from scratch, spend so much time in the kitchen?

Original Post by agruskin:

why do u have to cook everything from scratch, spend so much time in the kitchen?

 

 Sometimes I will have take out or go out to eat, but I cook/make most of my meals because it saves me money, and it's easier to measure what I'm eating. Mind you, I'm not cooking anything fancy, but I still end up spending alot of time cooking and then eating.

You can cook lots of meals in advance easily enough, Agru. It's kind of harsh to jump on someone for that. x:


To the OP: Invest in a crockpot, a deep baking dish for casseroles, bakes and desserts, and/or a large pot for stews and soups. It is remarkably easy to make a large pot of something terrifically calorie dense, a calorific pasta bake, a rich and delicious rice pudding... and to then freeze the leftovers to eat them over a few days, at a comparitavely minimal cost of ingredients. In stews, for example, you can use cheaper cuts because the meat becomes tender as it cooks. Chilli con carne (or non carne, if a veggie) is a brilliant example of a cheap dish that can last for days.

to me it seemed more an ED thing, spending all the time in the kitchen cooking your own food your own way, thats what i meant...

while it was harsh, agru is right. Just because you have high calorie needs does not mean you have to spend all your time in the kitchen. May i ask why you're gaining weight and why you were underweight? If you're recovering from an eating disorder, learning to eat normally and be more flexible definitely something you need to relearn. either way you need a system that will work with real life, that includes being busy sometimes. Not every single meal or snack has to involve gourmet cooking, or even cooking. And also, why always 1 hour to eat? that's great if its a sit down/ relaxed meal, but that's not always possible and it's sort of stretching it out a bit in my opinion, and i'm a pretty slow eater.

Get some peanut butter, bagels, bread, meats (if you eat them) cheeses, spreads like hummus, avocados- you can make sandwiches. That should be quick and easy and if you diever need to attend a class you could take it with you. Frozen food is good, like veggie burgers or the regular kind. Canned beans are quick and easy too.

Snacks, get some dried fruit, nuts, more nut butters, graham crackers, cookies. I love baking so I always have a good stock of muffins or cookies prepared. whole milk and whole milk or greek yogurts are high cal, bananas are good, and trail mixes. Be sure you're drinking juice and milk and not just water also. you're going to want to make sure you're eating those cal dense foods and cooking things in oil, to avoid those full sluggish feelings afterwards. Another good idea is to keep some ice cream on hand for the late night study sessions :)

As you said you're doing, it's also easy to boil enough pasta or rice to last you a few days and do different things with it. I cook almost every night but it never takes me more than 15 min, usually less. Anything can be stirfried! use the rice you have on hand and mix in some vegetables, meat or tofu, cheese, eggs, nuts, whatever you want (maybe not all that at once) , and heat it all up in the pan with some oil and whatever spices. Keep pasta sauces on hand too, you can buy jars of tomato, alfredo, curries, or others, or make your own an dput them in tupperware, those are good to add to your ready made things.

And i don't have a crock pot but if you are still struggling, I think it's a good idea too.

 You can bring snacks to school to reduce the amounts of meals you eat at home. No matter what class I'm in, I'm always eating something... Depending on whether or not your teachers allow food in the classroom (all of mine seem fine with it) you can bring in nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, granloa, Clif Bar, etc. You could also add a protein shake in during the day in place of a meal.

gibbit, breakinhearts.. thank you for the replies and suggestions. Just to be clear, I cook alot because it saves me money. I didn't take any offense to agru's question, it's totally okay to ask me why I cook so much. I don't know how much more I can explain it, it saves me money when I cook my meals because I buy most of my ingredients in bulk. Also, to answer some of the other questions that was asked:

I became underweight due to poor nutrition and neglect for my health and I also had a very bad habit of skipping meals when I'm busy. I'm sorry if my post sounded like I have or had an ED, the truth is, I have a normal relationship with food but I became badly underweight due to bad habits, which I have changed in the past year. Now, I'm gaining because I want to be a normal human being, living a life like a normal person would. I've been underweight for 10 years and I consider those 10 years to be lost years. Society just doesn't look kindly on underweight guys, and I was the worst at 100 lbs. Needless to say, I've been emotionally scarred and traumatized, and I can list so many other things but I won't because that's my past life and not the life I have now.  I have a very big smile when I look in the mirror nowadays

So anyways, I'm definetly absorbing all the advice given. I made a list of what I eat the most and I'm going to try to pre-cook as much of it starting with the pasta.

Another thing that may help you is that you don't need to eat "cooked" things all the time, meaning, you don't need to drag out the pots and pans every time you want something to eat. I only have about one cooked meal a day and that's normally dinner. Things like yogurt, fruit, nuts, drinks, shakes, cereals don't require cooking, only quick "preparation". Maybe start adding in some natural "ready to eat" foods and you won't have to do as much cooking. Pouring cereal in a bowl, putting milk on top of it and grabbing a banana can't take more than 3 minutes.