On any given day there are numerous distractions that can get in the way of your bodybuilding lifestyle. Pesky distractions that can cause you to delay a meal, skip a meal (God forbid), make you miss a workout, cut your workout short, etc., etc. It sucks when it happens, particularly when it comes to events that affect our diet. The training is important but the diet is what governs how you look and whether you’re going to get anything out of the training (i.e., whether you grow). We can’t control everything, granted, but there are plenty of ways to prevent letting the distractions get in the way of keeping on track with your bodybuilding diet.
If you’ve been bodybuilding, and especially competing, for any length of time then you have probably figured out several ways to make it all come together and work no matter what. What with the training, cardio, diet, posing, etc. We can’t stop living our lives so we have to figure out ways to work around the other “stuff.”
Here are some examples of the everyday “stuff” that I’m referring to:
- Family
- Work
- School
- Vacations
- Traveling
- Going out
Family
Obviously, family is far too important to categorize merely as “stuff,” but for the sake of the simplicity of the article let’s just go with it. I think we can all agree that family comes first, or at least it should. If it doesn’t for you then you should re-prioritize. Your family will love you for it.
Perhaps your wife (or husband) cooks unhealthy dinners and expects you to eat it. This is a tough one because you want to make your spouse happy. Not eating what they’ve cooked can turn out badly. The best thing to do in this situation is to sit down with your significant other and explain that you appreciate that they cook for you and you love eating dinner together, but ask if they can make better food choices.
If that doesn’t work just pretend like you are allergic to everything they cook. I’m kidding, of course. Instead, maybe just divorce them …again, I’m kidding.
Fortunately, my wife and are are both health food fanatics so this isn’t an issue in our home. Although, I have been married before and my wife at that time was the quintessential junk food junkie. We managed to eat dinner together but it was rarely the same dinner. Not an ideal situation, but I refuse to eat pizza every night. We’re not together anymore but I don’t think that was the reason …at least I hope not.
Now, going out to eat with family is an easy one. First off, who doesn’t like to enjoy a good meal out? Pretty much any restaurant you go to will have something on the menu that will cater to your bodybuilding lifestyle. Restaurants typically use a lot of oils, butter, sauces, etc., but if you choose to be super strict that night then you can always ask the waiter to cook it plain or just order something like a salad or plain baked potato with a grilled lean meat. Most restaurants will accommodate this request.
The cook may spit on your food, sure, but I don’t think spit contains any calories. 
Work
Work is where we spend most of our waking life. As such, this is where you need to have the most self-control. There is a lot of temptation lurking about in the office environment that can get you off-course with your diet plan. You’ve got co-workers bringing cookies in that they baked the night before, co-workers grabbing doughnuts for the whole office on their way in in the morning, birthday celebrations, candy dishes on desks, and of course, the co-worker popping their head in your office to let you know they are making the ”lunch-run” and asking if you want anything.
The most important thing in this case is to have your meals prepped for the day before heading into the office. If you leave unprepared then something is going to go wrong, and you don’t want to cave in to the cookies and/or doughnuts …or the candy dish …or “lunch-run.”
What I’ve always found to be the best way to ensure nothing screws up my meals during a work day is to bring two shakes, and a solid food meal for lunch. I’ll drink one shake at around 9:30, eat lunch at 12:30, and drink another shake at 3:30. Something occasionally comes up that will slightly delay a meal, but never ever never ever ever never ever do I skip a meal. That’s committing the ultimate bodybuilding diet sin.
If I’m stuck in a meeting, for instance, then I’ll inconspicuously sip my protein drink during the meeting. If I can’t bring it into the meeting then I will step out to the “restroom” and slam it down. It takes all of 10 seconds.
If your job requires that you travel often then that can pose a unique set of challenges when it comes to your diet. But nothing that can’t be overcome if you dedicated enough to your goals.
How often you travel, how long your trip, and your method of travel will all dictate the best course of action to stick with your diet. If you travel by car and are gone short term (1-3 days) then the easiest thing to do is to pack a cooler with your meals in it. Boom, problem pretty much solved right there. (SIDE NOTE: removing your passenger seat and putting your cooler in its place is a pretty convenient way to travel and eat. I’ve done this before traveling to a competition in Atlanta and it was awesome.) If you travel by plane then that can be a bit trickier.
I remember several years go I was preparing for a natural bodybuilding competition. Near the end of my prep (when staying on-track becomes more critical) I was invited to visit the headquarters of a prospective employer for a job interview. The trip was for three days and I was taking a flight there and back. I wasn’t about to leave my diet to chance. I wanted to be prepared. You never know if the flight will be delayed, if you won’t be able to find anything healthy to eat, etc.
What I ended up doing was pre-cooking and packing every single meal (all 18) in a cooler and bringing it with me. Now, these weren’t simple chicken and white potato meals. My diet at the time consisted of A LOT of cod fish and asparagus.
By the time I had left for this excursion I’d been eating cod fish for weeks. Plus I was on a very low carb diet so I was probably in a state of mild ketosis. Prior to leaving for the trip my co-workers had complained of a “fishy smell” every time they came in to my office. I discovered later it wasn’t my food because I didn’t store it in my office. The fishy smell was coming from me! I reeked of fish!
The fish smell coming from me was bad enough, but then I had packed three days’ worth of fish and asparagus meals onto a plane that no one could escape from. You can be sure, I was hated by the time I got off the plane.
What was my point? -Oh yeah, my point is that even though I was dieting for a show and was only a few weeks away from the competition, I didn’t let a three day business trip prevent me from sticking to my diet. I figured out a way to make it work. You can too.
And yes, I did get the job. Admittedly, however, I scrubbed the bejesus out of my skin and poured on cologne.
School
When I refer to school, I’m talking about college. When I graduated high school in 1991 I went straight on to the local community college. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up so there was no sense forking over tens of thousands of dollars to go off to a university. Nonetheless, I carried a full course-load and worked nearly full-time as well.
I’m not saying this is right, but I arranged my school schedule around my training. As for the diet part, I have to admit that at that time I hadn’t really gotten the diet part down like I do today. I wasn’t educated enough to know how important that aspect was to achieving my bodybuilding goals so I pretty much ate whatever. I visited the college cafeteria on a regular basis and ate whatever was there. That’s also probably why I was smooth. Very smooth.
I did end up going back to school to finish my Bachelor’s degree in Finance several years later. This time at the University of West Florida. By that time I had acquired a great deal of knowledge about the sport of bodybuilding.
One college semester I took classes at the main campus, which was over an hour of drive time away. My first class began at 8:30 a.m. My last class endedat 9:30 p.m. And I had a class or two in between. I did that three days a week. It made for an exeptionally long day. Every morning I’d pack a cooler and put it in my car. I brought all of my meals for the whole day. And if my training fell on one of those long school days, then I’d bring my training gear and all the stuff I needed for showering. In hindsight I should have been less strict, but I was laser focued on competing and earning my natural pro card.
My suggestion today for those of you in college is to rely on either protein shakes to get you through, or do what I did, pack a cooler and keep it in your car. Now, ideally, wait to eat until your between classes, but I routinely ate during class as well – at least protein shakes.
Vacations
Ok, listen, if you’re on vacation enjoy yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to gorge yourself until you can’t move but loosen up on your diet. I don’t think I needed to tell you this, did I? That’s what vacations are for.
Traveling
Not much to say here that would be different from what I’ve already said. Protein powder and coolers are essential when traveling.
Going Out
I’m no longer single and in my 20’s. When I was, I enjoyed it. I went out regularly and stayed up late. Although I went to clubs and bars, I never drank. Drinking has never really been my thing. That’s good, too, since it is counter-productive to reaching your bodybuilding goals and it doesn’t really fit in with living a bodybuilding lifestyle. Many bodybuilders drink and that’s great; it just wasn’t for me.
Even though I went out I still stayed on my diet. My friend and I would run out to the car, eat our meal or drink our protein shake, and go back in.
Since I got to bed much later than usual on those nights, the trick was deciding whether to eat again before I went to sleep. And if I did decide to eat, what the best thing to eat was. I usually opted for a scoop or two of whey protein and that was about it.
So again, even when going out with your friends, just be prepared.
Conclusion
Although there are times when life “gets in the way” of our routine, and particularly your meal schedule, there are still ways to keep on track. Going to the extremes I went to in order to stay strict on my diet plan may or may not be necessary for you. At that time in my life I had a clear goal in mind and I was willing to do anything and everything to accomplish it. Consequently, I stunk up some planes. That, I would have reconsidered had I had to do it again. Don’t stink up planes. It’s not cool.
If you have a specific question about your unique circumstance please let me know. Leave me a comment below. If there is one thing I’m good at it’s organization and developing a strategy to make something work. Maybe I can help you with your problem.
Tags: bodybuilding diet, diet plan, dieting while going to school, dieting while having a life, natural bodybuilding diet, stay on track, sticking to my diet while traveling
