Re-tooling daily diet and exercise plan to fit new teaching schedule

As a teacher, you often don't have tons of time to eat during the day, so keeping on point with a 6-daily-eating-events "diet", like the one I found success with to overcome super obesity and lose some 165 pounds, can be a challenge. It may take some fanagling, but it can be done.

I recently took a job teaching middle school special education. I have five classes a day, one prep period and a 30-minute lunch. But I think I've found a balanced eating and exercise schedule that allows me to get out and get moving doing some heart-healthy cardio even during school hours so I can focus my off-hours exercise on building muscle.

Here's my new schedule:

• 7 a.m. Eat breakfast of oatmeal with prunes and banana + 1 boiled egg + 1 slice toast

• 7:30 a.m. Walk to 1/4-mile to bus stop
  
• 8:15 a.m. Walk 1/4 mile to school from the bus snack

• 10:15 a.m. Eat yogurt with berries

• 12 noon Drink meal-replacement protein shake + 1 large carrot

• 12:05 to 12:25 Walk briskly for 20 minutes around school track or adjacent neighborhood

• 12:25 p.m. Eat 1 banana + 2 stalks of celery + a couple of almonds and 1 walnut

• 3:45 Eat ½ PBJ (natural unsalted peanut butter and no sugar added fruit spread on Ezekial 4:9 bread) 

• 4 p.m. Resistance training at the gym or home

• 6 p.m. Eat dinner of curry, quinoa and beans or something similar with protein lots of greens and assorted vegetables (at least two servings of squash for example). Alternate plan is Subway turkey or turkey/ham 6" sub on whole wheat bread.

• 8 p.m. Evening snack of some Weight Watchers ice cream bar or other 120-150 baked chips or something.

This should give me between 1,800 to 2,000 calories. And more importantly, this plan keeps me eating all day - and at key times - so I can avoid crashes and be strong enough to avoid the temptation to indulge in things I've not planned and chosen in advance as triggered by stress or other shifts in emotion throughout the day.

As always, I'm open to hear your comments on my plan and to read about my journey from the beginning here on MyFitLife2Day. Find my other blogs at about.me/brian.schwarz.