Healthy and High Calorie?

This question doesn't get asked around too often, but I've been steadily losing weight at my new job without trying, and I want to halt the weight loss or put on an extra 2-3lbs. I need some suggestions on quick, easy, high-calorie foods that are healthy. I don't need just empty calories from candy bars.

The job is quite active. I spend much of my shift power-walking across the brewery, stepping over 3" hoses, ducking under scaffolding, climbing ladders, and lifting various heavy objects. The swing shift has also screwed up my eating schedule. I generally only have time to cook a significant breakfast, eat lunch/dinner at work, and various sized snacks during the day. We don't have a microwave to quickly heat things up.

A typical day is:

Breakfast: 2 strips of bacon, 3 eggs scrambled with a bunch of veggies, bagel with cream cheese, orange juice, and coffee.

1st snack at work: an apple or banana, stick of cheddar cheese, and a granola bar.

Lunch/Dinner: Frozen dinner of >400Cal, yogurt, and another granola bar.

2nd snack: apple or banana and another cheese stick.

Midnight snack: Bagel smeared heavily with peanut butter and 1-2 glasses of beer.

Any good ideas for packing some more healthy calories into my diet with a minimum of prep time?

You need carbs, fats, and protien. Whole wheat bread, brown rice, avacado, MOAR BACON, quiona, peanut butter, peanuts, any nut, more nuts...

Larger lunch might help.

If I were you, I'd be making a bunch of PBJ's on whole wheat bread and cutting them in half--takes about 2 minutes to eat and is highly portable. The fats in PB are healthy fat.

mtn wrote: You need carbs, fats, and protien. Whole wheat bread, brown rice, avacado, MOAR BACON, quiona, peanut butter, peanuts, any nut, more nuts...

I should add that I pretty much always buy whole grain bread and bagels. Avocado... mmm... now that's something I can add more of to my diet. Wish they were less pricey.

I will definitely add more nuts. They seem to be the epitome of natural, healthy, calorie-bombs. Good fats.

You are surrounded by an excellent source of calories in convenient liquid form.

Can't see the forest for the trees?

But yeah, carbs and (good) fat should do it.

Half an avocado filled with bawler tuna salad (I've got a killer grilled wasabi tuna salad recipe if you want to go fresh...or do the canned stuff with the traditional recipe and add nuts and BACON!)

Not bad for you, and tastes like berkeleying CANDY!

Beer Baron wrote: Wish they were less pricey.

Aldi has the best prices around me. Still not a value item though.

Good ideas so far, I had a couple of thoughts...

When I am tired of peanuts and peanut butter I switch things up with some cashews and cashew butter. Many good calories and good fat.

Quinoa is excellent. I often make mine with a button of herbed goat cheese mixed in when it is still hot on the stove top. Reheats well in a microwave so make a big batch.

Also, if you are mostly drinking lagers or ales try adding a few stouts to the mix. Doctors in Ireland swear by it for keeping weight up in the elderly and infirm!

poopshovel wrote: Half an avocado filled with bawler tuna salad (I've got a killer grilled wasabi tuna salad recipe if you want to go fresh...or do the canned stuff with the traditional recipe and add nuts and BACON!) Not bad for you, and tastes like berkeleying CANDY!

Mmm... I like this idea. Tuna salad is something I can prepare ahead of time and just have waiting for me in the fridge.

I love Clif bars for quality caloric intake. They taste awesome, are around 240 calories and have good complex carbs.

tb wrote: Also, if you are mostly drinking lagers or ales try adding a few stouts to the mix. Doctors in Ireland swear by it for keeping weight up in the elderly and infirm!

Lol, Salinis drink mostly lagers.

tb wrote: Also, if you are mostly drinking lagers or ales try adding a few stouts to the mix. Doctors in Ireland swear by it for keeping weight up in the elderly and infirm!

I work at North Coast. My usual 1-2 beers in the evening is Old Rasputin, PranQster, or Red Seal. These are not light weights. Stout does not inherently have any more calories than any other beer.

In reply to Beer Baron:

I bow to your superior knowledge, was only repeating what I learned at the Guinness brewery.

It sounds like you have some really nice selections available to you and I admit a little jealousy.

eta: am now on beermenus.com finding places nearby that carry pranqster; that sounds like my kind of beer!

How much weight loss are we talking here, you can gain/lose 4-5lbs in water and normal stuff.

You might start get to the point where you start gaining weight pretty soon too. When you start a new exercise and keep it up for a while you can lose weight before your body starts building muscle that weighs more.

That said carbs whole wheat as suggested seem to be missing from your diet. If you can trade the high cholesterol stuff for something else your heart might thank you later on too.

The turkey jerky at Trader Joes is pretty good and less expensive than other sources if you're looking to add protein.

jere wrote: How much weight loss are we talking here, you can gain/lose 4-5lbs in water and normal stuff. You might start get to the point where you start gaining weight pretty soon too. When you start a new exercise and keep it up for a while you can lose weight before your body starts building muscle that weighs more. That said carbs whole wheat as suggested seem to be missing from your diet. If you can trade the high cholesterol stuff for something else your heart might thank you later on too.

It has been slow but progressive. I was never good at keeping track of my weight, but I have dropped somewhere around 15lbs since starting the job in November. When I do weigh myself, I do it at pretty much the same time in the morning. I went from being 170-175 (usually ~173) to 155-160 (was 158 for a week or two, now seem to be around 156).

tb wrote: eta: am now on beermenus.com finding places nearby that carry pranqster; that sounds like my kind of beer!

It is generally my favorite. It is SWMBO's favorite too. That is the one we just can't keep in the house. Interesting note, it gets its flavor through a blend of two different Belgian yeast strains. One is more fruity, and the other is more spicy.

Beer Baron wrote:

tb wrote: eta: am now on beermenus.com finding places nearby that carry pranqster; that sounds like my kind of beer!

It is generally my favorite. It is SWMBO's favorite too. That is the one we just can't keep in the house. Interesting note, it gets its flavor through a blend of two different Belgian yeast strains. One is more fruity, and the other is more spicy.

I found a few bars in Philly that carry it and will try it out soon! My corner hang out is an Italian beer joint but I am a Belgian guy at heart. Actually just opened my third Ommegang Rare Vos of the afternoon...

Your brewery is now on my radar, and I am happier for that. See, I learned something in this thread!

end threadjack.

second on the Cliff Bars. Pro cyclists rely on massive amounts of whole wheat pasta to maintain a stable calorie intake. It's cheap and you can fix a schmidt load and take it to work for lunch for a couple days.

I do a Ultimate Nutrion 100% Whey Shake (1 scoop) with a serving a liquid flax seed oil every morning. It gives you some good fat, decent protein, and will tide you over for a few hours.

Cashews are another thing that I snack on between meals that help keep up the calories if you need to. In my case, I snack every few hours so I eat smaller meals. I also have a package of Clif Bars in my desk at work and those help out a lot, too.

Can you bring a microwave to work? I bet you could find one at a thrift store for five bucks.

I agree with the Clif bars, though. The mint chocolate flavor contains caffeine! Do you have a refrigerator you can use? You can buy whole-fat yogurt, and add honey and peanut butter, which is excellent.

Some good suggestions here...nuts are good, though don't go crazy and throw your macros too far out of balance. You don't want to much fats. Protein bars are good, like the Cliff bar. Protein power is a great source of calories. Or even a very tiny amount of weight gain powder.

Distinguish between a calorie and eating healthy. A calorie is a calorie, it's a unit of energy. So 3000 cals of Doritos has the same energy (and weight gain/loss) properties as 3000 cals of whole wheat peanut butter sandwiches, washed down with a protein shake. The obvious difference is in the nutrients, lack of preservaties, etc... People get too hung up with that stuff. Unless you're priming for a bodybuilding competition, if you can fit a handful of nacho's into your macros, then do it. Problem is most people can't...they turn a handful into a bowl full.

I'm sure your weight loss will stop soon. I'd just keep up the same routine.