I have a quick yet important question to ask of you fellow members that deals with meal planning from day to day. I myself have been on a Beverly designed diet since mid July to help with my off season bulking goals. The first 3 weeks were easy to follow given my daily shedual as a personal trainer, I could fit my 6 meals in each day before or after a client appointment with little difficulty. Now I have recently started my job as a resident assistant at UW-Milwaukee. We work from 9am untill 5pm M-F and they require us to show up for all 3 daily meals of the day as a staff. The problem is that the meals they serve are far from anything Beverly has on my diet and the timing of the meals does not coinside with my meal times at all. I have been eating breakfast in my dorm room right before we are to show up in the morning and the the other two meals I show up for but bring my own foods too. I feel I am coming off as a pest or even a big pain in the eyes of my supervisors and staff members as they have become very aware of my alterd eating habbits and times. I carry my two Beverly shakes with me during the day and that alone creates uneeded attention. I appear to be skipping breakfast each morning as I sit at their tables without a scrap of food in front of me. Now I want to make note that I have no problem sticking to this diet and I will do what ever it takes to eat right and get my results but I fear this may be leaving a bad impression on my fellow collegues and supervisors. Any ideas?

Just tell your supervisors and collegues what your goals are. They'll probablly still think it's weird (and you can't change that), but at least they'll know the reason for your altered eating habits. As much as possible, try to make their meals fit into your diet as well. They have to have chicken, turkey, or fish at least every now and then, and I'm sure there is probably always some sort of vegetable or salad. I read your other post about supplement costs, and if you don't have to spend as much money on food (by eating their food when possible), that will help you save some money on supplements.

I agree with Dave. Let your supervisor know why your meal plan it what it is - equate it to someone who is training for another sport or someone who might have a dietary restriction due to food allergies or some medical reason - the point being that everyone may not be able to or may not desire to eat the same foods or at the same times. Let him/her know that you are certainly not trying to be difficult - as Dave said - you are simply trying to meet some personal goals and the diet plan is part of your training program.

Also don't feel like you are alone here with this issue - every board member here has a pocket full of stories about the reactions of others to how we choose to eat and most often they are not positive reactions! Every once in a while you will actually run aross someone who will find the science behind what you are doing to be interesting, take the time to explain things to those folks as they become allies in the fight against poor nutritional habits.

I'll give just one example - I fly a lot for work and as a frequent business traveler often get upgraded to first class. While everyone else is having their second free alcoholic beverage and digging into the snack basket that gets passed around I ask for black coffee and water. Then I dig into my bag and pull out some BI protein pudding that I mixed up or half a peeled grapefruit, or a foil pack of tuna and I dig in. Talk about strange looks! I just smile and give them the look like "umm finger ****'in good" sometimes I'll offer to share - I always get to eat it all myself - lol

Again you are both right! I stood back to look at things from a bigger picture and there is no reason to be so strict in the off season as far as eating on the minute and packing every meal before hand. If I can manage 3 whole food meals per day along with 2 shakes I should be just fine as long as I hit relativly close to my daily calorie and macronutrient goals. I can get more critcal come precontest which is not untill late January. I may still have to make small changes in my meals to make sure I have quality protien sources in each meal but other then that I do still have access to fresh fruits, veggies, skim milk, plain oatmeal packs, deli sandwhiches and other side items that are definetly bodybuilder friendly. I have also decided to become more active in educating and explaining my dietary habbits and goals as a bodybuilder rather then taking every comment people make to heart as an attack or complaint. I thank you guys for you input!