Nutrition: Meal Prep 2

This is a continuation of the previous meal preparation blog and mixes in a little bit of calorie and macro management. Here we will talk about meal timing and quantity.

Calculating Number of Meals Conventional wisdom suggests to eat 5-6 small meals a day. I generally agree with this but do also recognize that there are various types of dieting and caloric intake methods. Whether it is intermittent fasting, carb cycling, Atkins or Shakeology; as long as you are accountable to some sort of system, I believe you will have results. Beware of gimmicks or "fad dieting". Try to find something that is maintainable for you and make a lifestyle change. I dropped about 10lbs since that post last year and am going to stay lean since summer is approaching (between 180-185lbs). It's purely a personal decision on how to split your calorie count up. Everyone has different daily schedules so certain methods may or may not apply well to your lifestyle. I work a desk job with access to a refrigerator and microwave. I can also choose to workout at lunch or after work if I get busy. Due to my work situation, I can be pretty flexible with my meal count and timing. My method of calculating meal count is based on my protein macro (instead of fats or carbs). Since I'm focused on bodybuilding/aesthetics, it's one of my most important macros to hit. It also is a macro that is hard to exceed. I often find myself trying to limit fats and carbs, looking for foods that are low in these categories. For protein, if I'm being strict and counting every gram, I often have to try to make up protein at the end of the night. So I like to figure out how much protein I need daily and try to split that between 5-6 meals. For those of you trying to drop weight, your total caloric intake is likely the most important macro. Track that and split it in between your chosen number of meals.

Meal Timing Below is the timeline of a typical day of eating and a brief look into the activities between those meals.   Meal #1 8:00am *** Woke up, walked dogs. 1 pinch of Almonds (1/4 cup) 5oz Salmon fillet 2 cups steamed veggies   Meal #2 11:17am *** At work, just out of meeting. 5-6oz Ground Turkey 1-2 cups black beans   Snack #1 2:00pm *** Finished workout during lunch. Protein Shake (Whey mixed with water)     Meal #3 3:16pm *** Still at work. 5oz Salmon fillet 1-2 cups black beans Additional: Nuun tab in water   Meal #4 4:45pm *** Wrapping up at work. 5-6oz Ground Turkey 2 cups steamed veggies Additional: Green Tea in water   Meal #5 8:15pm *** At home or out and about. Bowl of Ramen w/ an egg and a can of tuna added. Example Alternate Dinners/Lunches Repeat Meal #1 or #4 (low carb meal) Meal from my girlfriends prep. Generally some type of tofu dish w/ veggies. Large Texas Tuna Sandwich Lean Lemon Turkey Chicken bowl, stock velvet w/ double veggies instead of rice   Snack #2 10:30pm *** Optional meal, before bed. Boiled Egg Pinch of almonds If short on Protein that day: Protein shake w/ Almond Milk

Considerations This style of eating is not for everybody. Depending on your fitness goals, it may not be ideal for you to use this meal timing. This is just an example of what works for me and my specific goals. I encourage people to research various styles of eating habits and explore what works best for them. Whether it is counting all macros or just carbs or "points". Once you become familiar with your chosen diet system, I believe that you can transition to "free eating" and become less strict with your bean counting. That may not be ideal for those trying to lose lots of weight however. The more you eat your meal prep, the better your results will be. Not everyone can eat steamed veggies and fish all the time so I do like having "cheat" meals. Just don't turn a cheat meal into a cheat day. On weekends if I have some drinks or dinner out, I still will have eaten at least two meals from my meal prep. It's all bout finding a sustainable balance between living life and being healthy. As long as you are eating healthy and exercising more often than you are not, you should still be moving toward a fit physique. Of course the higher percentage of meals you prepare and control yourself, the better your results will be. If you are just starting out with eating healthy, do not try to drastically change your eating habits immediately. Maybe just switch out your lunch for a healthy option initially and slowly expand from there. Read more about that in our Getting Started Blog.

Check back for additional advice and browse our posts regularly for ideas on workouts and nutrition. Good luck! Submitted by Bars

Nutrition: Meal Prep 1

Another popular question I receive is about how to eat healthy. This is an attempt to jot down a simple process to prepare meals.

Basic Steps 1 - Plan Ingredients 2 - Shopping 3 - Prep 4 - Cook 5 - Plate

Advanced Steps

1 - Plan Ingredients I usually start out by planning what ingredients I need to acquire to prepare meals. I prep meals 1-2 times a week so I start by checking the fridge to see if there are any leftover ingredients from my last prep. This prevents me from overstocking ingredients and helps keep the fridge clean! My prep is broken down into three basic sections: protein, veggies, and carbs. Protein My usual protein options include: chicken, turkey, fish, and egg whites. Although I don't eat them, lean beef and cottage cheese can be thrown in this category too. For vegetarians, protein sources can include: tofu/tempeh, quinoa, beans, and meat substitute products (i.e. seitan, veggie burgers, etc). Some of the vegetarian protein options could technically be considered a carb too. Be mindful of that if you are carb conscious. Veggies The vegetables options are almost endless. I like to always include leafy greens, but it is best to "eat the rainbow". My usual leafy greens include: spinach, kale, bok choy, and collard/mustard greens. I also mix in: broccoli, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, carrots, and various peppers. Carbs Carbohydrate options are similarly numerous, but I like to be healthy with my carbs. You don't want to go around eating a bunch of bad carbs (i.e. french fries). Quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole-grain breads are acceptable. Most beans or legumes can be used. Oats, sweet potatoes, and yams work too. My favorites are: black beans (unsalted), sweet potatoes (boiled/baked), whole wheat pasta, and brown rice. Snacks Snacks are not necessarily included in my prep, but since you are headed to the store anyway, you might as well try to set yourself up for success by keeping healthy snacks around. I put fruit into this category. Usually with my breakfast or a protein shake, I like to include fruit. Yogurt, boiled eggs, canned tuna, snack packs of lightly salted popcorn, and oatmeal are frequent purchases of mine. Nuts like almonds, cashews, etc are good snacks as well. Sliced cucumbers or similar veggies can even be quick and healthy snacks. The best method to measure your portions is to use an actual food scale. This is a little hardcore so for times when I'm just free-eating, I just eyeball my portions. I "guesstimate" my portions by comparing it to the size of my palm. For men, it's about 6-8 ounces. For women, it's around 3-4 ounces. Depending on your eating schedule, you want to add one "palm" of protein and then either one "palm" of veggies or carbs. I go "either/or" with my veggies and carbs, eating carbs only around my workouts and not too late in the evening. That's just my regimen, it's ok to mix in the carbs w/ veggies, but I suggest to not go too crazy on the carbs. Veggies are fairly safe to eat in excess. I write down what I might need and then proceed to go shopping for the ingredients.

2 - Shopping Eating healthy may seem expensive, but it actually is way cheaper than eating out. You don't necessarily need to go non-GMO, all organic with your purchases either. Organics are worth looking into though, but I won't go into that here (google "Monsanto"). You want to primarily stick to the edges of the grocery store. Not saying you don't need to visit any of the inner aisles, but the outer aisles usually contain all the fresh produce. Anything fresh needs refrigeration and thus the outer edge of most grocers keep their coolers there. It's just easier to run them there. I do visit the inner aisles for things like my condiments (Mrs Dash!), canned beans/tuna, brown rice or whole wheat pasta. All my proteins, veggies and eggs are around the outer edge of my local grocery store. To make cooking easier, you could go with pre-cut or bagged ingredients. They're sometimes not as "fresh" as raw ingredients but it does save a bunch of time. Pre-cut meats and fish are usually also available in the meat or seafood department. Here is an example of what I bought for my most recent meal prep:  Two 1lb packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts Two packages w/ 2 salmon fillets each Two cod fillets Two ground salmon jalapeno burgers Container of pre-cut melon A dozen brown eggs Two heads of broccoli One bunch of collard greens One package of pre-cut matchstick carrots One package pre-marinated asparagus One medium sweet potato One 14oz can of unsalted black beans

3 - Prep My prep is fairly simple. I usually don't marinate anything, I just season as I cook. If you want better tasting meals, you can cut your meats (tenderize if needed), season them in a ziplock bag and refridgerate them. This helps the meat turn out more juicy and flavorful. It does require a little more foresight and time however. I like to use low sodium options to season my meals. Lower sodium diets help prevent cardiovascualar disease, high cholesterol and obesity. Sodium is important for fluid regulation and other bodily functions. So you want to still keep sodium in your diet. My low sodium seasonings are any flavor of Mrs Dash and Braggs Liquid Aminos. Mrs Dash can be found almost anywhere, but I can only find Liquid Aminos are more "natural" grocers like Whole Foods or Sprouts. I just cut my meats and sprinkle Mrs Dash all over them before baking/pan-frying them. I don't add anything to my veggies except maybe some minced garlic while steaming. For the carbs, I add cinnamon to my oats or sweet potatoes. Everything else is pretty plain. If you are just starting out with meal prep, I find it totally acceptable to sneak in some more conventional condiments with your food. Not everyone can just eat a bunch of steamed broccoli plain. I suggest trying to see if you can just use the Liquid Aminos or Mrs Dash with them. Test it out with a single serving before prepping a bunch of meals that you don't like and won't eat. If it still isn't enough, try to add a light amount of butter or ranch or whatever you need. In my opinion, it's still better than eating a side of french fries. Gradually try to wean yourself away from the unhealthy condiments though.

4 - Cook Cooking is the fun part! Cleaning dishes is the not-so-fun part lol. I generally grab everything out of the fridge and stack it on some counter space. I am not a Cordon Bleu graduate line chef. I'm just you're average guy so the order that I do things may not be the most efficient but it seems to work. A - Bake: Baking things usually take the longest so I like to pre-heat the oven while I'm pulling ingredients out of the fridge. I like fish a lot and the easiest way to cook it is to bake it. Sometimes I bake chicken or sweet potatoes too. In this example, I had plenty of fish. I placed foil on a flat pan, greased it will non-stick and then placed my fish down on it. For salmon there's no need to remove the skin, it comes off easier when cooked. Sprinkle whatever seasoning you need on it & place in the oven. I cook it at about 350 degrees, which is low. But I will be busy doing other things so I don't need the fish done right away.

B - Skillet/Grill: Stuff that is pan-fried usually requires a little bit of cutting. After I get the baked stuff started in the oven, I go to prep stuff for the pan. Things that I normally pan fry are any type of burger, chunked meat, tofu or ground meat. In this example, I had some salmon jalapeno burgers and chicken to cook. So I opened the package of chicken, cut away a bit of the excess fat and sliced it into chunks. In place of using a skillet, I could use a few "Foreman grills". I used to do that, but cleaning the ones I have is a nightmare. Usually the meat I buy is really lean anyway, so I'm not too worried about fat drippings. A good replacement for pan frying is grilling. Right now I lack a grill, but a propane grill is easy to get going fast (although I do like charcoal better, sorry Hank Hill). Once cut, I fired up two burners & greased two skillets. I placed the salmon burgers in one & the chunked chicken in another. The burgers already had seasoning so I only threw Mrs Dash onto the chicken. I cook them on medium since again, I will be doing other things and not exclusively watching them.

C - Steam: Vegetables don't take long to steam so I save them for last. Plus they are low maintenance since they just sit in a pot. This allows me to check on the baked items and stir/flip the skillet/grill items simultaneously. I'm not super particular about my food touching so I use a large stock pot with a colander to steam all my veggies at once. I place the colander at the bottom of the pot. Fill it with water up to just below the colander. Place on the stove with the lid on and heat high. In this case I had collards, asparagus, broccoli and carrots. I threw the carrots in first since they were pre-cut. I washed and ripped the collards into smaller pieces and placed into the pot (w/out the stalk). Cut the asparagus and broccoli into small chunks and place into pot too. Leave covered. Once the water gets boiling, I like to drop the heat down to medium. I like my veggies slightly crunchy so I leave them in for about 10 minutes. Adjust time based on your needs.

D - Boil: This step usually includes whatever random stuff I may need to prep. Snacks and other odd bits that would be be convenient to have already cooked get done here. In this example I cracked open my can of black beans and cooked that. After that was done, I boiled about six eggs to keep in the fridge. I had some already baked sweet potato left over from last weeks meal prep so I pulled that out here. During this step I usually have the fish done, finish up any grilling and start looking for my tupperware containers.

5 - Plate A cheap tupperware set costs only a few bucks from almost anywhere. I like to get a few sets that all use the same top so it's easy to match them. I use a set of medium size bowls so I can fit an entire meal into one. While everything is finishing and/or cooling off, I lay out a number of empty containers.

Once I have everything laid out, I grab my various protein sources and start "plating" them into different containers. I try to switch it up and not place 4 containers of fish right next to one another. Spread it out so you get a variety of different food. This also helps prevent you from getting too "tired" of eating the same thing all the time.

After plating my protein sources, I move into plating my carb sources. Due to my diet, I have way fewer carb sources than veggies so I like to spread those out before handling the vegetables. I have carbs in 2-3 meals per day so I plate that first and space them off. The veggie steam pot gets moved over and then I add veggies to the remaining containers that do not contain carbs.

Once plated, I like to let the food cool a bit before placing the tops on them and moving to the fridge. Anything that is leftover, I place into other tupperware and use that for dinner or my next meal prep.

Tips / Advice Start slow. Do not attempt to prep an entire weeks worth of meals off the bat. Try to monitor your existing meals or eating out while introducing your prepped meals slowly. Maybe prep lunch or breakfast for a few days to start out. Once you have the routine down and have figured out what you like, step it up and prep more meals. Get comfortable with the process. Meal Prep does take some time but as you get more familiar with doing it, you become faster. I can knock out about 12-14 meals w/ leftovers in under an hour now. Find a balance that includes speed, efficiency, and taste. Protein, veggies, and carbs are the three basic things I need. Often times I just "wing it" and head to the store after work and pickup my raw ingredients. Make sure you switch it up often and try other combinations of food so you don't get tired of meal prep. I introduce 1-2 "cheat" meals or semi-cheat meals into my meal prep. For this example it was the salmon jalapeno burgers. There is salt and cheese packed in the burger patty so it's not totally "healthy". It's really tasty and I like it though. It gives me something to look forward to. Save fridge space! Prepped meals take up a bit of space, so clear out the fridge. Be mindful of roommates or significant others. Look for inspirations on social media or blogs (like this one!) for ideas and techniques.

Check back for additional advice and browse our posts regularly for ideas on workouts and nutrition. Good luck!

Submitted by Bars

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice

What You Will Need:

Brown Rice

Boneless Chicken breast, cut into cubes

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil

1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil

2 Cups Broccoli Florets

1 Cup Frozen Shelled Edamame

2 Minced Garlic cloves

Yellow onion, finely chopped

Red Bell pepper, chopped

½ Cup dry-roasted cashews, unsalted

1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Honey

2 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Sriracha(hot chile sauce)

Salt(to taste)

Pepper(to taste)

Make It:

Cook Rice. Combine chicken, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.

Heat large skillet over medium heat. Add canola and sesame oils. Add chicken mixture, and sauté until lightly browned. Increase heat to high, add broccoli, edamame, garlic, yellow onion, and red bell pepper. Cook until vegetable are crisp tender and chicken is done, stir frequently. Stir in cashews.

Combine vinegar, honey, soy sauce, and Sriracha in a small bowl. Stir with a whisk. Add the mixture to the chicken mixture, toss to coat. Serve over rice.

Chopped Vegetable

Vinegar Mixture

Chicken Mixture

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice ready to be Enjoyed!!!

Feel free to play around with the ingredients and make it your own

Submitted By Miles

Nutrition: Cutting Results

This is an update post w/ results of a four week "cutting" (weight loss) cycle in which I dropped down to my summer maintenance weight and also helped me test out a supplement called "Animal Cuts". I've used that product the past two summers to help add some extra definition right before a vacation. The above picture of that nerdy black dude (me) is a before and after. The left side "before" pic shows when I weighed-in between 196-198lbs during the week of May 21-25. That pic was taken May 23rd. I had more mass from "bulking" (gaining weight) through the winter/spring but looked "softer" overall, especially around my midsection. During the winter I upped my calorie intake and cut out cardio completely. I'm a hard-gainer so running 5k's three times a week made it too hard to stay in a calorie excess. I also hate doing cardio so that dropping that was easy. During this period I did gain mass and strength but it came along with extra fat. I think if I try to bulk again this winter, I will actually track my calories and try to not to bulk "blind" by just eating based on how I felt. The right side "after" pic displays me currently and I weighed-in between 190-191lbs during June 18-20. The pic was taken June 20th. I feel I was able to shred my midsection and still maintain some of my mass up top. There is no way to target a specific area (i.e. abs) and just lose weight there unfortunately. You have to try to drop your overall body fat pecentage and if the muscle is present underneath, it will shine through. So my cutting strategy is to still lift heavy and try to maintain muscle mass but intake less calories and incorporate cardio to drop weight.

NUTRITION CHANGES

Basic biology dictates that if you eat less and move more you will lose weight. I outline in a previous post how to calculate a rough estimate of your maintenance calories (Macros Post). I used that method to estimate my "cutting" (weight loss) calories at 195lbs was about 2975 on training days and 2700 on rest days. This is down 500 cals from my maintenance calorie calculation. It was hard at first since I had become accustomed to my "bulking" (weight gain) diet of never being hungry and eating anything that wasn't nailed down. My stomach was used to having any urge satisfied immediately. I would still eat clean but I ate all the time with my calorie and carb intake insanely high. The key for me to control my nutrition was to track it (also detailed in the previous macro post). It was really surprising to see how easily you can exceed 1k cals with only a few food items. I had to space my meals back out and have short times where I was slightly hungry. As you drop weight however, those urges tend to go away since you don't need as many calories at a lower weight. In my case, using the formula from the macro post, my maintenance calories are roughly 2964 at 190lbs. This is lower than my "cutting" calories at 195lbs (2975). So as I dropped weight, I was slowly sliding into the calorie range I needed to maintain a lower weight and my hunger adjusted with it. I would have never been able to gauge whether or not my hunger was legitimate if I wasn't tracking my calories. The last remaining challenge was to manage the timing of my meals and still hit my macros. I needed to start spacing out my meals again instead of just eating all the time. I also had to make sure I was still maintaining a good amount of protein with the lower calorie count. I needed to start eating high protein meals for breakfast and dinner since I was reaching my calorie cap much sooner than I was used to.

WORKOUT CHANGES

The primary change to my routine is that I incorporated cardio back into my routine. Cardio makes it easier to create a calorie deficit, which helps drop weight. I do cardio three times a week now. Another difference was to change one of my workouts to a high-intensity, high-rep workout. A group of my friends started doing circuit work at a park in town on Sundays, so I join in every week. My rest day is Saturday and I hit the gym Mon-Fri. The circuit work is a lot of body weight and high-rep work. It also is outside and helps generate a lot of sweat! It includes some sprints and agility work that helps me meet my weekly cardio requirement ( Example Workout Here). As far as gym work goes, I kept my routine pretty much the same as far as reps and muscle groups.

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ANIMAL CUT: Shred Supplement

This supplement is used to help create more definition in your physique. It combines a mixture of several different elements that promote fat loss. A serving is a packet of about eight pills. I placed some brief bullet points on the components of the supplement below. Some people optionally remove either the thermogenic (red pill) or the diuretic (blue pills) if it causes weird reactions for you. The instructions state to take two packs a day for three weeks in a row but I only took it Mon-Fri and skipped the weekend. Since I skip the weekends I wound up with enough servings for an entire month and change. The caffeine in the supplement (red pill) is extreme but my body got used to it after a few days. Due to the diuretic (blue pill), you want to make sure that you ingest a higher than normal amount of water a day. As with any supplement, this will not single-handedly bring you to your goal on its own. If I continued to eat and workout as I did while bulking, I wouldn't see any results from this. Since I already had a plan to cut calories and adjust my workout, the pills helped "supplement" my work toward weight loss. I do admit the appetite suppresors helped control urges when I first started cutting. Once I got closer to my goal weight, it wasn't needed however. Overall I like the supplement but wouldn't recommend it for sustained use. Even the manufacturer states that you should take a week off between cycles. I think it is best as either a jump-start or finishing touch to a cutting cycle. If your body fat percentage is already pretty low you will see results. More detail and purchase info here: Animal Cuts on Bodybuilding.com

Components

1 - Thermogenic *** Red capsule The ingredients in this complex help boost the bodys natural ability to burn stored body fat.

2 - Metabolic Helps raise your body's core metabolism which increases the rate at which your body converts food into energy. A quicker metabolism will ensure that less food is being stored as body fat.

3 - Thyroid Helps support healthy thyroid gland function and avoid a catabolic state

4 - Diuretic *** Two blue capsules Sheds excess water weight by promoting an increase in the excretion of sodium & water from the body. It also helps lower the blood pressure.

5 - Nootropic Provides increased oxygen supply to the brain to promote better focus and increased alertness.

6 - Cortisol Inhibiting Helps regulate the hormone cortisol (aka the "stress" hormone). This hormone is said to break down muscle mass and help cause weight gain if present in execessive levels. Inhibitors should decrease stress levels and help maintain muscle mass.

7 - CCK Inhibiting Appetite suppressors, such as hoodia, joboba seed and cha-de-bugre, which help curb sugar and carb cravings.

8 - Proprietary Bioavailability This is Universals proprietary blend of random stuff.

Submitted by Bars