Meal Prep
Preparation is so important! Both in the gym and out of the gym! You cannot get a good workout in if you have not prepped a plan. Nor can you get lean abs if you have not prepped your meals!
FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH YOU NEED
We can talk about healthy foods all day long, but if you have not thought about your intake plan, even healthy foods over indulged will create caloric excess. If you goal is to lose or maintain a healthy weight, then you MUST figure out what you need to eat.
DETERMINE WHAT YOU LIKE TO EAT
This is important, because you can likely still eat everything you like. Now, obviously if what you like to eat is cereal all day, then you’ll need to learn to add foods with protein and fat; but for the most part your intake should include things you enjoy.
Many times, you’ll need to modify your current favorites to make sure you reach the appropriate macro split. Each meal can vary, but overall for the day you should see a consists between 33% each macro and 40% carbs / 30% protein / 30% fats.
Here is an example of how to modify a favorite of mine, pasta. Instead of eating just pasta or pasta with fat meats, I add chicken breast.
MODIFICATION EXAMPLE
High in carbs when eaten by itself, so add some red sauce and chicken breast. Choose whole grain pasta as its higher in fiber. Make sure to equalize the carb calories with plenty of chicken:
- 2oz dry pasta [200 calories, 41g carbs, 7g protein, 1g fat]
- ½ red sauce [74 calories, 12g carbs, 2g protein, 2g fat]
- 4oz chicken breast [136 calories, 0g carbs, 25g protein, 4g fat]
410 calories, 53g carbs, 34g protein, 7g fat. Without the chicken that same pasta dish would only have 9g of protein!
* food density is something I'll focus on in another article.
MAKE ENOUGH FOR A FEW DAYS
Make it easy on yourself, cook enough of whatever you’re eating to last a few meals, preferably most of the work week! So if you’re eating 8oz of chicken breast a day, then cook 40oz of it.
Why cook only enough for one or two days? You’ll end up losing track of time and not prepping anything for the following day. If that is the case, though, don’t eat fast food, but instead read my article on No Prep Does Not Mean Fast Food!
WEIGH YOUR FOOD OR USE KNOWN CONTAINER SIZES
This is key to ensuring your getting the correct macro intake! Weigh each and everything you eat. If its a recipe you made, then add up all of the ingredients and calculate a serving size based on the summary of those items.
Known containers are also beneficial because they ensure you do not overpack your foods. If it doesn’t fit in the container, then don’t eat it. This only works if you don’t stuff butter into your container as that’s one heck of a dense caloric food!
LEARN CONTROL
If you cannot control your intake for items where you store large amounts of something, like a huge bag of delicious peanuts, then make sure you weigh and bag your servings separately. Take those little bags with you. Don’t bring the big bag or you’ll over eat because you either don’t care at the moment or you weren’t paying attention while shoveling in ounces of peanuts in a 5 minute period! 3oz of peanuts would fit in your hand and it's like 450 calories!!
Cheers!
Aaron Gilbert