My Meal Plan
Since I keep talking about my meal plan in my newsletters, I figured it's time to actually talk about my experience with it. If you aren't receiving my bi-weekly newsletters (where you will generally find an article and a workout), you can sign up for it at the bottom of this page by entering your name and email.
Let me start by saying that I have a ton of food restrictions including but definitely not limited to: gluten, dairy, sugar, corn, soy, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, peas, eggs, cabbage, white potatoes… and many, many more. As a result of this, I'm extremely limited, so the foods I eat are not the foods someone else would eat (I assume).
When you have a meal plan, I believe it needs to be custom made for you, just like I did for myself. Regardless of whom I'm making it for, I want the meal plan to be structured so that the person can eat the closest thing possible to the foods that they enjoy and are able to eat. That being said, when I get into my meals, keep in mind I was already eating similarly; I just made some alterations that I'll explain later.
I decided I wanted to follow a structured plan during the week, where I eat healthy and appropriately for my body type, weight, and goal of losing weight and gaining muscle. On the weekends I eat freely (minus all of my restricted foods of course). On the weekends I usually gain back the weight I lost during the week (and sometimes more), and I'm ok with this.
I find that especially for my job I need to eat well and have structure, so during the week I'm careful, and on the weekend I don't want to think about it and enjoy. The combination of all my restrictions and dealing with Covid has brought me to a place where I need to not think about my diet for a couple days, so I use the weekend to kick back. Side note: If your goal is to lose weight for example, you wouldn't let yourself go for 2 (sometimes 3) days every weekend; you would do 1 day at most each week.
Sundays now are my cooking day. I used to cook throughout the week, but realized that I munch too much while cooking, so if I'm trying to stick to a plan, I'm obviously going to go over if I keep picking at the foods. This way, on Sundays I'm not following the plan; so if I eat some of it, oh well, I'll be better tomorrow.
Every Sunday I cook about 5 cups of organic lean ground chicken, and 5 chicken breasts for my protein, and 3 different types of veggies to go with (1 cup of veggies with each protein). My veggies are usually cauliflower, cauliflower rice, broccoli and this awesome precut mix of carrots, onions, celery and green peppers from the company Florette. I also just discovered heart of palm pasta thanks to one of my clients, and I think this is the greatest invention (however quite costly). It's fat-free, low calories and carbs, and it's a veggie noodle!!! Other veggie noodles are usually much higher in carbs, so that's what makes this so awesome.
The meals are meant to last me Monday to Friday for my lunches and dinners. I usually cook them with minimal spices on it and then add different flavoring to each meal when I eat it so that it doesn't feel like I'm eating the same thing every day.
I found these amazing sauces that have all natural and real ingredients so I can totally eat them, but best of all they're mostly no carbs and low fat so they work well with the meal plan and transform each meal. If you like spicy, check them out: Siete Hot Sauce, Siete Jalapeno, Siete Habanero, and Siete Chipotle. There's also a Sweet Chili Sauce I enjoy, but my absolute favourite is Primal Kitchen's Buffalo Sauce, I feel like I'm eating a cheeseburger and I can't tell you the last time that happened (or anything resembling it).
Other examples of meal ideas I make are mixing pure tomato sauce with the ground chicken and veggie mix, or chicken breast with the heart of palm noodles and it's like I'm having spaghetti and meat sauce, only healthier because I’m not having high carb starchy noodles. Other times I'll add garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper (or whatever other spices, like a Kefta or Shawarma pre-made mix) to the meat and any type of veggie, and it's so tasty!
If these meals don't sound appealing to you, just remember that I was already eating this way, and enjoying it. The only significant changes I made were switching from chicken leg to chicken breast (it's lower in fat and has more protein), adding more protein to each meal, and I now measure everything (thus eat significantly less)!
My daily breakfast is what I call a shake. It's made with banana, whatever other frozen fruit I buy (usually mango or raspberry), spinach, psyllium husk, hemp protein powder and water. As long as I don't make it too thick, I love it and am always sad when it's done. I've been consuming shakes for breakfast since I got into the fitness industry and I'm pretty sure before that too. They've evolved over the years as I learned more about nutrition and digestion, but I never get sick of it and actually look forward to it. With the meal plan, I now add an extra 10g of hemp protein powder and make sure to stay away from certain higher carb fruits like grapes and pineapple.
I have 2 snacks throughout the day; one is usually a fruit and the other nuts. This is the hardest part for me as previously my favourite snack was dried mango but holy moly it's high in carbs! With the meal plan, my fruit has been blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries; and lately apples since it's the season for it. Berries are low in calories and carbs, so that's why I pick them… I also happen to really enjoy them. I still eat dried mango sometimes, but then that means my other snack is smaller or nonexistent. Everything is a balancing game.
Now on to the actual meat of the meal plan (haha get it, because we're talking about food right, aren't I hilarious?). Given my goal and body type, I went with a macronutrient ratio of 35% protein, 25% carbs, and 40% fat. Based on that, the amount I exercise and my weight, I was able to figure out how many calories I need to eat in a day to achieve my goal and the macronutrient breakdown. From there I split up the calories, protein, carbs and fat in a spreadsheet between all my snacks and meals so that I end the day under all of those amounts. This is clearly a complicated process, and that's why you hire someone to do this for you so all you have to do is actually prepare your food and follow the plan. (Click here for more info.)
Here are the meal plan numbers I went with for myself:
Calories: 1845 kcals
Protein: 161g
Carbs: 115g
Fat: 83g
I split these amounts up between 3 meals and usually 2 snacks. (To understand the differences between proteins, carbs and fat, check out my blog What Should I Eat?)
Regarding carbs, keep in mind:
All starchy/sugary carbs should be consumed only during/after your workout.
These types of carbs need to be earned. If you want them and are looking to lose weight, you need to exercise, otherwise you're more likely to gain. They should be eaten 1-2 hours after exercise.
This one I largely follow. I will always have my shake (which has the bulk of my sugary carbs) during and shortly after I exercise, however my small fruit snack is usually later in the day when I'm having a sweet craving.
A 5:1 veggie to fruits ratio should be eaten at each meal.
If you're looking to lose weight, this means you get one portion of fruits per day for every 5 portions of veggies. That fruit counts as your starchy/sugary post-exercise carb. I hope this explains why with the amounts of starchy/sugary carbs we eat it's so hard to lose weight.
I'll be honest, I eat way more fruit than I'm supposed to and I should be decreasing it and upping my veggie intake instead. Veggies are better carbs than fruits; and especially if you want to lose weight, you need to be eating more of them to fill you up (or if you just have munchies).
I like to weigh myself every morning when I wake up - it helps me stay on top of things. My weight fluctuates a lot from day to day, so I don't sweat the small amounts, but when I gain 3 or more pounds in a day, I know I have to be careful or I'm in trouble. This can happen on the weekends when I eat terribly. This happened this weekend… but I enjoyed every minute of it and now it's back to business. If I'm going to choose to eat poorly, I can't beat myself up for it. I accept it, move on, and do better the next day.
Last week, 4 days, from Monday to Friday, I lost 4 pounds. I also lost 1/4 inch around my chest and waist. It would be amazing to see what happens if I followed the meal plan for more than 4 consecutive days. I have to say, before Covid I would have. Since Covid, oh boy.
I get through the week because I know at the end of it I'll be rewarded with all the goodies I want. (I also make meals I enjoy eating, so it's not THAT bad.) I believe in cheat days, you need them. If you're looking to lose weight it should be 0-1 cheat days per week. You need to indulge in those cravings sometimes, otherwise they'll drive you mad!
As I mentioned, this weekend I indulged. This happens to all of us at some point or another. Please also understand that what is indulging to one may not be for someone else. For example, for someone who is used to a strict diet, having a single slice would be a big thing, whereas for someone else several slices is part of a normal Friday night. My point is not to compare your cheat meals to someone else's. Enjoy your cheats, and try your best to enjoy your meal plan.
So there you have it, all about my meal plan. Remember, this is mine, not yours. You need your own custom plan - whether it's from me or someone else, or whether you're looking to lose weight or gain weight! Just because we're in the middle of a pandemic doesn't mean you can't take the time to help yourself get healthier. There's no time like the present and things aren't getting any better. The sooner you start trying to adopt a new habit, the sooner you'll acquire it. You're worth it!
If you're curious about meal plan pricing, click here.