What I ate... (Sunday 5/3)

I'm back for another round of WIAW!  Thanks, as always, for hosting, Jenn Laura!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a random day of eating for me, everything started off pretty normal with my usual egg white pizza and some peanut butter oatmeal...

Recycled picture, but you get the idea..

I've had a lot of people ask me what I do with my yolks since I only buy whole eggs - they go to the dogs!  Egg yolks are full of nutrients and are great for their coats - plus they are a cheap way to bump up the calorie count of their dry food, and they absolutely love them!  Lily is still on a diet so she only gets 2, but Miss Bella desperately needs to gain some weight so she gets the rest!

 I spent the next few hours doing my weekly meal prep and doing some chores around the house (my usual Sunday routine - super exciting!).  My next meal is where things got weird - in preparation for an epic leg day, I had some Ben & Jerry's PB Half Baked and 2 scoops of Cellucor whey protein. And by 'some' Ben & Jerry's I mean the whole pint, obviously...  This is a limited edition flavor and is my current favorite - I hope they keep it around!

Pre-workout meal of champions!

I drank some C4 about an hour after my pre-workout feast and headed to the gym for a 2 hour leg day!  I guess between the C4, ice cream, and it having been well over a week since I had a quality leg lift I was just ready to go in there and kill it!

I followed my lift with 2 more scoops of Cellucor Whey (unpictured) to try to keep my muscles fed and provide them with the protein necessary to recover properly.  I love Cellucor's products - they have been a favorite of mine for years! If you want to try some for yourself, you can use code NBLYFIT at checkout (only through Cellucor's website) for 25% off your entire order!  The code never expires, so feel free to use it as often as you'd like!  Plus, if you give them your email address you will also get free shipping - that's tough to beat!

I went home and had some work to do on the computer, and enjoyed an Isopure drink while I hammered out some inventories - these are pretty expensive so I don't drink them often, but after all that ice cream earlier my appetite wasn't quite back yet, and I knew I needed some more protein so this worked out perfectly!  This has no fat or carbs - and no weird stuff in it - just protein!  The flavor is really good too and it doesn't weigh you down like some protein shakes can.

A couple hours later I finally got hungry again - I made a dinner consisting of brown rice, peas, chicken, and goat cheese, eaten tupperware style.

Hi, Lil!

And thats it - thanks to proper planning and utilizing IIFYM, my daily total was only 3014 calories (98 fat, 241 carbs, 274 protein) - not too shabby considering almost 1200 of those calories came from ice cream!  Hopefully it will help me gain some weight (spoiler alert - it didn't).  Check back tomorrow for a bi-weekly update and a sneak peak of my most recent posing practice (it's been almost 2 years since I've had posing practice - it was... interesting.).

What I ate... (Tuesday, 4/14)

Since my WIAW posts are usually WIAS(Saturday or Sunday), I figured I’d do one today showing my meals on a weekday instead – typically my weekday eats are the same all week – the only thing that will change is the post workout meal (depending if it is a day off or not) and my dinner.  I like keeping my weeks structured because it makes my life easier (less thought = easier in my world) and by keeping my meals a little “cleaner” during the week, I can afford to slide a little more on weekends without suffering too many consequences.

I wanted to make this kind of a “day in the life” post too – I love reading other about other people’s days so maybe someone out there wants to read about mine? Maybe? Well, here it is anyway:

5:30 AM wake-up call!  I actually set 2 alarms prior to this (5 and 5:15) but 5:30 is usually the winner – sometimes 5:45 if I’m feeling really risky.  I get up and get ready for my day – wash my face, get dressed, straighten my hair, grab my meals from the fridge (thank God for Sunday meal prep – I could never prep my meals everyday – kudos if you do though!), and wake the Princess up to go out before I leave for the day.

If she had a choice, she would not move from this bed for 23 hours out of the day...

 6:30 AM out the door.  It takes me about an hour to get to work, so I have to be out the door no later than 6:30…

7:30 AM arrive at work - turn on my computer, dread opening my emails, and get on with my day.

8:30 AM breakfast!  During the week I don’t eat breakfast first thing in the morning, I usually don’t have an appetite at 5:30 or the patience to make food – 8:30 is a good time for me, gives me a chance to fully wake up and actually get hungry before I force down a meal.  Breakfast during the week is not typical: tuna, brown rice, and peas – with Roasted Red Pepper Italian Dressing.

Noon  lunch!  My second meal of the day is broccoli, more brown rice, chicken, and Roasted Red Pepper Italian Dressing (I love that stuff).

2 PM  we usually try to take a walk sometime around 2 – we walk for half an hour or so around the site – it is a great break after having been in the office for 6 ½ hours already, and from spending most of that time sitting in front of a computer.

3:30 PM my third meal of the day is my pre-workout meal, eaten about 2 hours before I will start lifting.  Chicken, sweet potatoes, parmesan cheese, topped with Sriracha sauce – this is my absolute favorite meal of the day.

4 PM leave work, head to the gym.  I have another hour drive ahead of me, so I won’t get to the gym until right about 5.  I drink my pre-workout on the way, usually around 4:45.

5 PM arrive at the gym – change into my workout clothes, and lift!  Yesterday was shoulders and some ab work – my workout lasted about an hour and a half and immediately after I was done I drank my post-workout shake: Cellucor Corperformance Whey & pure Dextrose Powder.

Dextrose (aka glucose) is a simple sugar that is easily and quickly absorbed by the body, making it a great post workout choice – it helps to replenish glucose lost during exercise so that your muscles can recover and GROW.

7 PM I am finally home!  I hang out with John and Lily for a few minutes before I run upstairs to shower – then I either spend the next couple hours doing chores, or lounging around with my man and the princess.  Last night in particular I spent most of my time making sure John was OK – he came down with the flu and it hit him pretty hard, poor guy :(

Around 9:30 PM I eat my final meal of the day – eggs!  I love having breakfast foods for dinner, and dinner foods for breakfast – is that weird?  My last meal of the day varies during the week and will usually be something I make for John and I, but anytime he isn’t hungry (like last night, since he was sick) or if he is working, I make myself eggs for dinner.  I love this meal so much!  6 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, cheddar cheese, sugar free ketchup, toast, spray butter, and jelly.

And that’s a “day in the life” and WIAW - for yesterday.  I really enjoy doing reading these from other people, and I think they’re fun to do myself, so look forward to seeing them a couple times a month!  Thanks again for hosting, Jenn!

Oh, and before I go (if you follow me on IG or Twitter you probably already saw this), this happened a few days ago... And MAY lead to more things happening, in 12ish weeks...

Meal Prep Sundays

Meal prep Sunday is a fairly common trend in the fitness world - essentially it is the act of setting aside a few hours one day a week to prep all (or most) of your meals for the upcoming week - it doesn't have to be on Sunday by any means, but it seems like that is when most people choose to do it.  By setting aside a few hours one day a week, you make it much easier on yourself when it comes to sticking to healthy eating throughout the week - your meals are already prepped and ready and all you have to do is grab them and go.

 Today I want to give you a look at my Sunday meal prep and give you some ideas for healthy meals you can make for yourself during the week.  When I prep my meals, I only actually pre-make the meals I take to work - as I outlined in this post, I eat roughly 4 meals a day, only 2 of those are eaten at work so the other 2, that I eat at home, I make at home.  I enjoy sitting down and eating my meals at home on a plate (not in tupperware) and since I have the time, I make them fresh.  For the meals I prep for work, I use the following:

For the chicken, I actually make it on Saturday night - I put 4-5 pounds in the crockpot with 2 packets of Italian dressing mix and enough water to fully cover the chicken - I cook it either on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 - it is my absolute favorite way to make my chicken.  I usually have to do this twice, once Saturday night and one more time Sunday - we go through a lot of chicken in our house!

I buy microwavable brown rice because it is super easy to prep - I weigh each portion in it's own tupperware and cook it in the microwave prior to adding my veggies and proteins:

I weigh everything, I have a slight OCD about portion size and I am terrible at estimating..

After my rice is cooked, I weigh out my portions of veggies and proteins for each meal, and add 1-2 servings of my absolute favorite dressing (Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian) to flavor it all - this is everything that goes in one of my favorite meals of the week:

After all is said and done, my fridge looks something like this:

All of this usually takes about an hour and a half every Sunday morning, I can't emphasize enough how much help the crockpot is, and how convenient things like microwavable rice and canned tuna are - and believe it or not, my meals are good!  Healthy eating doesn't have to be boring, or hard - experiment a little, find things that you enjoy and that make your life easier.  It may seem like a lot of work at first, but doing it all at once saves you so much time during the week, you can literally just grab and go - no more excuses to go get "fast-food" - this is your fast food, and it is much healthier than the alternative!

My remaining meals during the week vary - I love my 'egg-pizza' that I make and eat as soon as I get home from work - and my post workout poptarts ;-) Dinner usually consists of sweet potatoes and either chicken or red meat (red meat is super beneficial when trying to gain lean muscle mass).

That's all I have for today - I hope you all give meal prep a shot - you will be amazed how easy healthy eating can be with a little effort!

So, what do you eat?

Whatcha eating over there??

People always ask me: what do you eat to look like that?  I think this is a pretty loaded question, I think it is crazy to assume that if you eat the exact same things as someone else you will look just like that person – BUT I know it’s a pretty common question and people are curious, so I wanted to share a little.

My diet consists of typical bodybuilding staples: chicken, brown rice, white rice, tuna, eggs, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, broccoli, green beans etc… I have “cheat” or “treat” meals fairly often – and am able to do so by following an IIFYM (if it fits your macros) protocol – basically, I know a general breakdown of macronutrients that I need every day (fats, carbohydrates, and proteins) – as well as a general calorie count – and if I am craving Ben & Jerry’s (always) and it fits in my macros, I eat it.

My current macros are as follows: 85 grams of fat, 225 grams of carbs, and 300 grams of protein – this comes out to roughly 2865 calories, but is not set in stone – I have days where I eat more, and days where I eat less.

I eat on a modified fasting schedule (12 hour fast, 12 hour feed) – this is just a fancy way to say I eat my last meal around 9:30 PM, and don’t eat my first meal of the day until 9:30 AM.  During that time, I eat every 4 hours – plus I have a protein shake after my workout – so 4 meals and a shake. I have done Intermittent Fasting in the past (16 hour fast, 8 hour feed – go to Lean Gains to check it out – or ask e if you want some more info!) and it worked really well for me, unfortunately I can’t really gain or maintain my weight that way, but it is a great tool when I want to lose some fat while maintaining muscle mass.

This is one of my FAVORITE proteins - Corperformance 'Cor-fetti Cake Batter' - so good!

 I do meal prep for the week every weekend – it makes my life so much easier during the week so I can just grab my meals and go – I plan on doing an entire post dedicated to meal prep to give you some tips and show you how I cook some of my foods in bulk, and just to give you a better look at what I eat on a regular basis.

#tupperwarelife

That’s really all I have for today – If you have any questions about Macro-based dieting, or anything at all, feel free to contact me.  I have a lot of topics I want to cover, but if there is anything you want to hear more about let me know!

And one more Lily picture, because she is the ultimate foodie!  Don't worry, she's 21 ;-)