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...

What I ate ... (Sunday 3-29)

I haven’t done one of these in a few weeks, so I thought I’d share my meals from yesterday (3-29).   I trained legs, so I proceeded to eat pretty much everything in sight – hey, you have to EAT to GROW!

For my first meal I had one of my favorite go-to breakfasts: egg whites, parmesan cheese, oatmeal, and peanut butter!  Nothing against whole eggs AT ALL, in fact, I eat them almost everyday, but I usually stick to just the whites when I’m putting peanut butter in my oatmeal to even out the fat a little :-)

Recycled picture, but you get the idea...

After breakfast I had some time to kill before I hit the gym, so I did my usual Sunday Meal Prep..

I also tried a new way to season my crockpot chicken – with Mrs. Dash Chicken seasoning!  I was actually out of the Italian Dressing seasoning I usually use and really didn’t want to go back to Kroger, so I improvised and it turned out great, I’ll definitely be doing this more often!

 After my breakfast digested a little, and my meal prep for the week was done – I headed to the gym for leg day!  Easily my favorite day of the week…

After my lift I had some Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts (amazing) and a serving of whey protein – like I’ve mentioned before, I always follow a leg workout with Pop Tarts, they are my (not so) secret weapon!

I actually did eat both Pop Tarts - one obviously didn't make the picture because it was already being devoured...

I went home after the gym and did some cleaning/hanging out with this little diva while John was at work.. On a side note – Lily just weighed in at 75 pounds on Saturday – she has put on 6 pounds in roughly 2 months – looks like I found a new client…

Who's fat? Me? I'm not fat!

I tried a new-to-me Bertolli frozen dinner a couple hours after the gym, we like to have these occasionally for taste and convenience – the only problem is, they really don’t make enough to feed both of us.  I ate the whole thing!  Meals for 2? 2 what? Babies???  It was absolutely delicious though :-)

To finish out my day I had a PBJ and 2 servings of whey protein – simple and delicious.  Sometimes there is really nothing better than a classic PBJ!  I ate this while I watched the Season Finale of Walking Dead – OMG – does anyone else watch?!  I need to talk to people about it!! I am not going to make it until the next season starts!

It may not look all that pretty, but it definitely hit the spot!

**Linking up with the QUEEN of WIAW posts today (for my first time) - thanks Jenn for hosting!!**

Condiments That Won't Ruin Your Diet

John gave me the idea for this post – so you can thank him if you find it useful!

When it comes to dieting and eating healthy, there is one big thing that can really affect your meals that you may not even think about: condiments.  Dressings, sauces, oils, even some seasonings can add unnecessary calories to your meals and you may not even realize it.  Take salads, for example: (I am using Applebee’s because we just ate there and I have them on the brain): a standard House Salad is 230 calories without dressing (15 grams of fat, 12 grams of carbs, and 13 grams of protein) – add any of their available dressings and you add anywhere from 170-250 calories and 10-32 grams of fat – just in the dressing!  That salad that you thought was a healthy choice can quickly become not-so healthy.  And that’s just a House Salad – their entrée salads vary anywhere from 180 calories (half portion grilled chicken caesar salad without dressing) to 1390 calories (regular sized oriental chicken salad) – that’s a huge difference!

There are a lot of choices out there that may seem healthy but secretly aren’t – and some that may not sound healthy but actually are!  This is why being able to read and understand a nutrition label is incredibly important – it can help you navigate through all of the choices out there so you can make healthier decisions!  Always make sure when looking at nutrition labels you are focusing on key factors:

•        Serving size
•        Calories per serving
•         Fat per serving
•         Carbs per serving – and how many of those carbs are sugar
•         Sodium per serving – if you are watching your sodium intake
•        Also, take a look at the ingredients – if you are concerned about overly-processed foods, this is important – check for the number of ingredients and for large words that don’t sound like real food – google ingredients you don’t recognize!
•         Don’t fall for keywords like ‘low-fat,’ ‘light,’ ‘low-calorie,’ without checking the nutrition label first – these labels can be deceiving.

Here are some of my tried and true favorites, broken up into categories. This list is in no way inclusive, just some things I have come to rely on over the years.. If there is something you don’t see on this list, or something you are unsure of – feel free to email me and let me know!  

Salad Dressings – with these, it is a good rule of thumb to stick to vinegar based dressings, creamy dressings tend to have higher calorie counts (even the ‘light’ versions):

•        Kraft offers a lot of really great low calorie and reduced fat options, some of my favorites are: Zesty Lite Italian, Balsamic Vinaigrette Lite & Roasted Red Pepper Italian (this one is a good example – nothing on the bottle or in the name suggests that it is low calorie or low fat – but it is one of the best choices!  Per 2 TBSP serving there are only 30 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 4 grams of carbs).
•       Bolthouse Farms also has a line of low calorie salad dressings (including the creamy ones!) and they are made with healthy ingredients like yogurt and greek yogurt – these are a great option and worth looking into!
•         Another option is to make your own – using high quality olive oil or coconut oil, your choice of vinegar, and spices – that way you know exactly what is in it, and you can make it to meet your macros.

Marinades – a lot of people think that when you are dieting all of your food has to be bland, and you have to eat plain, boiled chicken – this is not the case!  I love marinating my protein sources, here are some good options:

•         Dales Seasoning is really good!  But it has a pretty strong flavor, so make sure you taste-test it first and go easy on it – a little goes a long way!  It is good with pretty much anything you can think of.
•         Worcestershire sauce is another great option – I like this on red meat but I know some people like it on chicken too.
•        Use salad dressing as a marinade – the examples I gave above would all work great to marinade meat, just be sure to check those serving sizes.
•         Make your own – just like with the salad dressing, by making your own you know exactly what is in it and can customize for your diet.

Sauces – these can get really tricky!  Red sauces, cream sauces, barbeque sauce, etc… are all pretty high on the calorie chart – Prego offers a line of reduced calorie options and Stubb’s Original Barbeque Sauce is a really good option for BBQ – depending on how strict your diet is though, these may or may not be an option for you. 

Spices/Seasonings/Rubs – most spices and herbs are a perfectly fine choice for seasoning your food – just be careful with rubs as they tend to have added sugars in them.

Vinegars – Vinegar is pretty much a ‘free-food’ meaning you can use essentially as much as you want, as often as you want.  Some people will disagree with that, but I have found it to be a great choice for lots of flavor with minimal calories – red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and balsamic are great options.

Other Condiments – I didn’t know where else to group these, so they get their very own ‘misc.’ category:

•        Heinz reduced sugar ketchup is amazing!  Tastes identical to regular ketchup with a fraction of the calories and carbs.
•        Mustard – generally speaking, most mustards are fair game.  Watch out for honey mustard but regular yellow mustard, spicy mustard, and most other variations are a great choice.
•         Red hot – and other vinegar based hot sauces are also a great choice – like the commercials say – I put that shit on everything!
•         Spray butter – this one you need to be careful with – watch your sprays!  Spray butter is a great option as long as you don’t overdo it – it is still butter and if you use more than is recommended you are getting more calories than you think.
•        Sriracha Sauce – I LOVE this stuff, but you need to be careful with it too – check your serving sizes.
•        Salsa – I love using salsa to flavor dishes – most salsa comes in around 30-60 calories per ¼ cup serving and is naturally low in fat.
•         Walden Farms – I am sure many of you have heard of the miracle “zero-calorie” line of products.  I have to advise caution here – it is up to you if you want to try these out, I honestly never have, but I do know some people that swear by them.  They scare me a little (lots of fake stuff) but that decision is entirely up to you.

**If you are watching your sodium, please opt for reduced sodium versions as many of the options I listed are NOT reduced sodium, but many can be found with reduced sodium options – a great brand to look into is Mrs. Dash.  Sodium is incredibly important in bodybuilding and in strength training in general, but if you have been told by your doctor to limit your sodium please, please do so.**

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 ;-)