Welcome back readers and fellow fitness junkies !
I've been racking my noodle all day to try and come up with something to type about, and while Sylvia was making up all 70 meals for the week, it hit me. Talk about that. Not Sylvia making the meals, but the meals themselves. There really is no mystery behind great nutrition. If I'm not mistaken, almost all Beachbody workouts come packed with a nutrition guide designed for that particular workout and your nutritional needs while doing that workout. Since we are doing Insanity, I thought I would give you a taste, pun intended, of what we will be eating this week.
The nutrition guide is broken down into "5 Meals". Each meal is roughly 300 calories, with options for a 400 and a 500 calories meal, depending on your weight gain or loss goals. Here is what we have chosen to eat this week, which is week 3 for us.
Meal 1 = "Cereal Bowl"
Simple enough, right?
1 cup high fiber ceral (like Kashi GoLean or HiLo)
1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2/3 cup skim, almond, rice or soy milk
1/2 banana, sliced
Meal 2 = "Yogurt Bowl"
Still pretty simple huh?
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt ( Greek is good)
1 apple sliced
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tsp honey
Meal 3 = Whole Wheat Pasta with Vegetables and Feta
Not very complicated here either !
3/4 cup whole wheat pasta
1 cup mixed vegetables, steamed (we just heat them up with the rest of the ingredients when we heat it up to eat it)
1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles
(
I choose the 400 calorie option on this one by adding 2 to 3 oz of diced baked chicken breast)
Meal 4 = Insanity Nut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Is this simple enough for you yet?
1 slice whole grain bread
1 Tbsp all natural peanut butter or almond butter
1 Tbsp all fruit preserves OR 1/4 sliced banana (thank you, thank you very much)(get it?)
1/2 cup 1% milkfat cottage cheese
Meal 5 = Dinner Omelet
I mean really, most kids can whip this meal plan up !
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 slice whole wheat bread or 1 whole grain English muffin
Now if you have done the math on this menu plan it works out to roughly 1600 calories. I am still shy roughly 1200 calories of what i should be eating, according to the formulas provided in the nutrition guide. According to the guide, i should be consuming 2852 calories a day just to maintain my weight, if i want to lose weight i need to subtract 500 calories, if i want to gain weight I need to add 250 to 300 calories daily. I am trying to lose just a little bit more stubborn belly fat (love handles) so i am decreasing my intake this week. However...I also have to figure in all the calories from my coffee, my creamer, my daily Shakeology with 50/50 almond coconut milk, my E&E pre-workout drink, my R&R post workout drink, the almonds i munch on all day long, and my favorite P90X Protein bar. S,o once i add in all of that i am pretty much right on the money. The first 2 weeks of this meal plan I was opting for the 500 calories meals, which after some recalculating, put me over my daily intake requirements. So i have backed down to the 300 calorie meals , except for one 400 calorie meal, to put me back where i should be.
It cannot be stressed enough, how important proper nutrition is to reaching your goals.There can be no skipping meals, no cheating with fast food, no rewarding yourself with garbage, nothing.... just stick to the plan. People a whole lot smarter than you and I came up with this meal plan for a reason.....IT WORKS!! Why would you want to sabotage all the hard work you have done to accomplish your goals but eating wrong?? I have been eating healthy since February of this year, and really eating healthy and correctly since June and wow, what a HUGE difference in all aspects of my health and well being. I have energy now to spare, even with working out like a mad man 6 days a week ! It has become habit, actually. I have just gotten into that mindset that I have to do this, no excuses. I quit drinking 17 years ago the same way (ok, a little judiciary persuasion helped ), i quit smoking 13 years ago the same way, and i gave up drinking sodas 12 years ago the exact same way. I knew it had to be done, those bad habits just were not an option for me anymore. Once you achieve that mindset, anything is possible. ANYTHING !
Sorry for the rant everyone, but i hope i made my point. I shall now plyo jump down off my soap box ! Have a great night everyone and remember.........
