What To Eat
Focus on eating whole, fresh, unprocessed food. Take a look at my grocery list to find a list of ideas on clean foods. Print out that list and choose your foods for the week before heading to the grocery store. This will help you to get everything you need and will help you avoid impulse purchases. Focus on lean proteins, veggies, fruits & healthy fats and carbohydrates. Think of it this way, if your food came from the earth, eat it! If your food had to go through a factory before it got to you, avoid it!
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When To Eat
If you’re trying to eat clean to fuel your body, you need to eat every 2-3 hours. This will leave your metabolism on fire and you’re body will turn into a fat burning machine! Here is an example of my typical day and when I eat.
- Meal 1: 8am
- Meal 2: 10:30-11am
- Meal 3: 1-1:30pm
- Meal 4: 3:30-4pm
- Meal 5: 6-6:30pm
- Meal 6: 9-9:30pm
I always make sure to have a protein shake IMMEDIATELY after my workout. This isn’t included in the schedule above. It’s just in addition to the 6 meals above.
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Food Prep
- Prep your food in advance. In order to set yourself up for success, you should try to dedicate a few hours one day to cook your clean meals for the week. I always prep my food on Sundays but sometimes I’ll do my main food prep on Sunday and then another smaller prep on Thursdays. Even though this may take a few hours out of your day on Sunday, it will be SO helpful when you come home after a long day of work and the gym. All you’ll have to do is grab a perfectly balanced meal that’s in the fridge and heat it up! It has been a life saver in my success.
- Hard boil a lot of eggs! Egg whites are my go-to breakfast every morning because they are so easy! Just boil a bunch and divide them up into bags in the fridge. Usually my hard boiled eggs will stay good in the fridge for about 5 days. I’ll usually boil more eggs on Thursday during my smaller prep day.
- Bake/boil/grill/crock-pot your protein. Crock-pot salsa chicken has become a favorite for me because it’s so easy and yummy! All you have to do is throw a bunch of frozen or thawed chicken into the crock-pot, pour in some salsa to cover the chicken and set it on low for 8 hours and head to work. When you get home, your chicken is fully cooked and you can shred it to divide it up into meals for the week. So easy and so delicious!
- Pick up some bags of steamed veggies. Those convenient frozen bags of veggies from the grocery store are a life saver to me. Make sure the only ingredient is the veggie (no additives). You can easily throw these in the microwave and divide up the food for the week or quickly heat them up and have them fresh when you get home. Either way, it’s fast and easy!
- ZIPLOCS are my best friend. I put everything in ziplocs!!! I buy them in bulk from Sam’s Club so I never run out. I divide up my food and put each item in it’s own ziploc (protein, veggie, fruit & carb all in their own bags). I will take a permanent marker and label how many ounces or how big of a serving it is. Sometimes I’ll even write down specifically what meal and day it’s for so there is ZERO guesswork involved during the week! The easier it is for me during the week, the happier I am 🙂
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Protein Intake
I try to have at least one gram of protein per pound of weight that I am. For example, if I’m 130lbs, I make sure to take in at least 130g of protein for the day. My main protein sources are from: chicken, 99% lean ground turkey, egg whites & Isagenix. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep a scoop of IsaPro shake (in a zliploc of course) with a shaker in my gym bag. As soon as I’m done with my workout, I empty the ziploc of protein into my shaker, fill it up with water and drink it on the way home! You need a quick absorbing protein as soon as you’re done with your workout to help feed your muscles and aid with recovery.
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Cheat Meals
I am a strong believer in having ONE cheat meal a week. I feel that a cheat meal helps your body physically as well as mentally. Physically, your body gets somewhat used to the clean food you’re putting into it all week. When you have a cheat meal, it will throw it off track and confuse it. You need to keep your body guessing so it never plateaus (with workouts and nutrition). Cheat meals will also help you mentally. If you’re anything like me, you look forward to your cheat meal or reward meal. Mentally knowing that I’m going to get a meal of whatever I want (in moderation of course…stay away from buffets!) helps keep me on track and lets me feel that I’m not completely restricting myself from anything. When you restrict yourself from everything, you’re setting yourself up for failure. ONE cheat meal is okay, but keep it to one plate and in moderation!
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