So today we don't have a plan for dinner; well, at least not one that's reasonable for a diet. My wife is going to get subs from Primo Hoagies, and there's just no way I can make that work. They make huge subs loaded with stuff - and they're really expensive. I'll be damned if I'm going to just order a plain turkey sub and pay $15 for it. It'll be egg whites for me tonight and then off to the gym after that.
I've got 2 hours of exercise planned for the night because I'm having trouble reaching my protein target without doing that. I can't do it every day so that's where the "difficult" part comes in. I have to model some meal plans to see where I can accomplish my goals given a set of restrictions.
Restrictions:
- Eat what's prepared at home for dinner - no watching everyone else eat a healthy meal while I drink my dinner out of blender bottle
- Eat breakfast everyday
- Eat an ice cream sandwich everyday
- Eat a "dry" hoagie from the restaurant in my office's lobby every work day (the cost is subsidized... can't beat a turkey sub for $2.50.)
Protein Failure, Meal & Fitness Plan #1 -
- Breakfast
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
- 400 calories
- Strength/Resistance Training
- 1 hour
- -250 calories
- Snack #1
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 310 calories
- Lunch
- Turkey hoagie, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Hot Sauce
- 530 calories
- Snack #2
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 310 calories
- Dinner
- Mix & Match Baked Pasta (just a recipe I pulled from my DB that might be something like my wife would make for dinner)
- 482 calories
- Snack #3
- Ice Cream Sandwich
- 1 scoop protein powder
- 265 calories
So that gets me to a net calorie intake of 2047 - slightly above my daily target; but only 162 grams of protein. I can't get rid of dinner. I have to accept that I have little control over what's made, that what's made will probably be "healthy", and that I must eat it so that my wife has a reason to cook and my kids see a positive example of healthy eating. I suppose one way I can improve here is to work with my wife to pick protein rich dinners. That's not going to be easy, but I'll have to do it. Let's assume that I can reduce my serving of the typical dinner to 1/2, and add in 10 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken breast (250kcal, 57.5g protein).
Improvement number 2 is going to be to cut the oatmeal down to the suggested serving of 1/2 cup, remove the peanut butter, and add 2 scoops of protein to my breakfast. That still doesn't get me all the way there on the protein, and my net calories have risen to 2,120 - more than 100 over my daily target.
So let's scratch the extra protein shake at breakfast and instead eat 2 cups of raw egg whites. 2063kcal / 253g. Almost there.
I suppose I'll have to give up the ice cream sandwich. 1953 / 250g. Target aquired on calories, still need protein.
+ 2 cups of egg whites for snack #3. Back over on calories, but cleared the protein.
-1 scoop of powder. Still about 100 calories over, protein still achieved.
There's really only one option left that I can see. Add 15 minutes of cardio in at the end of my lifting workout. That'd get me the 100-200 calories of "credit" that I needed.
Revised meal plan:
- Breakfast
- 2 cups egg whites
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 400 calories
- Workout
- Strength/Resistance Training
- 1 hour
- -250 calories
- Elliptical
- 15 minutes
- -150 calories
- Snack #1
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 310 calories
- Lunch
- Turkey hoagie, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Hot Sauce
- 530 calories
- Snack #2
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 310 calories
- Dinner
- 1/2 serving of Mix & Match Baked Pasta (just a recipe I pulled from my DB that might be something like my wife would make for dinner)
- 10 ounces of chicken
- 491 calories
- Snack #3
- 2 cups egg whites
- 253 calories
- TOTAL: 2300 kcal (1900 net kcal) / 287g protein
That gives me a workable guideline for a typical strength training day. I'll seek out better sources of whey protein too. I know the cheap stuff at Walmart gives 52g per 280kcal vs. 32/310 for Muscle Milk. I think I can live with this.
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