My meals.. comments/suggestions?
 

So here are my meals for the last few days, including today's plan. I am doing the BFL challenge (my own) and I am not taking any supplements, drinking any shakes or using any protein powder etc.

Monday
m1- 1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup of green onion/red pepper, and 1/2 banana
m2- 1/2 cup ww penne, 1 cup chili (homemade), 3/4 cup green beans (after gym meal)
m3- 3 oz chick breast, 2 cups salad plus asorted salad vegs (tomatoe, green onions, a few slices cucmber etc), 1/2 a red peppers grilled, 1/2 red onion grilled, 2 tbsp fat and sugar free dressing
m4-1 cup chili, handful of organic corn tortilla chips baked.
m5- 2 oz chicken, 1/2 baked sweet potato, 1/2 cup green beans
m5- 2 oz chicken, rest of sweet potato

Tuesday
m1- 1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1/2 orange
m2- 1/2 cup ww penne, 1 cup chili (homemade), 3/4 cup green beans (after gym meal)
m3- 3.5 oz salmon, 2 cups broccoli
m4- 3 oz round steak, smear of mustard, 3/4 slice of whole wheat bead
m5- 3 chicken legs grilled, 1 large corn on cob, 1 pat butter (that was fun measuring that out)
m6- I rose apple, 1/4 cup peanuts

Wenesday-
m1- 1 egg, 3 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup FF milk
m2- 1/2 cup ww penne, 1 cup chili (homemade), 3/4 cup green beans, 1.5 cups romaine, 1/4 cup cottage cheese (after gym meal)
m3- 2 oz steak, 1 slice ww bread, mustard
m4- 1 apple, 2 hardboiled egg whites
m5- 3 meatballs (homemade.. clean), 1 cup roasted orange cauliflower, 1/2 a potato
m6 no clue yet

Im working on a yogurt cheese/ cottage cheese cheesecake I can eat with fruit for a meal at night or something. I cannot eat cottage cheese on its own, or with yogurt. Its disgusting! But I like it on hot thigns, especially tomato dishes :)

Well, I'm no expert, but it sounds good to me. In fact, parts of it sound delicious! :lol: It's more beef than I eat, but that's a personal choice.

As for the cottage cheese, there's a couple things I've found. I just got LF instead of FF (they were out), and it's better imho, and not a lot more calories. Then I usuallly add a small spoonful of my DH's full fat yogurt to mine which seems to improve both the texture and the flavor (again only a few calories). And I eat it close to room temperature with fruit mixed in - blueberries and raspberries today. Also you can blend it so it has no lumps at all.

I agree with Pat that's a beautiful menu :hun: ... Good luck on your challenge keep us posted on your progress...

aww thank you! I was concerned that there was too much.. I dunno ..food I guess. I see a lot of menus that have smaller snack type meals, but I am trying to keep each meal around 250-300 calories.

Im also planning on doing 4 not clean meals a week (10% of my eating plan.. 42 meals a week.. 4 not clean meals :)) instead of a free day.

I'm also trying to keep my bread/grain products to 2 servings a day. Im trying to get my startchy type carbs from sweet potatos. squash etc instead.

Im really honestly not sure how to calculate protien grams (I log certain foods into my calorie tracker to find out.) and how to balance the fats/carbs/protien ratios yet, but Im learning!

Vanessa have you tried www.fitday.com... They figure the protein, carb and fat ratio for you... and it's free :D

Is this your first challenge?

I use ***********, I like the format. I think fitday is kinda weird.. I guess because I am not used to it. I think its more that I want to make sure my meals are balanced, and it gives me the grams of carbs of protien and everything, but how does that work when you are trying to do 40/30/30?

Yep, its my first challenge, although I spent a month reading the books, visiting websites, being a nuisance on email groups etc first heh.

It's all trial and error to get that 40/30/30 IMO...

I agree... it looks GREAT! What is orange cauliflower?

Newbie, did the site star-out the name of the site you use, or did you do that for some reason?

Misti - GREAT new photo of you - your face is really showing your progress!! Amazing!

weird! Yes, the site starred that out.. I use s.park.people

The site that's **** out was added to 3FC's censor last year when they bombed us with spam. The mods went nuts trying to catch all the posts from new members who signed up just to promote the site (which is against our rules). So it's censored in an effort to prevent further spamming. ;)

wow.. that sucks that they did that.. hrmm.. makes me rethink using thier site..

You are doing great! I have a few picky comments about your meals if you are doing BFL by the book.
1) What is in your chili? If it has a lot of beans in it, it probably already has a good protein/carb ratio and you shouldn't add another carb portion (like the ww penne or tortilla chips.) If you want more bulk, try eating it over broccoli or salad, kind of like a taco salad without the taco :lol:

2) Peanuts really aren't a good protein source by themselves. They certainly aren't considered "lean protein".

Other than that, your food looks terrific, and if it's working, don't worry about it. Most of us who started with BFL or similar programs found that really cleaning up the nutrition is vital for the stubborn last few pounds.

I'd also be careful about taking your free meals sprinkled throughout the week. I don't think it works real well that way. Be careful that you don't get into a binge day free-for-all. Some of us gave ourselves more problems with the free DAY concept than we had to start with.

I know you said you aren't using any supplements, but glutamine really helps with muscle soreness, and some studies show that it boosts your immune system.

Doing great :bravo:

Mel

Yeah, thanks Meg for that background, I will definitely not race to check out that site knowing that.

Mel, raising my hand for that free-day creating more problems than I had to begin with example. Me, in a nutshell. I practically needed a 12 step program for my free days, it was awful!

meat, tomatoes, tons of veggies. No beans which is why I ate the pasta with it :)

thats true, but I had a few without thinking so I added the apple and called it my last meal.

How can i clean it up more? Do you have any suggestions?

Now this is something I have thought a lot about, and rethough again after I saw your post. I am incorperating a bit of John Berardi in my nutrition with this one. I agree with him about the 90% and 10% rule of eating. The 4 free meals is his way of incorperating some less than stellar meals into life. I have tried in the past to achieve perfection and it leads to a horrible binge. I have also tried to do the one free day thing and again, I just binge the whole day. By allowing myself to have 4 free meals out of the 42 I will be eating in a week, it allows me to have treats, and to know that those 4 meals are part of my plan so I dont say " oh well I screwed up might as well binge for the rest of the day" Psychologically its probably the best way for me to make BFL a way of life, instead of just a 12 week challenge that I will probably fail at. Now, I plan those free meals into my daily plan (well I have so far.. I have planned my meals for the rest of this week) and knowing where they are makes things easier for me. Also, while I am having free type of meals, I am still planning and have made sure that I am still sticking to appropriate portion sizes. Thats a big one for me, and a big one to ensure it works out well :)

I shall check that out, thank you

Does anyone have any ideas about more protien things I could make instead of meat all the time? I was reading the bodybuilding recipes at the top there, and I like the idea of the pumpkin muffins.. has anyone tried those?They would be a meal all in themselves right? like the muffins themself has the right blend of protien, carbs and fat? They would be good for on the go times :)

Here's a list of protein sources and portion sizes borrowed from BFL for Women :) :

Eggs, Cheese, and Dairy

Cheese, light or fat free = 2 oz
Yogurt, low fat and sugar free = 8 oz
Egg whites = 4
Eggbeaters = ½ cup
Cottage cheese, low-fat = ½ cup

Fish

Any fish or shellfish = 4 oz

Meat or Poultry

Skinless chicken or turkey = 3 – 4 oz
Lean beef or pork = 3 – 4 oz
Lean deli meat = 3 - 4 oz

Meat Substitutes

Soy chicken patty = 1
Soy burger = 1
Soy hot dog = 1
Soy cheese = 2 oz
Soy milk = 8 oz
Soy nuts = 1/3 – ½ cup
Tofu = 4 oz

Out of my five meals each day, I tend to have one protein shake, one egg/egg white meal, and one cottage cheese meal. The other two are usually meat, fish, or chicken.

Mel's muffins and protein bars are great for 'on the go' - they beat commercial bars hands down. :D

I was also going to mention the free meal problem, but Vanessa if it works for you and you are in portion control, go for it... I take glutamine sporadically specially if I've had a tough workout and I know I'm going to be sore and it helps, I think :lol:... One thing I have noticed since I have been taking it, even sporadically, is that I haven't had a cold in at least 3 winters now... When I do feel some sniffle coming on or if someone in the family is not feeling well, I will take glutamine and vitamin C several times/day for a couple of days....

hrbabe, just want to thank you for the compliments on my photo and that you can see a difference in my face. That is especially encouraging right now since no matter WHAT I do I can't lose any weight. :) But I will keep right on going!!!! Blessings to you.

I eat one of the muffins almost everyday for meal #4 because it's portable, isn't messy, and I'm always working at that time. I bake one or two batches of the pumpkin or chocolate pumpkin almost every Sunday.

It sounds like you've really thought out your approach to the free meals. As long as you plan like that, you should be fine. My concern was that too often, I've seen people rationalize a free meal "on-the fly", then another, and another...you get the picture! Congratulations on thinking about this in the longterm. John Berardi's ideas about nutrition are much more geared to lifestyle rather than a 12 week challenge. The problem with 12 week challenges is that they end- like diets. If you go into it thinking that it has an end, you'll also end up saying goodbye to your results after a while.

So congratulations on a great start to the rest of your life- not the next 84 days :D

Mel

Mel - the muffins you mention.. are they the ones in the bodybuilding recipes thread? do you still follow that recipe? What is the recipe for the chocolate pumpkin muffins?

muffins
 

Here ya go- I just made them yesterday!

Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup dry old-fashioned oatmeal, ground to flour in a blender or food processor
4 scoops chocolate protein powder (I use HDT Problend 55 Alpine Vanilla:27 g. protein and 135 calories per scoop and add 1 tbs.unsweetened cocoa)
2 teaspoons Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 T cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
************************
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
4 egg whites
1/2 cup natural applesauce
1 t vanilla
1/4 c Splenda
1/4 c chopped walnuts

Procedure

Mix dry ingredients and wet separately. Add wet to dry stuff, mix up. spoon into muffin tin that has been sprayed with Pam.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes...or less, I like them browned on top.
I wrap each and freeze in a freezer bag.
Make 12 sm. Muffins or 6 oversized
Nutritional Information:
For the whole batch: Per 1 muffin (12 total):
Fat: 53g Fat: 4.5 g
Calories: 1662 Calories: 138
Protein: 174g Protein: 14.5 g
Carbohydrates: 121 Carbohydrates: 10.1

Cool! Ill have to try that. They are a complete meal?

What about the pumpkin ones in the bodybuilding recipes? Are they a complete meal too?