Category: Meal Prep

Paleo

Recently I’ve been eating a Paleo based diet which has been working out pretty well for me.

When I say Paleo based I don’t mean strict Paleo. I’ve tried that previously and never found it sustainable.

The ‘strict’ way I managed 21 days. I ate only meat or eggs, veg and fat in the forms of nuts, oils and avacados. No dairy, fruit, carbs – even potatoes. It worked well – I lost weight, body fat, looked super lean. But it was hell. I was grumpy, craved everything and felt dizzy and weak frequently. It actually put me off trying a more relaxed form after the 21 days were up. But after trying IM fasting and deciding that wasn’t for me my trainer suggested I give Paleo another go, but this time trying his more flexible version.

I did and now I’ve settled into eating a Paleo based diet for four days a week and then just eating sensibly the other three days.

Generally I eat Paleo Monday to Friday as my job means I’m office based these days and then I can have treats over the weekend when I’m out and about.

This Paleo means I eat:

  • Meat
  • Eggs
  • Veg
  • Potatoes in small quantities
  • Avacado
  • Nuts
  • Fruit
  • Almond or coconut milk

I also drink protein shakes to hit my protein targets.

I don’t eat:

  • Bread
  • Pasta
  • Rice
  • Sweets
  • Chocolate
  • Crisps
  • Refined sugar
  • Honey or syrups
  • Milk
  • Cheese
  • Yoghurt
  • Processed foods

The three main benefits of this are:

  • It’s easy to hit your protein target for the day
  • It’s hard to over eat and end up in a calories surpluss (in fact I frequently end up in a large deficit on these days)
  • It makes me feel less bloated and more energetic

On the other three days I still try and eat Paleo around 80% of the time but I will add in some other carbs and some treats to satisfy my sweet tooth. I still make sure I hit my protein target.

This means

  • Mentally I don’t feel like binging as much as I used to because I know I am ‘allowed’ foods I like every week
  • I make up some of the deficit built up earlier in the week whilst still not ruining my progress

I use this system to hit a 15-20% calorie deficit accross the week (a safe deficit) and to hit my protein target of 160g a day (2g protein per 1kg of body weight) without having to count calories or track macros obsessively.

It allows me to eat A LOT (my workmates will attest to how much I eat) and to eat a lot of good quality, tasty food with lots of colour and variety. I don’t need to rely on meal replacements or processed foods so much any more (which can make me feel sluggish). Added to drinking lots of water its an eating system that has left me feeling good (and lean).

It’s also a flexible enough system that if someone brings in Cosco Carrott cake (my drug of choice – one word – sugar!!!) to work on a Tuesday I can swap my Paleo days -enjoy some cake and just eat Paleo on Friday instead.

It won’t work for everyone and there’s lots if other ways of managing your eating out there that work for others but this is a flexible, safe and healthy option that is working well for me.

Intermittent Fasting and Me

Earlier this year I tried IM Fasting.

When I first heard about it towards the end of last year it sounded like the most bonkers idea ever.

Only eat for 8 hours a day.

Like seriously- how are you supposed to do that!?

But I am strongly of the opinion that you can’t say something doesn’t work for you if you haven’t given it a go.  I also know people who do it and it works for them.

So for two months earlier this year I experimented with IM Fasting.

Quick summary in case you aren’t familiar with the concept:

  • You eat for an 8 hour window each day. That could be 10.00-18.00 / 12.00-20.00 / 8.00-16.00 or any 8 hours to suit your day.
  • Then you fast for the other 16 hours.
  • You eat normally – no other gimmicks
  • You eat the same number of calories you need to eat as per any normal healthy eating plan just in a shorter window
  • Whilst fasting you drink water and black coffee
  • Some people suggest adding coconut oil to this (some say this means it’s not fasting!)

Day 1 was hard.  I decided to do 12.00 to 20.00.  After teaching spin at 7.00 waiting another 5 hours to teach was torture.  This slowly subsided over the next few days and my body got used to functioning in hanger mode.

I experimented with my windows and found different slots worked better on different days depending on my schedule.

Evenings were tough- once I got home I wanted to eat.  On some levels IM fasting was good for this as it stopped me eating just because I was sat on the sofa.  On other levels it was a mild form of torture.

I tend to teach both first thing in the morning and also last thing in the evening with an office job in between so my days are long and moving for 16 hours a day on 8 hours of eating took its toll.

I’ll be honest – a large amount of this toll was mental.  There were days I would have felt so much happier if I’d have eaten and by sticking to my plan I actually made a bad mood worse.

PMT symptoms were timed by ten!

I’m active and my TDDE is pretty high.  I struggled on a lot of days to hit my calorie target.

If I ‘broke’ my fast I felt guilty- guilt is never great for the mindset.

I did find I could eat more carbs and fatty food with less effect on my weight.

I discovered I like coconut oil in black coffee.

I realised I won’t die if I don’t eat for half an hour (always a worry previously).

But ultimately, I realised for a happy headspace I need to eat when my body tells me it needs to eat.

So after a couple of months I decided to stop, take another look at my eating habits and find a system that worked better for me.

Upshot- IM Fasting is (in my unqualified opinion) safe and works for some people.  If it works for you that’s great and I wouldn’t dissuade people from trying it.  For me and my schedule I need the flexibility to eat when I want and find the restrictions of a feeding window negatively affect my mood.

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences with this method of eating.

Meal Prep Time

If you are into fitness the chances are at some point you will have given meal prep a go.

During the week I leave the house around 6am most days and return around around 9/10pm so having food with me is vital if i don’t want to live off a diet of McDonalds and junk. So i tend to meal prep twice a week -Sunday and Wednesday.

Now I a) hate cooking and b) am not very good at it so meal prep companies that deliver food to your door to pop in the microwave always sounded appealing. It also has the added bonus of variety (when you cook yourself its cheaper and more efficient to make many portions of the same meal). It is however expensive which has always put me off. Last week, however, I got an offer for 10 meals for £2.90 per meal from Nutribox Meals so I gave it a go and placed an order to see if it is in fact worth the money.

I placed my order via email and the customer service was brilliant. My first 6 meals arrived on Monday and the last 4 arrived Thursday so they were all fresh. The food was well packaged, so far so good.

Nutribox offer a variety of options from 1 meal a day upwards. I selected 2 meals a day. You have the option of picking from set meals (of which I picked five) or building your own meal from a list of proteins, carbs, veg and sauces (I selected the option to substitute my carb for a second veg on the five meals I ordered from this option). Normal prices are around £4 per meal depending on volume ordered.

Every day I made my own breakfast and snacks and then had a Nutribox meal for lunch and dinner. The food was tasty, portions for me felt small (but i eat a lot so this doesn’t actually mean they are small) but flavours were nice. On a couple of meals one of the veg portions ordered were missing but overall I enjoyed all the meals.

My take on the good and bad moments from my week on meal prep delivery:

Pros

  • Reduces cooking time
  • Plenty of variety
  • Flexibility on what meals contain
  • Decent amounts of protein in each meal
  • Variety of vegetables available
  • Plenty of flavour
  • Great taste
  • Portions are controlled
  • Can get delivered anywhere – i got mine delivered to the office for ease!
  • UK wide delivery

Cons

  • Unless you can afford to order ALL your food online you will still have to do some meal prep
  • Expensive
  • Need fridge space!
  • If you eat a lot like me the meals may feel small!
  • Human error means you may get the odd ‘wrong’ meal
  • The sauces are a bit on the small side

My takeout after a week- if i had more disposable income I would order meals every week to take away having to meal prep and to know I was eating sensible portions and good quality meals. Plus I would order from this company – their service was great. However given that i eat around 3,000- 3,500 calories daily the amount of additional food I would still need to buy mean it isn’t financially viable for me right now.

So for now I will stick to making my own meals but I won’t say that I won’t revisit the idea of meal prep delivery again in the future. If you are interested in the idea of using a meal prep company I would suggest you check out this site! http://www.nutriboxmeals.com

I should note that this review is independant of Nutribox Meals. I purchased the meals as a customer using a general offer and not in return for a review.