Typical meals

[Luc]

I was hesitating between here and the mess hall but since it has a fitness aspect to this, I believe that it's better here.

I'm curious to know what are the typical meals that you would eat (either on a regular basis) or while training.

My goal is weight loss, which is working well so far. I almost lost 20 pounds since mid-January. I'm using MyFitnessPal (or MFP) to track my meals and macros.

A typical day would be:

Breakfast
Egg sandwich or overnight oats

Lunch leftover from yesterday
I try to have around 150 grams of protein (tuna, chicken breast, turkey, or the leaner cuts of beef/pork). I eat lamb as a special occasion only with a salad or some vegetables to cover the plate.

Dinner
Half the plate as veggies, if I'm still hungry, I get more veggies but I'm usually okay.
150 grams of protein
I would do around 1 cup of cooked rice if I have rice, if not, this part is filled with veggies or a small salad

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I like what I eat, I sometimes make Japanese-inspired dishes, sometimes Mexican or Italian. I try to eat fish, beef, pork once a week. Tofu or beans once a week and chicken or Turkey breast for the rest.

Now, it works but then, I started reading websites such as Healthline or the American Cancer Society where they mention that a portion of protein should be around 100 grams daily (daily not each meal) or 85 grams cooked.

If I look at a meal planner website such as eathis, they are ranging from 125 grams to 175 grams of proteins.

I try to get my macros balanced where each would be 1/3. I don't accomplish that but I'm trying. Yesterday, I had too many carbs and tried to boost my proteins with greek yogurt. But since it has proteins and carbs it didn't help that much. A piece of cheese would have been better (protein + fat) since both were lower. When I started logging my meals, I would have 50% fat on a daily basis (hey, I love cheese and lots of it!).

I eat around 1600 calories a day, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I try to do some cardio every day but my watch doesn't catch my heartbeat sometimes so I don't think it's always accurate. I don't eat those calories back.

My question is, what's a typical meal from your side?

 

[OkieStubble]

Your post is very interesting. I’m surprised on what you read from the ACS saying only 100 grams of protein a day, especially when/if incorporating an exercise program.

Everything I have read or researched, suggests 1 gram of protein per pound of desired body weight and even a bit more protein per pound if the exercise program incorporates weight training for strength and muscle growth.

I do cardio about three times a week which incorporates running, swimming and sometimes bike riding and jumping rope. But the cardio for me is more about heart and lung conditioning then it is burning calories.

I’m a bit older, and newer research in health & fitness science I have read, suggests weight training and muscle development burns more calories then aerobic activity as it is the fuel for muscle.

In fact, the newer research suggests, people who are looking to lose weight by just aerobics, their body will go into feast or famine mode.

In other words, the body will try to resist and preserve calories and a person looking to lose weight by running, might actually lose that weight in muscle mass instead of losing that weight in fat.

For example, look at the bodies of Olympic long distance runners and the 100 yd dash sprinters in comparison to each other?

The long distance guys are very thin and frail with no muscle mass, while all the sprinters seemed muscled up and cut. The sprinters who run short bursts of speed have no fat, but their muscles are not getting ate up by their body.

But the long distance guys, while not fat either, seem very soft, flabby and no muscle at all in their upper bodies because their bodies have devoured their muscle mass.

So running is good for stamina and heart and lungs and to get the body revved up to burn calories, but if running for weight loss is the major focus, that weight loss may come at the expense of muscle loss instead of fat loss.

Why running doesn't help with weight loss (but is still really good for you) - Canadian Running Magazine

A new study found out why running isn't a magic ticket to weight loss but why you should keep doing it anyway

runningmagazine.ca

I also don’t count calories, macros or carbs. I focus more on eating clean and size proportions. I try making the science of myself losing weight very simple and basic.

Eat less and move more.

So there isn’t any junk foods or man made processed carbs in the house. No cellophane wrappers or cardboard boxes of cookies, crackers and chips.

The only carbs in my house are what I call ‘God Carbs’.

If God created them I will eat them, and I still use my brain when, how, what and where I do that. So low glycemic carb like a sweet potato? Sure thing. But also earlier in the day where that good carb will be used for energy instead of later in the evening where it will not be used by the body and get turned processed by the body into sugar starch and the stored by the body as fat.

I eat good fats, good grains fruit, nuts and vegetables and up my protein by adding protein supplements along with my normal diet of healthy proteins of fish and chicken and the occasional lean red meat.

My breakfast today was steel cut oats, a slice of whole grain sprouted bread toasted a banana and a protein powder shake.

Lunch will be grilled chicken fajitas with bell peppers, onions and salsa but wrapped in a giant leaf of butter lettuce instead of a typical tortilla.

 

[OkieStubble]

Breakfast:
8 oz Almond Milk
Tablespoon Organic Peanut Butter
Half frozen Banana
Half serving Yakult Japanese probiotic
Tablespoon Ground Flax Seed
Handful Walnut Halves
Scoop Vanilla Whey Protein
Scoop Collagen Peptides

Ninja Blender and drank it while taking vitamin supplements and a shower

Supplements:

GNC Mega Men Multi
Fish Oil
D3
CoQ10
K2
Alpha Lipoic Acid

Lunch: Boiled Cabbage with Turkey Polish Sausage
Apple
Vita Coco Pressed Coconut Water

 

[bobbynash]

Monday-Friday breakfast: english muffin with peanut butter and local honey.
Monday-Thursday lunch: shrimp oor chicken with white or brown rice.
Monday-Thursday dinner: Spinach Salad with shrimp, 2 boiled eggs, pumpkin seeds and light dressing.
Friday: cheat day, have some tacos for lunch and a pizza for dinner.
Snacks: mid-day almonds. Night: Protein shake with a banana, creatine powder and pure peanut powder (Naked PB)

 

[HazMat Shaver]

Every day: Whatever the wife sits in front of me. Omelets, Hotdogs, Fried Chicken, Lazania, Tacos, pork, etc...
I eat happy.

 

[StlEd]

Something isn't adding up, or I'm lost on what you are saying....

150 gram of protein at lunch
150 gram of protein at dinner
"I try to get my macros balanced where each would be 1/3."
"I eat around 1600 calories a day,"

Most references I've seen say protein is 4 calories per gram; so, 300 grams of protein would be 1200 calories. It seems that balancing macronutrients at 1/3 would add up to 3600 calories a day.

However, if you are using a 150 gram portion size of your protein source, such as tuna or meat, it might be just 20 grams of protein. (Looking at a 5 oz. (142g) tin of tuna, it shows a net of 20g protein.)

I believe that the current guideline is approximately 1 gram of protein per day per kilogram of body weight, but that is referring to the actual protein content, not portion size.

I sounds like what you're doing is working (20 pounds lost thus far), so maybe I'm not understanding.

 

[Luc]

You are following it right. 150 grams of a piece of tuna isn't 150 grams of pure protein. I probably didn't express myself properly as I'm not looking at 150 grams of protein (pure) per meal but the overall weight of my main source of protein (so protein + fat usually = 150 grams).

My weight is still going down and I'm getting closer to my target weight, should be a matter of weeks now.

 

[OkieStubble]

The human body can only absorb 20-30 grams of protein in one sitting during digestion.

So it should be 20-30 grams of protein for each meal. The body will throw off the rest as waste.

I eat 6 small meals a day about every 3 hours. Just enough to fuel me a long thru workouts and going about my daily routine without stuffing myself with just 3 bigger meals a day.

I’m 6’1 185 pounds. I’m looking to be about 180, so I consume 180 grams of protein a day. I used to be 220.

Most of the time, my meals are very small, like just a small portion of a Vegetable and a meat like grilled chicken breast. Other times the meal may just be a small bowl of cottage cheese with some fruit or a handful of almond nuts and an apple.

Other times it’s just a protein smoothie or protein shake after a workout. I consider them all meals counted.