Next Week’s Workweek Meal-Plan:
Here’s a week that is a lot more in-line with what I have normally eaten during my diet. I’ve made some minor adjustments to my basic template, and there are still a few things that I’m thinking about changing but here’s a first draft. I’ve combined all days into a single post and tried to format any deviations appropriately, I’m hoping this will make it a bit easier to see what differs between the days rather than posting out each day separately (which would equate to a wall of text).
Note: I want to come in at about 2000 calories on a normal day where my only planned workout is the one from 6 Weeks to Superhero https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/6-weeks-to-superhero I’m okay with coming in at a bit higher than this, as the workouts seem more intense than what Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong was putting me through. The average ALAS would take me a little more than an hour and I’ve read that 6WtS averages between 70-90 minutes for some people in the forums.
Pre-workout
- 15g maltodextrin
- 16g whey
- 7-8g sea salt
Intra-workout
- 50g maltodextrin (20g more than I was consuming on ALAS)
- 40g BCAA [0]
- 7-8g sea salt
Post-workout/Breakfast
- 50g oats (up 20g from last week)
- 50g blueberries
- 50g fruit/berries (this is only 25 calories and help’s with satiety)
- 1 scoop whey
- 1 scoop casein (an hour after the above)[1]
Lunch
- 3g Omega-3s
- 200g ground beef (10-12%)
- 300g frozen vegetable mix
Dinner
- 3g Omega-3s
- 2 eggs [2] (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday)/250g cottage cheese 4% (Monday, Wednesday) [3A]
- A low GI fruit, such as an apple/orange/pear. Depends on what’s in the fruit bowl at the office (Monday & Wednesday only - to have as an additional carb source before the climbing session) [3B]
- 300g frozen vegetable mix
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (not on Monday and Wednesday - I’m not bringing this to the office)
Pre-bed snack
- 25g almonds (https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-the-snack-that-shrinks-love-handles I’ll soak these in water over the day, and drink the water for that matter. Yum)
- 5g glycine (to aid with sleep quality)
- 10g gelatine (to aid with sleep quality)
- 40g olives (https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-eat-12-a-day-and-replace-fat-with-muscle)
- 100g quark (0.2% - good source of casein)
- 100g saurkraut + a probiotic. With the exception of last week I normally have this as part of my diet. I bloat on it, but since I’m going to bed anyway I don’t mind.
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (note that I have this a while before the rest of the snack)
- 1 tbsp psyllium husks
[0]: Running a new blend that’s 8:1:1, the old one was 4:1:1 and wouldn’t mix all that well (lumps at the bottom).
[1]: On Wednesday I’ll have the oats, fruits, berries, blueberries and 2 scoops of casein instead. Maybe. Another idea is to actually have breakfast at home and not in the office and have 6 eggs instead. I’ll call this option B below.
[2]: In the past I’ve used chicken thighs/chicken breast for dinner but, even though slow cooking it in peeled tomatoes makes it less of a drag it’s still boring. I love eggs, and not having eggs for breakfast everyday is the only thing I don’t like with working out in the morning. Since I live alone, I can get away with having breakfast for dinner X).
[3A/3B]: On Monday and Wednesday I’m attending a certification course in climbing so that I’m licensed to climb using a rope and a harness. I signed up for this ages ago. This is immediately after work, so I want to be able to bring my dinner with me to the office and also have a little more to eat than I would on a “regular” day. Cottage cheese fits the bill.
I’m pretty happy with this, the only thing that I feel could be better would be if I could get some carbs in with my pre-bed snack. Especially on Monday and Wednesday to ensure that I have some glycogen in store for my workout the next day. Haven’t decided on a carb source for that yet (or if I will add it even).
Monday: 2254 calories + a fruit (230p, 156c, 72f)
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 2164 calories (211p, 152c, 73f)
Wednesday: Option A: 1810 calories (183p, 93c, 70f) Option B: 1770 calories (160p, 52c, 97f)
Saturday and Sunday will be similar to Wednesday, maybe have salmon for dinner on one of them.
If I go with this design (>2000 calories), I’d probably see some initial weight gain as I’m having more carbs than before and will hold on to a little extra water as a result. So, I’d have to do the whole week before thinking about any adjustments and rely completely on the mirror and measurements to see that I don’t start to regress. Although, I’m quite confident Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday are adequate to establish a weekly deficit. Food for thought.
I’ve been bad at writing down other supplements, but I take in ZMA before bed, 1 Hot-Rox Extreme, C-vitamin (3-5g) and creatine (5g) every morning, and recently curcumin/turmeric with dinner. I found some green tea extract I’ve bought and forgotten about that I might add in, but with my poor sleep record, I’m trying to keep caffeine down (not sure if this contains any caffeine but since a normal cup of green tea does I’m assuming it does).