Meal Planning Sucks

I'll just put it out there - meal planning sucks. It's hard work, for one person. Try having two people in doing two different programs and in two different calorie brackets.

I'm in the 1,500-1,800 calorie bracket since I'm trying to lose weight. Jason is trying to bulk up and he's in the 2,600 to 2,800 calorie bracket.

That means I get: 

• 4 Greens (Veggies)
• 3 Purples (Fruits)
• 4 Reds (Proteins)
• 3 Yellows (Carbs)
• 1 Blue (Cheese/Avocado)
• 1 Orange (Dressing)
• 4 tsps (Nut Butters/oil)

Jason is supposed to have:

• 5 Greens (Veggies)
• 7 Purples (Fruits)
• 5 Reds (Proteins)
• 10 Yellows (Carbs)
• 1 Blue (Cheese/Avocado)
• 1 Orange (Dressing)
• 5 tsps (Nut Butters/oil)

I struggle to just get in 4 veggies and 3 fruits throughout the day. Look at all the food Jason is supposed to be eating! Looks like he needs to eat rice and beans for breakfast!

Beachbody offers a LOT of example meal plans to choose from. They try to cover all the various calorie levels, meal plans for vegetarians, no-cook, little cook, easy prep... they have a huge variety! And you don't have to be a card carrying member to look them. I chose this meal plan for the week. 

Since it  was a 4-day work week and I can't eat yogurt, I made some modifications.

I also switched the breakfast and snack because I rely on my blender to make my shake, and I wasn't going to hand mix the spinach, or frozen peaches. I wound up doing the same meals for two days -- and it was simple and easy to follow.
Day 1 I had:

• Chocolate Shakeology with blueberries & spinach
• Chia Seed "Pudding" with Peaches
• White Bean & Tuna Fish Salad
• Apple w/ Almond Butter, 2 hard boiled eggs
• Peppers, Tomatoes, Rice & Beans with Rotisserie Chicken - I heated this in the skillet even though it was supposed to be cold. It was good and I'll do it again. 

Day 1 I also had a mini Jilly's cupcake - leftover from the weekend, and some bites of Halo Top ice cream. I didn't work out either. I went to bed by 8pm because I've been exhausted. Benjamin wasn't sleeping well and it was starting to catch up with me. 

I repeated this for Day 3 except I chose not to have the chia seed pudding and instead had a piece of whole grain toast. I missed it and it seemed more filling and more enjoyable. Food might be fuel, but I want to enjoy the fuel. I also didn't like that my Salad Dressing was only supposed to be lemon juice or oil. I made my own homemade salad dressing and was able to use that as my "orange" instead of chia seeds.

Days 2 and 4 I had:

• Vanilla Shakeology with peaches & almond butter
• Piece of toast (didn't have any more fruit)
• Caesar Salad with Rotisserie Chicken
• Apple, 2 hard boiled eggs
• Shrimp and Veggie Rice Bowl 

I really liked the Shrimp and Veggie Rice Bowl and plan to make that again in the future. Since I didn't do the cottage cheese, I made sure to double up on protein at dinner. 

Take Aways:

• When modifying, you still have to double check it all. I wound up over doing my "Orange" because of the chia seeds and homemade dressing I did. 
• It's ok to try new things - I turned my nose up at the Chocolate Shakeology, Blueberry, and Spinach morning shake, but it was actually ok! Day 3 I did Vanilla instead of Chocolate and it was much better. 
• I'm a cheater! As long as I don't expect to actually lose weight, sure, eat whatever I want! 
• You cannot work off a bad diet. 
• Eating real food (and not crap) made me feel great! I've been pretty good at avoiding processed food, and while it was only four days, I felt a lot better about the food I did eat. 

I'm getting ready for Shaun T week June 12 - 18. Jason plans to double his workouts (he's still working on BodyBeast). I expect some major sweat sessions and will be preparing a strict meal plan for it. Originally we were going to do a 3 Day Refresh June 9 through the 11, but we have a personal obligation the 9th and will need to be more focused on something else that day. We will be doing the 3 Day Refresh the 19th, 20th, and 21st instead. 

If you don't have Beachbody on Demand, now is the time to sign up! Shaun Week June 12th and only one month later a brand new program is being released - Shift Shop. New trainer Chris Downing has put together a 3-week program with meal plan that will transform your body. I've been watching my friends in the test group have amazing results and am *super* jealous that they got access to the program 9 weeks before the rest of us! Jason and I will be taking part, and it'll be the perfect July program for us after our Florida vacation.