Meal prepping and bodybuilding

[joshua11212]

I've been meal prepping for 5+ years and lifting for most of that time. It's majorly contributed to my ability to be consistent and to match my efforts in the gym with my efforts outside of it.

Here's what my diet ends up consisting of. Other than breakfast (a pb&j), I make all of this ahead of time within 2 hours on my day off:

Meal 1:

Pb & J with Dave's bread + coffee + vitamins + greek yogurt/fruit/spinach smoothie

Meal 2:

Jedra (rice and lentils) + broccoli, asparagus, or green beans + grilled chicken with hot sauce + protein/creatine/glutamine shake with 2 eggs and almond milk

Meal 3:

Quinoa salad with brocolli, chickpeas, parsley, lemon, oil, roasted red peppers + grilled chicken with hot sauce

Meal 4:

chili con carne with beans OR buffalo chicken wrap OR chicken soup OR roasted ham OR oatmeal with pumpkin + sweet potatoes OR butternut squash
+ casein protein shake with banana

I do this five days a week. On my days off I wing it, usually having more time, and tend to make steak or duck, tilapia, spinach salad or something else that is better fresh. Or I go out to eat and keep it healthy/quality.

What kind of meal prep do you all do? Any go-to recipes? Any deficiencies you see in my plan?

 

[mammah]

@joshua11212 I like the variety in your plan! Right now I eat a pound of 12 hour slow-cooked chicken breast every day, spread out over 3 meals.

Meal 1 (breakfast): I just do 20 grams of oatmeal and half a scoop of protein.

Meal 2: 170g of chicken along with 200g of sweet potato.

Meal 3 (pre workout): 100g of kale, steamed, 170g of chicken, and 20g of oatmeal again.

Meal 4: 170g of chicken, 5 whole eggs, and 24g of PB2 with half a scoop of protein.

I'll switch it up sometimes, but this is what I have been eating for a little more than a year and the results have been fantastic. Managed to lose 85 pounds, got a little too skinny, then revamped my workout and put on about 6 pounds in the last 6 months. Currently 6'1", 159. When I started i was 240 lbs.

 

[joshua11212]

@mammah Holy crap. That's an inspiring amount of weight loss

 

[mammah]

@joshua11212 Thanks man! I was always pretty lean, then shit happened and I let myself balloon for 2 years. It finally clicked that I needed to get back on track when my large shirts were too tight suddenly.

 

[dawn16]

@mammah Gotta say this hits hard

 

[mammah]

@dawn16 Similar situation?

 

[dawn16]

@mammah Yeah gotta say it’s the first time in my life that something serious enough has been going on that it literally stressed me out of training and I have ballooned up to 250ish from 220. It’s tough refocusing on fitness but I keep thinking about it .

 

[mammah]

@dawn16 I hear ya man. For me, I was never in denial about needing to lose weight, I just lacked the motivation. Then one day it just clicked. I can't explain it but over night I traded in my apathy for a "get shit done" attitude and thankfully haven't had a slip up yet. Hope things turn around for you man. I'm terrible at motivating others but keep in touch if you need to talk to someone who has been through it.