It's all about food

[Dustin07]

Cracks me up. I've been doing this for a decade or longer but whenever I get back into a cut, it starts to feel like your whole life revolves around food. Eating more meals throughout the day. Sunday food prep is a good 3 hour process for my wife and I.

Now, I'm not complaining. I just haven't taken a cut seriously in a couple years really. I stuck to my habits which meant I was only up about 10lbs so I don't have a lot of bad weight to shave but it's all coming back to me.

honestly, I think it's cheaper to eat on a cut at times. When we do our food prep on Sundays, it's so convenient every morning to grab my pre-made breakfast, snacks, and lunch for work. I think we estimated we eat for around $3/day or something like that. I see the guys at work order uber eats or door dash and I know they're dropping $20+ per meal.

It's just on my mind a lot right now cause my wife decided she wanted to shave 10lbs+ and since she got really serious I decided I'd enjoy a spring cut with her to support her and also to give myself some motivation.

I will say at 38yrs old, it takes a little longer to see those initial gains than it did back in the day.
My cals are lower, and I commute 3hrs a day instead of 1hr, so I have less gym time. But one thing always rings true... 80/20 it's all in the kitchen.

 

[cronikgains]

I've always had a hard time preparing meals.. can you share some pointers? What kind of foods do you prepare for breakfast and lunch?

 

[LeanEngineer]

I will say at 38yrs old, it takes a little longer to see those initial gains than it did back in the day.
My cals are lower, and I commute 3hrs a day instead of 1hr, so I have less gym time. But one thing always rings true... 80/20 it's all in the kitchen.

I will agree! It's harder as you get older for sure. Definitely a lot has to do with diet but training is just as important as well.

 

[MikeSumthin]

So what you're saying is that if I eat mostly McDonald's and do a few extra situps, I'll never have a 6pack?

 

[Dustin07]

I've always had a hard time preparing meals.. can you share some pointers? What kind of foods do you prepare for breakfast and lunch?

For sure! For me, these Rubbermaid units are my favorite because my OCD likes how well everything stacks when I put them away. https://www.rubbermaid.com/easy-find-lids.html

although my wife uses some that are more like these, because they have two slots and she can separate her food (something I don't care about lol). either way, using different containers works for us cause in the morning I never risk grabbing her meals by accident.

Every Sunday we hit the grocery store. we usually split it between Costco and Albertsons cause my wife is a discount ninja and knows where to get what for the best price. I do raise my own chickens so all my eggs are home grown, however she eats egg whites.

I cook up 5 days worth of food on Sunday. I start with the eggs and carbs. sometimes I may use quinoa or sweet potatoes or whatever but easiest of course is just jasmine rice, plus I love it. so I'll get the rice cooker going while I'm cooking up my eggs. lay out 5 containers and fill each one with the correct amount of egg, then the correct amount of rice. lid them, stack them and voila in about 20 minutes time all my breakfasts are done.

For lunch we do the same thing, lay out a big assembly line of containers and start chopping away at salad. This is where i like to use a lot of variety to make sure I am getting as many different nutrients as possible. lettuce, spinach, bell peppers, onions, and sometimes we will throw in avocado for fat portions. for carbs I often just add rice but sometimes cubed and cooked sweet potatoes seems more salad appropriate.

Sunday night we always grill dinner. often times chicken breasts, which we can then portion out to our correct amount. 4oz, 6oz, whatever it is chop it up, add it to the salads. then add the lids stack them up and off to the fridge with my 10 containers (5 breakfast, 5 lunch). Sometimes I keep my "friday" lunch free of protein so that I can use the leftovers from a dinner during the week in there. We have more fish and red meat during the week to help create variety in our diet.

I take a stack of apples to work every monday and leave them in the fridge there for a snack and I pair that with a fat such as a serving of almonds or avocado.

 

[Dustin07]

one thing I will say about food prep is this:

With a big enough skillet or fry pan I can cook as many eggs as I need for a full week as I can for a single meal. Same with the carb I choose for that day/week. So in essence, it takes just as long for me to cook 5 meals as it does one meal. Except I cook those 5 meals at one time on Sunday evening rather than 5 times throughout the week. big time saver. I commute about 3+ hours a day. I get up at 4:45am and I often don't get home until 7pm or later. So all this little food prep stuff goes a long way in simplifying my life.

 

[Dustin07]

So what you're saying is that if I eat mostly McDonald's and do a few extra situps, I'll never have a 6pack?

ha, I know you're trolling but I gotta say, nothing annoys me more than when I see someone doing 1,000 crunches and they tell me they're trying to get their 6 pack

 

[LeanEngineer]

So what you're saying is that if I eat mostly McDonald's and do a few extra situps, I'll never have a 6pack?

If you get their egg whites and grilled chicken breast then maybe

 

[KvanH]

So what you're saying is that if I eat mostly McDonald's and do a few extra situps, I'll never have a 6pack?

You can allways grab a 6-pack of Budweiser with your McDonald's.

 

[KvanH]

Cracks me up. I've been doing this for a decade or longer but whenever I get back into a cut, it starts to feel like your whole life revolves around food. Eating more meals throughout the day. Sunday food prep is a good 3 hour process for my wife and I.

Now, I'm not complaining. I just haven't taken a cut seriously in a couple years really. I stuck to my habits which meant I was only up about 10lbs so I don't have a lot of bad weight to shave but it's all coming back to me.

honestly, I think it's cheaper to eat on a cut at times. When we do our food prep on Sundays, it's so convenient every morning to grab my pre-made breakfast, snacks, and lunch for work. I think we estimated we eat for around $3/day or something like that. I see the guys at work order uber eats or door dash and I know they're dropping $20+ per meal.

It's just on my mind a lot right now cause my wife decided she wanted to shave 10lbs+ and since she got really serious I decided I'd enjoy a spring cut with her to support her and also to give myself some motivation.

I will say at 38yrs old, it takes a little longer to see those initial gains than it did back in the day.
My cals are lower, and I commute 3hrs a day instead of 1hr, so I have less gym time. But one thing always rings true... 80/20 it's all in the kitchen.

I feel the same way that my life revolves around food when cutting, but mainly cause' I'm so damn hungry, lol. Every now and then I find myself fantasizing about foods and treats. Like if I'm scrolling my Facebook feed or something and some hamburger place add pops up I'll go through the menu and dream on what I would order if 'I was allowed'. "I'd have one of those big ones and one of those and yeah fries to go with and umm an extra large milkshake and yes I have try that..". Lol I'm on a cut right now

 

[Dustin07]

I feel the same way that my life revolves around food when cutting, but mainly cause' I'm so damn hungry, lol. Every now and then I find myself fantasizing about foods and treats, like if I'm scrolling my Facebook feed or something and some hamburger place add pops up I'll go through the menu and dream on what I would order if 'I was allowed'. "I'd have one of those big ones and one of those and yeah fries to go with and umm an extra large milkshake and yes I have try that..". Lol I'm on a cut right now

LOL too funny.
The biggest issue I have when cutting is maintaining enough carbs for brain function. I am not a candidate for keto and it's very easy for me to accidentally go under on calories. I really have to have more carbs than many people and with some regular frequency or the brain fog and bad mood creeps in very fast on me.

 

[KvanH]

LOL too funny.
The biggest issue I have when cutting is maintaining enough carbs for brain function. I am not a candidate for keto and it's very easy for me to accidentally go under on calories. I really have to have more carbs than many people and with some regular frequency or the brain fog and bad mood creeps in very fast on me.

I tried cutting with keto diet 2 times back in the day and felt horrible all around. I was pretty green then, so might of done things wrong all together, but those experiences were enough for me. Then I did a few low carb cuts, which were better, but still very tired and irritated most of the time and lowsy workouts. Carrying myself through wo's with pure grit and heavy stim pwo's. It was when I did a cut with a help of a coach who had me eating about 250 g of carbs a day, that I was able to have good wo's while being on a calorie deficit. I mean I still hate cutting and I love to eat But the macros are something everyone kind of have to try and find out what works for them.

 

[LeanEngineer]

I mean I still hate cutting and I love to eat

I think this is enough said I agree and we can leave it at that statement!

 

[Dustin07]

I tried cutting with keto diet 2 times back in the day and felt horrible all around. I was pretty green then, so might of done things wrong all together, but those experiences were enough for me. Then I did a few low carb cuts, which were better, but still very tired and irritated most of the time and lowsy workouts. Carrying myself through wo's with pure grit and heavy stim pwo's. It was when I did a cut with a help of a coach who had me eating about 250 g of carbs a day, that I was able to have good wo's while being on a calorie deficit. I mean I still hate cutting and I love to eat But the macros are something everyone kind of have to try and find out what works for them.

Totally agree man, and I do think that genetics play a major role.