► After finishing my weightlifting workout, I drank another protein shake. This time, I mixed 1 scoop of whey protein (quickly absorbed), 1 scoop of casein protein (slowly absorbed), and 16oz skim milk. To find out more about whey protein & casein protein, check out my
Supplements page. I tried never to really go over 40-50 grams of protein in a 2-3 hour period, because thats all that your body can really absorb. You can eat 5lbs of chicken in 10 minutes, but your body will only use the first 40-50 grams of protein. The rest of the protein will just be broken down to be used as fuel & energy.
► I start work about 7am. At around 8:15am, I go & heat up my breakfast. This typically consisted of 1 cup brown rice, 3 eggs, 1 green or red pepper, a serving of turkey, jalapenos, fat-free cheese, & some
Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Like I said earlier, I prepared this the night before. After a workout, you want to have your post-workout shake. About 1-1.5 hours after that, you want to have an actual meal with all your essential types of food to help fuel muscle recovery & growth. The rice provided all of my carbs. The cheese, eggs, & turkey provided my protein and healthy fats. The peppers were great vegetables, and the lower-sodium hot sauce was for flavoring. This hearty meal also kept me from being hungry for a while...
► I typically took my lunch at 11:15am, worked out for 30 minutes, and then ate lunch at 11:45am. Therefore, I had a snack about 9:45am. On a diet, you should not allow yourself to get hungry. If you are hungry, you are too late. You have to calm your cravings before they start. I typically ate a large orange and had about 25 raw almonds. The orange was a great fruit with a lot of vitamins & nutrients, and the almonds provided protein & healthy fats. Protein is the big thing that helps you feel full, and it got me through until lunch. To lose fat, you can't avoid fats!! You have to eat healthy fats such as the monounsaturated fats in fish, almonds, eggs, etc...
► After stretching and either doing abs or walking, it was lunch time. Typically, my lunch was low in carbohydrates. I usually had about 1lb mixed frozen vegetables along with a large chicken breast or 3 rotisseried chicken thighs depending on what I cooked that week. The chicken provided all my lean protein, and the vegetables provided all my essential vitamins & minerals along with a few carbohydrates. Your brain runs completely on carbohydrates, so you never want to deplete it of carbs. I needed my brain for work!!
► I usually ate dinner right before leaving work around 4:15pm, so I had another snack at about 2pm. This typically consisted of a large apple & a can of vegetables. I switched up the can of vegetables between spinach, peas & carrots, green beans, okra, and asparagus. Okra and asparagus did not happen very often because they were more expensive. This little snack satisfied me until dinner.
► Dinner was my final meal before working out again, and it was my last real meal of the day. It usually consisted of raw carrots, raw celery, a few almonds, and either a can of mackerel or salmon. The fish provided me with healthy fats and all of my protein. The almonds were just for additional fat to help get me through my workout. To be honest, canned mackerel & salmon is actually pretty good!! Sometimes to add flavor though, I added some healthy salsa.
► After my evening workout, I had another protein shake just like my morning post-workout shake. I mixed 1 scoop of whey protein, 1 scoop of casein protein, and 16oz of skim milk. Casein protein is very thick, so it helped keep me full for the rest of my evening. If I did get really hungry during the evening, I just had low calorie vegetables like green beans, celery, carrots, and spinach.
► For my last snack of the day, I ate 1 cup of fat-free cottage cheese right before going to bed. This slowly absorbed protein helped my muscle growth & recovery during the night. Your body does most of its repair & recovery processes while you are sleeping. Thats why you should always get at least 7-8 hours of sleep!! This is a long time to go without any protein or any fuel. That is why I tried to get about 25-30 grams of protein right before going to sleep, to reduce the time my body spent without protein. I was trying to keep my muscle while burning all of my fat, so I always kept my body supplied with protein. Plus, I needed to be ready for the morning!!