The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Last week, I won the FLTS package (thanks Leigh!) and spent the weekend reading FLTS. I plan to start OPT original on Monday the 20th, after I've gotten all my ducks in a row. That way I can more easily take them out with my fat loss Uzi.
The duck that I think is the most recalcitrant is the macronutrient factor. I'm already in the habit of measuring my food and have bumped that to weighing with my digital scale. And I've been tracking my caloric intake for probably over six months now. But planning for the macronutrients is a new thing. Based on the activity calculator, a 35% deficit will put me at 1450 cal.
I've figured out the grams I need of protein, fat, and carbs to be in the 40/25/35 parameters for weeks 1-3, but I'm getting sort of stymied after that. I'd be very grateful if someone could point me toward meal planners based specificially on macronutrients--what I've found so far is really more an organizational thing (and not that what I'm trying to do isn't organization, but I need more than "Monday--chicken risotto; Tuesday--prime rib au jus" or whatever).
Also, any tips or tricks for getting things to balance out right--if I have to wind up plugging in chicken, oatmeal, EFA, etc., and "crossing my fingers," would also be great. Thanks!
I can't think of anything like you're looking for.
You just want to be close in the macros. Don't worry about getting exactly there.
I start with P, making sure I get enough of that for the meals. P usually comes with fat, plus fat for cooking, then comes carbs as the leftover macro. You won't be perfect at first, but soon you will start to recognize how much C is in an large apple or how much F is in an ounce of almonds.
Spend some time on calorieking.com or thedailyplate.com to see how differernt meals stack up, macro-wise.
Maybe some others have good tips, but I got pretty close right off the bat, so it's hard to offer specifics.
I find the first easiest thing is to keep on hand foods that are mainly one kind of macro (chicken breast, butter, pixie sticks) and then be able to use them when you need a bump of a given macro.
Secondly, just start making up some meals and see where stuff falls. You can start with a couple you repeat, make the same breakfast every day, for instance. A sandwich lunch could be both often repeated and still have variety when it comes to what kind of meat and cheese is on it.
A spreadsheet is prolly gonna be one of the better tools to use if you want. plugging in your info, then you can tweak how much of each thing… fortunately you're trying to hit a daily macro balance, not per meal, and you don't need to be perfectly spot on. Mostly the macros fall in the category of "make this deficit easier for you to deal with" rather than the "win or fail on the fatloss front." So some slack is there… I did OPT (only the first half) without paying much attention to macros and did pretty ok fatloss wise.
Okay, thanks Lost Dog and Aoife! I actually already am using the dailyplate to track my caloric intake; however my trend is to be low on protein and high on fat (I take a cod liver oil supplement daily and eat nuts, so it's mostly healthy fat). So I'm definitely seeing, though, that I'll need to include more lean protein, probably, and phase out some of the nuts.
I got a spreadsheet from a friend that I think may work with some tweaking, so I'll give that a shot tonight.
When I did the original OPT I was also doing Leigh's One Big Meal Challenge. I have to tell you that it was so easy to meet my macronutrient ratios when all I had to do was tweak a recipe. Maybe something to consider.
When I did the original OPT I was also doing Leigh's One Big Meal Challenge. I have to tell you that it was so easy to meet my macronutrient ratios when all I had to do was tweak a recipe. Maybe something to consider.
I've considered doing that.
I've been doing some intermittent fasting, so it would be easy to make one big meal to eat at the end part of my day.
I plan every bite the night before, prepare what needs to be prepared, and write it in ink in my journal, along with my cals and macros.
Yeah, I've scribbled things out a few times, but when I stick to what's written in ink, I do pretty well, and don't have to think/improv during the day.
I want to work with it a little more--it used to have a pie chart showing percentages, but something-or-other I did with it screwed that up. But I got it functioning so that as I plug in the macros in grams, it tells me how many more grams of the macro I need to meet the goal, and I at least got everything meal-wise squared away for my first week.
Anyway, no, I don't mind sharing, but if you want a "done" version it may not be till this weekend, and it's probably easiest to send via email if you're okay with that. It's in Excel.
When I did the original OPT I was also doing Leigh's One Big Meal Challenge. I have to tell you that it was so easy to meet my macronutrient ratios when all I had to do was tweak a recipe. Maybe something to consider.
I saw that on avidityfitness and briefly considered it, but decided I'd get tired of eating the same thing all day. I suppose another variation would be to pick two or three big meals, make those, and cycle portions of them throughout the day. Hmm...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bytsi
My variation on one big meal / pre-planning:
I plan every bite the night before, prepare what needs to be prepared, and write it in ink in my journal, along with my cals and macros.
Yeah, I've scribbled things out a few times, but when I stick to what's written in ink, I do pretty well, and don't have to think/improv during the day.
That's kind of where I was going with wanting a spreadsheet--I think if I plan out exactly what I'm eating the next day, it's easier to tell myself "no, eating that isn't in the plan." I know I can eat whatever is in my lunch bag whenever I want, but that's *all* I can eat. Makes sense to me!
I saw that on avidityfitness and briefly considered it, but decided I'd get tired of eating the same thing all day. I suppose another variation would be to pick two or three big meals, make those, and cycle portions of them throughout the day. Hmm...
Just a comment - OBM doesn't HAVE to be one type of the same food all day. What Leigh had us do was PREPARE all our food for the day - weigh, measure, etc - and have it ready and on a plate. Then, when the plate was empty, you were done. That plate could hold a casserole, or sandwiches and salad, or 10 different foods - it was just that it was all there in one place with no room to change it once it was there. Same thing I was doing with my "write it in ink" - no thought, no wiggle room - if you added 28g of almonds to the plate, you didn't get to go back for a couple more - when the almonds were eaten, that was it...
I plan every bite the night before, prepare what needs to be prepared, and write it in ink in my journal, along with my cals and macros.
Yeah, I've scribbled things out a few times, but when I stick to what's written in ink, I do pretty well, and don't have to think/improv during the day.
This is exactly what I do but with Fitday (most of my foods are custom entries its easier then their database) - I'm a competitive bodybuilder so I need to be super precise hitting my macros so having it in a computer program lets me tweak portions easily to hit exact p/c/f ratios. I do the same thing also with night before - I plan, prep, pack cause most days I'm out the door ultra early with 4 or 5 meals in tow.
Just a comment - OBM doesn't HAVE to be one type of the same food all day. What Leigh had us do was PREPARE all our food for the day - weigh, measure, etc - and have it ready and on a plate. Then, when the plate was empty, you were done. That plate could hold a casserole, or sandwiches and salad, or 10 different foods - it was just that it was all there in one place with no room to change it once it was there. Same thing I was doing with my "write it in ink" - no thought, no wiggle room - if you added 28g of almonds to the plate, you didn't get to go back for a couple more - when the almonds were eaten, that was it...
Okay, I think I get it. That does sound pretty similar to what I plan to do, only my food will be in multiple containers once I've weighed, measured, cooked it and all that (easier to transport to work). But I want it all prepared beforehand, and then once I've made it, that's it--I eat what I've prepared and don't deviate. I think that'll work better for me than figuring things out on the fly.
Okay, I think I get it. That does sound pretty similar to what I plan to do, only my food will be in multiple containers once I've weighed, measured, cooked it and all that (easier to transport to work). But I want it all prepared beforehand, and then once I've made it, that's it--I eat what I've prepared and don't deviate. I think that'll work better for me than figuring things out on the fly.
You got it!
(now if I would just stop scribbling things out and eat what I planned... )
This is what I do too. But to make it even easier on me I have a lot of repetition.
It makes it easier to prep my meals, shop for the food and know what where to deviate if I have to make an unexpected substitution.
This is what I do too. But to make it even easier on me I have a lot of repetition.
It makes it easier to prep my meals, shop for the food and know what where to deviate if I have to make an unexpected substitution.
Oh, I'm going to have plenty of repetition. I will be eating the exact same meals every day for the first week, with the exception of a refeed day at the end of the week so I keep my metabolism up. Then I plan to change the meals for the second week, but again it'll be the same thing every day. Maybe as I get used to it I can get more complicated, but not at first.
Macronutrient Meal Planning
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