OPT Meal Strategies...hmmm, what to eat, what to eat

[kimikaw]

Sitting here planning the week, making a shopping list as I prepare to start OPT tomorrow (also trying to stop kicking myself for not starting it sooner, I mean, c'mon, I've been telling everyone I know how Leigh's book changed my life, but never fully committed to her program...oops digressing and going on a typical Kim tangent, back to the subject, Kim)

Anyway, I am determined to follow this plan to the tee, or as close as I can...which means meeting her defined macros. My normal eating style in deficit seems to be pretty close to her ratios, but I will be doing a slightly higher deficit. I've found that I do best if I keep the majority of my day the same....switching up dinners. This would be my typical day. Macros pretty close to right. But keeping that dinner around 350 calories may be a bit hard. Esp. as that is the most difficult for me - both because my mind still says "You should have a big dinner" and that is the one meal I share with my family who are not dieting...and at times I feel resent the type meals my plan requires (or maybe better put resent that I don't make the food I used to)

My target daily calories are 1550 based on a 35% deficit and daily avg burn of 2400 calories (which based on my GWF is about right)

Breakfast EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
10.0	grams Almond Butter, No Salt Added	1.5 g	2.1 g	5.9 g	0.0 g	63 Cal
20.0	grams Any Whey Protein Powder	16.6 g	1.0 g	0.0 g	0.0 g	68 Cal
80.0	grams Blueberries	0.6 g	11.6 g	0.3 g	0.0 g	46 Cal
8.0	fl ozs Brewed Coffee	0.3 g	0.0 g	0.0 g	0.0 g	2 Cal
13.0	grams Hogsdon Mill Milled Flax Seed	3.0 g	4.0 g	5.0 g	0.0 g	60 Cal
40.0	grams Rolled Oats Cereal, Regular, Quick or Instant, Dry	5.6 g	26.7 g	2.7 g	0.0 g	152 Cal
8.0	fl ozs Skim Milk	8.1 g	12.0 g	0.2 g	0.0 g	82 Cal
Total		35.7 g	57.4 g	14.1 g	0.0 g	473 Cal

AM Snack EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
1.0	Item Hard Boiled Egg	6.3 g	0.6 g	5.3 g	0.0 g	78 Cal
Total		6.3 g	0.6 g	5.3 g	0.0 g	78 Cal

Lunch EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
1.0	serving Arnold Select Multigrain Sandwich Thins	3.5 g	20.5 g	0.5 g	0.0 g	100 Cal
67.0	grams Avocado, California	1.3 g	5.8 g	10.3 g	0.0 g	112 Cal
140.0	grams Boars Head Ovengold Turkey	32.5 g	0.0 g	2.5 g	0.0 g	150 Cal
Total		37.3 g	26.3 g	13.3 g	0.0 g	362 Cal

PM Snack EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
100.0	grams Low Fat Cottage Cheese, 1% Fat	12.4 g	2.7 g	1.0 g	0.0 g	72 Cal
Total		12.4 g	2.7 g	1.0 g	0.0 g	72 Cal

Dinner EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
30.0	Gram NEWMAN'S OWN Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigre...	0.0 g	4.0 g	3.0 g	0.0 g	40 Cal
1.0	serving Moreys Marinated Salmon	30.0 g	1.0 g	17.0 g	0.0 g	270 Cal
0.5	Cup Red Bell or Sweet Pepper	0.7 g	4.5 g	0.2 g	0.0 g	19 Cal
3.0	Cups Spinach, Trimmed Leaves	2.7 g	0.1 g	0.3 g	0.0 g	10 Cal
Total		33.4 g	9.6 g	20.5 g	0.0 g	339 Cal

Late Snack EDIT		Pro	Carb	Fat	Alc	Cal
80.0	grams Blueberries	0.6 g	11.6 g	0.3 g	0.0 g	46 Cal
6.0	fl ozs Chobani Plain Non Fat Yogurt	18.0 g	7.0 g	0.0 g	0.0 g	100 Cal
15.0	grams GNC Vanilla Whey Protein Powder	10.3 g	2.1 g	1.0 g	0.0 g	62 Cal
Total		28.9 g	20.7 g	1.3 g	0.0 g	208 Cal

Total for all meals

154.0 g

117.3 g

55.5 g

0.0 g

1531 Cal

I'm considering the idea of adding a bit of intermittent fasting to one day, so that I can have one higher calorie re-feed day on the weekend, but still keep my weekly deficit in check. Figure this is good for my psyche, my metabolism, not to mention family relations as we can have maybe a bit more special dinner or night out.

So I guess the question for everyone is how do you plan your meals? And maybe even how about posting a meal plan or two?

[Gen]

I like to do intermittent fasting a day or two every week, with one day of higher calories (weekends?). I also feel the selfishness of friends and family members who don't like to feel guilty that they're eating "better" food than me. I'm supposed to go out to a restaurant with a friend in a couple days and I know that when I order she's going to be disappointed that we can't share in the experience of eating a lot of unhealthy, high cal crap!

Anyway I tend to eat much lighter during the day so that I can have a semi substantial dinner with my husband at night (500 - 800 calories). I used to eat 4 - 5 meals of 300 - 400 calories and after a few weeks really just wanted to have a substantial dinner! If I only knew then that it would have been ok to do switch it up every once in a while!

[AnnetteW]

Looks like a really good meal plan to me. I guess if you want some extra calories for dinner you can take a smidge off of the other meals, ie a 1/3 less of flax seed, protein powder, oats. Just a little off other things and you can get an extra 100-200 for dinner.

I haven't tried following OPT yet myself, but I'm losing right now, so nothing is broken yet. I do average my calories eaten over the last 7 days and they are almost always between 1500 and 1600, so I'm pleased with that. My macros are only a little bit off, my fat being a bit higher and protein a bit lower, but not by much.

Good luck with it, and keep us informed.

[LaraT]

My only comments are that your plan looks quite low in veggies and fiber. Maybe take out some of the fruit and replace with veggies. Veggies and fiber are dieters best friends for adding bulk with very minimal calories!
I agree with the other poster that if you prefer a heartier dinner than shave off some calories earlier in the day and save for dinner.

[kimikaw]

Thanks everyone. I was just thinking many of the same thoughts (had to bring the shaggy dog to the groomer, and do my best thinking while driving). As I drove I thought, well, you can always cut out that last night snack and bump up dinner (which could throw macros a little out of whack due to high protein). Cut out the almond butter in the oatmeal. And you know, there sure isn't much in the way of veggies in that day.

Then I get home, and you guys have written about the same. Most days I pack celery and cucumbers and raw green beans to munch on with my turkey sandwich, need to work those back in. Noted on my shopping list.

And in another entirely random thought brought on by my awareness of my many typos I decided to look at it as intermittent fasting combined with intermittent f*e*asting - just in case I ever type the wrong word there, you can follow along.

[Etana]

Originally Posted by kimikaw

Thanks everyone. I was just thinking many of the same thoughts

And you know, there sure isn't much in the way of veggies in that day.

I'm excited that you'll be starting OPT. Monday starts week 9 for me, a rest week. My pants and shirt are definitely 2-3 inches looser, though the scale is still acting weird. After a party last night, I show a 0lb weight loss, having gained all 4 lost pounds back this week, still eating about 1200 cal. But measurements are real.

Last week I played with avoiding dairy and whey, but it didn't seem to have much effect. During REPAIR I was super conscious about hitting macros, but for OPT I've mostly paid attention to keeping my protein up, and then favoring good fat, but haven't been diligent about keeping the macros. What I usually eat is (1100-1200 cal):
1. 30g whey protein, 25g (1/4 banana), 4-8 oz almond milk
2. 140g Greek yogurt & fresh or frozen fruit and Davinci sugar free vanilla syrup
3. Lunch: 3C salad (lettuce, red&green pepper, celery, cuke, 60g tomato, 6 olives, 4oz of chicken or turkey or steak or salmon, 1-2T lite ital drsg, maybe 40g avocado; or 4oz protein, steamed vegie, 1/2 C rice
4. 140g Cottage Cheese with either vegies and almond bruschetta (for constipation, I know it sounds weird but I love the combo), or chicken and a piece of fruit
5. Dinner: 4oz protein, steamed vegie,
6. my evening snack is determined by what my macros are: if i need more fat (nuts or chocolate), protein (protein shake or CC), or can have more carb (fruit)

I have been lately doing ESE 1 or 2 days a week because I did some restaurant and parties, but I'm planning after Monday, there won't be any of that until week 13 refeed, and then I'll start another cycle of OPT, starting from a much stronger body, and hoping to move the weights up. Hoping there'll begin to be some scale movement. Don't think I can lower my calories any more than 1100-1200... I for the first time felt some weakness and a bit of dizziness this week, and made sure I drank more and ate

[dianas]

First of all I don't use OPT meal plan/macros but I too like having a bigger dinner with my family. Dinners with family are my biggest variable.

I also believe that part of being a family means give and take for everybody including myself. There are times my family may give up something they'd rather have so I can stay on my diet but there's also times I need to do the same for them. So I plan accordingly to try and work around that.

I've found it's a lot easier to start my meal planning with dinners first and adjust the rest of the day to get the calories and macros where I want them. For example if the family wants shepherds pie for dinner which is a little higher in carbs and lower in protein then I try to have eggs for breakfast and higher protein lunch. Or if I know we're having larger quantity of meat for dinner then I might have oatmeal for breakfast. If we're going to be eating out or ordering pizza then I try to save extra calories for dinner. I also expect that as a general rule healthy food is eaten by everyone the majority of the time. Fast food, junk, sweets have always been limited so it does make it easier overall to adjust dinners to meet my needs as they are typically in the ballpark to start with. Somewhere I was reading that someone actually starts their day with the previous night's dinner and they adjust the next days meals to make their day work. I think that's brilliant actually and if my tracking software would accomodate this easier then I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I also found that I prefer having fewer snacks and therefore more calories available for meals. I'm much more compliant with a flexible diet than I am a rigid one so I also typically set a range of calories that I'm aiming for instead of one specific amount. (1500-1700 calories instead of 1600 as an example.) I plan my meals to get as close to the lower range as possible that way I have some wiggle room for the day. I'm finding that I like having 200 free calories to spend on whatever I want.

For the most part those strategies are enough to help deal with the unexpected when dinner comes around or when it's time to put my families needs ahead of my diet. If they're not I tend to just do the best I can realizing I don't live in a vacuum.

I don't do well with skipping meals or trying to make up for too many calories by compensating later in the week. So I've never tried IF but from reading that strategy has worked well with others and I don't see why you couldn't do it with OPT. For me if I've flubbed up then I find it's just best to move on.