I drink Starbucks every day. Close to my show, I’ll do 2x a day. That’s my thing. These are the things I love to order when I’m cutting. You can make your own at home too. I have an espresso machine so often I will do my own.
Starbucks:
Iced coffee plus 1 scoop vanilla whey in the blender!
I love this. It’s fantastic!
Or Icy Donut (my hubs created this one for me)
Add your own protein powder to this. I use Quest Salted Caramel! It’s amazing.
I don’t know what the macros are for Starbucks protein but I know my own!!
So this week a competitor was on a board talking about how she was going back to her Bro plan because she tried that “iifym thing” and it didn’t work. I asked her what was it that didn’t work and really had no answer. She said she ” just needed to eat clean.”
Some people get overwhelmed by too many choices. I can understand that, especially when you are used to being a strict meal plan kind of girl. It’s all you know, right?
Refresher:
IIFYM is not a diet. You count macro nutrients :Protein, Carbs and Fats.
You must eat at least 20 g of fiber each day.
You must hit your numbers +5/-5 grams daily.
You can eat any way you want but in a fat loss plan, your ratios are 95 percent nutrient dense foods and 5 percent discretionary.
You could eat paleo, diabetic, vegan, bro, whatever you like. You just have to hit those numbers!
This girl was confused. She missed an opportunity to eat well and have choices which is exactly what IIFYM is about. Choices!!
Ideas!
My prep is starting up and we decided that this summer is going to be about the grill.
I want to show you some things we did for my prep.
Bison burgers are lean.This is shark! mmmmmmmThis is Cajun shrimp. He didn’t even flip them. Just closed the lid on the grill.Butter Ball Turkey breast , thawed and cut into steaks on the grill.
Protein: I get about 190 g protein per day. Rob grilled bison burgers, Shark Steaks, Cajun shrimp and turkey. So the turkey.. he took a Butterball breast and thawed it. He cut it into steaks and grilled it, 20 min per side. It was insane. There is no added fat in anything here.
I added avocado to my turkey for my fats and fiber and it was amazing.
Bison and cabbageGrilled purple cabbage from the farmer’s market.The zucchini was the best. It’s so flavorful! Asparagus was great! So much better grilled.Yellow peppers and poblanos! There’s zuc in there too. This bowl was gone fast! YUM.
All our food came from the farmer’s market next door to my studio.
There is no additional fats on these at all. The squash is my favorite. The flavors burst. We used poblanos and yellow peppers. I hate regular green peppers but you could try. The yellow ones are so sweet when you grill them.
Roasted cabbage is very good. We have made that into a salad for lunch tomorrow. With this grilling, Rob really just chopped and grilled. He likes to use seasonings so you can too.
I’m sure you have your own flavors you dig.
You can do it
If you are a person who thinks you have to choose the restricted non scientific BRO plan because IIFYM means all you eat is crap.. I am so sorry that you have misunderstood.
I want you to learn so you can have peace in your plan. If you are happy with ‘clean’ food then by all means, enjoy the food you eat. Dousing things with mustard because you don’t believe you can sub out anything for egg whites is just foolish. It doesn’t make you a better athlete. It doesn’t make you more HAM or beast mode. Here’s what makes you a better athlete. Listening to your body. Eating well for your gains. Choosing things that YOU like for consistency and to not feel restricted.
Remember as athletes we need 300-500g of fruits and veggies per day. All my clients, in fact eat this. That’s about 300 calories and 40g carbs or so. We need 35 different foods per week and we need to focus on our micro nutrients too. Different foods provide micros! Don’t be stuck with the same 6 food items! Investigate!! Let me know if you have questions!!
I’m a bit of a creature of habit. I’ve had protein pancakes for breakkie since 2012.
I like them!
I was having a conversation with one of my friends/competitor clients. We both agreed that food prep is “meh”. So when I tell you I had to bake sweet potatoes for this, that’s about the extent of my prep. If I’m home, I will toss 5 or 6 into the oven. I keep them in the fridge for pancakes!
Note to the clean eating mafia: Hurray.. these are full of amazing magic sweet potatoes.
egg whites and oatmeal! #BroCoachApproved
How I bake Sweet Potatoes
Step 1: Turn the oven on to 450 degrees. Set your timer for 45 min.
Line your cookie sheet with tinfoil so you don’t have to scrub it!
Put your washed sweet potatoes on the sheet and bake them until they ooze caramel.
*never microwave sweet potatoes. So yucky.
Pancake is:
3/4 cup pourable egg whites
4 oz sweet potato
Mix it in your ninja.
Spray your pan and make a pancake. It’s not easy to flip. It might get messy.
Macros without syrup
Here it is with 4 oz IHOP sugar free syrup .
Just to mix it up. Here is 2 oz sweet potato and 20g quick oats
If you add the syrup, you could add less. 1/2 cup is a lot of syrup.
You can modify the amount based on the carbs you have to work with. Since I typically lift in the morning, this recipe with syrup is a great pre-workout with 39 carbs.
We make double recipe every single day and this is meals 1 and 2 for me.
I don’t mind eating pancakes all day!
If you want to up your fats, fiber, toss in some flax or chia. Just sayin..
This pancake smells awesome. It tastes awesome and you can add spices or SF coffee syrup to create something YOU love.
Say it with me. No. More. Gagging. On . Egg Whites!
So, really quick. I just started a 16 week lean out for an upcoming photo shoot I’m doing in April. Truth is, I haven’t been at my best for a while. Monday night I had to go to the ER with severe stomach pains and my right shoulder was on fire! In fact, my shoulder pain was lingering for a few weeks. I was scared.
Got to the ER and after tests were run, I had an emergency Gallbladder removal. I had a stone bigger than a golf ball blocking my duct! I didn’t see that coming! I thought they would tell me to “quit playin” and go home. I was in the hospital until Thursday.
So.. I’m on bed rest for a while. No lifting for 6 weeks. No pole dancing. No cardio.
So this is a set back. I’ll be fine. I’ll come back feeling better. However, there is one thing;
my diet has been changed. My doc has me on a low cholesterol diet, no processed meats,
limited in grain too. We did a slow careful return to food after I was allowed to eat again.
Fatty foods are OUT! Right now, I’m eating no more than 3g fat per meal . I will be able to get to about 30% healthy fats. But no hydrogenated oils either.
I’m going to look at this as a blessing in disguise. There will be no more fried anything.
I’m not interested in fatty foods after going through that fresh hell of a surgery.
They had to make the incision so much bigger to get that stone out. Doc said I might have had it since high school.
Slow process back
I just started back on fiber and veggies today. I’m pretty scared right now so I’m keeping my food very simple. I know I can’t make ‘stones’ now but I want to be sure I’m not fooling around with my digestion. My IIFYM experience is so flexible, it will just have to be foods that fit my plan. I’m still planning on doing the shoot!
Ratatouille
Rob is a wiz in the kitch so he created this awesome bake for me. I was slightly concerned about the tomatos but it went well. I have had zero pain when I eat!
The recipe contains:
Sliced Green Zucchini
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced fresh organic tomato
6 oz chicken breast for the whole pan
3/4 jar of Prego Light Smart red sauce.
No spices for me!
Bake it 40 min at 350 degrees.
Macros.. not much. The red sauce is 16 carbs per 1/2 cup. It’s mostly veggies.
It was really good! If you are prepping, here’s another way to fill up without spending all your carbs!
This is a picture of Recovery Kitty, Chelsea. She has nothing to do with cooking but she is very soft.
Clients often struggle with mindless snacking, or late night tv eating.
Sometimes stress eating is a concern. Any of these behaviors can crash
your physique goals. I want to offer some thoughts on how to create new habits but first..
One of the most difficult/frustrating things for me as well as my clients is to be doing so well then have a binge or surplus of calories . I used to binge on “healthy” food. You know my watermelon story. I’d eat a whole melon for 350g C. Because clean food is magic. It’s not. I was still fluffy. Carbs are carbs. Calories put me into a surplus so my physique was a hot mess. Ok..let’s talk about how to fix this.
You must create the right opportunity to do well. But at some point you have to just realize that you must eat less.
Science: I’ll keep it super simple.
Overweight
If you are fluffy (overweight) you are eating in a surplus of calories. Remember, your body counts macros
whether you do or not. Your body is storing fat.
To lose weight
To lose body fat (weight) you must be in a caloric deficit.
When you are trying to get lean, you need to be accountable for everything you put in your mouth.
That means you track everything. The thing about ‘eyeballing’ or guessing or DGAF is that you can put yourself into a surplus of calories faster than a Kardashian says “I don’t knowwwww“.
Further information YOU need to know. It’s important to look at your macros for a full week. So let’s say that Monday-Friday you are straight arrow and tracking like a boss. Hitting those macros spot on! Good job! If you find yourself eating off your plan Saturday and Sunday, you will end up in a surplus for the week. Surplus is NOT going to further your fat loss goals. For many clients it’s a hamster wheel of sads . Oh and just in case you didn’t know.
So the bottom line is, for you to make a change in your physique.. all those behaviors need to stop.
You can stop now and you can learn new behaviors or you can continue down your path of frustration. Now is the time to make choices that will forward your goals.
Some ideas for accountability. Track everything. If you eat a whole bag of Costco size skinny pop, enter it in your tracker. Be accountable.
It is very telling as to why I’m not reaching my goals when the bag of caramel popcorn I ate was 1800 calories and 120g of fat.
Plan ahead. If you like to sit on the couch and eat snacks that’s awesome. Go to RippedRecipes.com and find something that will make you happy and fill you up. Protein/carbs/fat will help you be satisfied. Box of cheezits will have you reaching for more snacks! Be smart in your snacks.
These are two things I use for tv time.
Got this on rippedrecipes!
Put that in your tracker in the morning and make sure you eat the rest of your macros on point.
Then you have a fun, filling snack for your movie night.
Play way ahead
Fill out your tracker with food for 1 day . Eat exactly that for 7 days. If you can’t be bothered to track daily, don’t.
Just eat what is on the menu every day and you’ll be golden. Bored.. maybe but next week plan something else.
Again.. Rippedrecipes will help you pick fun stuff.
Snack munch snack mindless snacks.. You don’t need muchie stuff in your house. Stop buying it. I said it.
I’m not even going to tell you to eat raw vegetables, I would never do that.
I do however sit at my desk and get the munchies too. I use baked zucchini chips with savory spices! I love that.
Light and fit Greek yogurt and SF jello are fantastic and filling.
Drink lots of water! Sometimes you aren’t really even hungry, just dehydrated!
You can also search Pinterest for “low glycemic” snacks or rippedrecipes for things like protein balls.
Those things can have protein/carbs/fats and keep you full.
Dude… Snack pudding with protein! Yass. Gnc baby!
Or.. Quest bar?
.
They have fiber to fill you up. Ripped recipes has super fun recipes for these. Yummo
More thoughts? Volume foods are foods that you can eat more of and not spend your macros. I have several blog posts on volume foods.
You can do miracle noodles, 6 oz of Prego Light Smart red sauce and 3 oz chicken. That will fill you up like you have no idea. It’s about 6g carbs for that.
Squash… volume food! My zuccinin chips. Slice one up. Bake on a cookie sheet with some seasoning. Boom.
Baked Kale chips are the bomb if you season them up! You can even set a head of califlower in the oven and roast it. It’s so good. It’s good for munchies! Very low carb.
Protein icecream is a fantasic treat that will satisfy you. Again, Rippedrecipes, pinterest, will give you so many options. You must make the commitment to doing your best each day. You will create new habits and see yourself reaching your goals!
You must create the right opportunity to do well. But at some point you have to just realize that you must eat less.
Stress eating.. thoughts Many of us struggle with stress eating . One strategy that could help\is to keep a journal to see if you can pin point what is happening in your life that is triggering your stress eating.
There is a lot of information on the internet about coping with stress without sabotaging our goals. I would for sure, suggest you research some things that might help you redirect!!!
I want to tell you though.. it may not be stress eating.
A while back, I was doing a lot of stress eating and really hard on myself. I looked back on my tracker and realized that I had been eating the Quest S’mores bar every time before I ‘stress ate’. There is a sugar alcohol in that bar that somehow triggered me to binge. I wasted so many days beating myself up for behaviors that were related to food sensitivities.
I feel like this journey is one where there is continual learning. Really examining what is happening and using strategies that are in this post could help move you forward in your journey.
I hope this helps!!
This is Kitty Roo. Roo trains with Lou Ferrigno. She’s totally Bro.
