Lunch Meal Planning…You did what?

Where to start? That is pretty much always the question. When you start something new, it can seem daunting and overwhelming. Here is how I started meal planning for myself and my husband. It does help that I am a chef and know about nutrition in the capacity of a professional chef.

Change only one type of meal for 3 weeks then add on. Whether its snacks, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the meal only matters in whatever is easiest for you to stick to. For me I started with lunches.

I looked at what I wanted to do or what my goals were. There are so many people out there that will tell you their way is the best way, and it may be for them. But here is a tip, you’re a biological animal, and as such you are a complex creature. That means what works for one person does not always work for another. I wish it were so. I teach cake decorating and Baking and Pastry, and I often tell my students, that I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave and they would all be able to decorate a cake like a pro. However, what is required is experimentation and practice. The same goes for meal prep, and getting into the groove.

There are several ways to meal prep, but here are a few core things I focus on.

  1. Decide if you are going to count your calories only, watch/count your macros, or just eat intuitively.
  2. Get yourself a food scale if you are going to count your calories or macros.
  3. Decide what your goal is: Bulking, leaning, maintaining or something else
  4. Choose a protein, complex carb, and veggie/fruit
  5. Learn to prepare those things/gather recipes
  6. Get your Tupperware/lunch containers ready.
  7. Weigh and write down what you put in the containers, so that food entry into a tracker is much easier.

Now to count calories, macros, or eat intuitively. If you are newly embarking on a fitness journey, you may not be familiar. I will touch on these subjects to give you an base understanding, and tell you what I do.  But first if you are going to count calories or macros you are going to want to calculate how much your body needs to eat to function. Here is a great website that will do that for you. It has a calorie calculator on it, that will give you your total daily energy expenditure or (TDEE). This is the amount of energy it would take your body to just lay in bed all day long, respirating, and living. Not getting up and mowing the lawn much less going to the gym to pump out a few sets.

https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/


Here is my recommendation: If you are just starting out. Count your Calories and Macros. The structure will be good for you. I have been doing this for years so I can eyeball some things.


Counting calories, has been done for many many… so many years. It is just that. You log your food, and figure out that a large boiled egg is about 75 calories. The calories in a medium apple is about 95 calories. Add those two together and you get 170 calories consumed for that snack. Simple right? Yup! There is more to nutrition than that of course but that is a good way to get your toes wet as it were. Counting calories alone though falls short, in that you can eat 300 calories of grapes, and 300 calories of doughnuts and it would be basically the same from a numbers standpoint. However, the nutritional value of 300 calories in grapes and 300 calories in doughnuts is extremely different. “


“DOES IT MATTER WHERE MY CALORIES COME FROM?
Human metabolism is complex, and gaining or losing weight takes more than hitting your calorie goal. Fat, protein, and carbohydrates all have different nutrient functions in the body, and an effective diet will include at least a little of all three macronutrients.

Protein builds muscle and maintains other body tissue. Fat provides energy, regulates hormone production, and keeps you full. Carbohydrates also provide energy and help you sleep at night.

Theoretically, eating fewer calories than you expend can help you lose weight, but the type of calories you eat influences your results. For example, if you eat very low-carb and have trouble sleeping, your hunger levels could rise and you might struggle to keep your calorie intake low enough to lose weight. Or if you don’t eat enough calories from fat or carbs to power your workouts, you could end up burning fewer calories than you think, because you’re not giving it your all in the gym.”

bodybuilding.com

I could not have said it better. So we know that calories count and where they come from counts. So now we go to learning what our macros are. Macros is a over view of what your body needs to run. Macro Nutrients are the carbs, proteins and fats your body needs. Just as I said earlier the kind of calorie you take in is important. While bacon is fun to eat and tasty, its protein and fat content are completely different than say the equivalent amount of chicken breast.

These are the Macros I need to hit every day to meet my goals. So not only do I need to make sure I eat enough calories, but I need to make sure I get this much protein in, and this much carbs in and this much fat in for my body to function like a well oiled machine.

👇 WOO! YOUR MACROS ARE BELOW 👇

MY MACROS

2337CALORIES

155PROTEINS

238CARBS

85FATS

Last kind of eating change would be intuitively eating. It sounds ridiculous at first, but eating when your body tells you that you need it. It sounds stupid but, we (especially Americans) are very bad at telling when we are hungry or when we are just having cravings. Do you want that piece of cheesecake cause you are hungry and skipped a meal, or do you want it cause you are craving sugar and your body needs protein and healthy fiber. That is usually my problem I don’t get enough protein given my own proclivities. I will eat more plant based. I will dedicate a blog post to what your cravings may mean you need later.

Now you will need a scale, and this is the one I use all the time. It is inexpensive and does what I need it to do. It is call Ozeri.

https://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B01LAVADW2?ref_=Oct_BSellerC_289787_0&pf_rd_p=f4f0c6e7-19a1-5664-a4fe-e138f678cfbf&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-10&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=289787&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=T28AR18FGYZ9X1D0415P&pf_rd_r=T28AR18FGYZ9X1D0415P&pf_rd_p=f4f0c6e7-19a1-5664-a4fe-e138f678cfbf

Now to the meal prep I did… This post has been long enough.

I prepped Sunday night for both myself and husbands, lunches. Lunches are the hardest meals for both of us to get in. This is the meal that helps us most to have prepped.

Protien – Chicken, black beans

Carb – brown rice, black beans, veggies

Fat – Chicken, black beans, and oil used in cooking

Southwestern Chicken

Yield 6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 5 x Chicken breast
  • 1 tbs – Mrs. Dash Southwestern Chipotle seasoning
  • 2 tsp – ground cumin
  • 2 tbs – vegetable oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Garlic powder to taste
  • Brown Rice – (Cook as directed on package)
  • 1 can – Black Beans
  • 6 cups – Broccoli and Cauliflower mixed veggies
  • cherry tomatoes

Directions:

  • Cook your rice as the directions tell you
  • chop chicken in to bite size pieces, heat pan up with two tbs of veggie oil. Season chicken and cook till chicken is done.
  • Cook Broccoli and Cauliflower mixed veggies
  • Open can of black beans and heat up in sauce pan. I added some garlic powder and a pinch of salt.
  • Assemble into lunch boxes, I measured each item and wrote it down for easier entry into food tracker.

And last but not least, you will need a food tracker. I use the one that goes with my FitBit watch, but there are free ones out there. One of the best I have heard about is My Fitness Pal.

I track my macros, and this is what I prepared for myself and husband this last Sunday for lunches. I hope this helps if you are just getting started and if you have already been doing this. I hope this gives you an idea of what you can put into your lunches. Its simple just make things you will like to eat.

This has been a long post. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!

Fitness Progress…2014 to now 2019

Fair warning there will be before and after pictures of me. There may be a lot of them… I have yet to decide. I hope I will have a clearer idea at the end of this post. I guess I should.

This will be a up to 2019 post, and I hope to do comparison posts every 3 months or so after this. We will see.

Lets see… I had stopped working out for a good 15 years. Wait no 14 years. I just had to calculate that, and that really is a long time. I estimate I stopped working out around 23 years old. Spring forward to 2014, where I am 33 years old. I have a 5 and a 6 year old. They are finally potty trained and are able to comprehend that Mama does other things than hold them all the time.

I would look in the mirror and hate what I was seeing. Lets be honest… I still hate what I see. I have all my life, but that is neither here nor there. Its very hard to get over your formative years with someone you respect, love and cherish, that calls you names and tells you that you are fat and ugly. When all I wanted to do was make her happy. I could not. I know that now. I know that she is a very angry person and took it out on me both physically and mentally. But all I see is a fat and ugly person in the mirror, even though I have lost 70 lbs. I even saw that person when I was my lightest and wore a size 2 in college.

I digress… lets see here I am at 2014 at 33. Ack ewww…

And here I am, 2018, and 38 years old: Meh…

I started taking photos of myself even though I hate them so that I could see if there was any progress.

Head shots, this was an after workout photo circa 2014. Ack…

And now a photo from just this week. I can see a difference but only when I compare two photos together. I have more visible tattoos and a nose piercing now. Hah!

Now some side photos…

Circa 2014… so cringe worthy… I actually debated putting this up.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

2019, current body shape

Ok at this point, I am debating just deleting this whole blog post. I don’t like my pictures and possible I never will. Why is it so hard to post this? Maybe I feel vulnerable? My little inner demons nipping away at my heels. Saying, “you are ugly and fat, and no one wants to see this.” But this is my progress. Not as far as I would love to be after 4 years., but I have had some setbacks. The kidney stone, cancer being a major one, broken toe, and then herniated disk. I tell my friends to be kind to themselves. Why is it so hard for me to be kind to myself? I strive for perfection I will never have… I guess…

If you got this far in the read, you deserve a metal. You have gotten to see one of my biggest inner brain weasels rear its ugly little head. Thanks for reading.

Healthy Snacks? Hells Yes!

Diets

Alright… diets and dieting are a sensitive subject for most people. I have done my share of dieting, yo-yoing up and down. Trying out each new fad. I even tried that grapefruit diet. Do you remember that one? Maybe I am just showing my age.  If you want to read more about it. You can find it on Web MD.

I know some of my friends have done keto and have gotten such great results. Other friends have gone paleo, and had some great results. If you have something that works for you I say keep doing it. However, if you feel like your diet is not sustainable than maybe look into what makes your body feel good.

I prefer to try to eat whole foods now. The emphasis is on whole minimally processed foods. For instance if you look at the ingredients in a package of chips and there are more than 3 ingredients and many that you cannot pronounce that is something to avoid. Cooked or raw your body processes those whole food nutrients much more efficiently than it does those foods processed with chemicals.

Nutrigenomics

There is some interesting research going around nutrigenomics. The New York Times has a great article about it. Where scientists and doctors are approaching peoples diseases based on genetics and what they eat.

“There is a buzz around nutritional genomics at the moment, which is partly a matter of timing. A sea change is under way in the approach scientists are taking to disease — they’re looking less to nature or nurture alone for answers, and more to the interactive symphony of ”systems biology” that nutrigenomics epitomizes.

At the same time, chatter around this new science has been amplified by a controversy. The idea of the biological relevance of race — even its very existence — is hotly debated. And the assumption of real genetic markers that distinguish one ethnic group from another is at the philosophical heart of nutrigenomics.

At the same time, chatter around this new science has been amplified by a controversy. The idea of the biological relevance of race — even its very existence — is hotly debated. And the assumption of real genetic markers that distinguish one ethnic group from another is at the philosophical heart of nutrigenomics.

Here’s the most familiar example: If you’re of Northern European ancestry, you can probably digest milk, and if you’re Southeast Asian, you probably can’t. In most mammals, the gene for lactose tolerance switches off once an animal matures beyond the weaning years. Humans shared that fate as well — until a mutation in the DNA of an isolated population of Northern Europeans around 10,000 years ago introduced an adaptive tolerance for nutrient-rich milk. The likelihood that you tolerate milk depends on the degree to which you have Northern European blood.

”That, essentially, is the model — a very dramatic one,” says Jim Kaput, the founder of NutraGenomics, a biotechnology company. ”As humans evolved, and as our bodies interacted with foods on each of the continents, we sort of self-selected for these naturally occurring variants. And certain populations have variants that, when presented with Western-type food — which is usually fatty and overprocessed and high in calories — pushes them toward disease rather than health.”

Credit NYTimes

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/magazine/what-your-genes-want-you-to-eat.html

I have noticed based on just experimentation, my body does better with more plant based foods, less animal proteins with emphasis on fish and seafood, and avoiding lots of dairy. I am half Japanese and I am lactose intolerant. I still like pizza though!

Eat Whole Foods, Don’t Starve Yourself

I strive… to eat using only whole foods, but I still allow myself to enjoy life. Do I eat things that are not whole foods. Yes! Do I do it all the time? Nope! During the holidays you should let yourself have fun. What is life without celebration? Eat whole foods, don’t starve yourself.

I am the kind of person that can be strict enough with myself to limit myself to 500 calories a day. Please don’t do this. It is not healthy and really messed up my metabolism for a long time. It messes with your hormones and many other body processes. I can tell you it feels painfully boring. It is going to a party and saying nah I can’t even take a bite of anything because I had my apple, boiled egg and saltines I have already allotted for this meal. Its feeling left out. Its the constant guilt about food. When I feel guilty about food, I know I began to resent food. However, if you snack, and eat everyday with health in mind. You can indulge occasionally. It is good for the soul and good for your spirits.

With that said I will stop rambling and get on with the healthy snacks. Eat these nummy things on a normal day and feel like you are treating yourself. Then when a special celebration comes around let loose and have fun.

Banana Almond butter and Grape

Yeild: 1 bowl

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana sliced
  • 2 tsp of almond butter
  • 10 grapes
  • 1 tsp of desiccated unsweetened coconut

Directions:

  • Slice bananas, and place all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy.

Calories: 222 calories, 10g fat, 3.8g fiber, 35.4g carbs, 14.5mg sodium, 3.4g protien

Banana Oatmeal Cookie Bites

Yield: 18 servings

(Gluten free, dairy free, egg free)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of rolled oats
  • 2 whole bananas
  • 4 tbs raisins
  • 3 tbs chopped pecans
  • 1 tbs cocoa powder unsweetened
  • 1 pinch of salt

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350
  • Smash the bananas, mix in the oats, and then rest of the ingredients.  Roll the mixture into a ball and then place on a greased parchment paper lined pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Calories for 1 cookie ball: 45.7 calories, 1.47g fat, 1g fiber, 7.37 carbs, 1mg sodium,

Yogurt with Frozen Fruit and Chocolate chips

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup of frozen fruit
  • 10 grams desiccated coconut unsweetened
  • 1 tbs dark chocolate chips

Calories: 300 calories, 11.2g fat, 5.2g carbs, 91.2 mg sodium, 25.2g protein

Remember to create a new habit, it takes 21 days of consistency… try replacing just your snacks with whole foods foods.

Thank you for reading, and have a fantastic day! I would love to hear from you. Let me know what you think.

Next Blog: Listening to my body vs. being lazy

First Workout of the Year

I completed my first workout of the year. Woot!

Today I went and worked on Muay Thai for 1.5 hours. Today is New Years day and we did not have class today so we thought we would get into the gym during open mat time and get some work in. More practice makes me better.

My goal for this session is to warm up with footwork. Being able to move helps you avoid being hit. Then work on cardio/conditioning rounds that fatigue the muscle. This makes it harder to execute the exercise and creates muscle memory during fatigue and stress. The theory is your body will know what to do in auto pilot when in a fight when you are tired and stressed out. Finally I always need to practice form and execution of the moves. The more practiced and relaxed I am the harder I hit.

Workout/Training:

  • I started off with a warm up of the agility ladder for 10 minutes, and then some stretching.
  • We then worked on the boxing 20 combination.
  • I then did a set of conditioning rounds that were 3 minutes each with 30 second rest period in between them. (I am a puddle of sweat and sucking air after those.)
  • We worked on four counts, they consist of left kick/cross/hook/right kick, left kick/cross/hook/left kick, right kick/jab/cross/left kick, right kick/jab/cross/right kick.
  • I then did another set of conditioning rounds that were 2 minutes each with 30 second rest period in between them. (I was dead after that.)
  • Worked on some elbows, off balancing your opponent, and clench work.

Then it was time to go home. I needed to make new years diner for us. Can I tell you that using the vegetable spiral noodle maker after punching tells you just where your muscles  are sore and tired. I need to remember to roll out my muscles later tonight.

It’s a special time in our family. New Year we celebrate on English New Year but with Japanese food. Because you see I am haffa, or half Japanese. So we had rice, chicken, and veggies. We ended with the traditional mochi and other special sweets. The kiddos loved it and we all enjoyed our time together.

It was a great way to punch in the New Year. Keep being awesome and kick some ass everyone. Happy New Year to you all. I hope this year is filled with love and happiness for you all.

(I added a video under Moving Pixels, it is of me doing a Thai 4 count. I am still a novice and have to work on so much, so keep that in mind while watching. I have received the Orange band or third band up.)

Next Blog: Healthy Snacks, Hells yes!

https://youtu.be/ohalSLd22Rg

New Years Resolutions… Should we or Shouldn’t we?

New Years Resolutions… I say NAY. Make life changes.

I was going to do a pros and cons list, but the onion article made me laugh today and I could not do better than them.

“PRO

Pretty easy to think of ways in which you suck.

Many gyms offer discounted memberships in the new year to prey on suckers like you.

Previous Guinness World Record not even that many hamburgers.

It’s never worked before, but it might work this year.

CON

Pretty pathetic to hear someone own up to their weaknesses.

Perpetuates idea that we should always be trying to improve ourselves.

Might set unhealthy precedent of actually getting things done.

You always do this. You always say you’re going to follow through and then you go and let it slip through the cracks. You’re a joke.”

Credit The Onion — https://www.theonion.com/pros-and-cons-of-making-new-year-s-resolutions-1831261190

Ahem, with that said. I have done myself and seen so many of my friends make resolutions that are either really difficult or unreasonable to do. In the end it makes the resolution maker feel bad, like a failure, and if you announced it to your world in social media, now your friends and family have seen you fail.

Now what I think should be done and what I did was make life changes. I know other people have said this, and I am rehashing some of the same things. For me I decided to be come healthier. That seems nebulous and it is. I had to do research, had to figure out what I wanted to do and I tackled each thing separately. I learned it takes about 21 days or 3 weeks of consistency for a person to develop a new habit.  Know your current life requirements/funds/limitations and plan around that.

What did that mean for me? I stared four years and four months ago, with a small achievable goal. I wanted to get some sort of work out in. At this point I was not certain what I wanted to do but I knew the requirements that I had to meet to make it work for me.

Requirements at the time:

  • The kids were little, 5 and 6 years old so I needed a workout that I could do at home, with little people around.
  • I wanted something that was economical, because I was worried about failing again, and children require considerable adjustments to your budget. Youtube was my answer to that. I specifically used Fitnessblender.com they are a great resource to use.
  • Exercises that did not require a great amount of equipment. Both for the amount of space I have to work in, and again, commitment. I did not know if I was going to be able to keep this up. I did not want to go and blow money on a lot of equipment.

After I had been able to keep working out two days a week up for month I decided to add two more goals. I added posting on social media so that I could keep track of my progress, and as a means of checks and balances among my friends and I. Next, I added cleaning up my lunch meals. I wanted to start eating more healthfully, and figured if I could at least start with lunch, were I am less stressed and more caffeinated, I can keep to it.

I continued to add to my life long changes. Changing up eventually every meal, changing my workouts to suit my current goals, and following my passions. I did not succeed at every change, because every person, and each individuals body is different. As much as we would love a quick fix to things we don’t like or want, we must experiment to find what works for us. I still to this day fall into this trap, of wanting a quick fix. Sometimes falling for the next fad, hoping it will get me to a life long change that I want faster.

What does life changes mean? You are going to stumble, you are going to mess up, you are going to get hurt like falling off a ladder. Ask me how I know. You have to get up, brush yourself off, when doc says its ok to get back to it, get back to working out and do what you can while you can even if you have a boot on for a broken toe that is in your foot. This is a life change, not a change for this year, or just next year. It’s a change for the better, to make you feel better, and get you closer to the bad ass that you are and want to be.

Free Youtube Workout Video Suggestions:

These things worked for me. Do your research, read, read, read. If it feels like some one is selling you something they probably are. I tend to read several articles about the same subject and take the common elements that I find in all of them, this seems the be a great way to strip out opinions and receive consistent information.

Next Blog: First workout of the year!

The Journey Continues

 

“Wisdom is merely the movement from fighting life to embracing it.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru

Blogging… I have started and stopped this entry a few… many times.

Should I blog about my fitness journey, my body image or body acceptance progress, and my general fitness life?  When I write things out I find I am more able to objectively compare and contrast everything.

Should I just keep my thoughts to myself? I often post on FB and am surprised to see how many people are interested in what I am doing. I use FB as a snapshot of what I am doing, don’t always really go into great detail.

If you want a peak into my internal monologue, and perhaps the brain weasels that plague me, and make me doubt myself this is the place to be. If you want to see what I am doing and my new fitness adventures this is the place to be. If you want to see the products that help me in this journey I guess this is the place to be.

Where to start?

Hi, my name is Tanya, I have a family whom I love, and work as a pastry chef, teacher, and cake artist. I have been on a fitness journey for 4 years and 4 months. Through that time, I have had a many ups and downs. Since I started this journey I had a kidney stone, I had cancer/hysterectomy, I broke my toe, then I stepped off a ladder wrong and fell herniating a disk in my back. I will try to unpack all that into another blog entry.

I am a Muay Thai practitioner a.k.a. Nak Muay in the United States. But in Thailand I would be Nak Muay Farang or Foreign Boxer. It is still weird to me to say I am a Nak Muay. The why it is weird for me is a whole pandoras box of self-esteem issues. Issues of when are you good enough to be called a practitioner instead of a dabbler. I start off with this identification of Nak Muay or Thai Fighter, because it is a major part of my life. I make it that way. I love it learning it and practicing it. It is a huge challenge and feels amazing when I learn something new or even just get closer to perfection on timing/execution for core moves. It’s a passion for me and I structure my life around our classes and practices.

If you had asked what I did for working out 9 months ago I would have said I am a weight lifter, and I run for cardio. Things change, people change, and passions change. I find following what you love will make you happier in the long run. If you asked me what I was doing for my workout 2 years before that I would have said I am doing the Turbofire cardio kickboxing workouts, and some other Beach Body workouts.

It has not all been smooth sailing, or a piece of cake as it were. My fitness journey is just that. It has a destination but not an end. I am going to continue to change, going to continue to find ways around my limitations. My coping mechanisms when brain is being mean is to look up new workouts to get me excited, cute workout clothes that makes me happy to wear and excited to get into the gym, and articles from trusted sources that help explain my body type and why my body is awesome and I should love it not hate it like I often do.

That is what I will be posting about. If this stuff is interesting to you welcome and strap in because it is bound to be a strange ride.  Thanks for reading or making it to the end.

Next Blog: New Years Resolutions, to make them or not make them