You may be wondering "why is she putting so much effort into meal prep when she's burning so many calories through training?"
Good question.
Ironically, it has been much harder to eat healthy and maintain my weight since beginning IRONMAN training. That, and I'm burning surprisingly fewer calories then you might expect. Doing 30 minute high intensity training (like my Beachbody video workouts) is actually a lot more effective for burning calories than long slow cardio, which is the definition of IRONMAN training.
About 20 weeks out from the race, I'm not even at a super high volume yet but my appetite thinks I am. It's no secret that I do not enjoy cooking -- so especially when I get tired I spend even less time preparing healthy food. Inevitably, I reach for when is pre-made (enter snickers bars, cupcakes, you name it).
If I'm not careful then I could easily gain weight during this process. My race day goal weight is about 125, and I'm around 132 now. Even if I lose a fraction of a pound each week then I'll be on track. So - how am I going to do that? Well, I originally lost weight by following Beachbody's 21 Day Fix which includes a portion control meal plan. I'm going to follow that again but simply choose a meal plan with more calories.
Here's the meal plan of 1500-1800 calories that I selected. I know there's someone out there reading this and thinking - "she's eating way to few calories." The reality is, I need a foundation for my day and this plan provides that. Plus there is nothing saying that I can't add food if this is not enough. Did someone say chocolate? Kidding, not kidding.
Breakfast M/W/F: Coconut Mango Chia Pudding
Breakfast T/Th: Overnight Oats with Strawberries and Hemp Seeds
Shakeology Snack M/W/F: Blueberry Spinach Shakeology
Shakeology Snack T/Th: Peach and Nut Butter Shakeology
Lunch M/W/F: Tuna and White Bean Salad
Lunch T/Th: Greek Chicken Salad
Snack M/W/F: Hardboiled Eggs, Apple with Nut Butter
Snack T/Th: Greek Yogurt with Berries
Dinner M/W/F: Black Beans and Rice with Veggies
Dinner T/Th: Shrimp and Veggie Rice Bowl
The entire prep from going grocery shopping, driving home, unpacking, cleaning the kitchen, putting away the dishes, preparing every meal, cleaning up, and taking a picture... took about 3 hours. The cost of the food was about $140; plus my Shakeology (dense superfoods shake) which is about $4 a day.
But first, I had to have coffee and my Shakeology :-) Below is 1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology, 1/2 frozen banana, ice, water, and peanut butter blended with cocoa powder garnish. Delish!
I was surprised at how easy and fast it was to do the grocery shopping. When you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the directions, there's actually a full page grocery list. Hello game changer!! Here's a pic of my cart when I was finished (plus a few extra items for my kiddies).
The meal prep that I chose is one that involves no cooking. I was happy to see my favorite breakfast included, chia seed pudding.
This was a nifty salad that included beans and cilantro.
Here's my prep in full glory - meals for 5 days!
Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone. There's something very comforting knowing exactly how much to eat to get the nutrients needed and not too much or too little food.
By the way, if you're wondering what I train with - it's Gatorade and Hammer gels.
Yes, there are healthier alternatives out there to Gatorade, like Beachbody's Hydrate, but the reality is that Gatorade will be on the course so that is what I am training with. For any workout over an hour I will use these products. For every hour I'll have one bottle of Gatorade, and for every 45 min I'll have 1 gel.
Follow my journey to IRONMAN Mont Tremblant here: @roadtoironmom
