TommyFit Practical Implementation of Nutrition

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YOU NEED TO

KNOW THIS SHIT


YOUR GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING
NUTRITION & IMPROVING YOUR BODY,
MIND, AND ATTITUDE FOR LIFE

ISSUE #2: PRACTICAL


IMPLEMENTATION OF
NUTRITION

1
The You Need To Know This Shit (YNTKNS) series was designed for the simple fact
that you really need to know this shit if you care about your health, the way you look
and feel, and if you want the effort and stress you place on your mind and body
every day to be worth it.

The series you are about to dive into is revolves around NUTRITION, and this
second issue of three focusses on the PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION of nutrition,
focussing on how the fundamentals can be adopted in your life to deliver easier and
more sustainable results for your body and mind.

I developed this series of educational documents because let's be honest; there's a


lot of bullshit out there online telling you this, and selling you that, and pulling you in
every direction. You may find yourself wondering if what you're doing is right, is it
backed by science, or am I just travelling down a rabbit hole to nowhere?

That's why this series was built. To cut straight through the countless hours of crap
you may find yourself digesting, and instead focus on the SHIT YOU NEED TO
KNOW to genuinely build a better body and mind, and to accelerate your progress
towards your health and fitness goals.

Right, there's the intro. Time to dive in.

In this second issue of YNTKTS: Nutrition Series II - Practical Implementation of


Nutrition we will cover the following:

Building Your Meal Matrix


Establishing Your Feeding Framework
Flexible Dieting - The Best & Easiest Approach To Dieting
Food Tracking Basics - How To Track Your Food With Ease
Food Tracking Apps - Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal
Increasing The Accuracy Of Your Food Tracking
Visual Demonstrations Of Different Sample Meal Plans
Quick & Easy Meal Prep Ideas On The Go

Once the above-mentioned topics are covered, your knowledge of Nutrition will
continue compounding into you living and breathing a better lifestyle with less effort
- resulting in you living a healthier, happier, and easier life!

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05 ESTABLISH YOUR FRAMEWORKS

06 MEAL MATRIX

07 FEEDING FRAMEWORK

08 FOOD TRACKING BASICS

09 FLEXIBLE DIETING

10 WHY WE TRACK OUR FOOD

11 BENEFITS OF FOOD TRACKING

12 FOOD TRACKING BASICS

15 READING FOOD LABELS

16 ESTIMATING PORTION SIZES

18 CRONOMETER V MYFITNESSPAL

26 FOOD TRACKING ACCURACY

27 SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

36 QUICK PREP IDEAS

37 QUICK PREP IDEAS: PROTEIN

38 QUICK PREP IDEAS: CARBS

39 QUICK PREP IDEAS: FATS

40 QUICK PREP IDEAS: VEGGIES

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PRACTICAL
IMPLEMENTATION OF
NUTRITION
"Knowledge is not power; Implementation is power" -
Garrison Wynn

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BUILD YOUR FRAMEWORKS
Taking on a lifestyle change can be intimidating and overwhelming. That's why
the best athletes, professionals, and high-achievers you'll likely come across all
live by a set of systems and frameworks that ensure basic things like schedules,
eating routines, daily tasks etc., are all set on autopilot. This leaves more room in
your brain to focus on your life and what is in front of you and important to you.

Below are TWO key frameworks that I believe help nearly every single person I
coach or come in contact with when it comes to nutrition and dieting. These
frameworks are super simple to utilise in your own life and make dieting a lot
easier:

1 Meal Matrix: A framework used to easily determine what foods


belong to which food groups, and which foods you will include in
your diet to ensure your goals are met - irrespective of whether you
have caloric goals, macronutrient goals, or anything else.

Feeding Framework: This framework goes hand-in-hand with the


2 Meal Matrix and provides you a visual representation of the
frequency at which you will eat each day. Keeping in mind that
maintaining a consistent feeding pattern for the most part of your
week will encourage consistency and accountability, resulting in
better outcomes overall.

Note: Keep in mind that each of these frameworks, and all materials in
this document are subjective. This means you can change, manipulate,
adjust, and pivot just about everything you'll learn to suit your own
lifestyle. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do so. Remembering what
works for me, may differ for you and for the next person. Basically, be
flexible and everything your own!

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MEAL MATRIX
To help you identify, understand, and build your meal combinations each day,
you will be provided with a unique Meal Matrix you can use to construct your
"recommended food lists" comprising of your 85% whole foods, and 15% soul
foods.

The Meal Matrix is designed to categorise your favourite foods into groups so you
can easily choose foods based on your daily macronutrient and/or micronutrient
requirements.

For example, if you were provided the macronutrient goals (150g Protein, 200g
Carbs, and 70g Fats) and you needed more protein in your day to reach 150g, you
may like to choose foods you've previously identified as protein sources from the
Meal Matrix.

In the downloadable copy below, you will find a copy of my personal Meal Matrix
and a blank copy for you to make your own.

NOTE: You can essentially use your Meal Matrix as your "grocery list". This is ideal
for most people who enjoy having parameters on their diets to remain focussed.

INSTRUCTIONS: 1) Download and Make Your Own Copy of the Meal Matrix
in Google Drive here.
2) Build your own Meal Matrix with foods from the
dropdown menus or by creating your own foods.

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FEEDING FRAMEWORK

Your Feeding Structure is the daily frequency at which you plan your meals to
ensure your meals are appropriately spread throughout the day to optimise
digestion and energy. This should be suited to YOUR lifestyle and commitments.

The template in the Nutrition Optimisation Deck shows some examples of


different feeding structure most people will find easy to follow.
Note: Adjust or create a structure that works for YOU.

Remember: The goal is to create a structure that YOU can follow on autopilot so
you can plan and execute on exactly what meals you will have on any given day.
This also ensure you are getting enough quality meals to prevent unnecessary
hunger and binge-eating.

Your training session should fall between two meals for performance and
recovery.

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FOOD TRACKING
BASICS
"It's not a short-term diet, it's a long-term lifestyle change" -
Unknown

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FLEXIBLE DIETING
THE RIGHT WAY TO DIET
If you haven't been living under a rock for the past 13 or so years, specifically
since the rise of social media, you'll likely have seen, heard, or tried multiple fad
diets on the internet.

Most of these diets are "severe" in nature, meaning you must succumb to very
strict parameters, rules, and sacrifices to achieve a "desired result". Most of the
time, these diets are short-lived and resented.

In my opinion, diets are subjective, meaning there is no right or wrong diet for
anyone. However in my 12 years of training, dieting, and coaching - Flexible
Dieting is the easiest, most sustainable, and simple diet to adopt for
anyone with any goal.

WHAT IS FLEXIBLE DIETING?


Flexible Dieting is a "diet" that allows you to choose any foods you like to eat,
so long as they 1) remain within your macronutrient/caloric targets, 2) are 85%
whole food sources, and 3) ensure your specific micronutrient needs are
prioritised.

This philosophy basically means that there are no food constraints. Instead
your goal is to stick to the 85-15 Rule where 85-90% of foods are provided from
Quality, Nutrient-Dense, Whole Food Sources and the remaining 10-15% of your
calories can be come from "fun foods" that are not necessarily nutrient-dense or
from whole food sources.

This is essentially "Flexible Dieting" in a nutshell. By consistently eating high-


quality, nutrient-dense foods you can still have treats and snacks in small
amounts each day/week and remain on track with your goals, so long as you
remain within your allocated calorie and macro targets.

Watch this video here discussing Flexible Dieting in great detail

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FOOD TRACKING - WHY?

WHY DO WE TRACK FOOD?


For any person with any physique, performance, or mindset goal; understanding the
exact intake of food is essential.

Think about it -
If you want to gain muscle, you need to know that you are eating enough food to
build mass

If you want to strip fat or lose weight, you need to know that you are eating the
right amount of food to avoid hunger, while still maintaining muscle and energy

If you want better sleep, performance, recovery, digestion etc., you need to
know that the quality of food you are consuming actually delivers the benefits
you are seeking

Therefore we can see that to achieve any goal with precision, speed, and also avoid
insanity, we need a way to track our food consumption quantity and quality.

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FOOD TRACKING - BENEFITS?

THE BENEFITS OF TRACKING OUR FOOD


We can target a specific physique goal; either choosing to build mass, strip fat,
maintain body weight, or recomposition our body

We can accurately measure our progress, either by increasing or decreasing


food consumption based on how our bodies evolve over time

We can ensure that certain macronutrient or micronutrient targets are met by


our specific choices in food to deliver different results

It takes the guess work out of eating i.e. most people either under-eat or over-
eat without even realising - you can likely eat more food than you think you can,
even if your goal is to strip fat or lose weight

It keeps us accountable and consistent by providing us real-time data of our diet


quantity and quality, allowing us to pivot or adjust at any point in time for an
reason

It broadens your knowledge and repertoire of meals i.e. when you know what
macros and micros are actually in certain foods, you can get more creative and
make magnificent tasting food (without just eating chicken, broccoli, and rice...)

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FOOD TRACKING | BASICS

WEIGHING YOUR FOOD - ONLY IN GRAMS (g)

Tracking your food with an app is just one part of


understanding your food consumption; the other
being weighing your food in the kitchen.

You will need to weigh and measure most, if not all


foods you consume. This is the only true way to
ensure your tracking accurately. Don't worry if you
have not weighed food before, it's incredibly simple.

It is strongly recommended that you weigh all foods


with a single universal metric - Grams (g).

Grams are recommended as they are easy to use in


both small and large quantities, and are an objective
unit of measure (weight) and not volume (cups)
which is subjective. This is also very beneficial when
estimating portion sizes as everything will always be
as one universal metric.

Note: It's important to not only remember to weigh all foods, but also
keep your weighing consistent i.e. weighing your food cooked vs raw.

All foods adjust down in weight (and therefore calorie/macro content)


when cooked. It's important to remember to track and weigh foods in a
consistent manner to avoid inaccuracies.

My simple rule of thumb is to track and weigh everything as you would


eat it - cooked! Trust me, it's much easier and less messy to track foods
cooked than raw. Therefore remember when tracking in Cronometer to
search for foods like "Chicken Breast Cooked"

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FOOD TRACKING | BASICS

The beauty of following the Flexible Dieting approach i.e. macro-focussed


diet is that NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS! However we now know that quality,
nutrient-dense, whole foods should be consumed 85-90% of the time.

Foods that add taste and flavour should ALWAYS be tracked and eaten in
moderation. These include: Cheese, Oils, Butters, Sauces, Marinades
and most other calorie-containing condiments.

Spices and seasonings are the key to making whole foods taste amazing
and should be included in as many meals as possible when dieting. These
types of condiments have near-to-no calories and do not need to be
tracked. Examples include: Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Chilli, Paprika, Thyme etc.
(My absolute favourite spice is "All Purpose Seasoning" which I use on
almost everything!)

Alchohol unfortunately does not contain any nourishing ingredients and


should be consumed in low-moderation. However, alchohol consumption
DOES CONTAIN SIGNIFICANT CALORIES e.g. 100-200cals per "shot", and
must be tracked accurately.

It is unrealistic to expect that every single meal you eat will be prepared
at home. Plus, eating out is a part of like that should be enjoyed, but in
moderation. When eating out, attempt to order foods from the menu
where you can clearly identify the ingredients e.g. Steak, Chips, and
Salad. Meals like this are easier to track and remain on target compared
to a Risotto for example.

Every meal NEEDS TO BE TRACKED to maximise your progress. Any


foods you are unsure about can easily be searched via Cronometer and
estimated with a degree of accuracy (more on this below).

Planning ahead is the best way to stick to your nutrition goals and
macro targets. If you know what restaurant/location you are going to,
look ahead at the menu and decide what you will order that remains
within your macros. This way you feel guilt-free when enjoying take
out, and you remain true to your goals.

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FOOD TRACKING | BASICS

As mentioned above, when ordering out your goal is to order foods with the
most simple ingredients that can be easily identified and estimated. Fried
foods, saucy dishes, or anything with a super fancy name are usually very
calorie dense and will catch you by surprise.

When looking at items on the menu, ask yourself "what are they likely
composed of?". Most of the time they will include Protein, Carbs, and Fats in
relatively standardised portions. Next, ask yourself "roughly how much of
each macro do you think will be present and can you fit this in with your
remaining macros?".

Do not be afraid to order food without sauce or to ask for your meal to not
be cooked in butter or oil. You can ask every restaurant or establishment to
substitute something or to customise it to suit your macros targets.

Remember: If you ask for substitutions or modifications to your meal you'll


likely get what you want. However if you don't ask, you certainly won't. Just
ask!

EXAMPLE

You may look ahead at the menu of the restaurant and order Steak, Potatoes,
and Salad. Meals like this will likely have a significant amount of Protein, Carbs,
and Fats so make sure you have sufficient macros remaining in your day, or seek
to order a lighter meal such as Grilled Chicken and Seasoned Veggies.

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READING FOOD LABELS
Understanding how to read food labels is incredibly beneficial to your ability to
diet. When purchasing food from a grocer, you need to be able to interpret what
the calorie, macronutrient, and sometimes micronutrient profile of each food is
to ensure you have the greatest success both in the kitchen and within your body.

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ESTIMATING PORTION SIZES
Sometimes tracking your calories accurately can be
difficult or near impossible - especially when getting take
away or eating out at certain establishments. However you
can use the palm of your hand to "eyeball" and "estimate"
your portion sizes when scales are not available.

PROTEIN portions from restaurants are


generally served in 85 - 114 gram portions.
The palm of most adult males is approx.
114g. The palm of an adult woman is
approx. 85g. The chicken breast pictured
right weighs exactly 114g. The chicken is
arranged relatively flat and roughly
matches the thickness of the palm. When
portions are noticeably smaller than the
entire palm, it's easiest to divide the palm
into quarters (shown by the solid white
line). You can use these approximate white
lines to estimate 114g / 25% increments. If
the chicken filled the to the dashed white
line, you would estimate: 114 x 1.25 =
142.5g

CARBOHYDRATE (starch) portions are


generally served in 150-200g portions in
restaurants. Which is significantly more
than protein. The cooked rice pictured
left weighs exactly 114g, the size of a
male palm. The rice again roughly
matches the thickness of the palm and it
closely matches the size of the palm,
hence you could estimate 114g. If
portions were noticeably larger or
smaller, you could then divide the
amount by the white lines pictured left as
increments of 25% or 1/4.

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ESTIMATING PORTION SIZES
VEGETABLE portions are typically harder
to account for a universal "size" as beans
vs carrots vs cucumber clearly weigh
differently.

However the steamed beans pictured


right is exactly 114g, again closely sized to
a male adult palm. Fortunately though,
vegetables are very minimal in terms of
calories, that even if you miscalculate
entirely, the cost isn't too great. For
example, 400g of beans is 140cals, and
100g is 35cals. This means you're pretty
safe considering the thousands of
calories you eat per day.

A FULL PLATE: to give you a final visual


representation of a full plate you could
estimate anywhere as long as the foods
are clearly identifiable is pictured right.
Each of the three foods (chicken, rice,
broccoli) weight 114g. The meal in total
therefore weighs 342g. As an estimate,
you could say that the entire meal closely
represents three male sized palms of
each macronutrient.

Bottom line - don't panic. You will get


better at estimating portions the more
you do it.

Fats are much harder to estimate portion sizes due to their large
caloric density compared to the actual mass of the food. A fair rule of
thumb is that approx. 15g (1 Tbsp) of most liquid oils, butters etc. will
be approximately the size of a regular sized thumb from base to tip.

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CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

FOOD TRACKING APPS

We now know how incredibly beneficial tracking our food is for achieving our health
and physique goals, but how do we actually track our food? Easy. With food
tracking applications available on mobile and desktop.

There are a myriad of food tracking applications available, however the most
common app people have heard of is MyFitnessPal (MFP). Below I compare MFP to
the best tracking app available on the market in my opinion - Cronometer.

MYFITNESSPAL (MFP)
MFP has been around forever and is widely marketed as the "go-to" tracking app
being owned by the universal brand, "Under Armour". MFP is a free-to-download
tracking application that covers basic tracking needs.

However after tracking food myself for many years, there are incredible flaws with
MFP that most people don't know about that I discuss on the next page.

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CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

MYFITNESSPAL FLAWS

MFP relies on "user-generated-data" for its food entries

This basically means that every single food tracked in MFP has been added by a
random user somewhere in the world. This random user has entered the
calories and macros themselves, meaning that the entire food data could be
wrong

These user-generated-entries are then saved in the MFP database for all other
users to access, meaning you may track "200g of Pasta" and be forced to choose
someone else's interpretation of that particular food item

This leaves incredibly large margins for error in tracking, which can cause you to
completely blow out your calories or macro targets based on inaccurate data

MFP does not display micronutrient data

MFP only displays and tracks the quantities of the foods you are eating, and
makes no mention of the quality of each food

Without understanding exactly what nutritional components (micronutrients)


are in the foods you are eating, you run the risk of nutrient deficiencies and
malnourishment

For example, if your goal was to "increase energy", you would ideally seek to
maximise the amounts of Vitamin D, Chloride, Magnesium, Potassium,
Manganese, and the broader range of B Vitamins (B1-B12) you obtain from
foods - which MFP does not provide any data for

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CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

MFP does not allow you to choose the unit of measure to track foods

In Australia and most parts of the world, we weigh food in grams (g) as a
consistent unit of measure. MFP does not let you choose your measuring metric,
instead only displaying the metric used by the random user who originally
created the entry

This means you may wish to weigh out 200g of Pasta, but may be forced to
choose "cups" or "fluid ounces" because the previous random user before you
used these metrics

This makes tracking food extremely difficult when trying to be efficient, accurate,
and seamless when tracking

MFP does not allow you to customise your calorie/macro targets

Your particular goals are unique, therefore so are your required calories and
macronutrient goals. In order to ensure you're actually eating in accordance
with your goals, setting your daily caloric/macro goals in your tracking
application is essential

MFP does not let you manually adjust your calorie/macro targets to suit you

MFP only allows you to derive a percentage (%) ratio of your macro goals,
leaving most users either confused or misaligned, resulting in poor tracking
efforts

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CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

CRONOMETER
Now that I have sh*t all over MFP, it's probably time I introduce you to my tracking
app of choice - Cronometer.

Cronometer (pronounced Cron-o-meter) is a science-backed, evidence-based food


tracking app that helps measure your daily food intake and monitor the nutrients in
foods. Cronometer has verified food databases with over 2 million foods from
around the world, while still allowing user-generated food entries should users
require it.

The reason I prefer this application is it basically fulfils all of the flaws in MFP, plus
also has extra features that are incredibly useful for a client:coach relationship.

Cronometer offers a mobile and desktop application you can check out here. There
is a free version that will likely cover most of your needs as a food tracker, although
there is a premium (Gold) version which provides unparalleled data customised to
you and your goals.

DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely no association with Cronometer in any way.

This blog here discusses Cronometer vs MFP is awesome detail

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CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

CRONOMETER - AND WHY IT IS PREFERRED


When it comes to dieting and working towards your health goals, tracking food is
paramount.

This means that if you are going to make the effort to track your food, you would
ideally want this process to be easy, the data accurate, and ultimately - sustainable!

Cronometer has all of the features of MFP and more - including a free barcode
scanner which MFP is going to start charging people a monthly fee to use!

In saying that, you should not solely rely on the barcode scanner in Cronometer
either as foods scanned via barcode do not display useful micronutrient data.

Cronometer has universally verified food databases

The biggest strength of Cronometer is that 99% of whole food choices have
verified nutritional data associated with each food entry. This means that the
macro and micro information of the foods in Cronometer are incredibly
accurate, plus Cronometer verifies all the nutritional information before user--
added data is accepted into the database

The foods/data in Cronometer are verified by:


The NCCDB (Nutrition Coordinating Center Food & Nutrient Database)
The USDA (U.S Department of Agriculture)
The AFCD (Australian Food Composition Database)
Basically, this means all nutritional information in Cronometer is as
accurate as it will ever possibly be

22
CRONOMETER vs MYFITNESSPAL

Cronometer allows you to customise your calorie and macro goals

Being able to customise your own tracking goals means your Cronometer
account is personalised to you

For example if you wished to target a daily macro goals of 170g of Protein, 240g
of Carbs, and 70g of Fat - you can literally enter those numbers and Cronometer
will compute the calories automatically and allow you to track these targets
extremely closely

Cronometer tracks micronutrient data and provides in depth


reporting

Understanding what vitamins and minerals are in the foods you eat is incredibly
beneficial to your overall health

This allows you to ensure you not only avoid deficiencies in any nutrient, but can
actually optimise your nutrient consumption to deliver even better holistic
results

On the free version of Cronometer you can see a simple summary of nutrients
in your diet, as well as the individual nutrients in each food you eat; while on the
premium version, you can see absolutely every available detail and data point
associated with each and every food within the 2 million+ Cronometer database

Cronometer also allows you to run reports over different time periods to see
your nutritional performance and adherence

The platform even will inform you of different foods you can adopt in your diet
should you be deficient or lack any specific macronutrient or micronutrient

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FOOD TRACKING | ACCURACY

Macros only provide us with a surface-level story of


your overall diet and health, however micronutrient data
i.e. fibre, omega-3, vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium tell us
the actual story behind the quality and density of your
diet - and can tell us what you may need to include in your
diet for the best possible outcome.

1. Using Cronometer "Generic Entries": Cronometer has many different


databases within the platform. Each database varies in the AMOUNT OF
NUTRIENT DATA AVAILABLE for each different food you track. This means
that we should seek to only track our food with "generic" entries from
databases such as: NCCDB and USDA. These databases are found by
searching for foods manually, and not using barcodes. Remember, focus on
eating quality, nutrient-dense whole foods which often do not come in boxes
with barcodes - for a good reason!

2. Use generic entries 99% of the time: As mentioned above, you should
seek to use generic food entries from NCCDB and USDA databases only, and
avoid using the CRDB source unless you have no other options.

3. Find foods with as many nutrients as possible: If you track a food and it
only has "10 or so" listed nutrients, try and find a generic replacement with
more nutrients (up to 80 nutrients for NCCDB). It doesn't matter if your
chicken breast is Coles or Woolworths brand, chicken breast is chicken
breast so just search "chicken breast cooked or raw" and use this food entry
as it will have 78+ listed nutrients.

4. Use nutrient data to discover the true quality of your diet: This goes for
mainly whole food sources i.e. meats and fish, fruits, vegetables, potatoes,
various rices, and even types of bread. Using NCCDB and USDA data entires
will provide is with the most robust picture of your overall diet.

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SAMPLE MEAL PLANS
"You are what you eat - so don't be fast, cheap, easy, or fake."
- Unknown

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SAMPLE MEAL PLANS
Below are a variety of Sample Meal Plans you may wish to adopt should you require
inspiration or simply want to gauge what different daily calorie/macro targets could
look like. As YOU will be constructing your own meals and food combinations for
your diet, you can choose whether the below are applicable to you or not.
Remembering that these meals are ideas only and can be altered to suit your daily
feeding structure, individual requirements, preferences, and availabilities.

MEAL PLAN #1: ~1,800cal (120P 205C 60F)

MEAL 1 (BREAKFAST) MEAL 3 (AFTERNOON SNACK)


1 x White English Muffin 40g Low Sugar Granola Cereal
2 x Whole Eggs 200g Greek Yoghurt
2 x Slices Shortcut Bacon 10 x Natural Almonds
50g Avocado 10g Honey
100g Strawberries

PRE WORKOUT MEAL 4 (DINNER)


1 x Large Banana 100g Salmon w/ Skin On (Cooked)
125g Basmati Rice (Cooked)
50g Asparagus
MEAL 2 (LUNCH) 50g Broccolini
150g Chicken Thigh (Cooked) 200g Watermelon
100g Sweet Potato (Baked)
100g Pumpkin (Baked)
1 x Kiwi Fruit

SEE NEXT PAGE FOR CRONOMETER


BREAKDOWN OF MEAL PLAN #1

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SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #1: ~1,800cal (120P 205C 60F)

NOTE: 120P stands for 120g Protein, 205g of Carbs, and 60g of Fat

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SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #2: ~2,300cal (160P 265C 75F)

MEAL 1 (BREAKFAST) MEAL 2 (LUNCH)


1 x Large Slice Sourdough 150g Pork Tenderloin
Bread (Cooked)
2 x Whole Eggs 150g Mashed Potato
50g Avocado 100g Mixed Peas & Corn
100g Blueberries 1 x Apple

PRE WORKOUT MEAL 3 (AFTERNOON SNACK)


2 x Plain Rice Cakes 40g Rolled/Quick Oats
30g x Reduced Sugar Jam 200ml Lactose-Free Milk
1 x Medium Banana 20g Natural Peanut Butter
10g Cacao Nibs
1 x Kiwi Fruit
POST WORKOUT
1 x Scoop Peptide Protein
(Choc Honeycomb) MEAL 4 (DINNER)
5g Creatine 100g Beef Mince (95/5)
5g BCAA's 1 x Tsp Taco Seasoning
2 x Hard Taco Shells
30g Cheddar Cheese
2 x Tbsp Salsa

SEE NEXT PAGE FOR CRONOMETER


BREAKDOWN OF MEAL PLAN #2

30
SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #2: ~2,300cal (160P 265C 75F)

31
SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #3: ~2,800cal (185P 315C 95F)

MEAL 1 (BREAKFAST) MEAL 2 (LUNCH - SPAGHETTI)


60 g Toasted Muesli 100g Turkey Mince (Cooked)
150g Unsweetened Almond 200g Whole Wheat Pasta
Milk (Cooked)
1 x Kiwi Fruit 100g Passata Sauce
1 x Large Slice Wholemeal 20g Grated Parmesan Cheese
Bread
1 x Whole Eggs
50g Avocado MEAL 3 (AFTERNOON SNACK)
40g Beef Jerky
1 x Medium Orange
PRE WORKOUT
150g YoPro Vanilla Yoghurt
2 x Large Slice Multi Grain
Bread
20g Natural Peanut Butter
20g Jam MEAL 4 (DINNER)
160g Lamb Chop (Cooked)
200g Mashed Potato
POST WORKOUT 40g Mint Sauce
1 x Scoop Whey Protein 100g Mixed Salad
1 x Large Banana 1 x Tomato Medium

SEE NEXT PAGE FOR CRONOMETER


BREAKDOWN OF MEAL PLAN #3

32
SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #3: ~2,800cal (185P 315C 95F)

33
SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #4: ~3,250cal (240P 385C 85F)

MEAL 1 (BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE) MEAL 2 (LUNCH)


1 x Large Banana 150g Chicken Breast (Cooked)
90g Rolled Oats 250g Basmati Rice (Cooked)
100g Blueberries 100g Pumpkin (Cooked)
20g Natural Peanut Butter 100g Asparagus (Cooked)
1 x Scoop Whey Protein 20ml BBQ Sauce

PRE WORKOUT MEAL 3 (AFTERNOON SNACK)


1 x Plain Bagel 1 x Small Tuna Can in Olive Oil
20g x Jam 2 x Plain Rice Cake
40g Low Fat Mayonnaise

POST WORKOUT
MEAL 4 (DINNER)
1 x Scoop Peptide Protein
150g Porterhouse Steak (Cooked)
(Choc Honeycomb)
200g Sweet Potato (Cooked)
5g Creatine
100g Broccoli (Cooked)
5g BCAA's
50g Mushroom Sauce
1 x Apple
1 x Dairy-Free Magnum Ice-Cream

SEE NEXT PAGE FOR CRONOMETER


BREAKDOWN OF MEAL PLAN #4

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SAMPLE MEAL PLANS

MEAL PLAN #4: ~3,250cal (240P 385C 85F)

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QUICK PREP IDEAS
"People who love to eat are always the best people."
- Julia Child

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QUICK PREP IDEAS | PROTEIN

There may be times when travel, scheduling, or


unexpected commitments arise that throw you off your
normal routine. During these times you need to have
some easy food options to help keep you on track. This
calls for some "Quick Prep Ideas" that are normally low-
cost, simple, and efficient meals on the go.

1. Rotisserie Chicken (BBQ Chicken). Almost all grocery stores have hot
rotisserie chickens ready and available to go. These are an awesome
protein-filled meat for around $10AUD which is great. I recommend not
eating the skin as it can be full of fat or sugar.

2. Low Fat Plain Greek Yoghurt. Greek yoghurts that are "plain" flavour
normally have high protein content with limited sugar and fat. Trying to aim
for the low fat option, these can be topped with fruit, peanut butter, or any
other toppings of your choice for a healthy snack on the go.

3. Canned Tuna. These super simple and easy to grab cans are packed with
protein and also provide around 95% of daily omega-3 RDI. My
recommendation is "John West" or "Sarina" in spring water or olive oil
(drained) topped with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.

4. Protein Powder: Protein Shakes are super easy protein-fuelled snacks on


the go. All you need is a protein shaker and a scoop of your favourite
protein mixed with water or milk alternative. Remembering Whey Protein
Concentrate (WPC) is your standard, lower-quality powder, whereas Whey
Protein Isolate (WPI) is better if your have intolerances to dairy as these
protein powders have had the lactose component filtered out.

5. 1% Fat Cottage Cheese. 114 grams packs of 1% Fat Cottage Cheese ~14
grams of protein. You can also use this as an evening "treat." Mix in a 10-15
grams of protein powder and some fruit and you have something sweet and
not awful for your macros.

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QUICK PREP IDEAS | CARBS

1. Canned Black Beans/Chickpeas. Super cheap (~$3AUD) starchy


carbohydrate-fuelled snacks you can add to most meals with ease. Empty
the can and heat them up with your meal. These are higher protein
carbohydrate sources as well. 100 grams of each will get you ~8 and ~7
grams of protein, respectively.

2. Microwaveable Rice and/or Quinoa. Again, super cheap and simple


carbohydrate meals on the go that are normally available in 125g or 250g
packets. 60-90 seconds in the microwave and they are ready to go. You can
always go simple brown or white rice as well, although "basmati rice" is my
favourite.

3. Rice Cakes. These super low-calorie carbohydrate snacks are a staple for
whenever I am away from home. They come in many flavours, although for
simplicity I always choose "thick brown rice cakes" as they are the lowest GI
source of rice cakes. Add avocado, tuna, or peanut butter for some
protein/fat toppings of your choice.

4. Potatoes: You can easily roast or microwave potatoes of any kind in about
40mins or 10mins respectively. These carb sources are very low calorie for
the volume of food you get per potato. My approach is always to wrap thick-
cut pieces of potato in alfoil and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 40mins.
No oven? Microwave it is!

5. Plain Quick Oats. One of the best breakfast or pre-exercise meals on the go
I have found. I prefer these because you don't actually have to "cook" them
like Rolled Oats. Just pour on boiling water and you'll be good to go in 60
seconds. Throw in some berries and cinnamon for flavour.

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QUICK PREP IDEAS | FATS

1. Avocados. Slice it up and put it on top of rice, eggs, or mix into a bowl type
meal. Although seasonal, you can always keep avocados in the fridge in a
bowl of water to keep them ripe for longer.

2. Walnuts / Almonds / Cashews / Brazil Nuts. Additional varieties of mixed


nuts are also a feasible option. These will definitely be easiest. I prefer
walnuts because of the higher omega-3 content. Be sure to only purchase
"natural" nuts and not "tamari" or "roasted" as these contain excess
ingredients, including sugar.

3. Chia Seeds / Ground Flaxseed. Very high quality fat sources. Both go great
on top of your oats. Hemp seeds are also another similar option.

4. Peanut Butter / Nut Butters. An amazingly tasty fat source when


purchased in the "natural" form and not cheaper alternatives like "KRAFT"
brands. I wouldn't becoming overly reliant on PB and other nut butters as
they can easily become a crutch and are easy to consume in large amounts,
and can also cause a laxative effect if consuming too much. However, they
are an easy, dense, fat source. Personally I only have ~20g of PB at any one
team with a max of 30g per day.

5. Hard Boiled Eggs / Other Cooked Method. This is a protein and fat combo
of roughly 6g of Protein and 5g Fat. I would leverage the other fat sources
however before resorting to hard boiled eggs as a “quick fat source.”

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QUICK PREP IDEAS | VEGGIES

1. Pre Cut Veggies Packs. Most grocery stores will have some variation of pre-
cut vegetables for you. Most common is fresh, pre-chopped broccoli florets
in a bag. Sometimes you can find stir-fry mixed vegetables with 6+ different
veggies ready to go so you just have to stir fry/steam them quickly.

2. Spinach Bags. This is how I always buy my spinach. You can easily use this
for a quick side salad or saute in a pan with some olive/avocado/coconut oil
spray to add as a side. For breakfast you can also saute the spinach in an
egg scramble (my personal favourite!)

3. Raw Veggies. What's nice about some vegetables is you can just eat them
raw! The ultimate option for no-prep veggies are carrots, red/yellow/orange
capsicum, zucchini, celery, and cucumber are all options that can easily be
eaten raw! Best option when raw is in salads or can also eat just as a single
ingredient.

4. Steam Bags. You can usually find certain vegetables ready to go in simple
steamer bags. You throw in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and they're ready
to eat. I wouldn't rely on this frequently however because of cooking them
inside the plastic. However can very useful given certain time constraints.

5. Frozen Vegetable Packets. You can typically find frozen mixed stir options
in most grocery stores for quite cheap. These are great to buy in bulk for
when you either run out early or need them in a pinch. Freezer to the
rescue!

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