I'm Gonna Be EPIC!

[Grax Earthgrinder]

I actually signed up with NF about a year ago, but failed to keep up or follow the advice. About a week ago, my wife and I decided that we were tired of being winded just walking up the stairs to our apartment and feeling tense/tight all the time. We got NF Yoga and kind of started doing that. Monday, my wife and I got the gym for the first time in about a month and I did a dumbbell variation of Stronglifts 5x5 (getting to a bench or rack was just impossible). It felt great and I was happy. Yesterday morning, I weighed myself before doing anything else. The number said 372 lbs. I hated myself and was depressed (I'm also battling depression). Throughout the day I decided I wasn't going to hate myself, I was going to change. I went home and made my wife and I do NF Yoga Water Series A; it felt great. I've been reading NF blogs, checking out other sites, speaking with a friend who is a personal trainer, and making a plan.

 

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday will be strength training & cardio. Stronglifts 5x5 and elliptical for 20 minutes (1 1/2 slow pace, 30 seconds fast pace).

Tuesday, Thursday, & maybe Sunday will be NF Yoga and I typically go hiking on Thursday mornings.

 

Food is my issue. I'm trying to eat more chicken, beans, brown rice when I don't beans, and green veggies (typically kale, spinach, broccoli, and green peppers). Our issue is that when we run out of meal prep lunches we just go out. I feel horrible after and regret it. I plan on meal prepping for a week for lunches to start; actually I already did that and it went good. Tomorrow I will go shopping and meal prep again. At some point, I'll be able to wake up early enough to make a good breakfast; this is my major problem meal. I typically grab something from Jack In The Box on the way to work.

 

That's about it for now.

 

Later.

[Grymm]

Welcome aboard!  The first wave of changes and specifically getting them to stick are probably the hardest.  I'm started doing stronglifts myself a couple of weeks ago.  I'd highly recommend, even if the changes are small, that you put a high priority on your food shopping and meal prep goals.  Cleaning up your diet can be more difficult that you would think to start.  It requires planning to execute.  You can go to the gym when you have time, but lunch time is a fixed schedule.  And if you didn't make your lunch prior, you're kind of stuck.  Even then, small changes to where you go for lunch or what you order can be big improvements.  A better diet will trickle down to everything else - energy for working out, quality of sleep, and weight loss.

 

Good luck!  Stop by the current 4-week warrior challenge forum if you have a moment and see what people are up to.  I think you'll find a lot of people who are working on similar obstacles as you.

[Guzzi]

Hey! Welcome back.

 

I can sooooo sympathise with you right now about the food prep issue! Right now I'm "under repair" and not able to walk so all the meal preparation responsibilities lie with my bf, who can't cook. Like seriously, he can't. It doesn't help that he has 3 children who have had a seriously limited diet up until now and don't eat anything other than processed junk. 

 

Ughhh! You can imagine the situation I'm sure. 

 

Anyway, the advice I was going to offer was this. On the days when you have a bit of energy, why not batch cook and free the food in portions? That way when you don't have time (or motivation) to cool a meal from scratch you have a fall back. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, a bit pot of chilli, or bolognese, soup even. 

 

One me of my favourite cheats is to cook up a batch of mince (ground beef) with onions, peppers, mushrooms etc, then freeze it in 2 person portions. When I come home from work and I can take out the mince, defrost it in the micro and then add whatever sauce or seasoning I like. Hey presto in 20 mins you have a home cooked meal. 

 

I lived on my own for a while and I found that I couldn't use all my veg and a lot of it went to waste, so now I buy frozen chopped vegetables. It really speeds up your meal prep when you don't need to chop onions, peppers or mushrooms. 

 

I also found that making "breakfast muffins" in advance and freezing them was great for when you were in a rush at breakfast. You just pop the frozen muffin in the micro and a minute later you have a satisfying breakfast that you can eat on the go! 

 

I hope some of this helps.

[Noname123]

When you run out of meal prep meals why don't you go out- but shop before or after and meal prep after that? You're out already, may as well pick up everything you need to make sure you're back on track the next day! 

 

Also, some eating out hacks- almost every place has some kind of lean chicken and leafy option (Smashburger too!). Places like Chipotle have heard weirder orders than yours (I get my bowl of chicken with veggies, extra hot salsa and pico de gallo- no rice, tortilla or anything, no one bats an eye. Buffalo Wild Wings- Naked tenders. Same with Chipotle, their little grilled nuggets without breading fit macros beautifully on occasion. 

 

You guys got this, don't let a small deterrent be a reason to give into something.We're all here to help so if you have any questions feel free!

[Bookish Badger]

Welcome! I'm a newbie who is half-way through her second challenge, and one of my goals is to prep lunches for the week. It has made a big difference in my diet and stress levels during the week.

 

The great thing about veggies is that pretty much all of them roast really well. Get a couple of your favorites, cut into sort of equal sizes, toss with a couple glugs of olive oil and sprinkles of salt, pepper, and thyme, then roast in a hot oven until everything is getting brown and crispy on the edges. Depending on how much you cook at a time, it will take an hour or two, but it is almost all hands off except a few minutes to chop and then to stir a couple times during the cooking.

 

For breakfast, I second @Guzzi regarding the breakfast muffins - they're just frittatas cooked in muffin tins instead of a pie dish. Another option, if you can eat before you leave, is Joe's Special. Fry up a big batch of ground meat of your choice, chopped onions, and mushrooms. When they are soft and cooked through, add a lot of spinach - it'll cook down considerably as it cooks. At this point, it can be stored in the fridge.

 

In the morning, heat up a skillet and add a portion of the meat mixture. When it is hot, add a couple of scrambled eggs and keep stirring until the eggs are done to your liking. Hot and delicious, and ready in about 5 minutes!

[Guzzi]

10 minutes ago, Bookish Badger said:

Fry up a big batch of ground meat of your choice, chopped onions, and mushrooms. When they are soft and cooked through, add a lot of spinach - it'll cook down considerably as it cooks. At this point, it can be stored in the fridge.

 

In the morning, heat up a skillet and add a portion of the meat mixture. When it is hot, add a couple of scrambled eggs and keep stirring until the eggs are done to your liking. Hot and delicious, and ready in about 5 minutes!

 

Damn! Why'd you go and make me hungry when it's 9pm!!! *grumble grumble grumble*

[Jster422]

Hello fellow new person!  It is awesome that you and your wife are tackling this as a team - having a gym buddy is such an awesome thing.

 

I can't beat the suggestions already made for excellent meal prep - but I do happen to have one great gift in this life, and that is laziness.  My coworkers all think that I've started a healthy eating kick, and I'm happy to let them keep believing it, but really, it is because the following makes a filling lunch that I can remember to throw into my bag on my way out the door.

 

Ingredient list:

 

1 can of tuna (in olive oil)

1 Avocado

1 medium sized sweet potato

 

Microwave the sweet potato for 4-5 minutes when you want to eat, then just mash/stir the whole thing together, and you have a filling meal that actually isn't too bad in terms of nutrients.  Oh - and I did not initially know that you have to poke holes in the sweet potato before microwaving it.  So let me be clear.  You definitely need to poke some holes in the sweet potato before microwaving it, otherwise you will have a hilarious disaster.  For some reason I have decided that I need to first put a damp paper towel around the potato - I have no idea where this idea came from.

 

Now, I know people have concerns (valid) about eating too much tuna, so I really try not to go to this option too many times a week - but if I can just remember to buy 4-5 sweet potatoes and avocadoes each weekend, then I have a meal option that is even lazier than walking to the vending machine.

 

Here's the super advanced, high effort version :

 

Ingredient List :

 

2 lbs of ground meat

Bag of frozen broccoli

Avocado

Sweet Potato

 

On Sunday, take a pound of ground beef, and a pound of ground pork.  Squish it all together and make a pile of  little mini-burgers, like, half the size of the palm of your hand.  If you're feeling fancy, throw in some Oregano - then it is technically 'cooking'.  

 

Fry the little suckers up, five minutes per side.  Safety note here - you will want to wear a shirt for this process.  Trust me on this.  

We've switched to Coconut oil instead of butter, and while I'm told it is healthier, frankly it is just easier because you don't have to keep it in the fridge.

 

Nobody is less familiar with the kitchen than I am - so let me give you instructions as if it were me - okay, you've got a pile of little miniburgers.  Put two spoonfuls (ish) of coconut oil into a frying pan, and turn on the burner to, like, half.  Give it a couple of minutes for the oil to melt and the pan to heat up, then just drop as many burgers into the pan as will fit (usually six, but maybe there's a better arrangement).  Sit there a little bored for five minutes, then flip them all over with a spatula.  Chill out for another five minutes, then spatula them out of the pan and into a bigger container.  Drop the next six sliders into the pan and repeat.  I'm not trying to be patronizing - but when my wife would tell me to fry something, I definitely didn't know what that actually meant.

 

In about 20 minutes you can have a big dish full of mini burgers (you might accidently eat a couple while cooking.  It happens).  Then the night before work, take three, put them into a container with a handful of frozen broccoli.  Take that, your sweet potato and avocado, and then just microwave the meat/veg for three minutes with the potato on the side. You'll probably have to then microwave the potato for another two minutes to get it soft, that's why this is a 'super-advanced' recipe.  Remember that you have to poke holes in the potato.

 

I like these because it is an easy shopping list, so I can just stop on my way home but I don't have to do a whole 'shopping trip'.  It also has saved us a ton of money, since otherwise a sandwich or whatever is $5 to $10 a day, every day.  It is also simple enough that if you run out on Wednesday you can do another batch.

 

[Grax Earthgrinder]

These are some great options. I'll have to try some.

 

I'm a bit confused about these "challenges" some people are talking about. Can some one explain a bit?

[Guzzi]

Sure!

 

Here is the Challenge Rules. It's a really good article by Spezzy and it explains all about it.

 

Basically you use the challenges to set yourself goals to achieve over the 4 weeks.

 

It can be something that you want to achieve each week (like drinking more water each day, going to the gym 3x each week, packing your own lunch to take to work, anything really) or something that you want to achieve over the course of the challenge, like increasing your deadlift by XXXkgs or achieving that elusive pull-up and you want to train towards getting it. You set out your goal, then break it down into how you will achieve it and how you will score your progress. 

 

You can use role play to build a character with an elaborate backstory facing an epic quest, or just lay out your goals in simple terms. It's all up to you. Have a look at the other people in your guild (you will be a "Rebel" for your first challenge) and cheer them on. It's a great way to meet other members, build friendships, get some accountability and just have fun. 

 

The current challenge has two weeks left to run so it's a great time to have a look at other peoples threads and see how it works.

 

The "guilds" might seem intimidating, but it's just a way of grouping people together who have similar interests and goals. You can swap and change your guild depending on what you're working on for your challenge. For instance, maybe you are someone who likes lifting weights (a Warrior) who decides they want to train for that Family Fun Run that's coming up. You might want to switch over to the Scouts and post your challenge over there so that you can get help and advice from other members who like running. 

 

Here's the current challenge so you can have a look.