I am cursed with loving to cook great food but im trying to lose weight!

[bluebandana457]

I am trying to lose some weight, but i can not get myself to stick to chicken and brown rice with broccoli, its got to have more! Below is my meal plan, i have a trainer who gave me an outline of what to eat and i have tried to fit all my macros in that he wants, but i can NOT eat fish or shrimp everynight for dinner, and i can NOT eat just a garden salad with chicken and a yam for lunch. I think this is all pretty close and "clean" Let me know what you think.
Goal-lose about 15lbs of fat (get BF around 13%), tone up (abs especially)

Breakfast: 8am
Oats ? cup,2tbsp Flax seed, 4 strawberries, ? cup blueberries
Egg Beaters 3/4cup,sun dried tomatoes, ? cup cooked spinach
Post workout:11am
Protein-1 scoop protein powder
Fruit-1 banana (small)
5 g glutamine
Lunch:1pm
4 oz chicken with 4 oz sweet pototao (measured after cooking, cook in cubes like hasbrowns, no oil) Serve this over a bed of watercress with orange sections and pureed cranberries (simmer on stove to heat) and 6 toasted walnuts.
Snack:4pm
Op 1:
Protein-1/2 cup FF cottage cheese
Fat-10 almonds
Veg-broccoli, celery
Op 2:
1 apple, 1tbspoon peanut butter
Dinner:7pm
4 oz chicken or turkey and twice a week seafood
Side of pureed cauliflower twice baked; spinach and asparagus soup-cook both with shallots and leeks, then puree and season with pepper. Top with a few sundried tomatoes or roasted red peppers
Gravy for chicken and cauliflower-carmelize onions, mix some cornstartch with some beef broth and a touch of worstshire.season with pepper and sage. Or if ground turkey is on sale, I?ll make turkey meatloaf, with no carb filler, just veggies and tomato sauce and seasoning.
Snack:9pm
Green Tea
Protein 1.5 scoops-different ways-as a pancake, mixed with jell-o, as a pudding

Bed around 11

Heres the workout:
7:30am-30 min spinning, sometimes longer or shorter
Mon Back, Tue quads/calves,Wed Chest/tri/bi, Thur Shoulders, Fri just cardio and abs, Sat glutes/calves
My goal is after my workout to do about 20min HIT cardio. I know i should, but i have the HARDEST time doing abs!

[erica514]

The only thing I'm thinking is that's a LOT of fruit in one day. Fruit is very high in natural sugars (and calories)....Even in my off-season, I'll limit my fruit intake to only once a day. (But I DO have to have it...I'm a fruit-a-holic! lol)

[SpaceCakeGirl]

On the fruit note, I only eat it once a day too. I didn't realize how much sugar/carbs I was getting from my 3 cups of fruit a day! So I replaced 2 cups with salad.

If you love to cook, check out recipezaar.com. You can search recipes and filter results by nutritional needs (ie: less than so many grams of fat, more than so many grams of protein). I started cooking before I started working out and it really bums me out when I think of all the yummy recipes I have that I would never eat now. I had to start a new recipe book of only healthy recipes because it depressed me too much to see all the ones I won't make.

[Tattooed Betty]

Everyone is different. I eat 3 half cups of fruit a day.

Breakfest
1/4 (uncooked) oats
1/2 cup of fruit
3 egg whites

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of diced potatos

Lunch
3 oz Sirloin
1/2 cup of rice noodles
1 cup of veggies(oriental style)

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

Dinner
2oz of Chicken
2 cups of veggies(any type)

Night snack
1-2oz of Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

That's my usual diet.

I can't make anything too fancy since you have to take in consideration of how much calories is in what.

[beergal]

Everyone is different. I eat 3 half cups of fruit a day.

Breakfest
1/4 (uncooked) oats
1/2 cup of fruit
3 egg whites

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of diced potatos

Lunch
3 oz Sirloin
1/2 cup of rice noodles
1 cup of veggies(oriental style)

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

Dinner
2oz of Chicken
2 cups of veggies(any type)

Night snack
1-2oz of Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

That's my usual diet.

I can't make anything too fancy since you have to take in consideration of how much calories is in what.

Do you get tired of eating so much chicken? How do you do it?

I wish I could do it but I'm picky, I can't eat too much of the same thing. Thats my biggest problem, I get bored of food, no matter the variety.

[Mrs-gsxr]

I think eating healthy and clean after a while becomes robotic.Every now and then ya gotta make things up yourself, try it out ,just to keep your sanity... One day I had some brown rice with spinach left over ,and of course chicken. I wanted something for a clean snack that would satisfy me ,so I made an omelet with the rice and sliced up about 2 oz of ch. brst with some franks red hot buffallo wing sauce ,topped it off with a little parmesean cheese ..OOOh la la ,yummy . To me any way. Ya just gotta be creative..Omlets are awesome for trying different things,and can be eaten at any time......

[I MaFiA I]

Everyone is different. I eat 3 half cups of fruit a day.

Breakfest
1/4 (uncooked) oats
1/2 cup of fruit
3 egg whites

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of diced potatos

Lunch
3 oz Sirloin
1/2 cup of rice noodles
1 cup of veggies(oriental style)

Snack
3 oz Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

Dinner
2oz of Chicken
2 cups of veggies(any type)

Night snack
1-2oz of Chicken
1/2 cup of fruit

That's my usual diet.

I can't make anything too fancy since you have to take in consideration of how much calories is in what.

You're ****in hot. (Sorry for posting in the female section but this had to be said)

[alesha4]

The only thing I'm thinking is that's a LOT of fruit in one day. Fruit is very high in natural sugars (and calories)....Even in my off-season, I'll limit my fruit intake to only once a day. (But I DO have to have it...I'm a fruit-a-holic! lol)

I also have one piece of fruit a day and that is post workout when your body needs and utilizes simple carbs.

I used to love cooking to but with this diet and w/o stuff I don't have time for it so I have had to simplify everything and not dress it up. Occasionally I will cook something but in bulk so I can have for the week.

If you have time and love cooking the key word is *substitution*. Seek and you will find great alternatives for already great recipes.

[msfatbootie]

Hey!

I cook with my clients and you can keep your love of cooking, have really good tasting food and still eat clean.

Here is what I suggest:

Go to your nearest middle eastern store and go to an Indian Market. They have some awesome spices that you can learn to incorporate into your cooking. I make the healthiest curried chicken available to mankind and it is super yummy. I make "savory sweet mashed potatoes" with yams and herbs de provence ( I use molly mcbutter)...

My broccoli has been substituted for spinach most time, using the indian Palak spices. If you have a tolerance for heat use more indian spices. THey are really cheap if you buy them where Indians actually shop. I pay $2 for safron!!

If fire isnt ur thing, look at middle eastern spices. They eat alot of Okra and they have some yummy ways to make it. There is a whole world out there with great recipes and food to play with if you like to eat clean and cook!