Meal Prep Essentials

I promise to post my week 2 progress tomorrow! But first I received some questions on meal prep and how to make food that isn't boring as well as time consuming. So here are my week 3 meals and a breakdown on what I consider the essential tools to make prep easy and quick (and tasty!).

First, I recommend investing in a set of containers that will hold a full meal and fit in your lunch bag. I purchased this set from Isolator Fitness but there are many other brands. Tight fitting lids are essential! Second, a scale, measuring cups, and an array of knives. This is about all you will need!

On to preparing actual food! My absolute favorite tools are my pressure cooker, rice cooker, and NutriBullet (but any decent blender will do). I can make 3-4 pounds of chicken in the pressure cooker in only 20 minutes or so. I simply throw in the chicken and some marinade, set it, and forget it! The rice cooker makes several cups to perfection in 15 or so minutes plus has a basket for steaming veggies while your rice cooks! And finally, the blender takes the place of a mixer and also makes some delicious protein shakes.

Using only these tools I can complete my meal prep in 1-2 hours for 4-5 days worth of meals. This week I chose to make protein pancakes for easy breakfasts. I will add the recipe below. My second meal is a venison burger with buffalo cauliflower. The final meal I prepped is chicken (prepared in the pressure cooker) with a side of either frozen veggies and rice or sweet potato (baked in the oven). Dinners will likely be salmon and veggies prepared fresh each night. I also packed tuna packets, almonds, and Quest bars into my lunch bag for snacks. Since the rice cooker, pressure cooker, oven, and stove top can all be going at the same time I didn't have to do anything more then get each one started and cook the burgers and sweet potato while I waited. 

Four days of meals ready to go

I hope this helps anyone struggling with meal prep. I will start sharing recipes from now on as I favor simple, flavorful cooking to anything over the top. I think it will help those of you who are new to this see that you don't have to get food-blogger-fancy to eat healthfully!

Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas (I used over-ripe ones that I had frozen)

3/4 cup egg whites (about 4 eggs worth)

1/2 cup quick cook oats

1 1/2 - 2 scoops of whey (I used MyProtein Rocky Road flavor)

4 TBSP flour (I used regular bread flour but feel free to substitute)

1/2 cup coffee, brewed

1 Tsp. baking powder

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender

2. Heat skillet or griddle with oil (I used coconut oil)

3. Measure out 1/2 cup of batter into hot skillet

4. Cook until bubbles form and burst 

5. Flip and continue to cook 1-2 minutes

Makes six 1/2 cup pancakes. Freeze leftovers and spritz with water then heat in the microwave for 30 seconds to serve later. Top with PB2, sugar free syrup, or fresh fruit.

Being the Odd (Wo)Man Out

I had a not-so-fun medical experience today. After the last one, I really wasn't thrilled to be headed into a hospital again. This time it was for a biopsy and everyone reassured me that it would be quick and easy. I'm pretty sure that's what I was told in October too!

But what really got to me is that the radiology tech, the nurse, and the doctor who were doing my procedure were all blown away by me. Well, not me per se but my physiology. I'm not overweight, my heart rate, blood pressure, and O2 saturation were all better than good. As I laid on the table and listened to them I realized that medical professionals NEVER see healthy, fit people. It's a rarity, a special treat. And they don't know how to handle it.

The nurse had to turn the alarms off on my monitor because my heart rate of 48 beats per minute was setting them off. My blood pressure of 96/68 was giving some periodic beeps as well. When the doctor pulled out a 5" needle my heart rate shot up... all the way to 60. The doctor double checked with the ultrasound tech that she was well away from my ribs because "she's so thin". The doctor didn't know how to approach a patient without inches and inches of extra padding!

I learned that the county where I had my procedure is one of the top ones in Pennsylvania for obesity. Over 50% of the population is obese, not just overweight, according to the hospital staff. I was told horror stories of patients who couldn't fit on regular beds, the needle wasn't long enough, or had bleeding issues because of all the medications they have to take on a daily basis for all their obesity-related illnesses.

Is this really the world we want to live in? To leave to our children? When will we put down the video games and pizzas and look outside our own front doors? I left the hospital feeling saddened. Not for myself but for all the people who don't know the joy of sprinting up a flight of stairs without getting winded. They don't know what it's like to ride a bike around a lake or hike through the woods. They can't go out dancing or even walk through a museum without having to sit down.

I want to help everyone even though I know I can't save them all. Today's experience just helped me recommit to the WHY behind why I am taking my personal training exam and becoming a coach. I'm going to let the tender spot just under my ribs be a reminder on why I need to study hard over the next few weeks. I've got lives to change and kids to save and souls to nurture. And I can't wait to get started!

Calibration Celebration

Have you ever thought, "10 minute miles on the treadmill feels so much harder than outside." Or, "Why am I huffing and puffing at recovery pace on this hamster wheel?" Or maybe even, "Wow! This feels so much easier than the same pace on the road!" If so you've probably wondered if your treadmill's calibration could be off. So here's how to find out.

Disclaimer: I didn't figure this out myself or even locate the procedure myself. However, I did decide that it would be nice to have it laid out step by step with some pictures.

Step 1: Gather the necessary supplies: Tape measure (preferably a soft one), bright colored duct tape, a notepad, a pen or pencil, a stopwatch, and a calculator. Or you can do what I did and use your iPhone/smartphone as a stopwatch, calculator, and camera.

easy peasy

Step 2: Measure your treadmill belt using the tape measure. I found that it worked best if I folded my treadmill up and then wrapped the tape measure around. Record your measurement in inches. (Mine was 112.75")

Step 3: Place a piece of brightly colored tape on the treadmill belt.

Orange worked well

Step 4: Set your treadmill to your normal running speed while you stand on the side rails or off to the side. (My treadmill takes a minute to get up to full speed so I waited to start timing until it was humming along nicely.)

10 minutes/mile according to the treadmill

Step 5: Wait for the tape to come around again and then start your timer. Start counting on the next appearance of the tape at the starting point (one rotation) and continue counting until you reach 50 rotations of the belt. Record the time it took.

Time to reach 50 rotations

Step 6: Do some math. The speed of your belt in MPH = (50 x length of your belt in inches x 0.0568) / the time you recorded.

(50 x 112.75 x 0.0568) = 320.21 

320.21 / 51.3 = 6.24 MPH

So the 6 MPH button on my treadmill actually causes the belt to spin at almost 6 1/4 MPH! I conducted the experiment again at Shane's average running speed (8.0 MPH) and found that actually runs at 8.1 MPH! 

So now I can either adjust my time/distance for what I know the actual pace is or I can remind myself that a 10 minute mile pace outside feels easier because it's ACTUALLY a 10 minute mile pace instead of 9:35 per mile. I'll probably stick with recording the treadmill's distance and time readout since I'm lazy but it's nice to know I'm not just being a baby about the hamster wheel!