Pistachio, really enjoying these two threads you've written (nutrition & training).
I find reading the thoughts and practices of someone who has achieved a good physique much more relevant than reading regurgitated dogma from people who haven't yet achieved the physique. Would be good to see some others follow suit with details on what's worked for them.
I found your comments on calorie counting, and the success you had from it, most interesting. Can I ask how you managed to do this for meals that you didn't prepare yourself? You live with your folks is that right? Was it a hassle counting calories when Mum prepares meals? This is what I would find a hassle with the calorie counting...the whingeing from my wife when she prepares dinner lol. She cbf listening to me go on about macros, she just wants to cook without listening to that stuff.
Thanks mate.
That is a good question. This was probably one of the most challenging things for me, seeing as in my family, I am the only one who has any interest whatsoever in health and fitness. So yes it was definitely a hassle.
The answer is compromise and a lot of patience! Obviously my mum didn't want to cook for everyone else and then cook for me separately. But the reality was that I couldn't have the food that she was making most nights (and I wouldn't know exactly what I was eating either). So, I basically prepared my diet to make it as easy as possible. But in doing so, I compromised considerably on taste, variety etc. But I don't mind, because when I am living by myself and preparing my own meals, I will have more control over this.
Basically, the only thing my mum needs to make is the mashed potatoes (which I have conveniently made into 500g, so all she needs to do is buy a fixed number of kilos), carrots and green beans (conveniently at 200g, so that 1kg can be split into 5 containers) and a salad in the morning (which the quantities don't really matter so much as they are all low calorie). There is also my meat at night, but again, this is easy as I have 333g (so a kilo pack will be for 3 days).
Basically, all she has to do is BUY the food in wholo kilo quantities. This doesn't require her to weigh anything at home. There is no special meals to make. Just every 3-4 days, a new batch of mash, carrots and beans needs to be prepared. And the meat every night (which is easy to cook).
The rest of my food I take care of. Eggs, tuna, protein shakes and nuts, all easy for me to weigh and prepare.
Obviously, most people wouldn't be willing to have such a bland diet however.
Unless you are very persuasive, I think it is nearly impossible to convince a spouse to measure all the food they use when they prepare this dinner. I'd say the answer here is one step at a time. First work on getting them to at least tell you what they are putting in, particularly the high calorie items (so how much meat is used, how much cheese etc). Generally trying to inform them about the benefits of health and nutrition will help to get them interested as well.
Mainly, you should make sure you have control of MOST of your daily intake. If you can count all your calories, except dinner, you should still be able to count say 80%. If you are still gaining fat, simply lower the calories in that 80%. After calorie counting for a while, you will get a good idea of what any one meal contains, and so should be able to form an educated guess about dinner anyway. It's not so much about knowing the exact calorie content, more about knowing whether it is a high calorie dinner or a low calorie dinner. If you are going to have a high calorie dinner, then eat less during the day.
Sorry for the long winded response!
G, this is my problem when I'm cooking for everyone too.
I have my plate and a set of scales on the bench and it annoys the crap out of everyone with me measuring etc instead of just cooking
and totally agree, these two threads are the biz!
As mentioned in my response above, you don't really need to measure everything. You can do it on the sly by, say, buying 1kg packets of meat and dividing it up (approximately) into 4 portions to get 250g lots. Or dividing it up into 5 portions if you want 200g. Basically, know what you want BEFORE buying the ingredients, and then you can buy it in close to the quantities you need.
For other stuff like butter etc, you should already have an idea of how much one tablespoon weighs etc, so you don't need to strictly measure these things. I guess what I'm saying, is that you can do most of the measuring
outside of the kitchen. You can know exactly what you are putting in without actually measuring very much of it. Does that make sense?
I really had to make things as easy as possible for my mum, as there was no way in hell she was going to sit around all day measuring everything for me!
It was good though, because in doing so, I came up with techniques to make it much easier for me when I'm doing it all for myself (eventually haha)
