5 Food Preparation Strategies for Fat Loss

Ever seen the movie ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”? Clearly not one of the greatest films of our time, but it reminds me of what happens when you have your food preparation strategies under control.

Long story short (and to save you the discomfort of watching the movie!) they would go back in time and changes things, or hide things so that when they came back to the present it was there. Confused? Fair enough, time travel isn’t that popular yet.

Put it like this. When you are wondering what to have for lunch, open the fridge and your lunch is already there, life is good. It is even a better feeling if you have forgotten that you have made the meal and it is a genuine surprise! (Trust me, this happens quite often for me. Short term memory loss is a side effect of having twins I’m sure!)

Enough rabbling, lets look at some time tested strategies.

1. Double the recipe

The idea here is that you make a double (even triple) batch and store the leftovers. Put some in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch or in the freezer for a quick, healthy frozen meal. Be careful not to over eat just because there is an abundance of food cooked here.

2. Buy more Tupperware

I love Tupperware, but obviously you can get any brand of storage containers. These will come in handy for the leftovers you have cooked, but also for storing fresh ingredients. For instance we use it to store tuna not used for lunch instead of leaving it in the tin.

3. Bag It Up

Buy in bulk and store in serves. That’s what you want to be doing with things like nuts, beans and snow peas. It makes sense to buy in bulk because you generally get a better price. But then instead of just having large bags or jars of nuts (it can be very easy to over eat this way), get some zip lock bags and put them into single serves. All you need to do is grab a bag for a snack or take a few with you to work.

4. Take and Shake

Or is it shake and take. Or take, shake and take. Either way what you want to do is grab some of your favorite protein powder and put it in your shaker. All you need to do is add some water and you’ve instantly got some quality protein. Eat the bag of nuts you brought and a piece of fruit (or the snow peas) and your done. Once again you can bag up some single serves at the start of the week so all you need to do is grab it on the way out instead of measuring it everyday.

5. Make Breakfast at Night

Most breakfasts worth eating will require a bit of preparation of cooking. That means you typically don’t want to be eating cereal, toast or juice. Sure they are convenient, but they will have enough processed carbs to keep you running for about a week. Problem is you will feel hungry not long after and be eating again. So pre-cook your eggs, blend your cottage cheese, berries and nuts and have it all ready to eat, or heat and eat in the morning.

If you have a strategy of your own, let us know by leaving a comment below.

16 Ways To Lose Weight This Christmas

1. Train regularly – Aim for at least three high intensity session per week.
2. Make working out part of your lifestyle – Prioritise your health and fitness.
3. Train Consistently – Think long term not just this week and next.

4. Forget the “Fat Burning Zone” – Train as hard as you can without hurting yourself.
5. Use resistance to burn fat – Body weight, barbells, dumbells, kettlebells, sand bags, ropes, the options are endless.
6. Mix it up – Keep your body guessing and progressing.
7. Think “recovery” – 20-30 minute walks after dinner will speed up your recovery between harder sessions.
8. Set goals and make them happen – It may be as simple as following points 1 and 3 for six weeks.
9. Reset your goals once you achieve them – Keep raising the bar
10. Forget the foot pyramid – Fill up on non starchy vegetable, lean proteins and quality fats from nuts and oils.
11. Take your fish oil - Good for lots of things including fat loss.
12. Drink more water – Actively try to get 2-4 litres a day. Slowly increase from where you are now so you don’t spend all day and night running to the loo!

13. Keep your head up – Think positively and quickly refocus if you have a bad day.
14. Eat more smaller meal – Forget the three square meals. Go for a big breakfast, medium lunch, small dinner and a few snack in between.
15. Challenge yourself - See points 4 and 8
16. Reward yourself – When you achieve a goal treat yourself, you deserve it.

Cheat Meals Explained

Fantastic job!

You are eating well 80-90% of the time. You are getting all of the nutrients your body needs so that you can train hard, recover and train hard again.

The reward? A fit, strong, lean, sexy body!

But you want to let go. Every corner you turn there is an advertisement for some sort of processed junk food. Every page you turn in the newspaper, catalogue or magazine has a bright colored picture of the latest and greatest snack.

You want it, you’ve earned it and ……….the good news is that you can have it!

But before you have a free for all at the buffet and say ‘but James said it was alright!’ we gotta have some rules!

Call it what you will, a cheat meal (sounds negative), a structured re-feed (sounds too technical, and no fun) but the fact remains that there are some benefits from occasionally straying from the nutritional straight and narrow.

If you are restricting the amount of energy your body gets (ie dieting, calorie restriction, eating well) your body adapts to this decrease in energy by altering the levels of certain hormones resulting in an overall metabolic slowdown.

This would perhaps explain why when you start a ‘diet’ that it works for a week or two and then your progress stops.

The cheat meal or re-feed helps to reset these hormone levels back to their previous state so that your body will continue to burn more fat once you return to your proper eating plan.

What to eat. Well that’s pretty simple. Get the carbs moderate to high and keep your protein levels about the same as normal. You want to keep your fat intake under control here however.

So in real food terms you can have a go at those normally nasty starchy carbs, breads, pasta, rice, juice etc. Low fat pizzas and hamburgers will be alright here as well. Stay away from fried foods as they are going to be too high in carbs and fats together which is what we are trying to avoid.

If you are looking to keep the food choices as healthy as possible you can’t go past a heap of vegetables (grab the potatoes while you can), a heap of fruit and your berries as well.

Now that you know what to eat, you need to know how often. Somewhere between one meal and one day (all your meals for the day) per week will do the trick. You will find that this not only helps you to get that extra bit of fat off the body but will keep you focused in the days leading up to to the ‘cheating’.

Raspberry Blender Bomb

All of the recipes I post here are generally the result of some trial and error. As you probably know by now, my number one rule when it comes to eating food is that it has to taste good. Gone are the days of holding your nose and dry reaching in an effort to eat well. Say no to bad tasting food and say yes to this next recipe!

Raspberry Blender Bomb

Ingredients

• 200ml almond milk
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup whole walnuts
• 1/4 cup banana protein powder

Now this is where it gets tricky. You have to put all of the ingredients into a blender and blast it for 30-60 seconds.

Maybe it’s not that tricky after all, so that means there are no excuses for not eating well.

It will come out like a raspberry sorbet, but if you leave it for a few minutes (or use thawed/fresh raspberries) it will be a great tropical drink.

This blender bomb is perfect as a snack between meals, or even as a desert. You are getting a nice hit of protein, good carbs, good fats, fibre and a heap of other nutrients.