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This post will be dedicated to a few ways that I have personally found to help me out during my cut (fat loss) phase. Most of these things require very little prep (if any).
- Sugar Free Jello
- It’s the perfect snack if you have a sweet tooth! Weighing in at only about 40 calories for the whole box you can eat the whole darn thing and not feel guilty. Plus, it’s mainly water so it helps you bump up that oh-so-important water intake. There are a ton of flavors to choose from. I have this almost every night while I’m watching TV or relaxing with the wife. I make this the night before I eat it because it takes quite a long time to set in the fridge.
- Air-popped Popcorn
- If you are craving more of a crunchy/salty fix then you can air pop your own popcorn and add salt, zero calorie (or very low calorie) powder flavorings like ranch, butter, etc. I like the Kernal Season’s brand. This will require an air popper, but you can find them all over for very reasonable prices.
- Halo Top Ice Cream
- I treat myself to this on my non-workout days. There is an abundance of flavors to choose from and they print the calories for the whole pint right on the front of the container.
- Sugar Free Jello Pudding
- Not quite the caloric freedom that is offered by is gelatin counterpart (see above), but still a very tasty and healthy snack option. If done with 2% milk I think it rings in around 300 calories or so. There are so many flavors to choose from that you can change it up. I tend to love the cheesecake flavor because it makes me feel like I am actually eating cheesecake. You can also make up healthy snacks or treats using this and those tend to be quite delicious too. Don’t use almond milk or it won’t set and you’ll end up with a tasty liquid instead of pudding. This generally sets and is ready to eat in about 15 minutes in the fridge, so it can be used for more of a last minute snack.
- Sugar Free (Diet) Pop/Soda
- Hopefully you read my post on artificial sweeteners. I love my diet pop. It’s a cold, carbonated sweet treat that gives me ZERO guilt. I average about 2 cans a day (3 if you include my daily Monster in the morning). Plus, it makes those occasional outings with friends a little easier on your weight loss plan if you drink (see my post on alcohol).
- Homemade Jerky (beef or otherwise)
- I would emphasize the HOMEMADE portion of this. Most of the packaged stuff contains sugar (and God knows what else). All you really need is a dehydrator (you can find them anywhere and pretty affordable) or a smoker.
- Broiled or grilled veggies
- Either way you prepare them is delicious. I like to toss a little bit of Lawry’s seasoned salt on them and sometimes even add some flavors from the very low calorie powders I used on my popcorn to change it up (cheesy, ranch, etc.). I like the Kernal Season’s brand.
Now for a few tips/tricks:
- Embrace the bland
- It doesn’t sound too fun, but I have basically stopped thinking of eating as “fun”. It is something I must do to survive and reach my goals. If I look at food as a tool instead of a treat you won’t crave the treats as much. Plus, when you do inevitably treat yourself (and you should every now and then) it’s like your taste buds are in heaven because you are used to “boring” food. That being said, I actually LIKE the food I eat and I feel like it tastes either good or great!
- Find your favorite meals and write them down
- My best advice so you don’t become overwhelmed with tracking your calories and macros EVERY day for EVERY meal is explore some healthy dishes and find some that you like and maybe some that are easy to make on the fly. Write down the calories/macros for that meal at YOUR serving size (hopefully you are weighing out your food – not to whip a dead horse here…but you hopefully read my other posts). Create a word document or something to stay organized or hang it on your fridge. Go through the list when you are wondering what to cook it can give you good ideas. I tend to notice that when people don’t have the healthy options in front of them they tend to cheat too much. This also saves you a ton of time because you don’t have to calculate or log these foods because you’ve already done it. This can also help you PLAN a grocery haul for the week once you’ve built up enough meals. Keyword there is PLAN. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Make a plan for the week or at least a few days and you will find you stick to it more often. There are thousands of healthy meals you can prepare (most of which can serve you multiple times throughout the week) from chicken, fish or lean meats. Before you know it you will have enough options where you can have a variety of meals/foods in your diet plan that will keep you from getting bored!
- Calculate a new recipe before you try it
- Add up the calories and macros of a new dish that you are thinking you may want to try before you try it (or hopefully someone else already did). Tweak it if you want (like using fat free milk instead of 2%) and see if you can make it fit in your caloric and macro limits for a reasonable serving size. I love “tweaking” recipes to make them my own and try to make them healthier (especially snacks or treats).
- Smoke your chicken
- Before I basically started eating the same thing every day I was having chicken a couple times a day (in different ways). The best, fastest and tastiest way I found to cook it was my electric smoker (this is a link to a bunch of different electric smokers). The wife and I would smoke 7-10 pounds of chicken a week in that thing. We would either it it plain, with some sauce or put it in our normal chicken dishes (smoked chicken is a very good replacement for any chicken, even salad). I had a smoker that had a temperature probe option so I could set the temperature to what I wanted (165 degrees for chicken – although I would set it to 160 because most meats continue to cook once you take them out) and it would automatically turn to warming mode once the meat was at the desired temperature. It is a set it and forget it style of cooking a LOT of chicken and you know I am all about ease of food preparation.
- A quick recipe I used is to preheat my smoker (this link is to the exact smoker I use) to 250 degrees and use a mix of either apple or cherry wood (a sweeter wood used on light meats like chicken breasts) and little bit of something a little more “powerful” or “smokey” like mesquite (just a little bit though!). Then I just toss my chicken in the smoker and place the temperature probe in the thickest piece of chicken toward the top of the smoker (less heat toward the top so I want to make sure all the chicken was cooked first). When it was done I would cut it up and freeze some and prepare the rest.
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