What I eat in a day to shred for a short period
Note that this is personal to me and not a general weight loss plan because the goal was to look more lean, drop as much fat as possible in 4 weeks without losing muscle mass — everyone is unique and require different amount of calories and macros, so there won’t be any details.
9 AM Breakfast: Baked egg whites & butter
Egg whites bakes in the oven, with a dash of olive oil butter (mostly because I had it in the fridge and wanted to use it)
Carbohydrates are very restricted and therefor not consumed until around workout, fat on the other hand are not to be consumed around workout so better for breakfast and before bedtime.
Eating only fat and protein for breakfast my incline the body to utilize fat rather than carbs for energy during the day.
12 PM Lunch: Baked chicken and spinach
I meal prep day to day usually because it’s just the way I like to do it, so at lunch time I bake all the chicken that I will eat over the day. I take a third and eat together with the spinach that was baked from frozen. I’ve been spicing my chicken with paella spice just because it’s really tasty, also with a spray of olive oil so it’s not dry.
Spinach is added for volume and fiber, to keep things running smoothly in your gut and avoid constipation.
3 PM Pre workout meal: Tuna, tomato & cucumber
I usually eat my meal, pack my things and walk to the gym around 3 or 4 PM. I don’t want a lot of food digesting in my stomach while I workout. Lean fish only sits in your stomach for about 30-50 minutes, so by the time I walk to the gym it’s absorbed and done it’s part. The carbs are saved until after workout, so I just add some tomato and cucumber for volume and flavour.
Egg whites are also digested quickly, but I didn’t want to eat it twice. Whey protein also, but I don’t tolerate sucralose very good so removed that completely.
Post workout meal: Chicken & rice
Normally, you’d wan’t some fast absorbed protein right after workout, but since the goal is only to keep muscle mass and not build it’s ok with chicken even tho digestion and absorption time is about 4 hours. Fat will make the process faster, that’s why I restrict fat around workout, a little bit of olive oil is ok.
Protein + carbs will raise insulin levels and boost the process of using fat for energy/recovery & protein for rebuilding muscle, so you won’t lose any muscle as long as you consume this meal as soon as possible after workout.
Dinner: Chicken and boiled carrots
Last piece of chicken haha! Carrots are the perfect diet food, good amount of carbs for the amount of calories you get. Although, they’re very high in fiber and are best when they are overcooked if you want to avoid bloating. Me who is a fructose intolerant also, needs to be restrictive of such, carrots are low FODMAP and low fructose, but if you eat a lot it adds up.
Carrots are also high in vitamin and minerals + beta carotene, the stuff that makes you more tanned.
Bed time snack: Chia pudding
This is the highlight of my day, always look forward to this! It’s literally a desert and made with
0% Yoghurt
Chia seeds
Orange, mest and juice
Strawberries
Walnuts
Your body will heal and recover during the night, so it needs protein for building blocks and carbs for energy. You will stay in a anabolic state as long as there’s protein to use, when the protein run out we go into a catabolic state meaning it will use your own muscle tissue for protein. That’s why we need to slow down the absorption as musch as possible before bedtime, and what food slow down absorption? Fat and fiber.
→ Chia seeds and walnuts are high in fat and fiber.
→ Yoghurt is high in protein and some carbs
→ Strawberries and orange carbs and fiber
The fiber will also help make things in your gut clean out so you wont get constipated.
This adds up to my Basic Metabolic Rate, meaning minimal calories required to keep my body and organs functioning. I still train 5-6 times per week and to speed up the process do weightlifting + 30 minutes incline treadmill.
Like I said, it’s not a regular weight loss plan. It requires the mind of an athlete.
— Your body will use the calories consumed from food to run for the day,
— 90 minutes of weight lifting will require another ~350 calories to push the weights, then additionally I don’t know 100-200 to rebuild and recover.
— I use a website to calculate that 30 minutes of 18 incline at speed 4.5 with my weight will use another ~295 calories
— Walking to and from the gym uses maybe ~300 calories
— Then you’ll use calories over the day to do basic stuff such as moving, typing, thinking…
So the deficit adds up.
You won’t build any muscle during this period, but the goal was to shred and maintain muscle.
As long as the body is fed with protein, it will stay in anabolic state and use whatever is consumed. You can wake up and eat in the middle of the night if you want to avoid catabolic state during sleep, or try consuming a larger amount of protein before bedtime.
I don’t get stuck up on the numbers really, because in the end the body isn’t perfect and sometimes will use more calories because we were thinking harder and other days we spent a few minutes extra in bed meaning we used less calories in the end.