I think that the number #1 obstacle to getting/maintaining a low level of bodyfat is boredom with food.
For me to stay lean, I am limited to steak, chicken, eggs, bacon, cheese, MRPs, veggies, flax seed oil, olive oil, cashews. Wow, 10 items to choose from. I realize there are probaly a few other food choices I left out, these are the ones that came to mind.
From my choices, you might guess that I am sensitive to carbs. So that really puts a limit on what I can eat.
Has anyone else ever struggled with boredom with food choices? How did you overcome it?
Go get yourself a good cookbook. Dig throught the recipes and start playing around with them to get the right food combos and add some flavours to the old classics.
Thats kinda funny. You have ten foods to chose from. I usually leave it at 4. Lean Ground beef, milk isolate, flax, and cheddar cheese. what else is there.
Tuna, Salmon, shrimp and all seafood
All sorts of nuts
Did I mention spices?
And how about sweet potatos, yams, brown rice, beans, Old Fashioned oatmeal, bran, whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta. I dont buy Poliquins recommendations for a maintenance phase once you’re lean. I also have serious doubts as to wether his drastic reccommendations are the way to go when leaning down. I personally favor John Berardi’s approach minus the caloric recommendations - and this after trying and following Poliquins guidelines faithfully for 8 months.
See, you WILL lose weight on Poliquins diet no doubt about it. However, unless youre taking some kind of anabolic agent, it seems to me JBs guidelines will stave off muscle catabolism much better while shedding the pounds if your caloric intake is low enough.
I feel your pain. Eating clean can wear on me, too. There are times when I am hungry, and I look at a chicken breast, and start thinking “okay, what else have I got around here?”
Spices are good, but they can slow up my digestion. There is a battle between making clean low-carb food taste good, and being able to shuttle it through your system in time for the next feeding.
All I can suggest is looking for new ways to prepare things, in order to give yourself variety.
Thanks to the “Alright Chefs…” thread, Rumbach and Ko have given lots of good cooking tips that have helped. But there’s only so many ways to cook chicken and steak!
I have a crapload of spices!
My diet didn’t come from Chucky P. My low carb diet is a mixture of The Zone, The Isocalroic diet, Boddyopus, a few hundred articles, and lots of personal experience. The keto diet I went on was based on Vain’s recommendations.
Jeff, I guess it boils down to choices. You either eat for pleasure and for taste, or you eat to achieve your goals. Each has its benefits and its price.
I’ll never eat something I truly dislike, but I don’t have to love it, either. A once-weekly cheat meal that breaks all the rules (of excess and food combining, both) provides all the balance and sanity I need.
Eating for form and function is a mindset, a lifestyle. Live it, love it, embrace it. Ultra elite results don’t come without ultra elite effort, focus and discipline.
