Newbie - Weight Loss Plateau

Tampa-Terry - Thanks for the response.
Currently going through a plateau, but the problem I have is the last time I was losing weight was about 4 years ago on the atkins diet. After that I stayed MOSTLY low carb, probably around 80 or less carbs a day, and kept calories low.

Last summer I spent most of my time cycling, and not lifting. I road well over a thousand miles, probably closer to 1600 over a 4 month span, and never lost weight.

In January I went back to the gym. Have been lifting regularly since. Started out with split system, then went full body, and now I just started with “War Room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss” by TB.

My weight loss is stuck, or never started. My calories are low, never above 2000. The moment I go above that it seems I GAIN weight.

Just to rule out medical issues, I had blood work done, and doctor said everything was great. Thryroid, Insulin, Glucose ( 105, but he wasn’t worried ) cortisol etc.

So, Here I am, welcome to any suggestions. My diet is pretty clean. I eat mainly meat and veggies. Nothing in a box, or can. I stick to whole foods and I don’t eat processed carbs. Calories are still low, and carbs as well.

I am looking for suggestions for people who have gone through what I am going through. Very difficult to keep motivated when weight loss at my size should be easier. I am not trying to lose “My last 10lbs to get ultra lean”, as I have plenty of fat to lose.

Current weight 250…
LBM - 160 lbs ( BOD POD measured last week )
Body fat % - Near death! I need to get some results.

Open to suggestions! Thanks

Everyone here is going to tell you to eat more. Eat 3500+ calories for a few weeks, regardless of what the scale tells you. At 250lbs and sub 2000 calories your metabolism is extremely out of whack.

[quote]uberswank wrote:

My weight loss is stuck, or never started. My calories are low, never above 2000. The moment I go above that it seems I GAIN weight.

Everyone here is going to tell you to eat more. Eat 3500+ calories for a few weeks, regardless of what the scale tells you. At 250lbs and sub 2000 calories your metabolism is extremely out of whack. [/quote]

He’s right. But, just dont go from your 1500 cals to 3500 right away. Add 250-500 cals a week until you reach at least 3000.

Very good information you provided there, designinme. That was helpful.

The fact someone is at a plateau means that they are taking in enough calories to maintain their weight. In some cases calories are pretty darn low and/or energy expenditure is pretty darn high. What we need to do is repair your metabolism (i.e., increase LBM). Muscle burns calories 24/7 while fat burns little to no calories. If you increase LBM (Lean Body Mass), you’re going to burn more calories per hour. So in a way, we have dual goals – reduce fat mass and increase LBM. It’s not a fast process.

What happened last summer is that you were eating enough calories to maintain your weight, but since you were cycling and not lifting, you burned up some muscle. Your metabolism took a hit, in other words.

What I want to do is add in some precision to what you’re doing currently, even though you’re making good food choices. Oddly enough, even on a healthy diet low in carbs, you can gain weight. I want to make sure you’re getting all the protein you need to protect or even add to LBM, but not one bit more. Same with fat. I’m going to make sure you get all of what you need, but limit you beyond that. I’m also going to play around with the ratios of fat a bit. You want roughly equal amounts of monounsaturated, polyunsaturate and saturated fat. And finally, I want to optimize PWO nutrition. That part of things for you is going to be an act of faith, but it’s part of the master plan. Even though you want to lose fat, you’re wanting to put on muscle, too, right, because that’s how you repair yoru metabolism. Well, you have to eat in a way that supports both those goals and taking in starchy carbs in your PWO meal is part of that.

What I need is your current weight and when you wake up and when you go to bed. With that, we’ll start putting your plan together.

Instructions on how to design a diet to follow …

Okay, let’s go through how to design a diet.

Acronyms:
P+F = Protein + Fat
P+C = Protein + Carbs
PWO = Post Work Out

The first thing you do is pick the times you are eating. You’re shooting for either 5 or 6 snack-sized meals per day. They should be roughly 3 to 4 hours apart. And you want to spread out your meals as much as possible from when you get up to when you go to bed. You’re not eating more … you’re just spreading out what you are eating a little bit better.

Example:

09:00
12:00
03:00
06:00
09:00

Add in your workout if you’re doing resistance training. Your workout should be 1.5 to 2 hours after a meal.

09:00
12:00
03:00
05:00 Workout
06:00
09:00

Right here is probably a good point to tell you that you need to create one menu plan for your workout days and a second one for the days you don’t do resistance training. The reason for that is that you get some starchy carbs in the meal following resistance/strength training (not cardio!)

Note: Remember that you should never do resistance training out of bed, on an empty stomach! That’s a big no-no!

Next pick which meals are P+C and which are P+F. Start the day with your P+C meals and end your day with P+F meals. If you eat 5 snack-sized meals, you need 3 P+C meals and 2 P+F meals. If you eat 6 snack-sized meals, you need 3 P+C meals, 3 P+F meals.

Make sure you have a P+C meal following resistance training. You need a P+C meal following resistance training even if you train late at night.

Let’s determine protein requirements. Take your body weight and divide it by 5 if you’re eating 5 meals per day. Divide your body weight by 6 if you are eating 6 meals a day. That’s the number of grams of protein you need to eat per meal.

Now go to www.fitday.com or www.nutritiondata.com and look up every type of protein you like to eat. Look up things like 5 egg whites and 1 whole egg for an omelette, chicken breast, shrimp, scallops, tuna, top sirloin, lean ground beef. See how many ounces of a given meat you have to eat to hit your per-meal protein number. Jot down the numbers on a piece of paper so that you don’t have to look things up every time you’re planning a meal.

About now you have something that looks like this:

09:00 P+C
12:00 P+C
03:00 P+F
05:00 Workout
06:00 P+C PWO Meal
09:00 P+F

Write down the type of protein that you will be eating for each of your meals. Try to get 5 different types of protein every day. An example might be something like:

egg white omelet w/ one whole egg
tuna
shrimp
protein powder
chicken breast

Now let’s add the fat into your plan. To calculate total daily fat requirements, multiply your body weight by 0.4g. A person who weighs 150 pounds would require 60g of fat per day. Divide that number by 3. 1/3 should be olive oil, 1/3 should be flaxseed oil and 1/3 should be saturated fat.

1/3 in the example I used above is 20g. I already know 1 tablespoon is 14g of fat. So I would tell our 150 pound person that they needed 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil (21g of fat) and 1.5 tablespoons of flaxseed oil (21g of fat) per day.

Add the olive oil to one of your P+F meals, and add the flaxseed oil to another P+F meal. You’ll get the rest of your fat from the lean cuts of meat, eggs, and dairy you choose.

So now your menu is looking more like this. I’m not putting in portion sizes, but at this point you would know how much P and F you are eating in a given meal.

09:00 P+C
…egg white omelet w/ one whole egg
12:00 P+C
…tuna
03:00 P+F
…shrimp + flaxseed oil
05:00 Workout
06:00 P+C PWO Meal
…protein powder
09:00 P+F
…chicken breast + olive oil

The next step is to add in 3 servings of fruit, 1 serving of beans or legumes and 1 brassica. Brassicas, of course are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, bok choi and kohlrabi, to name a few. Do a search on Google for a more comprehensive list.

Green beans do not count as a serving of beans. Beans are defined as fava beans, navy beans, kidney beans, red, pink or black baeans, lima beans, mixed beans, garbonzo beans or chickpeas.

At this point your menu is going to look like this:

09:00 P+C (Fruit)
…egg white omelet + pineapple
12:00 P+C (Fruit)
…tuna + blueberries (over lettuce)
03:00 P+F
…shrimp + flaxseed oil (over salad)
05:00 Workout
06:00 P+C PWO Meal (Fruit)
…protein powder + oatmeal + raspberries
09:00 P+F + Beans + Brassica
…chicken breast + olive oil + beans + broccoli

You’ll notice above that I added in the oatmeal in your PWO meal. The meal following a resistance training session should be a whole-food starchy carb P+C meal. Starchy carbs, of course, are defined as oatmeal, sweet potatoes, yams, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, quinoa, or amaranth.

Notice that the protein source in every meal is different. Go for variety! Notice that every fruit in every meal is different. Again, go for variety.

The serving size for fruit can be found on www.fitday.com or at www.nutritiondata.com. A serving is not large, roughly 80 to 100 calories. The serving size for beans is 1/2 cup.

You can add in a high-fiber, low-calorie green veggies to any meal you want. Hold the sauce! High Fiber, low-calorie veggies have health benefits and the fiber in them will keep you feeling full. You cannot overeat fibrous green veggie carbs, and you don’t need to measure, weigh or count them.

For example, you might want to add in some celery to your tuna meal or some mushrooms to your omelet. You could put your shrimp on top of a salad. (Note: Make a tasty, low-calorie dressing out of vineagar & Splenda.) And you could top your beans with a few grated onions and have a spear or two of broccoli with your chicken.

Questions? (grin)

BTW, adding this in for everyone else, here’s a list of protein, fat and carb sources:

[center]Good Carbs[/center]

  • Green veggies like asparagus, bamboo shoots, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, cucumbers, endive, green beans, herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.), kale, leeks, lettuce (all types), mushrooms, mustard greens, okra, onions, peppers (green, red, yellow, orange, hot, etc.), pickles (not sweet), radicchio, salsa, sea vegetables (Nori, etc.), scallions, snow pea pods, spinach, sprouts (bean, alfalfa, etc.), tomatoes, yellow squash, zuchinni

  • Fruit like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, papaya, nectarines, plums, pineapples, apples

  • Beans & legumes of all descriptions, all colors and all sizes

[center]Bad Carbs[/center]

  • Processed carbs like donuts, muffins, cookies, cake, chips, crackers, pretzels

As a general rule, the more processed something is, the worse it is for you. About the only carb that comes in a box that’s good for you is probably slow-cook oatmeal, oat bran and steel cut oats. Even then, you can’t eat unlimited amounts.

[center]Good Fats[/center]

  • Monounsaturated fats like those found in avocados and olive oil

  • Polyunsaturated fat – especially and specifically flaxseed oil and fish oil, either that or coldwater fish and wild salmon (not farm raised)

  • Fat found in fresh (not roasted) nuts

  • Saturated fat found in leaner cuts of meat, eggs and dairy get an honorable mention, too.

Though fat intake needs to be regulated/managed – as an example, don’t eat nuts out of the bag or you’ll really rack up some calories – it is required for health!

[center]Bad Fats[/center]

  • Fried food
  • Transfatty acids
  • Hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils

Tampa Terry, i don’t know much about you, but you are very generous with your time, and have great insight into the esoteric world of training/body comp. Thanks for sharing this

Thanks, Danny. I like to tell people that when it comes to body comp and macronutrient manipulation, everything I know I learned here on the site. So I’m happy that I’m able to give back that which has been given to me. That’s really what T-Nation is all about.

Don’t throw out the egg yolk, it is the most nutritious part. If you are worried about cutting fat, do it in other parts of your diet.

Thanks everyone!

Tampa-Terry
I wanted to get back with you regarding my current stats. I weigh 260, 5’11". I wake up usually at 5 a.m. and most nights go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00.
Workout is 5:30 a.m.

This brings me to my problem. I work out first thing in the morning. Usually I eat something upon waking, but I don’t know how much I should consume of what that would be ideal for working out. My work schedule makes going to the gym much easier on me in the morning.

If I woke up at 4:45 and drank a protein shake with an apple, would that still be ok to work out at 5:30?

I don’t usually have the chance to consume food 2 hours before working out because I need to do it early in the morning.

I appreciate all of the diet advice. I am going to start this plan this weekend once I have time to hit the grocery. IN the meantime, do you have any suggestions for snack meals that don’t require cooking? I will be eating almost ALL of my meals at work, or away from the house so I don’t have much time during the day to prepare 6 snack size meals. Would something like protein shake/cottage cheese/apple - work for a few of these?

Thanks so much!

Let’s start with the basic structure of your plan, designinme. Does something like the following work for you?

05:00 Rise & Shine & HOT-ROX
05:30 Workout
06:30 PWO Drink
08:00 PWO Meal
11:30 HOT-ROX
12:00 P+C
03:00 P+C
06:00 P+F
09:00 P+F
09:30 Lights Out

All I want you to do is have a scoop of whey protein at 4:45 or 05:00. Whey protein is a fast-digesting protein that will hit your system quickly. You can have it with black coffee and your favorite low/no-calorie sweetener if you like. Take HOT-ROX at that time if you’re using a fat burner.

Your workout should be no longer than one hour in duration. Get in and get out. Re your workouts, limit them to no more than 3 or 4 sessions a week. Alternate your resistance training with either walking (outside) or HIIT, which stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It’s a type of cardio that’s a real fat stripper! It’s short, but not very sweet. (grin) Limit HIIT to no more than 3 sessions a week if you’re working out 3 times a week. Limit HIIT to no more than 2 sessions if you’re working out 4 times a week.

If you’re doing Surge, make 3 liters. Drink one as you’re walking in the door of the gym, drink a second one during and one immediately upon completing your workout. If you’re not drinking Surge, drink a pint of chocolate milk as you’re walking out the door.

If you do resistance training, your PWO meal will include starchy carbs. If you do HIIT, your PWO meal will not include starchy carbs.

Tell me how the basic structure works for you, and then we’ll figure out protein and fat requirements.

All of your meals will be snack-sized meals … though I know you were asking about snack TYPE meals. (grin) The only way to pull this off is to do a bunch of cooking on the weekend and put everything into Tupperware containers or ZipLock bags.

Example … I recommend that you make a pot of chili once a week. Throw 7 cups of beans in it. If your protein requirements are 45g a meal (which they’re probably going to be), that works out to 7.5 ounces of lean ground beef. Look up one ounce of lean ground beef on www.nutritiondata.com, do the math, and you’ll see what I mean.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c21bo.html

So for 7 servings you need 52.5 ounces of lean ground beef (7.5 ounces x 7 servings). From there, add water and your tomatoes, spices, onions, green peppers, anything you like. Divide the end result into 7 containers, and you have a meal that meets protein and your bean requirements.

Cook a bunch of chicken breasts, marinate them if you like, chop them into strips, measure 'em out so that you know you’re eating your per-meal protien requirements, and you can throw it on top of a salad or serve it up with some broccoli or the fibrous green veggie of your choice.

Basically, you’re allowed all the fibrous green veggies on the list above, and you don’t have to weigh, measure or count. The “C” part of P+C is going to be a fruit. That’s an easy requirement to meet, and fruit is portable.

Another easy snack-type meal is deli meat with a swipe of mustard, wrapped around a scallion or two. That’s a great emergency meal. You can stop off at any grocery store and ask how many grams of protein in one ounce, do the math and have them slice up the amount you need to meet your protein requirements.

Cottage cheese and frozen blueberries makes for another great snack-type meal.

It would really help if you got a scale to measure out portion sizes. I leave it on the counter in my kitchen. Can’t live without it. (grin) Do a search on SP5 or Pelouze. It will run you $35. You can pick one up in Office Depot or Staples in the postal scale area.

Does this give you some good ideas, designinme? Questions? (grin)

Tampa-Terry
Wow, more great info. The schedule works out great, and i will get HOT-ROX. I used the original kind a few months ago but didn’t notice much difference. Maybe I should try the Extreme?

I have a couple questions. I understand the concept of cooking things up on the weekends, thats not a problem, and ideas like chili, stew, chicken breast etc., are easy and hassle free for the most part. The only problem I have is making chicken breast that doesn’t taste bland, or blah. I never can get it to really have good flavor.

You mentioned using Surge. I have a post workout recovery that I need to get rid of before I need to buy more, its called Race Recovery by IronTek I think? Eeither way it has about 55 grams of carbs. You said to make up 3 liters… are you talking about 1 serving mixed into 3 liters of water? Then sip 1 liter before, 1 liter during and 1 liter post workout?

Also, checking out your idea on the scales. Anything in paticular that I would need make sure the scale has? I went to walmart a month ago and they had a digital scale for about $25.00.

I will have more questions once I get this to digest!

[quote]designinme wrote:

<<…problem I have is making chicken breast that doesn’t taste bland, or blah. I never can get it to really have good flavor…

Get an envelope of that powdered Italian salad dressing mix. Spray the outside of chicken breast with a light coating of cooking spray (the olive oil-based stuff) and roll the breast around in the salad dressing mix powder to coat. Bake the chicken until cooked through. Or, butterfly the breasts first, coat with the cooking spray and dressing mix, and wrap in aluminum foil with a little water. Bake in the oven until done. (The chicken gets steamed and flavored with the dressing mix.)

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if HOT-ROX is working or not. The best way is to use it one week on, one week off. You’ll know pretty quickly if it’s helping or not. Personally, I do find it to be a help when dieting, giving me a little more energy and definitely helping with appetite suppression. But I look to my DIET (what, how and when I’m eating) to get me my actual results. You’ll be fine with either one; the choice of which version is up to you.

It’s important with chicken not to over cook it. I’ll see if I can get Chef Lisa Marie to stop by with some ideas. But if you don’t like chicken, you can have turkey or pork or tilapia instead. It’s more of a concept than a recommendation that you should be eating CHICKEN!!! (grin) Heck, it’s hard enough dieting in the first place. Pick things you ENJOY eating and then cook a bunch of IT on the weekend. (grin)

I’m not familiar with Race Recovery that I can translate it for you. Read the article on Surge All Articles - T NATION and see if you can’t get in the ball park with P and C (i.e., roughly equal amounts). If race recovery doesn’t have protein, add in some whey protein. Then take what you’re drinking and divide it into 3 portions – having some before, during and after.

As far as the scale goes, it measures in grams and ounces. In fact, it measures in TENTHS of an ounce. It’s digital. You can put a plate on it, turn it on, and it will zero out. Then you put your food on the plate and it weighs the food. Voila! No scale to clear. (grin) I think they call it a tare feature.

05:00 Rise & Shine & HOT-ROX & 1 scoop of Whey Protein w/ coffee
05:30 Workout (Start sipping Surge or Surge equivalent)
06:30 PWO Drink (Conclude sipping Surge or Surge equivalent)
08:00 PWO Meal (45g P + 90g of starchy carbs + Fruit)
11:30 HOT-ROX
12:00 P+C (45g P + Fruit)
03:00 P+C (45g P + Fruit)
06:00 P+F (45g P + Olive Oil)
09:00 P+F (45g P + Flaxseed Oil)
09:30 Lights Out

Once again, a serving of fruit is roughly 100 calories; not a lot. But no fruit is off limit. Fresh or frozen, not canned or candied or dried). Go for variety.

Add in a serving of beans at one of your meals above. A serving is 1 cup. Go for variety. Having a beans requirement means you could make hummus! (grin) No baked beans with sugar!

Taking 260 and multiplying it by 0.4g of fat, I get daily fat requirements of of 104g. You are not to exceed that number. Part of that 104g number is a flaxseed oil requirement of 2 tablespoons (28g) and an olive oil requirement of 2 tablespoons (28g). You can make a salad dressing with that, or pour it over your veggies or meat. You can cook with olive oil, but do not cook with flaxseed oil. Have one at one P+F meal and one at the other.

Go ahead and register on www.fitday.com so that you can track your food and look up the number of grams of P, F and C.

Make sure you weigh once a week and no more. There’s another set of measurements I’d like you to track. Get a Myotape and measure your chest, right arm (upper), waist, butt, right thigh, right calf. I use that information when troubleshooting someone’s plan and figuring out where I need to make adjustments.

You’re going to have lots more questions. (grin) I’ll try to keep an eye open for you this weekend.

Excellent contribution, jgundrey!!! (grin)

I heard someone say that chicken is bland and boring over here!
Try this recipe:

[center]Citrus Mint Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast[/center]

Ingredients
2 lbs chicken breasts
2 large stalk of fresh mint
2 Tbsp Olive oil (not extra virgin)
Juice of 1 large grapefruit
Zest of one grapefruit
2 Tbsp fresh ground pepper

Kosher Salt

Method

  1. Put all ingredients together mix well. Let sit for about 1-2 hours.
  2. Put grill on high
  3. Salt both sides of chicken
  4. Place on hot grill, put on the lid and turn it down to low/med.
  5. Leave for 6 minutes.
  6. Flip once. Close lid for another 4-7 minutes depending how thick the breasts are.
  7. Remove them to a rack and let them rest for approximately 7 minutes.

**I believe the biggest trick to making any meat chicken or other to taste juicy and wonderful is to not overcook it and also to give it that time to rest after it is cooked. Also, don’t be afraid of high heat to sear the outside to give it some great flavor and texture.


Here’s another recipe you can use for any simple grilled or baked chicken breasts that you have.

[center]Chicken and Apple Salad[/center]

Ingredients:
4.5 oz Grilled chicken breast (or baked)
5 oz granny smith apple
2 oz red onion
2 oz green bell pepper
1/2 jalapeno
1/2 lime zest and juice
1 Tsp Xtra Virgin olive oil
a couple sprigs of cilantro
Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Cut chicken into strips, apple slices, red onion slices, pepper slices. Put all this into a large bowl.

  2. Zest lime and set aside. In small food processor add jalapeno, juice of one half of the lime and process. Add olive oil and process. Pour this over the salad and mix.

  3. Add lightly chopped cilantro, lime zest, and salt and pepper. Mix!

  4. Let this sit for about an hour for the flavors to mix. Then enjoy.

You can make alot of this at once and put it on top of a nice green salad for meal #1 or #2. You will want to adjust the amounts for your own protein requirements.

This meets the requirements of a P+C meal. Add 1/2 cup of black beans to each portion if you want to meet your bean requirement for the day also.

Nice fresh crisp flavors with the lime and the apple. The cilantro and jalapeno also add some intrest and zip. You will never say chicken is boring again after tasting this salad.

(sigh)

Chef Lisa Marie is the best!!!

Update
Today was the first day putting this info to work. Have yet to get HOT-ROX or food scale prior to preparing my lunches, but moved forward anyway.

Today, (MONDAY) is the only day I can work out later than normal.
Here was my schedule Today

7 a.m. - Out of bed - Coffee
7:30 a.m. - At GYM- Today was heavy chest/back
day- Manage to pull my groin doing sprints ( sucks ! )
8:45 - Post Workout Drink consisting of 40 grams of protein ( two scoops whey ) 1 Cup blackberries

10:30 - 1 Cup cottage cheese 2/3 cup blackberries
12:30 - 1/2 Chicken Breast wrapped with a low carb wrap and an apple
3:30 - two scoops protien - 1/2 chicken Breast
-----------------Later Tonight-------------
5:30 - Tuna Fish in a pack. 2.5 servings. and protein shake
7:30 - Chicken Breast with mixed vegetable
9:00 - two scoops whey protein
9:30 - Bed

Notes *** Today was a little off, kinda rushed this morning and didn’t have time to bring any veggies with me to work. So, tonight I will cook up some frozen vegetables ( I bought plenty of Broc. Cauliflower carrots mix ) and will put into plastic containers.

Here is one issue! I am a long time atkins dieter, and well, have become rather used to lathering my veggies in butter. Any suggestions for making them taste better? Is a “Butter Spray” ok? I don’t want to rack up tons of extra calories with my veggies, but man… they just don’t taste good without butter!

My post workout shake tasted really good. I don’t know how Surge tastes, but my recovery tastes like nasy TANG orange garbage. Throwing in blackberries instead of recovery made the drink rather enjoyable.

Ok, Please… let me know what you think! Thanks!

Try a calorie free butter spray like the one Smart Balance offers.

You’re getting some very nice structure going there designinme … and some good food choices, too!!!

The biggest opportunity I see is having some whey protein with your coffee. It’s a fast digesting protein, which is why if you get the chance, I’d like to see you either get some Metabolic Drive for your last meal of the day or else add in some cottage cheese, which is high in casein and which is a SLOW digesting protein.

Working out on an empty stomach is a no-no because you haven’t eaten all night. You are in negative nitrogen balance, which means you are breaking down muscle. If you start working out, which is catabolic (breaking down muscle) by nature, it’s like adding a negative to a negative. Have one scoop of whey with your coffee and sip your PWO drink 1/3 as you’re walking in the gym, 1/3 during and 1/3 as you’re walking out of the gym. We’re trying to minimize the damage of working out on an empty stomach.

Your 10:30 meal needs to have some starchy carbs in it. You could have chicken and brown rice and veggies and a piece of fruit. Or you could have oatmeal and protein protein powder and fruit. You could have sweet potatoes or yams in your PWO meal. The starchy carbs will help refill muscle glycogen. They help with protein synthesis and repair. They help shuttle amino acids to the muscles you just worked. Lots of benefits!!! (grin)

Still gotta add in your flaxseed and olive oil. Do that instead of butter. You can add salt and garlic and herbs and give it a ride in the blender and then mix your supercharged flax and/or olive oil with vinegar and use it as a salad dressing. The reason I make those recommendations is because they’ll improve your health, and they’ll speed up fat loss and the mobilization of stored fat.

All around, though, it’s looking good, designinme!!! Come back as often as you have questions.