How I train and what i eat!

I have had a lot of people ask me what I eat and how often I train so here is a breakdown of my meals!

I eat 5 meals a day which consist of:

• Breakfast
• Mid morning Snack
• Lunch
• Mid Afternoon Snack
• Dinner

Breakfasts consist of:

• Eggs (usually poached, scrambled) with a slice of high protein low carb bread (by Modern Bakery) OR with some veggies in an omelette
• Oats made with skimmed milk with a banana and honey or a teaspoon of nut butter (or cleantella :) ) 

Mid Morning/ Mid Afternoon Snacks

• Handful of nuts (unsalted)
• 1 piece of fruit - usually a banana (if i didnt have one for breakfast)
• Fage yoghurt 
• Protein bar (rare that i have these to be honest!)

Lunch

• Salmon with salad
• Chicken with Salad
• Leftovers from the previous nights dinner minus the "clean starchy carb" 

Pre Workout

• Optimum Nutrition Amino Energy for my BCAAs and Caffeine kick! See my blog post on beginners guide to BCAAs

Post Workout

• Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey in Chocolate

Dinner

• Shepards pie with Sweet Potato mash and very lean beef mince
• Chicken stir fry with brown rice
• Fajita chicken with lettuce wraps
• Steak with roasted sweet potato and veggies
• Omelette with veggies
• Brushetta chicken (recipe here)

Drinks

• Herbal Teas
• Tea with skimmed milk
• Occasional skinny cappuccino
• Americano
• WATER

I flavour my food with:

• Salt & pepper
• Herbs & Spices (love smoked paprika!)
• Tabasco & Hot Sauce
• Cook with coconut oil
• Honey if i need some sweetness
• Chopped tin tomatoes
• Garlic, Chilli, Jalapenos
• Lemon
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Small amounts of cheese

Occasional Treats (i try to 'cheat clean')

• Paleo chocolate mug cake (recipe)
• 2 ingredient pancakes (1 banana, 2 eggs)
• Chocolate and banana smoothie (chocolate whey, banana, skimmed milk, ice)

Training Schedule

• I train 6 days a week with one rest day!

• In these workouts I train one specific body part - Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms, Legs followed by 20 minutes of Cardio. Chloe Madeley taught me that its better to do cardio after weights or first thing in the morning as fasted cardio as this ensures your glycogen stors are depleted and your body takes energy from your fat stores!

• I train in the evenings (maybe one day I will be a morning person but I just cant go to bed before 11pm which means I wouldn't get adequate sleep for a morning workout!

• I create a very basic workout tracker so I know what to train that day based on previous days (or i listen to my body/workout what is not sore!

Other

• I love doing some Pilates to help stretch out my muscles. I love Winsor Pilates and used to own these videos on tape (yes tape!). Now you can find them on youtube so no excuses :)

• I have a weekly cheat meal (not a day, just a meal!) I find this really helps me keep on track as i can still have foods that i crave (there is no one out there who doesn't think pizza or donuts dont taste good!)

• I have been able to reduce my alcohol input massively since moving to Dubai which of course helps! Id rather eat my calories than drink them but i do go out occasionally!

• I try to drink a minimum of 2 litres of water a day

• I use My Fitness Pal to track my food to make sure I am not over eating. I have calculated my daily caloric needs to lose body fat and enter this amount into MFP. It also helps me to ensure that I am getting the correct balance of Macronutrients (Protein, Fat, Carbs). My body is very sensitive to carbs so I have a high protein high fat diet (good fats like avocado, eggs, nuts, salmon)

• I try and get a good amount of sleep, unfortunately 8 hours for me isnt possible but try to get a aluminum of 7 hours. I wear a Jawbone Up to help me track this

• I use Instagram a lot (love it) i find it helps me stay focused and share my journey and get inspiration from like-minded people