Fall Food Chart

So yeah, I have indeed lost ten pounds. And I think it has more to do with my diet than my workouts, so whoomp here it is.

If you remember, my basic guideline for eating around workouts slightly revised to subtly emphasize protein is:

BEFORE light protein & complex carbs

IMMEDIATELY BEFORE & DURING WORKOUT simple carbs

IMMEDIATELY AFTER light protein & simple carbs

AFTER heavy protein & complex carbs

BETWEEN heavy protein & complex carbs

Immediately before/after means within 45 minutes of, before/after means within 1-3 hours of, and between means more than 3 hours before or after workouts.

My workouts are mostly in evening, so fall food is going to go like this:

• Before - Dinner - light protein & complex carbs - vegetable and quinoa gratin, also veg pesto and sweet potato gratin what what
• Immediately Before & During - Workout Drink - simple carbs - CocoOJ2O
• Immediately After - Post Workout Snack - light protein & simple carbs - almonds and chocolate silk
• After - Breakfast - heavy protein & complex carbs - scrambled eggs and fruit, and also greek yogurt and fruit
• Between - Lunch - heavy protein & complex carbs - baked chicken and veganly beans turkey meatballs and kale salad

Which brings me ever closer to achieving my ultimate food chart, I think this fall I'm finally getting rid of oatmeal for breakfast and pasta for dinner. I pretty much only want to have starches for dinner before workouts and am limiting those starches to potatoes, quinoa, rice, and beans. Don't expect me to back this up with science, I'm not a nutritionist and am pretty much playing this by ear. Or tongue, I suppose. Really the extent of nutritional advice that I'm certified to dish out is all from Choose My Plate, get it, dish out, which I will in a bit. So anyway yeah, lunch was supposed to be baked chicken and veganly beans. But then I decided to be disciplined, I'm counting beans as starch and I'm not having starch at lunch ergo. Plus also I really like my green salads and vaguely think that raw greens are good for you, ideally I would eat salads year round. But realistically not gonna happen, I want at least to stretch salads as far as I can into the end of the year before it gets too cold. So I updated my salad recipe for fall, and it's great.

If you're just joining me now, the basic ideas are:

1. Time your lighter, more digestible foods closer to your workouts. That means before, during, and immediately after your workouts is when you get to eat your simpler carbs.
2. I have found that I don't need nearly as much starchy carb for fuel as I previously imagined. I don't know that I will ever entirely cut out grains and legumes, but I can certainly do with them in pretty small amounts and get most of the carbs I need from fruits and vegetables.
3. Fruits and vegetables even more importantly are good sources of antioxidants that help with muscle recovery, so load up. Green tea also, drink up.
4. Protein is what muscles are made from, you break down your muscles when you train and you build them back up when you eat protein. More training means more protein.

I hope to be lifting heavier weights in fall, which means more protein. Which means I will probably bulk back up again, stay tuned.

Your mileage, as always, may vary. Elves high carbs, men medium carbs, dwarves low carbs, hobbits eat whatever they want. Everybody different, you know yourself best. And also it's a process, you may be surprised how far you get from here to there.