Mandy's Monday Menu

It's Monday, and I'm thinking this is the day that I set my mind right for the week, so what better way to do that than to share my Menu - what I'm going to eat, how much, and when!

Yesterday, I met with my new friend and mentor, Amber Dunford, to discuss my plans for the next 18 weeks.  As I've read about the whole preparation process, there has been a consistent message that in order to be successful, competitors will need a coach and trainer.  I've been in the gym on and off (but mostly on!) for over 13 years, and my boyfriend is a certified trainer, but neither of us has experience with competitions.  Amber believes that between my boyfriend and I, we have enough experience and understanding of both training and nutrition to be successful - as long as we have a little bit of guidance from someone who has been through the competition circuit before.  With that, Amber became my mentor, and has offered to give me tips and tricks that she has picked up along the way, so that my boyfriend and I can take it, and make it work for MY journey.

Knowing that my body is sensitive to carbs (as Bethenny Frankel said on her show today, "you might as well just staple that to your ass"), and having seen the results of carb cycling on my body before, we decided to start carb cycling right away at 18 weeks.  My overall plan is 1400 calories per day - only 50 calories per day less than I was targeting before - with 1 high carb day, followed by 3 low carb days, repeat, rather than being on a 7 day cycle. As always, the goal is to eat every 2-3 hours, and not go any further.

Here's the breakdown:
On HIGH carb days, I'll be eating 130g of protein (520 cals), 150g of carbs (600 cals), and 30g of fat (270 cals).
On LOW carb days, I'll be eating 150g of protein (600 cals), 30g of carbs (120 cals), and 75g of fat (680 cals).

Other slight changes from my previous program include the complete removal of dairy (I had been eating greek yogourt daily), cutting fruit down to only ONE piece per day, and only on HIGH carb days, veggies are now limited to GREEN veggies - I'll miss my grape tomatoes! - really limiting salt, and taking additional fish oil - 3 tablespoons per day.

Since my lovely friends Nat and Brock (aka "Brockalie") are getting married this Sunday, I started today with a LOW carb day, I'll have another tomorrow, Wednesday will be a HIGH day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be LOW, and then Sunday will be a high carb day WITH a cheat meal - wedding reception dinner!  I've cut alcohol out officially, but will likely include a glass of wine with my cheat meal dinner.

So for now, I'm going to share today's menu - remember this was a LOW carb day!

Breakfast: 4 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, cooked using 1 TBSP coconut oil
Snack: 1oz Pecans, 0.5oz Almonds
Lunch #1: 4oz chicken breast, 1/2cup Broccoli, 30g mixed greens, 1 TBSP olive oil
Lunch #2: 4oz chicken breast, 1/2 cucumber, 1 TBSP olive oil
WORKOUT - Shoulders + cardio
Post workout: 1.75 scoop chocolate protein shake
Dinner: 1 can tuna, 1 avocado, 64g (1 large stalk) celery - used lemon juice and ground pepper to taste

I will admit, I definitely felt hungry throughout the day.  I think it's a good thing that I'm back to measuring and weighing my food, as I've clearly been eating more than I thought!  My goal for tomorrow is to drink more water...

Love yourself, and PROVE IT!

xo
Mandy