ISO Meal & Meal Prep advice

[RiceyAF]

Hello Meso,

I’ve currently just started meal prepping M-F 5 meals a day one of them including a morning shake. My current food schedule looks like this.

5AM- 1c oats,1 scoop protein,64g PB, milk, banana all blended.

10AM- 300g cooked jasmine rice,4oz (weighed raw) chicken breast , veggies(with every meal after this)

430PM- 300g cooked jasmine and 4oz 93% lean beef

630: 300g cooked jasmine and 4oz chicken breast

830ish- same as 430pm meal.
Ps: I take vitamins and eat extra peanut butter with omega 3’s for extra fat and calories (500cal ish)

I know variety is poor but I like it just fine, however one of my questions is due to my work hours 6am-430pm I only get one , one hour break at 10. Then it is hard for me to eat until after the shift is over due to the company I’m working for. Should I combine two meals at 10am? To compensate for the such long period of not eating?

Second question is thoughts on weighing my beef while meal prepping after I cook it? U can imagine trying to prep 5 days of beef weighing it raw is kinda time consuming since you have to cook it separately

third question is 4oz of beef cooked doesn’t look like much meat. Same for the chicken. They both seem to weigh at about 2.85oz after cooked and with the rice I’m getting about 30g of protein per meal. Should I just cut out 50-100g of rice and replace is with 1-2 oz extra beef and chicken?
Any advice is appreciated thank you.

 

[JoeBlob12]

What is your goal? Use cooked weight for all proteins and make your life easier. 6-8oz cooked is pretty standard for each meal.

 

[RiceyAF]

What is your goal? Use cooked weight for all proteins and make your life easier. 6-8oz cooked is pretty standard for each meal.

6-8 cooked oz? I try to use raw because it seems to be more accurate however tonight I’m doing the beef cooked lol. And but seriously 6-8 oz cooked? Pretty sure I’d be hitting 300gs protein with x5 meals a day and I’m only aiming for 3500kcals and as for my goal , keep increasing weight slowly until I think it’s time for a cut based off how I look.

Edit: I am going to increase protein each meal and cut the rice down to 250gs. Cooked beef 4oz and chicken raw 5oz

 

[JoeBlob12]

6-8 cooked oz? I try to use raw because it seems to be more accurate however tonight I’m doing the beef cooked lol. And but seriously 6-8 oz cooked? Pretty sure I’d be hitting 300gs protein with x5 meals a day and I’m only aiming for 3500kcals and as for my goal , keep increasing weight slowly until I think it’s time for a cut based off how I look.

Edit: I am going to increase protein each meal and cut the rice down to 250gs. Cooked beef 4oz and chicken raw 5oz

Most people use cooked weight for proteins and rice for convenience. As long as you’re consistent with how you weigh it it doesn’t matter.

Some people take the low protein (4oz), high carb approach it really just comes down to what works for you. You’re going to have to add food though and you’re already eating a shit ton of rice so you may run into problems.

 

[Logan44551]

I agree with above, weigh it cooked, and 4oz seems low to me.

 

[JoeBlob12]

I’ll add that most people that I’ve seen that have success with the low protein/high carb approach have tons of muscle and train like absolute animals to support the carbs. They didn’t start out with that approach.. they built their physique on standard high protein and then made the switch once they could put all those carbs to use.

 

[RiceyAF]

Most people use cooked weight for proteins and rice for convenience. As long as you’re consistent with how you weigh it it doesn’t matter.

Some people take the low protein (4oz), high carb approach it really just comes down to what works for you. You’re going to have to add food though and you’re already eating a shit ton of rice so you may run into problems.

Firstly,
Thank you for the advice it is appreciated. Especially since I’m asking questions for answers that have no real answer and always varies upon individual.
I will lower the carbs down because 50% of total macros(not that I really give a shit about “Macros”) does seem to be unnecessary when I am not a giant. Also at that point like you said when I want to add carbs , 250g of rice is already a giant serving. Especially when I’m eating half the meals COLD lol.
However may I add I do workout with “HIGH” intensity ( my favorite style , and seems like the only way I can get a pump with certain body parts) and also workout 5-6 days a week. PPLx2 prior and just recently started my own split consisting of one body party a week (with the exception of one muscle group) and seeing if the extra recovery time and the slightly more volume in one workout per muscle group will offer me better results. Also I do work an active 40hr a week job as an commercial electrician. So I am on my feet lifting and moving constantly x4 days a week and 10hours at a time from early morning to almost night.
In replace of carbs I’m going to add more Fats (any suggestions that are meal prep friendly and obviously can go with by themselves or rice and a protein?) & also might recalculate my calories at 5-6oz cooked meat per meal so a total of 20-24oz cooked meat a day.

PS: not sure if any of the additional information gave you a different opinion of carbs but I am also 23 years old and on TRT @200mg/wk

 

[Demondosage]

Don't worry if it's not 6 meals a day, you have to make bodybuilding work with life, not the other way around. Don't even look at it like doubling up on a meal, just adjust food to make that equal 1 meal. But there is a big difference in cooked weight versus raw and I would start going by cooked weight.

 

[JoeBlob12]

Firstly,
Thank you for the advice it is appreciated. Especially since I’m asking questions for answers that have no real answer and always varies upon individual.
I will lower the carbs down because 50% of total macros(not that I really give a shit about “Macros”) does seem to be unnecessary when I am not a giant. Also at that point like you said when I want to add carbs , 250g of rice is already a giant serving. Especially when I’m eating half the meals COLD lol.
However may I add I do workout with “HIGH” intensity ( my favorite style , and seems like the only way I can get a pump with certain body parts) and also workout 5-6 days a week. PPLx2 prior and just recently started my own split consisting of one body party a week (with the exception of one muscle group) and seeing if the extra recovery time and the slightly more volume in one workout per muscle group will offer me better results. Also I do work an active 40hr a week job as an commercial electrician. So I am on my feet lifting and moving constantly x4 days a week and 10hours at a time from early morning to almost night.
In replace of carbs I’m going to add more Fats (any suggestions that are meal prep friendly and obviously can go with by themselves or rice and a protein?) & also might recalculate my calories at 5-6oz cooked meat per meal so a total of 20-24oz cooked meat a day.

PS: not sure if any of the additional information gave you a different opinion of carbs but I am also 23 years old and on TRT @200mg/wk

I’d say that’s a good starting point. Being consistent with it is the most important part and then making adjustments from there.

For fats you could put olive oil on your chicken and rice, bring nuts (macadamia, cashews, almonds), or even just almond butter.

 

[Ritchboy]

I’d say that’s a good starting point. Being consistent with it is the most important part and then making adjustments from there.

For fats you could put olive oil on your chicken and rice, bring nuts (macadamia, cashews, almonds), or even just almond butter.

Meal timing does not matter,just eat however u want however u can fit it...I'd say measure/weight ur raw chicken/beef/fish in oz in a big bowl throw everything their and check how many ounces will u get for the whole pack and divide by 4oz if that's what it shooting for every meal,then when it's cooked weight everything again and Seperate for the servings u got when it was raw...rice has always been hard to measure for me cus water can change the weight of everything plus rice sticks into pan sometimes...should weight that cooked I guess...and at least 3oz of veggies 2-3 times/day...even if u don't get ur food weighted raw at the end of the week its what determines if u been eating enough to gain weight.hope it helps

 

[malfeasance]

Just add a redcon1 MRE shake once during that 6 hour interval.

52 grams protein (like 6-8 ounces of chicken, cooked), 62 grams carbs, 9 grams fat.

While I am not a huge advocate of shakes, this would be better than you trying to wolf down two meals at 10:00 a.m. There is some limit to the grams of protein your body can digest and use in one sitting. While there is disagreement as to how much, I don't think anybody contends that the limit does not exist.

If you really can't eat a meal at 2:00 or so - then this is WAY better than nothing.