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How do you get so much protein?? A common question that I hear is, "how do I get enough protein?" Once a client starts tracking macros, she realizes she isn't getting as much protein in her diet as she thought. While it might take some extra thought and planning at first, you'll soon catch on and reaping the benefits of adequate intake for fat loss. An easy way to keep on track without having to sit down to a whole chicken for dinner, is to aim for about 20-25g of protein per meal or snack. Here, I've added some pictures to show what my day usually looks like. My snacks stay the same and my meals are some type of variety of meat, vegetables, and starch. Today, I started with a plain protein pancake (24g of protein), which easily could have been topped with peanut butter, jam, or a little syrup...but my fridge wasn't prepared for that. Lunch was about 3.0oz of chicken (25g of protein and yes, I weigh it) with jasmine rice and steamed asparagus. For an afternoon snack, I had a full cup of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt topped with frozen berries (23g of protein). Dinner was what I had been saving for all day--thank god for flexible macros-- a BLT piled with turkey on WHITE bread (30g of protein) and a light beer (which also fit my macros). Finally, my last snack of the day was a Quest bar for 21g of protein. All of this brought my total to 133g of protein and 1,672 calories. Not bad 😉

Do you have a snowball habit?

When thinking about diet and exercise, do you find yourself in an “all-or-nothing” mindset? Maybe you’ve been staying on top of your workout schedule, meal prepping, and making healthier choices, but then one night comes around where you just have to indulge in some of your favorite pizza (for the sake of the post, I’m going to use pizza as my indulgent food example because it’s obviously the best). The pizza is not the roadblock in your weight loss goals, it’s what happens after the pizza that can affect your progress.

Here’s what many people can identify with: wanting to allow room for “treats” in their diet, but said treats prevent them from staying in the, “I’m tracking my food intake and losing weight” mentality. One bite of their self-identified “unhealthy” food and they can’t reign things back in. While there are several ways to combat this, I’m going to share my favorite plan of attack: Don’t let your dietary indulgences snowball. Let yourself enjoy the food (or drink) that you want to treat yourself to, but then move on afterwards. The next day, go back to the foods more suitable to your diet. Go back to the gym and continue your workouts as scheduled. Don’t let one treat become treats for every meal. Think of eating for your diet goals as you would brushing your teeth--if you fall asleep without brushing your teeth one night, do you just quit brushing your teeth all together?? I hope not. Don’t quit your goals, just because you had one indulgent meal.

Don’t you dare feel guilty either! If you’re gonna eat pizza, you better enjoy it! ;)

Can you have your beer and burn it too?

This week I had a client text me that she spontaneously wanted to meet her fiancé for drinks after work, but she had a workout scheduled and she had already used up a large portion of her carbs for the day on a lunch provided by her employer. Should she skip World of Beer and the chance to de-stress with her fiancé? Should she feel guilty about have a few beers and going a little over her carb and calorie intake for the day? Not a chance.

Fitness and health goals should leave room for balance in your life, not make life miserable and boring. If you’re working out 3+ days a week and tracking your meals regularly, you shouldn’t feel guilty about having a few drinks one night or rescheduling your workout for the following day. Life happens. You won’t always have time to make it to the gym or the ability to hit your macros perfectly. Do the best you can and then when unexpected meals or drinks come up, you can enjoy your time and not stress. Then, get up the next day, plan your meals, and hit the gym hard so that you feel that you haven’t missed a beat in your training plan.

How’s that plant protein working out for you?

I came across this picture while reading the through articles this week and was giving so many rounds of applause and snaps in my mind--it’s so great, I’m on the verge of making it my profile picture. This image accurately shows how animal protein stacks up against vegetable protein. I’m going to try to break down the important pieces of this.

1) Leucine is the one of the most important amino acids in the muscle protein synthesis process. If you notice, many of the nutrition articles about protein quality will harp on leucine. Many whey protein powders will list the leucine content of the product. So in looking at protein sources, leucine content is often used as a tool of comparison.

2) Many people will try to argue that their quinoa (or other plant sources) has protein. Yes, quinoa does have protein. However, the amount of quinoa needed to reach the amount of leucine that this example’s chicken breast has, is more than most people are willing to eat. 1261 calories later, you can reach 48g of protein and 2.8g of leucine. After this much quinoa, most people would only have around 500 calories left for the day! In comparison, you can reach 2.8g of leucine with a measly 162 calories worth of chicken breast.

Thank you, Doc Fitness, for creating this visual!

One pointer I like to give when it comes to nutrition is to invest in a food scale. I'll admit that I always thought food scales were a little too much and OCD for me, but it takes so much guessing out of the nutrition equation. When weighing out your food, you know exactly what a serving size is. Until you've been weighing food out for a bit, it's hard to estimate what that serving of protein should look like. Going over or under on a serving could ultimately effect your goals. Bonus tip: when weighing out cooked protein, 4 oz is usually about 3 oz cooked.

A few points from this week: •I tried 2 new "fit foods," (only terming them as such because they are marketed towards us meatheads). The Oh Yeah! ONE bar in chocolate birthday cake flavor was offered to me for free from my local Total Nutrition. Not a huge fan of this bar. I was excited because there were SPRINKLES on the bar, but there wasn't much of a flavor. On the upside, I got to eat a snack with sprinkles and 22g of protein. The Nuts N'More peanut butter was a spontaneous purchase, also from Total Nutrition. I typically go through peanut butter more often than a normal person should, and after spotting this product on the shelves, I thought I'd give it a try. It contains a little more sugar than my normal peanut butter, but double the protein per serving due to the addition of whey. It doesn't taste too bad, but I'm hoping the price will help prevent me from eating it directly from the jar. •I used to do at least 2 days a week of HIIT or moderate intensity cardio but I've fallen off the wagon recently. While trying to get back into my routine, I added some rowing into the mix this week. It's a good alternative cardio workout to just sprinting or cycling. And there's a slight breeze that's created from the erg. #bonus

#totalnutrition #OhYeahBars #nutsnmore

What is this pile of BBQ? It's the easiest protein secret of the fitness community. Step 1: throw some chicken breasts in a crockpot. Step 2: cover in a bottle (or bottles) of your choice of sauce. Buffalo, BBQ, salsa, taco sauce...I've tried them all. Step 3: cook on low for 8 hrs. Boom! Easy, tasty chicken. While salsa and taco sauce are usually lower in calories, BBQ sauce can be higher in sugar so I try to pick the brand with the least amount of sugar. Last night I went with a bottle of Sticky Fingers Memphis-style. Major 🔑🔑: make sure you have enough of whichever sauce you're using, so that the chicken is has enough liquid to swim around in (mmmmm...appetizing). I love to cook but usually it's easier for me to have enough protein cooked for a few lunches and dinners, so I go with something along these lines. I'll be eating this with some baked sweet potato and sautéed kale and bell peppers.

#eatingformurves #fitfoods #protein

Part of my Thursday night lower body workout: Bulgarian Split Squats. After heavy back squats and conventional deadlifts, I went for some high-rep, unweighted BSS to add in as an accessory. As the great BJ Gaddour recently posted, any body weight movement can be challenging if you're doing it correctly. When I'm performing the BSS, some things I like to focus on are driving through my front foot heel, feeling the front quad activate, and squeezing my glutes as I drive from the bottom position to the top. My full workout: Back squats 2x8 @ 145 lbs, 2x6 @ 155 lbs Conventional deadlifts 3x5 @ 185 lbs BSS 3x12 each leg Barbell hip thrusts 3x8 with 3 sec pause at top on the last rep @155 lbs Hamstring curls 4x10 Hip abduction machine 4x12

#glutes #quads #bodyweight

Lower body/high reps

Saturday I hit the gym looking for a great lower body pump and what a pump was achieved. Again, since I’ve been using 5x5 for squats and deadlifts for awhile, switching to 8-12 reps left me shaking. Here’s what my workout looked like:

-front squats

-RDLs

-KB goblet squats

-Single leg alternating hamstring curls

-KB Swings

-back extensions with a glut/hamstring focus

#hiphinge lowerbody glutes

Variety of programming

Switching up the type of training I do is important to me--I want to be a well-rounded athlete and also maintain my physique goals (who doesn’t want to look good). For the past 8 weeks or so, I followed a 5x5 training plan 3 days a week, plus some cardio and soccer. This allowed my to spend less time in the gym and work on improving my strength; my squat strength increased but my bench stayed relatively stagnant. However, yesterday I switched to a 4 day upper/lower split, as my legs were getting tired from squatting 3 days a week and doing cardio. On the 4 day upper/lower split, I like to take one day of upper and one day of lower and go heavy on the “big lifts” (squat, deadlift, bench) and then add in some mid-range reps and weights, as well as higher reps and lower weights for accessory movements. Last night’s upper body workout looked like this:

-Incline Bench 3x8 @ 75lbs

-neutral grip pull-ups 5,4,3,3

-neutral grip shoulder press 5x4 @ 22.5 dumbbells (may have over-estimated what my weight should have been lol)

-seated single arm cable row 4x10 @27 lbs

-skullcrushers 4x10 @ 15 lb dumbbells

-alternating bicep curls 4x10 @ 15 lb dumbbells

-overhead triceps extension 3x15 @ 25 lbs

-cable rear delt fly 3x12 (per side) @7.5 lbs

#upperbody girlswholift

Glutamine is often marketed for post-workout recovery, however many studies have shown that it doesn't prove to aid recovery as much as claimed. What it has been shown to be effective for is aiding those with gastrointestinal issues such as leaky gut and IBS. IBS is a real issue for me, so in the last few months I've taken to throwing a scoop of this in my water each morning. I prefer the MusclePharm unflavored powder as many supplements have a super-sweet taste that I'm not always in the mood for.

#glutamine #supplements

My on-the-go breakfast pick this morning was a Starbucks protein "Bistro Box." I am low on groceries, so I was looking for something cheap and high in protein. I didn't read the label too carefully, or else I'm not sure I would have chosen this. 13g or protein does not a BroAnne-approved snack, make. I would prefer something around 20-25g. I also am trying to avoid gluten (for personal reasons) and eggs have been known to make me sick, so overall, this could be considered a fail for me. I panicked in line on the way to work. But for anyone else, choosing this box and maybe adding a side of milk would be a decent protein-packed, small meal. Opinions?

"It's really uncomfortable, so have fun!" #BackStrengthTesting #ForeverTheGuineaPig (at University of South Florida)

#forevertheguineapig #backstrengthtesting

One of my favorite chest exercises is the single arm DB bench. Looks weak but feels harder than you'd expect, as you have to put in work to counterbalance the weight. I included these in a full-body workout this weekend: lat pull down, SA DB Row, Bulgarian Split Squat, SA DB Bench, hammer curl, cable bicep curl/tricep pushdown superset, lat raise. #BroAnne #awkwardcameraangle

#broanne #awkwardcameraangle

Basically just did a sumo deadlift to lift this thing off the floor. Is that what they mean by functional training?? #lowerback #donefortheday

#donefortheday #lowerback

💪🏻 Protein gets such a bad, meathead association but it is what I consider the most important nutrient to understand and be cognizant of in one's diet. Most people aren't consuming an adequate amount to build muscle or change their body composition. A new report came out on protein consumption where the authors claim that current protein guidelines for the average adult are far too low. The simplest way to increase your intake? I always suggest aiming for 25g of protein per meal and snack, as research shows over and over that this is an optimal "dosing" to increase muscle synthesis throughout the day. Once another trainer asked what was the change that I made when I started to notice changes in my muscle mass. Honestly, when I started making an effort to take in 20-30g of protein at each snack or meal, I made quicker changes in body composition. It may also be an easier way for one to increase their consumption, rather than sitting down to a lunch or dinner with 100g of protein to consume. Do you have to just eat a whole chicken coupe at a time to hit your protein goals? No. My favorites are Greek yogurt, eggs and egg whites🐣, chicken, ground turkey, lean beef🐮, whey and casein protein powder, and protein bars (Quest chocolate chip cookie dough is my A1 from Day 1). Are these the only sources of protein? No, they just happen to work for me. Everything depends on you as an individual. Think of yourself as your own science experiment. Also, before anyone starts arguing with me about too much meat in a diet--I'm a reformed vegetarian and I've never felt better or stronger. Feedback welcome. #BroAnne #whatdoyouknowwednesdays #eatformuscle

#eatformuscle #broanne #whatdoyouknowwednesdays

The fact that I can run from my home to the water and use this awesome fitness trail amazes me. Actually, the fact that I'm running amazes me. (at Bayshore Fitness Trail)

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