ROSS
If you’re looking for the Holy Grail of nutrition within this article you’re probably best leaving now.
Similarly, if you’re looking for a picture perfect, textbook food diary you’re best hitting that big, red ‘x’ at the top right of your screen.
You’re still here…you must be a family member or close friend.
Anyway, I’m going to talk you through my meals from Friday just past and then I’m going to tell you what was wrong with one or two of them and why.
FRIDAY’S SIGNIFICANCE
To give you a little bit of background, Friday marked the first day of camp* (as decided by moi) in the lead up to my next competition; which is just under 6 weeks away. I had done a ‘big shop’ the night before in preparation and had a fair idea of what I was going to eat and at what times, as long as my day went according to plan.
*Camp essentially means that training intensity increases, diet gets stricter, weight gets lost, energy levels get drained, basically, life gets shit.
And, on that positive note, I shall begin…
Friday started like all of my recent Fridays: with my 5:10am alarm for Fit Fast Bootcamp and the five other five-minutely alarms that I set to ensure I don’t sleep in. (Loads of fives…I’ve got OCD. There’s something you probably didn’t know about me.)
Once the synchronised 5:30am alarm went off on both my phone and iPad, I was raring to go.
I kicked off my daily routine by putting the kettle on and…I guess I should stop rambling and just got on with it…
FOOD DIARY
6am Coffee* with a splash of milk.
This should, technically, be black but I prefer it with a little milk – don’t hold it against me. I also often have my morning coffee with organic butter and coconut oil blended into it. I used to do this everyday but have got kind of bored (I always have had problems with my attention span) and now only have it if I I know I’m not going to have an opportunity to eat until later in the morning or lunchtime.
*Unless I state otherwise, if I mention ‘coffee’ it’s organic.
8:30am 3-egg* omelette, cooked in coconut oil, with two chopped bacon rashers, half of a red pepper, half of a yellow pepper, a handful of mixed salad leaves.
This was sensational, even if I do say so myself. If you’ve got a better omelette recipe (and you probably do) holla at me.
*As a general rule of thumb, if I’m eating eggs they’re at least free range, if not free range and organic. Ain’t no one got time for battery farmed chickens.
9am Cup of peppermint tea.
9:45am Double espresso on the way to training.
From the Costa Drive-Thru. Not organic – bad Ross. Amusingly, I also asked for it ‘to go’…at the Drive-Thru window. Bad, silly Ross.
10am-12pm Training:
A hellacious 90mins of muay Thai followed by 30mins of circuits with prowler sprints, push ups, ab-wheel rollouts and pull ups.
12:30pm Small bowl of granola with raisins and milk.
I love the ‘Jordans’ granola and only purchase a bag of it when there’s a blue moon in the sky as it seems to have magic powers…it vanishes in next to no time. On Friday, a small serving of its sugary goodness was just what the doctor ordered after a (very) hard morning session.
1:15pm Two chicken* breasts, seasoned with NoMu herbs and spices and cooked in butter, with mashed sweet potato, green beans and mangetout (the name of which amuses me every time I see it. No idea why…)
*Same as eggs.
I agreed to do a little extra training and then agreed to a last minute meeting; thus cutting my time to prepare, cook and chill from two hours to 45 minutes. As a result, I plated this meal, took a photo of it, took two bites out of it, realised I had no more time, threw it in a tupperware container and finished it in the car on the way to the gym.
5pm Cup of green tea
6pm Flat white
I ordered a white coffee and I meant an ‘americano with a dash of milk’, but my Lithuanian waitress brought me a flat white. I don’t like complaining (and a ‘white coffee’ can often mean a latte or flat white anyway) so I just got it down me, so to speak. In future, I’ll be going for the mouthful: ‘an americano with a dash of milk’, just to be sure.
7-8pm Training:
Six 5min rounds of MMA sparring with some of the baddest men Scotland has to offer.
8:30pm Carton of coconut water and a fruit salad containing pineapple, mango and strawberries.
9pm Another carton of coconut water – man, I love that stuff. Can someone do something to make it come out of my taps instead of regular water?!
9:30pm Two grass-fed beef burgers, seasoned with NoMu herbs and spices, with a humungous portion of vegetables – including: sweet potato, a red pepper, 3 asparagus stems and 4 broccoli florets – all roasted in extra virgin olive oil, a spoonful of honey and seasoned with rosemary and thyme.
I was hungry. Like, ravenous. And pretty damn tired. So, whilst I had intended on taking a picture of this meal, I managed to burn the veggies to the point that I probably killed all of the nutrients in them and as a result the meal was even less presentable than my usual efforts so I decided to spare my own blushes and just eat it.
10:30pm Cup of chamomile and vanilla tea.
Because that’s how ballers roll on a Friday night.
11pm Fruit salad with strawberries, grapes and blueberries.
11:30pm Bed.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Before I sign off, I want to state a few quick points and finish by talking through what I could’ve improved on:
1. I’m not perfect; at least in terms of what I ate on this day.
I’m better than most people but I fall victim to ‘shit happening’ too. Unexpected things crop up on the daily that throws off my plans just like they do yours. Sometimes I have to squeeze a ton of clients together back-to-back and don’t get a chance to eat for 6-7 hours…this doesn’t happen often but it’s always a possibility.
2. You don’t have to be perfect, either.
Eating well 80-90% of the time will get you in good shape. I’d bet my bottom dollar on that.
3. I’m being hard on myself.
I am in a position where people look at me for direction on all things health, fitness and nutrition. I have a duty to live a ‘healthy’ lifestyle…and I do. It’s not as if I had pancakes and maple syrup from McDonalds for breakfast and a large stuffed crust Pizza Hut pizza for dinner, whilst snacking on Krispy Kreme doughnuts during the day. (NOTE: That’s exactly what I’ll be doing the day after my fight; probably with some ice cream and cookies thrown into the mix at some point as well.)
3. On top of the coconut water and herbal teas, I drank too much water to be bothered keeping track of.
You should too, daily.
4. That was a long-assed day and it caught up with me as I dosed off for a few hours after work and training on Saturday morning.
THINGS I DID ‘WRONG’
1. I ate way too soon before my morning training session.
I got held up at work in the morning and the first opportunity I got to eat was an hour before training started. Now, there is no general ‘rule’ that applies to eating before training; everyone has their own preference based on their own experience. I, personally, like to train fasted; i.e. I don’t eat for a good few hours before training. Please also note that when I say this was ‘wrong’ I don’t mean it’ll make me fat, I just mean that training wasn’t as comfortable as it could’ve been with a stomach full of food.
2. I drank inorganic coffee – commandment #1 broken.
Inorganic coffee beans are sprayed with all sorts of chemicals that your body doesn’t like. It also doesn’t taste as good, plain and simple.
3. I had a bowl of cereal WITH milk.
Both cereal and milk are bad, m’kay?! I’m not too bothered about the cereal, in this case, as it was directly after training and my body needed the fast digesting carbohydrate (sugar); at other times in the day it does not. Milk, however, is a very heavily processed food and – as with all processed foods – most of the nutrients are lost during the processing process…if that makes sense. If you want ‘healthy’ milk drink it directly from the udder. I’m serious.
4. I drank a flat white (which is a very milky coffee). But I’m letting myself off with this one as it was the waitress’s fault and not mine. Okay, okay, I could’ve changed it so I accept it’s my fault. I did enjoy it though and that’s good enough for me.
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