How to Find A Diet You Enjoy (Meal Prep vs. Intermittent Fasting)

21 Sep How to Find A Diet You Enjoy (Meal Prep vs. Intermittent Fasting)

If you liked our video about eating out and staying on track with your weight loss diet (click here to watch the video), read through this article and you’ll learn so much more. Getting a lean and toned body should be effortless once you make use of the right tools. Should you use Fasting or Meal Prep to stick to your calories? Let’s find out !

So, you’ve heard that preparing your healthy meals in advance can help you keep better track of your calories and lose weight. This can also help make sure that you also eat healthy and get your dose of protein, micronutrients and fiber; when you’re hungry, you’ll simply reheat your meal rather that hit the first vending machine you find.

You might have also come across the concept that intermittent fasting (popularly done in a 16 hour feeding window/8 hour feeding window format) may help you lose weight. This means that you’ll only get to eat for 8 hours a day, normally lunch and dinner, skipping your breakfast. This way, you’ll be able to get away with higher total calories per meal, not having to meal prep or cook in bulk, and just having fewer opportunities to screw up each day of your diet.

Which is the best way forward when you’re busy or at work? Not to be diplomatic, but, it depends!

Well if you work a typical 9 to 5, or you’re a student, both could work. This will depend on your individual preference. Are you the kind of person who prefers planning and cooking ahead, regardless of the time consumed? Are you ready to sacrifice the amount of calories per meal (therefore taste and size of the food portion) for diet adherence in the long run? If the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes” and you tend to get hungry even while you’re occupied. Then eating lower calorie foods more frequently, say 4 times a day, including breakfast and a snack – will be for you, just because you won’t be able to concentrate when you’re hungry. Just make sure that you’re the one cooking all your foods. If you do eat out; given that you’re eating about 4 times a day, you’re more likely than not going to be over your calorie budget for the day. This can happen really easily.

Let’s stick to the 9 to 5, or student template above. If you’re the kind of person who is more spontaneous, likes eating meals on the go, hates meal prep time and simply does not get hungry when you’re busy earlier on in the day. Then simply skipping breakfast, going for an unsweetened black coffee or tea, then having just two other meals in the day (still paying attention to your overall calories) could work better for you. This has the added benefit of condensing your budget for the day into two meals, which allows for more flexibility and variety, when it comes to food selection. Don’t get me wrong, you should still try to eat healthy, but eating just 2 meals a day can allow more room for error. You could have 2 decent sized, relatively healthy meals. Say lean steak and potatoes with veggies twice a day. Another option would be to eat one big meal and one smaller meal, say a salad for lunch and a plate of pasta and a serving of ice-cream for dinner.

Both of the approaches have their flaws. For those who constantly prepare healthy meals – the day will come when you’re either honestly too busy to prepare your food ahead of time. Or even worse. When your ‘healthy food’ is prepared and ready to eat, but your friends are going out for lunch and you’ll decide to skip that tasteless surprise you have in the fridge. For those who decided they’re gonna be eating pizza everyday and losing weight just because they’re doing intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast. The day will come where you simply cannot concentrate when you’re hungry, your morning life will be dreadful and you’ll simply find yourself staring at the clock to wait for your fasting period to be over. Also, there’s a great deal of inaccuracy with eating high calorie meals, sometimes, the food is to hyperpalatable (taste = mind blown) that you will have a hard time controlling yourself and will still go over your calories, regardless. Two meals could easily go up to 4,000kcal for some people who have a hard time with self control when food tastes too good. Tell me about that one !

What we do advise is to work with your body and your routine, not against it. Just because some quack said so on the internet, does not mean it really is the best way forward. Also keep in mind that what is the best scientifically proven fat loss method here is not nearly as relevant as choosing a fat loss system which you can stick to, in view of long term results.

In most of our programs we include 3-4 meals a day, generally comprising healthy “traditional” diet foods – albeit with some spins on the classic recipes that we invented ourselves or borrowed from our top coaching clients.

“We always prioritize calorie control over meal timing. When it comes to fat loss or fat gain, the same amount of calories throughout a day will just about have the same effect regardless of how many meals they are spread out into.” 

3 Meals could look like the traditional Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. But when using an Intermittent Fasting setup they could look like this; Lunch at 12, Dinner at 7 and a Bedtime Snack (or Dessert at 8).

In our Bikini Body Toning Program For Women and our Beach Body Lean Muscle Building Program For Men we use a strategic combination of healthy recipes, which can be meal prepped ahead of schedule and will be vital to get lean, ripped and toned during the busy work week, as well as implementing elements of intermittent fasting when consuming larger, higher calorie “treat meals” – to wind down and de-stress during weekends or events. These larger meals simply do less damage if you’re consuming less calories by reducing meal frequency and also allow for a mental break from resisting your cravings all week long.

Sabrina is one of our best Bikini Body Toning Program clients, doesn’t she look amazing ? If you want a program like hers, click here .

Check him out, Beach Body Lean Muscle Building done right by Miguel, now aspiring towards even higher physique standards, if you wanna follow a program like his, click here.

If you’re the kind of person who has some excess body-fat to lose and want to tone up for the beach or to look good naked, the Bikini Body Toning Program For Women and  Beach Body Lean Muscle Building Program For Men will be game changers. The goal of these programs is to be free of dogmatic nonsense and help you reach your goals through whatever works for your body. Getting and staying lean, fit and healthy should be effortless with the right tools for you.

Till next time ladies and gents. Eat. Workout. Live.

Adam, Camp Fitness.