Working out, eating and cutting meat out.

[Breezy]

Hi everybody!

Since I am trying to turn a few things around in my life I once again enlisted myself at the gym. I have beginning an exercise program quite a few times, but it always broke down after some time, due to myself not being able to eat all the time or some other issues, which we will leave out of this topic for now.

The past:

I could begin a progam and last on it for a maximum of 1.5 months, during which time I ate 3 large meals and three "smaller" snacks in between, being an ectomorph eating a lot and then some more was the key to any success. The problem is, it is annoying beyond belief. Eating becomes a job, an annoying chore that you have to repeat every two hours, the constant state of being full made me sick of even my (previously) favoured food.

Besides that I must spend bucketloads of time at the kitchen preparing the food, then spend time eating it, then spend time cleaning everything up...and then begins another cycle.

When I reach a moment when I only eat, sleep and work I quit the program, the problem is that I am a bit skinny and would like to add some weight.

The present:

I went to the gym today and then followed up with a trip to the market. I passed the chicken, because a week ago I had some that was 2 days overdue and I almost threw up, and decided to go with fish. An hour and a half of slicing, cleaning and cooking and another 20 minutes of cleaning the entire place later, the entire meal went into trash, because something inside of me said it would rather die than eat this.

The future?

Since I now, for the first time in my life, have an unhealthy disgust towards meats of all kind and their preperation, I imagine that it would be great to stick to other types of food. Like vegetables, fruits and nuts for the carbs and pasta (I whopping 14g of protein/100g), eggs, milk, various meals (oat, whey etc) and whey to get the protein.

But here is where I hope you guys can help me:

1) Is it even possible, to add weight and increase results without meat?

2) If anybody has been trying something similar or is simply a bodybuilder and knows a hell of a lot about bulking, then what food should I definatelly have in my menu that have helped you?

3) Any special recipies to max the calorie and protein intake while minimizing time and effort. Like for example I like to boil some pasta, then throw it on the frying pan and add 3-4 eggs and quickly stir while frying. It's a bomb that is very easy to eat.

I ask this because eating the same food for a week makes for an awful routine and eating should be the easy and fun part of working out

4) Maybe there is even a menu or a website with bulking recipies somewhere?

Thank you in advance, feel free to give any other advice. My aim is to add some wheight, while not feeling like a slave to eating disgusting food constantly.

[chiffonade]

Chicken breasts: cook in pan 5 minutes a side on medium high heat. Serve w/ mustard and lemon juice.
Ribeye steak: cook in pan 5 minutes a side on high heat in olive oil and garlic.
Skirt steak: cook in pan 3 minutes a side on high heat. Serve with chimichurri or salsa.
Pork chop: cook both sides medium high heat until 145 internal temp. Serve with salsa.
Rack of lamb: sear in pan 5 minutes a side, bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Chicken drumsticks: put 4 on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 for 50 minutes.
Tofu: cut into square slices, sear 5 minutes a side. Serve with soy sauce and sesame oil and chili peppers.

Broccoli/Cauliflower: put in hot pan, dump a few ounces of water in, cover. Steam for 2-3 minutes and they're done. This can be done in the same pan you cooked your meat in.

Spinach/leafy greens: just sautee in olive oil until they are just wilted.

Don't forget to season everything with plenty of salt and pepper.

None of these things should take more than 5 minutes of prep and cleanup. Are you butchering your own meat or something?

Also, learn to use your freezer. Individually freeze cuts of meat and put them in the fridge before you leave for work. When you get home they will be ready to cook. You shouldn't leave meat in your fridge for days.

[Breezy]

The meat was bad not because of my fault, it had three more days to go according to the info on the package.

As to the time, I know it takes 5 minutes to cook the meat, but what bothers me is the cleaning after, the eating itself, lately I seem to have to force myself to eat meat, and the fact that one needs to do it over and over and over each single day.

PS. It took so long with the fish, because I basically had a whole fish, only without guts, so I needed to make fillets out of it.

[chiffonade]

You don't need to fillet a whole fish - you can cook it whole in the pan. It'll taste better as well - you're essentially making your own fish stock when you do it that way.

Also if you buy meat from the butcher counter you can be assured of its absolute freshness. A lot of stores shrinkwrap their meat and put it on the shelves only when it's about to go bad...

[Breezy]

Originally Posted by chiffonade

You don't need to fillet a whole fish - you can cook it whole in the pan. It'll taste better as well - you're essentially making your own fish stock when you do it that way.

Also if you buy meat from the butcher counter you can be assured of its absolute freshness. A lot of stores shrinkwrap their meat and put it on the shelves only when it's about to go bad...

It was an entire salmon

And thank you for the advice, I will need to find a butcher. *nods*

I started thinking and realised that the reason why I can't stand meat at the moment is twofold: a) many bad experiences lately b) overeating in large amounts.

I'll have to work on that

[ilovetoday]

Originally Posted by chiffonade

Chicken breasts: cook in pan 5 minutes a side on medium high heat. Serve w/ mustard and lemon juice.
Ribeye steak: cook in pan 5 minutes a side on high heat in olive oil and garlic.
Skirt steak: cook in pan 3 minutes a side on high heat. Serve with chimichurri or salsa.
Pork chop: cook both sides medium high heat until 145 internal temp. Serve with salsa.
Rack of lamb: sear in pan 5 minutes a side, bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Chicken drumsticks: put 4 on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 for 50 minutes.
Tofu: cut into square slices, sear 5 minutes a side. Serve with soy sauce and sesame oil and chili peppers.

Broccoli/Cauliflower: put in hot pan, dump a few ounces of water in, cover. Steam for 2-3 minutes and they're done. This can be done in the same pan you cooked your meat in.

Spinach/leafy greens: just sautee in olive oil until they are just wilted.

Don't forget to season everything with plenty of salt and pepper.

None of these things should take more than 5 minutes of prep and cleanup. Are you butchering your own meat or something?

Also, learn to use your freezer. Individually freeze cuts of meat and put them in the fridge before you leave for work. When you get home they will be ready to cook. You shouldn't leave meat in your fridge for days.

Simple, almost obvious, sounds tasty thanks chiffonade!
I agree-unless you buy it daily your freezer is your best friend.