Eat & Move Series | February 2016 Goal

For the 2nd month of the Eat & Move Series 2016 the focus will be on Snacking!

FEBRUARY GOAL

My overall goal for 2016 includes increasing my weight.  In order to accomplish this, I have to build a daily diet that supports the increase of body mass through muscle development and building.

You might be thinking, why on earth would I want to build muscle?! But that's because you're probably envisioning Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles, or The Rock, or Tom Hardy in Batman as the Bane.  That's NOT the kind of muscles I'm talking about.  I'm talking about lean, toned, lady-muscles.  That's right, muscles are not restricted to men.  Women can have muscles too, and not look like body builders.

Many of the information out there however in the muscle building world is geared towards men.  Trust me, I've searched the interwebs, high and low.  I know.  It's hard to find relate-able advice and images, which can be frustrating and demotivating.  This is one of the reasons I decided to share this aspect of my journey with you.  The information that I do find, that is helpful, encouraging and doable, I will provide for you.  

Which brings us to this month's goal of Snacking as part of a healthy weight increasing through muscle building diet.

Even more important than workouts designed for muscle growth, is the diet to support it!
A huge part of muscle development occurs when you're not working the muscle itself.  In that time the muscle takes nutrition from the foods we eat to begin to develop and grow.  Therefore, we have to ensure there is nutrition for the muscles to use.  Which mean, we have to eat enough that our bodies get the nutrition it needs to maintain healthy organs and functions, and still have enough nutrition to go to muscle development.

Warning: I'm going to steer clear of the talk about macros and ratios and breaking each food down into its calories.  This presentation is the way my brain understands.  Hopefully, it's simple and informative enough for your brain to digest as well

3 (healthy balanced) MEALS = HEALTHY BODY FUNCTIONS = WEIGHT MAINTAINED

For optimum bodily functions the suggestion has been 3 healthy balanced meals a day.  This would keep our organs functioning, and maintain a healthy (existing) weight.  Therefore, it is assumed that to increase weight, more than 3 meals are needed (in tandem with exercise for muscle development/weigh gain).  These additional meals would be snacks, which are consumed in-between meals.

> 3 (healthy balanced) MEALS = HEALTHY BODY FUNCTIONS + MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT/GROWTH = WEIGHT GAIN

You may think, that's easy to do, I snack all the time.  This may be true. But! The pivot is the content of those snacks.  Like all meals in a healthy diet, they must contain the nutritional building blocks

• Protein
• Complex Carbs
• Healthy Fats

In order to provide the nutrition necessary to gain weight through muscle development and growth, the in-between meals Snacks have a few additional criteria.  This is because most times you're not going to be sitting down like you do for meals, to have your snacks.  It's going to be on-the-go.

• Easy
• to prepare (not time consuming, else you would not do it)
• to pack (if its cumbersome, no-one's it can't fit in your carry-all or gym bag)
• to carry (if its messy, let's face it, its staying home...and it's not needed at home)
• Convenient
• accessible
• available
• High Calorie
• nutrient dense (not bags of chips, sweets & chocolate)

GOAL MEASUREMENT | PROGRESS | SUCCESS

The Measurement of Success 

- Consuming 3 Snacks a Day

- Snacks must meet ALL Criteria

Current 

- 1 (maybe 2) snacks

- Criteria | Easy; Convenient

To start this month off, I've identified a number of suggested snacks found on various sites and infographics (thanks Pinterest) that are healthy AND support lean muscle development.  Some of these I'm familiar with and have as part of my diet currently (1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15).  So, I should be off to a good start...right?

1. SMOOTHIES W/ OATS/NUT BUTTERS/YOGURT/FRUIT
2. TRAIL MIX
3. FRUIT & NUT BUTTER
4. FRUIT & LOW-FAT CHEESE
5. FRUIT & COTTAGE CHEESE
6. DRIED FRUIT
7. PROTEIN BARS (DIY/HOMEMADE)
8. CRACKERS W/ CANNED SEAFOOD (TUNA/SALMON)
9. PB&J SANDWICH
10. PITA & HUMMUS
11. WRAPS (CHICKEN/BEEF etc W/ WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS)
12. TOAST W/ AVOCADO & EGG
13. OATS W/ DRIED FRUIT & NUTS
14. OATS W/ EGG
15. CEREAL &  MILK

~ Josie Jo ~