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Coaches Corner

Calories In, Calories Out

February 9, 2021 by Paramount

Food Talk

While we all know “calories in, calories out” is the base for all nutrition goals (lose, gain, maintain)…it’s important to take mental note of what might be affecting your calories in!

Yes, in a perfect world we are stress-free, have perfectly planned/measured yummy meals made for us, stay perfectly on track, and so forth…BUT — that’s not reality.

While there will be things in our day-to-day out of our control, it’s important to be aware of somethings we CAN control.

  • Be mindful of sleep quality and quantity.
  • Be aware of appetite levels — am I hungry or bored?
  • Be aware of stress triggers for excessive eating.
  • Be aware of your environment!

See if there’s any of these that we can control a little better or set ourselves up for more success!

‘It’s always better to have self control at the store so you don’t have to practice as much self control at home.’

And remember — whenever you get off track — SHAKE IT OFF AND MOVE ON!

#consistencyoverperfection

Filed Under: Coaches Corner

Nutrition: Where to Start?

February 5, 2021 by Paramount

Food Talk

There’s SO much information in the media and on the Internet about nutrition. When wondering either where to start or where to improve, always refer back to this image ⬇️

Don’t worry about running before you can walk, don’t worry about walking before you can crawl, etc.

The BASE of any goal will always be ‘calories in/calories out’. When looking to improve nutrition, it’s essential to know your:

  • Basal Metabolic Rate [BMR]: changes with age and different body compositions (it’s basically how many calories your body naturally burns if you just existed/laid in bed all day)
  • As well as your activity levels (fitness trackers aren’t super accurate but it’s better to have some idea of your daily activity).

Next…you want to start to focus on MACRONUTRIENTS. Okay, so you calculated you need 2200cal per day for your goal. You can eat 2,200 calories of just bananas, yes, but we need to have some balance of PROTEIN, FATS, & CARBS.

Once you have that figured out…then you can start to dial in meal time and more balance of what macros to eat when!

Dialing things in further…we can now look at the source of your foods and macros. QUALITY foods. Where is your meat/eggs coming from, fresh, local, in season fruits and veggies. Are we eating a lot of gluten free crackers, sugary yogurts or oatmeal packets? Real Food = if it was ever alive or had eyes

LASTLY, once all of that is dialed in, then we can start to talk supplements. They definitely have their place! But we need to make sure our day to day eating is consistently filled with proper micronutrients from fresh quality foods.

Final thought…NONE OF THIS MATTERS IF ADHERENCE ISN’T THERE. Find a change you can stick to no matter what! When dialing in any of these categories, you need to give your self some solid time to see if somethings working or not working. Consistency over perfection. But see what some small consistent changes/tweaks can do for your goals first before biting off more than you can chew ?

And remember, I’m here to help!
—Coach Kayla

Filed Under: Coaches Corner

Hatha & Restorative Yoga Classes

August 27, 2019 by Christopher Douglas

Paramount YOGA — with our lovely Coach Cecelia — her Hatha & Restorative Yoga Classes are just what you need to improve not only your performances in the gym, but also your quality of life outside the gym. 🧘🏻‍♀️


NEW SCHEDULE: Starting Sept 04
Wednesday’s @ 8PM
Sunday’s @ 9AM 

Filed Under: Coaches Corner

Meal Prep Tips & Tricks 1.2

April 23, 2019 by Christopher Douglas

Here is another great article for some basic MEAL PREP TIPS!…

Setup for Success!

BASIC SHOPPING LIST –

– two different proteins (one lean like chicken/turkey/shrimp, one fattier like steak/pork/salmon)

– two veggie options (one green, one non-green/of color)

– two starch options (rice, potatoes, quinoa, etc)

– two fruit options

– avocado, nut butter, nuts/seeds

– olive or coconut oil

– “snacks”

HOW MUCH DO I NEED?! –

To decide how much of each item you would need, take the amount of protein you eat per meal and multiply it by 10 or 12 (2 meals per day for 5 or 6 days of the week). That is how much protein you would need to cook. If you are cooking for two people, you would obviously take that into account as well. For example, if you eat 4oz of protein at each meal, you would need a little over 2lbs (16oz) of protein – so about a pound of lean and a pound of fattier.

Vegetables are all dependent on how much you like to eat at each meal. The recommended serving size of vegetable is about 3oz (or 85g). So again, you would multiply that by 10-12 meals for the week. That would be about 30-36oz of vegetable between both your green and non-green options.

Starch is the option that would vary most, as this all depends on your daily carbohydrate intake.  In my house, we go through a ridiculous number of carbohydrates. I eat around 250g per day while my boyfriend eats about 300g per day, so carbs are plentiful around here! I prefer potatoes as my lunch/dinner carb source while he could eat white rice until it is coming out of his ears. So, I find it easiest to buy the biggest box of Instant White Rice and a sack of sweet potatoes. Sometimes we don’t get through all of this in a week, but starches store very well and last longer than the above items.

My rule of thumb for fruit is one piece of fruit per day per person. If you are worried about your fruit going bad, choose options that would last well throughout the week like bananas, oranges, and apples.

PREPARATION –

My secret weapon of meal prep is 1) a good knife, 2) two cookie sheets, 3) aluminum foil. Get all of your groceries out, roll your sleeves up, and get ready to attack – this is going to be fast! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Now Lets Cook!

VEGGIES –

My “go-to’s” are usually Brussels sprouts and bell peppers so I will refer to those two. But remember, you can use whatever is your favorite! I encourage you to rotate your veggies weekly and try new ones whenever possible. Let’s begin by cleaning and cutting your veggies how you would like them. I like to half my Brussels sprouts and cut my peppers into strips. Once this is done, I cover the cookie sheet with foil (you’ll thank me later for this one), spray it with olive oil, and sprawl the veggies out there. I then spray the veggies with the olive oil and season them with salt, pepper, and a garlic/onion powder blend (you can season however you would like!). Set these cookie sheets aside until your oven is at 450. Once it is, cook your veggies for 20 minutes, and then turn the oven to broil for the last 5 minutes to brown them just a bit!

**If you get frozen veggies (just make sure there is no other ingredient added to them), this same method of cooking will also work, just add 10 minutes to cooking time**

STARCH –

Cooking rice and potatoes is very different, yet both are very simple. Let’s start with the rice. While your veggies are cooking, prepare the water. Once boiled, pour in the rice and let sit until soft.

When cooking potatoes, you have options. My favorite method is cubing sweet potatoes, spraying them with olive oil and throwing them in my Air Fryer for about 15 minutes! If you do not own one of those (get one!) you can easily throw them on another cookie sheet and stick that in the oven as well – they will cook for 20-25 minutes in the oven with the last 5 minutes on broil.

**PRO TIP: season sweet potatoes with paprika AND cinnamon for the most amazing flavor**

PROTEIN –

While your veggies are in the oven and your starch is in the works, get to your protein! Decide which method you want to use. My favorite method is an outdoor grill or a grill pan on the stove top. I don’t love protein oven baked, however, some people do. That is always an option as well. I would rather use my oven space for roasting vegetables and potatoes!

I recommend cutting protein up into cubes or strips. I like to do this for two reasons, 1) it makes cooking a lot quicker as smaller pieces of meat and fish will cook through faster, and 2) it gives you more options and variety when building meals later on! Once cut, you can season them however you would like and then they are ready for cooking. This is the piece of meal prep that will take the most attendance, so be sure everything else is in the works and under control before you start cooking your protein.

**PRO TIP:  The crock-pot is also a great way to cook protein if you are able to start it ahead of time.  You can put raw protein in the crock-pot with some great spices and leave it for a few hours. When you come back you will have a large amount of juicy, seasoned protein ready to eat!**

As you can tell, your entire meal prep time should take less than an hour if done right! Get as many things cooking and working at once and it will be quick and painless. This meal prep method usually takes me one hour from grocery bag to store in the fridge and I love it!

Now What?!

STORAGE –

Invest in Tupperware that is big enough to store your prepped food in bulk. Six large containers are ideal (two for protein, two for veg, two for starch). This will keep things neat in your fridge and will allow building a meal to be really simple!  I prefer this method over breaking up the food into specific meals as it allows for more variety in meals throughout the week and prevents you from becoming bored!

BUILDING MEALS –

Because all the hard work has been done already, you now have the building blocks to meals ready to go in your fridge. Whether you need to pack a lunch for work, or are just coming home from a long day and don’t want to spend time cooking – you are ready! Simply take out your scale, pull out the components you want to use for your meal and measure out your portion appropriately! I love this kind of meal prep because although the components may be the same, I can create different dishes very quickly. Grab some tortillas and make tacos. Put your meat and veggies over potatoes and make poutine. You could even load some of the components on a flatbread and make a quick pizza!

WHERE IS THE FAT? –

So far, we have covered protein and carbohydrates, but have not spoken much about fat. The good news is fat is not something that we really need to “prep”. Fat is the tag along macro that is found as add on’s and toppings. Obviously, there will be some fat found in the protein source you choose. Avocados and nut butters are a great enhancement to any meal. Cheese or ranch dressing are some other fatty add on’s that can make any basic meal delicious, as well as oils and dressings which can also help you achieve some added fat in your meal.

**PRO TIP: I LOVE to put some nut butter on my sweet potatoes, I surely recommend giving that a try. **

SNACKS –

The above prep covers your “main meals”. But, it is a good idea to think ahead about snacks so that you are set with some great grab and go options. I like to keep fruit, RX Bars, Think Jerky, 100 Calorie Popcorn bags, Yasso Frozen Yogurt Bars, and Oh Yeah One protein bars stocked in my house. If I have extra time after my meal prep, I also like to measure out raisins and fruit into little baggies. Another great snack I have found really easy to build ahead of time is cottage cheese with strawberry or peach jam (I use the smallest size Tupperware for this and make 3-4 at a time.

There are so many ways to meal prep. The key is to find the most successful one. REMEMBER, the most successful one will be the method in which you can find time to execute on a consistent basis. I have spent some time sharing with you the most successful method of meal prep for me, I hope it will work for you as well!

— Nicole Capurso

Filed Under: Coaches Corner Tagged With: food, meal prep, nutrition

Meal Prep Tips & Tricks 1.1

April 23, 2019 by Christopher Douglas

macro friendly foodsHere are some examples of how to prep for multiple meal options in large quantities, without taking all day! (*Some food items below may not be what you are able/prefer to eat, but these are some general examples of ways to help you meal prep for the week)

**Pinterest is a great source for additional meal/meal prep ideas! Especially if you have a specific way of eating you prefer (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc)

Here we go!

Have a large batch of rice cooking in the rice cooker

Have chicken, pork, steak, or fish cooking on the stove top, crock pot, or grill

Have a ground turkey, ground chicken, ground beef, or ground sausage in a skillet on the stove

Have veggies, potatoes, or yams cooking on cooking sheets in the oven (or air-fryer!)

Hard boil eggs in a pot on the stove

Have steel cut oats, quinoa, or pasta cooking in another pot on the stove

Separate lettuce or spinach into large bowls/buckets for salads — Add measured out toppings (nuts, cheese, crumbled up bacon, fruit, etc)

Prep smoothie items in individual bags ready to be blended (Greens, Fruits, Protein Powder, etc)

You can even pre-cook some bacon or turkey bacon in the microwave

Once all your food is cooked…

Divide your protein sources into manageable serving sizes

Divide your carb sources into individual containers for your serving sizes

Add any seasonings/sauces you like – this is where you can get creative with flavors!

Cut up fruit/veggies into serving sizes (4oz of strawberries, or 6oz of cucumber, etc)

Combine carb and protein sources (if you’d like!) Ex. Steak & Potatoes, Chicken & Rice, etc.

Or if you’d prefer to leave all your food in large containers and scoop out what you want for the day as you go along, go for it!

macro friendly foods
Click to view large

SNACKS! — Have grab and go foods/snacks to mix things up…

Fruits (bananas, apples, oranges, etc)

Grab & Go Veggies

Protein Bars

Rice Cakes/Popped Corn

Granola

Deli Meats

100 cal. snack packs (nuts, popcorn, etc)

Filed Under: Coaches Corner Tagged With: meal prep, nutrition, recipes

What’s Next After 19.5?

March 24, 2019 by Christopher Douglas

First and foremost, let me start with a thank you.

Our Paramount family is amazing! What a thrill to participate in the Open each week, cheering each other on, pushing ourselves to our limits. Whether you were ‘officially’ signed up or not, or doing the Open Rx, Masters, or Scaled – I hope our weekly strategy posts brought you value.

That being said…

The Open may be over, but… due to changes in the 2020 CrossFit Games season format, we are actually going to get two shots at the Open this year.

With that in mind, you have roughly six months to work on any weaknesses that held you back in the 2019 Open.

After all, one of the most valuable parts of participating in the Open is that it reveals weaknesses. And no matter who you are – with the exception of Mat Fraser – you have holes in your CrossFit game.

As we head into April, it’s time to update the goal board with new 3-month goals. Be sure to add your name and set a goal or update your new 3-month goal!

Filed Under: Coaches Corner

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