Congrats on deciding to take on the BFL challenge and transform your life!

First of all you do not need to take supplements to finish the challenge or see results. (If you are officially entering the challenge, then you must purchse at least one EAS product. Remember to keep the receipt.) There are many whole foods that will supply your body with the nutrients it needs. Do you have the BFL book? It details the entire BFL plan including eating-for -life. I recommend it highly. You might be able to take it out from the library. Also, on this site, you can go to 'Library' then 'Nutrition' then 'preparing a Body-for-Life meal' You will find lists of "authorized" foods there.

I would also encourge you not to think of eating in terms of 'dinner' or 'snacks'. There are no snacks in BFL. There are 6 meals each containing and equal portion of protien and carbs. At least 2 of them need vegetables. Also don't forget to drink plenty of water. (At least 2 glasses with every meal).

For an inexpensive protien source I often have a can of tuna (make sure it is packed in water). Add a small apple and two glasses of water and you have a complete meal.

Hope this helps.

Orrin

Myoplex where I live is expensive, I bought the EAS whey powder and mix it with rice milk - pretty much it works out to a $1 / scoop so it's a pretty cheap meal.  I bought the huge container even though it was expensive it was cheaper than buying a bunch of the smaller size containers.  Also, I asked the body building guys at the gym which store offered the best price and went there as opposed to my local health food store.

How do you feel about canned tuna, chicken ***, grilled tofu, low fat delhi meat, I cut up left over steak and put it on my salad, I hate cottage cheese too but when I mix it with the low fat lemon yogurt it's pretty easy to get down, you could make the protein pancakes, I also saw a receipe somewhere for little meat loaf muffins (they are easy to transport).  

Thanks janice44 and Orrin for your advice. I went to the vitamin shop close to my house and I asked one of the guys to tell me which protein powder tasted the best. Lucky for me it was also pretty cheap!

I had a smoothie today with a scoop of protein powder, water, a plum and 3 strawberries it was yummy but really watery. Any advice on thickening it up breaking the rules. Also how much is one serving of fruit? Is it 1 strawberry or 4? Is 1 plum and 3 strawberry to many carbs?

I'm also going to try the protein pancakes and I've seen some recipes for protein muffins out there too.  I'm going to make some pasta salad with chicken. Also, I had a salad with low fat turkey meat today. I'm not used to being so creative but I like to cook so I might do some experimenting to see what I can come up with.

I love the Green Monster....

I know it doesn't sound great BUT>>>>

Handful of SPINACH (SUPERFOOD!!!!)

2 scoops of Protein (40G) I always use VANILLA

1 banana (if you want) or 1 cup of frozen berries or both

1 cup almond milk or 2% milk

handful of ice

I LOVE IT!  

Thanks NavyMustng. The great monster what a great name! I'm allergic to bananas is it as good with the berries? I'm starting to have a little trouble with artificial vanilla taste. any good ideas on disguising it?

aletteri,

Navy Mustng's shake sounds great...but watch the carbs, especially if you are female...I can't tell from your post or profile.  If you are female, you only need 20-23gms carbs per meal, and 20-23gms protein per meal, six meals per day, 2-3 hours apart.

Yogurt is considered a carb, but greek yogurt has more protein and less carbs in it.  I love CHOBANI, but some like Fage.  Get the 0%fat, and then since a serving has about 14gms protein, you will have to just add about 1TBSP of LOW CARB protein powder to get protein up to 19gms.  Check the carb content of the flavor you buy.  You may need to add some berries to add a little more carb.  I just buy the individual servings that are flavored with fruit, and they already have 20gms carbs.  (That is why I use low carb protein powder.  It only has 0.5gms  carbs per TBSP.)  The other option is to just increase the portion of your serving, (if using plain) to get protein up to 20-23gms protein.

Just be mindful of protein and carbs per meal.  Use palm/fist method when able, but with yogurts, cottage cheese, use labels and count gms of carbs/protein.

If you are male - I think they aim for 25-30gms protein and 25-30gms carbs per meal...someone help me out here.

Also, if you have COSTCO, they sell RTD's for just over a buck a piece.  Not a bad price for a meal.  They sell 12 Chobani single serving yogurts for just under a buck a piece.

Good luck!

Julie

C2W10D65

The carb content of fruit can vary widely. Even with the same fruit it can depend on how ripe it is. I love fruit and in the begining of my first challenge was overdoing the fruit in my shakes. I googled carb content in fruit and found a few informative sites. Here is one I found:

www.annecollins.com/.../carbs-fruit.htm

The good news for people like you and me and all other berry lovers is most berries are low in carbs.

Orrin

do you like meat?  Besides Cottage cheese and eggs and protein powder my other two main protein sources are extra lean ground beef and ground chicken *** (that'll get censored but its the chest/bosom portion of the chicken)

3oz of either = 20g of protein  which is the right portion for a female.  For a male you can up it to 4-5oz.  Then just pair it with your carb.  

Thanks for all the help! I did also think about the servings of carbs in the "green monster." I contemplated taking it to work this morning and then got worried that I would hate it and be hungry. I'm going to try it on my day off.

Orrin thanks for the carb site it was helpful. I'm adding some more berries to my smoothie tomorrow! I was scared to add too many.

Today I had a great smoothie! Oh it was so yummy you all have try it!

1 scoop of protein powder (vanilla)

1/4 cup low fat yogurt (vanilla or plain, I liked the vanilla)

little bit of water and a lot of ice

a tiny bit it nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla extract for flavor.

It  was a yummy healthy milkshake ... minus the milk.  

llpirata I do like meat but I guess my main concern is I have to make most of my food portable. Meat is just really not that portable. I did add some top sirloin (last nights dinner conveniently) to my lunch salad and I enjoyed that a lot.

for a good lean portable meat look for Ostrim sticks.  They sell them online and also at sym supplement stores/gyms.  They're like nutritious slim jims and they HELLA good.

Here is the Green Monster site, I use the Green Monster as a Meal replacement.

Green Monster - greenmonstermovement.com  Handful (2 cups) of Spinach , 2 scoops of Protein (Vanilla Flavored), 1 Cup 2% Milk, Ice- BLEND and Serve 318 CAL Protein 49 g Carb 22 g Fat 6.8G

Purple Monster - (I love these...I use Handful (2 cups) of Spinach , 2 scoops of Protein (Vanilla Flavored), 1 Cup 2% Milk, Ice, 1 cup Mixed Berries) TRY IT YOU WILL LIKE IT   - BLEND and Serve 388 CAL Protein 50 g Carb 38 g Fat 6.8G

Taking out the banana reduces the calories by 105 calories, but it really is great if added.  Depends on wehre you want to add the calories to your diet.  And i have also tried the Vanilla Yogurt, GREAT stuff.  Thanks

Here is the protein I use, LOVE IT!!! A very Stacked protein!

inteknutrition.com/.../protein.html

Okay Ilpirata I will definitely look into the healthy meat sticks (hehe ) maybe just for the name alone!. NavyMustng I have a day off today I am going to try the purple monster. I'll let you know how it goes.

Okay, you all have been so helpful so far. I  need some more advise. I'm hungry! Before I started I was eating in a very similar way, small portions several times a day. I guess what I thought were small where not small. Because now they are and I'm hungry! The books says I'm not supposed to be hungry. Do I up the portion size or wait until my body adjusts?

okay just made the purple monster adjusting for my slightly lower female needs and WOW love it!!

I told YOU!  It is AWESOME, did you look at the Greenmonstermovement.com Site.  GREAT for your skin TOO!