I think the Glibertariat’s weekly engagement with fitness has shown?  resulted in? a consensus that diet is the biggest part, by far, of managing weight.  Exercise certainly has its role, but absent a strenuous and time-consuming daily fitness routine, working out just isn’t going to burn enough additional calories above your baseline to really make that much of a difference.  Whether working out can reset your metabolism so that you burn more calories all day, I couldn’t say.  Eventually, I suppose, putting on muscle will help burn calories at a somewhat higher rate, but I don’t think that will move the needle enough for most of us.

So, for those of us who are fat (or fat-adjacent), diet it is.

By way of background, I have gone from eating mostly carbs, through an Atkins phase (which was very helpful for resetting my diet away from all carbs all day), and a keto phase, to the current kind of macro-ish phase which is basically a fairly balanced protein/carb/fat diet – heavier on the protein and fat and lighter on the carbs than the Food Industrial Complex might like, but screw them.  I tag along with Mrs. Dean on macros, so I don’t actually track them for myself.  If you are serious about managing your diet, though, tracking what you eat/your macros is a very good idea.  Mrs. Dean uses MyFitnessPal, but I’m sure there are others.

One thing that I picked up a number of years ago on an employer-sponsored wellness program that I think has a lot of validity is that the way we eat is part of the problem.  Most people eat out of habit, and eat too fast.  Part of the program was to figure out how many meals we really want, and when.  If memory serves, a majority of people are really two meals a day people, some are three, and a few are four or five (counting substantial “snacks”).  You find out how many/when by paying attention to how hungry you actually are.  It hard to break a long-term habit of eating at the same time every day, though.  I think its worth looking into – a surprising number of people actually “want” their meals on a different schedule than the classic breakfast/lunch/dinner.  I am either a victim of habit, or a three meals a day person.

So, what greatly simplifies things for me is that I eat exactly the same breakfast and lunch every weekday.  I am not one of those people who needs a lot of variety in my meals – the variety comes at dinner.  I make my breakfasts and lunches for the coming week on Saturday mornings (Mrs. Dean gets the kitchen on Sundays).  It takes about an hour and a half or so, and I have breakfast and lunch lined up for the following week.

Breakfast is what we call “egg pucks” – basically scrambled eggs baked in a muffin pan – and (currently) roasted sweet potatoes.  With New Mex red sauce.  There was a stretch where I had egg pucks and smoothies, and I may substitute roasted veggies for the sweet potatoes.  This is more to give you ideas than a strict recommendation.

Egg Pucks (makes 10, for two each weekday)

  • 5 eggs
  • 1 ¼ cups egg whites (we use the stuff out of a carton)
  • 1 cup chopped steamed broccoli (we buy frozen broccoli florets)
  • Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and put the rack in the middle or a notch higher.  Grease the muffin pan – I just squirt with a little Pam.  I highly recommend the silicone muffin pans for this – the pucks should just come right out when cool.

Steam the broccoli and chop fine, enough to fill one cup.  Whisk the eggs and egg whites together, and add salt to taste.  Put chopped broccoli in each muffin space in the pan.  Put ¼ cup of the egg mixture in each muffin space – this pretty much fills them up for our pan.  Top with cheese.  Put in oven for 22 minutes.  They will start to rise when done.  Remove when done, let cool (they will come out much easier if cooled off), box up in your container of choice, and put in the fridge.

I put two of them on my roasted sweet potatoes, top with red sauce, microwave to warm them up, and I have breakfast in about 5 minutes max.

Lunch (makes 5 lunches)

Lunch is steamed broccoli and piri-piri chicken thighs.  I steam all the broccoli for breakfast and lunch at once, and put the chicken thighs in the oven when the egg pucks are done (after switching over from baking to broiling).

  • Steamed broccoli
  • Salad dressing or similar (I’m partial to the chipotle Bitchin’ Sauce) for the broccoli
  • 3.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1/3 cup piri piri sauce (I use Macarico)

Put the oven on high broil.  The rack can stay where it was for the egg pucks – middle or a little higher.  I prep the broiler pan with foil on the bottom tray and on the top tray, and cut out the slots in the foil over the top tray slots so the fat can drain.

Pat the chicken thighs dry – I think it helps the sauce stick.  The amount is approximate, since we buy prepackaged chicken thighs and I use either two or three packages, depending.  There’s no reason you couldn’t use chicken breasts, but those tend to get dry.  Put in a mixing bowl, add the piri piri sauce, dredge around to coat everything, and put on the broiler pan.

You can do a lot of different things with chicken thighs – I’ve used regular hot sauce, or ginger/lemon/honey.  Cook seven minutes on a side – ideally, you want a little char on the chicken with the piri-piri, so your oven and time may vary.  Remove, let cool, and chop into bite-size chunks.

Portion out the broccoli and chicken for 5 lunches.  Since I was doing my lunches this way when I was working, I put the sauce for the broccoli in a little container and everything goes in a tupperware.

Amounts, spices, you name it, are all subject to change, but I think having pre-made meals like this is very helpful for portion control as well as managing what it is you are eating every day.  I hope this gives you some ideas on how to better manage your diet.

But, you ask, “R C, where’s muh cocktail?”  I’m still working on my Boulevardier recipe, so you’ll have to wait for that one.