Bozeman, Montana, United States
This entry is my second relating to food and cooking in this
blog covering my first seven months living in Montana. Whereas my first few
months focused on a very relaxed version to the Paleo diet as I was focused on
trimming down over my first six weeks here and then started lifting weights
again in May and June, the last four months have involved some quite serious weightlifting
progression and cooking and eating in a way that facilitates bulking up muscularly. This has been particularly true in September
and October since I started a three-month routine drawn up for me by a trainer
that he calls “Foundations for Strongman” which includes very heavy weights and
many lifts that are new to me designed to build up what he calls the “posterior
chain”.
The plan seems to be working. When I arrived in Bozeman in
March I was a chubby 250 pounds. Within the first six weeks I trimmed down to
about 226 pounds. By the end of October
I was again in the mid-240s with my most recent body composition analysis indicating
a respectable 20.
4% body fat by weight. It would be nice to get that down to
16% or so, but it’s not currently my highest priority.
In terms of diet and cooking I really didn’t change all that
much except for eating more. While when
trying to lost fat I was very concerned about reducing overall calories while
still getting a high protein diet, when lifting weights seriously your metabolism
picks up a lot and you can afford to eat some more carbohydrates and fat. I still try to keep that as healthy carbs and
good fats, but I feel like I can make many dishes that include nuts, for
example, such as vegetable dishes with nuts in them and nut-crusted fish or
meats.
It seems like I’ve spend much of my time when I’m not at the
gym in recent months purchasing, preparing, and eating food. That typically requires making food in big
portions that I can get numerous meals from, otherwise I’d be cooking all the
time. One thing that helped was retrieving a slow-cooker/crockpot from storage on
my June trip to Colorado. It’s easy to
put about four pounds of beef or chicken and some fixings in there and come
back six hours later to have the food ready.
To be honest, though, slow-cooker food doesn’t all come out that great.
I find it good for pot roasts, beef stews, and chilis, but I’m significantly
less keen on it for chicken breast.
And chicken breast is still one of my staples, kind of
boring on its own but very adaptable to all kinds of flavors. I tried out quite
a few recipes for chicken breast, turkey, and pork loin this season including
fresh fruit and fruit sauces. Perhaps one of my favorites was different
versions I tried of an Italian-American dish named Chicken Scarpariello, using
chicken breasts, lean chicken sausages, red peppers, and pickled peppers. Without having to worry as much about too
many carbs, I was also able to make such old faves as lasagna and baked ziti.
I’m still avoiding refined sugar and other sweets.
The closest thing I made to a dessert over the last four months was a spicy
ginger pear chutney intended to accompany pork loin, and even that had only a
minimal amount of sugar in it. You have
to eat big to get big, but eat lean to stay lean!
2025-05-23