Fitness - Day 2: Level 2 Dinner

Some thoughts on what to do for dinner at Nerd Fitness Nutrition Level 2.



Ate a good breakfast this morning of a two egg omelet with some cheese, a cup of chocolate milk, and one slice of toast with butter.

Dinner is tough for me.  I seldom cook, and often binge on snacks or eating out, including pizza, Chipotle, evening omelets at a nearby diner, or fast food.  This is both expensive and unhealthy.

As with so much of level two, eating at home will address all these problems a little bit.  Way cheaper, and even if I don't eat great food, it tends to be less.  (Which is the goal of level two.)

The Nerd Fitness program emphasizes the value of a simple and healthy dinner, and I'll try to stick to that. Ultimately, this kind of dinner has two parts -cook a meat and cook vegetables.  Fine.  For now, I'll cook either meat or pasta and then some side thing, vegetables or something.  Maybe mashed potatoes if I feel like it.

Tonight, I tried the following:

• Pasta (500 cal)
• Tomato sauce (100 cal)
• Lima beans (260 cal)
• <1 cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream (270)
• Total: 1,130 calories 

A fine start, and less than I'd have eating out.  For Level 2, I'd like to keep it closer to 800 calories.  To do so with a pasta dinner, I think I'd have a vegetable like broccoli or spinach instead of beans, and maybe just half a cup of ice cream for a bit of post-dinner sweetness. 

Pasta's a good cheap base for dinner, but I also have some chicken legs and a couple of cutlets in the freezer.