Weekends with Valentin
Someone on Instagram asked me: “Your meal ideas are great, do you think you can insert everything you eat during one day in an article?”.
Let’s take a Sunday, for example.
Enjoy your coffee
I pour myself a vase of V60 coffee and open my apps.
Because I usually have active days during the week (walking at least 2 hours every day)…
My pulse hasn’t gone down enough over the night, even though I slept for 10 hours…
Normally, my pulse will drop to 45-50 bpm overnight. So I usually know I can be a little less active.
Sunday is also supposed to be a rest day – since I am active enough from Monday to Saturday.
I drink my vase of coffee and start writing the article for the next day.
For me, there are no days when I don’t work. I’ve been working for 11 years straight, every day, every weekend, sometimes even during my holidays for 3-4 hours a day.
I wake up early and I work intermittently until late in the evening. When I don’t work, I think about what I have to write and set my ideas in order.
No, I don’t believe in work-life balance.
It is my belief that if you don’t want to starve, you should have 2 jobs or one that will make you strive continuously.
Breakfast
At a certain point during the day, I usually don’t time it, I feel like I can’t work anymore, like I cannot concentrate on my writing.
That’s when I know it’s time to eat.
I never feel hunger, stomach pains, dizziness, lack of energy or any other sort of discomfort.
But I do have an unwritten rule that I strictly follow:
“No eating without exercising”
I check my Notes app to see what I have pending in terms of exercise. I don’t like being in debt.
Reluctantly, after having eaten, I go and do 3 sets of pullups.
The “debt” was 5 sets of minimum 8 reps, but I only do 3 sets of 5.
I could have not done them at all, but I knew I was going to feel regret.
Better less than not at all.
Everything takes me 5 minutes.
Then I go to the kitchen and I make myself a classic wrap: 50 grams of protein plus 500 grams of tomatoes.
✍️ My VIDEO Wrap recipe with all the ingredients (ham, super low fat cheese, tortilla wrap) is here: CLICK.
I then keep on writing until I feel I can eat a little something extra.
The second meal
I usually don’t remember the time I feel like eating again. I don’t care about meal times, what I care about is my daily protein intake.
For me, this is the most important aspect when it comes to nutrition: reaching the necessary protein intake - CLICK.
My second meal usually consists of 1 kilogram of tomatoes and cucumbers with 200 grams of super low fat goat feta – delicious and very low in calories.
Everything you see above amounts to 50 grams of protein and 500 calories.
With classic goat cheese, this meal would have gone up to twice as many calories.
Unfortunately, 99.9% of the cheese you’ll find in supermarkets are high fat and low protein.
I found the exact opposite. I mean, why not eat something that is lower in calories but has identical taste?
✍️ Article on cheese coming up.
I went to the movies and had some popcorn.
Because it’s Sunday, I usually go to the movies and have a large bucket of popcorn.
From my research in the past decade, I can affirm with a high degree of certitude that a large bag of popcorn is around 200 grams and 1000 calories.
🏆 PRO Tip: 200g of nachos also amount to 1000 calories, but they are much smaller in volume than popcorn. If you add sauces, you can easily eat around 1500 calories.
Don’t get me wrong, I like them both equally, but I always choose the higher volume version (popcorn).
By the way, did you know popcorn has 15 grams of fiber per 100 grams of product? 😱
🏆 PRO Tip: Before I go to the movies, I eat a big salad from 1.2 kilograms of vegetables so I am nice and full – therefore, one bag of popcorn is enough, I don’t eat anything else.
🏆 PRO Tip: I never get Coca Cola Zero at the movies – If I can find 7Up Zero, that’s perfect. Otherwise I’ll just drink some fizzy water.
I walk for one hour
I walk home from the movies so I am able to jot down one hour of walking as well.
✍️ Walking is fabulous: CLICK
Everything is planned. I take an Uber in the afternoon when it’s really hot, then walk in the evening when it’s nice and cool. That way, some of the popcorn I eat gets burned on the way.
See? Everything I do is planned. Nothing is left to chance. I had 14 years to work on these small details.
I do everything to be as active as possible and eat as few empty calories as possible.
Today I no longer need to do any conscious effort – I have practiced and repeated these actions hundreds of times and they became habit.
But because I have studied and practiced these small things over a decade, today I can be of help to you.
If you are wiling to share and get more useful information, feel free to share this publication.
Dinner
I planned the movie time so I can be home early and in bed by 9 PM.
I usually get home at 8 PM and I can’t eat anymore.
Because my priority is reaching my protein intake, I waited until 9 PM when…
I mixed half a kilogram of Skyr with half a kilogram of raspberries and mulberries. I also added a bit of sweetener.
And here is how 60 more grams of protein showed up. All within 500 calories. Top-notch dessert.
During the season, I strongly advise eating raspberries and other forest berries. They are delicious and cheap.
✍️ Raspberries are incredible from many points of view: CLICK.
✍️ Article on Skyr coming up
And that sums up my Sunday.
The second most important aspect
Do you know what the second most important aspect about nutrition is?
Eating as many vegetables as possible, a minimum of 1.2 kilograms a day.
What I actually am interested in a proper fiber intake, because all the studies show:
That the more fiber you eat, the healthier, fitter you are, the longer and better your life is.
✍️ Article on fiber coming soon
Last Sunday I had 76 grams of fiber.
On Sunday, I had more than twice the minimum recommended fiber intake for men (36 grams of fiber per day).
It was an exception because I also had popcorn. Normally, I reach my daily fiber intake by eating a minimum of 1.2 kilograms of vegetables and some fruits.
Ice cream
I almost forgot: I also had a small bowl of super low-calorie, sugar-free, ice cream.
You can find my ice cream suggestions here: CLICK.
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