Stupidly Simple Eating For Mike Godbehere

Two numbers. That's the whole game.

150g protein per day is the target. Protein protects your muscle while we drop fat, and it keeps you full so the deficit doesn't feel like punishment.

2,000 calories per day is the budget. You get a 20 percent window, so anywhere from 1,800 to 2,200 still counts as a winning day. Your 1,400 calorie days are not wins. They're too low to fuel your training and they set up a rebound. Land in the window.

Carbs and fats: balance them however you like. Fats are 9 calories per gram, carbs are 4, so a fattier day just means less total food. As long as protein is hit and you're inside the budget, the day is a success.

Think like an accountant. 150 splits clean.

50g of protein at a meal looks like two good sized burger patties, a big chicken breast, or a proper piece of fish. Breakfast plus one or two snacks covers the last 50. If you get to dinner needing 60 or 70 grams, that's a wall of food. The snacks earlier in the day are what stop that from happening.

Two meals on autopilot means dinner is the only decision left.

Dinner is the wildcard, so we don't try to control it. We arrive at it prepared.

• Know your numbers before you sit down. If breakfast, lunch and a snack are pre-logged, you'll know something like: 800 calories left, 50g protein to go. That's a plan, not a guess.
• When your wife cooks: ask her to weigh or note the main ingredients before they go in the pot, especially the meat. If that's not happening that night, log your best estimate and move on. A close guess logged beats a perfect number skipped. For a mixed dish like her chili verde, search MyFitnessPal for the closest match, pick a mid-range entry, and adjust the portion to fit your remaining budget.
• When you're out: protein first. Pick the leanest protein on the menu, build the plate around it, and fit the rest into what's left of the budget.

You said you'd do some research on high protein foods. Done for you. Keep these in the rotation.

• Chicken breast
• Lean ground beef or bison (90/10 or leaner)
• Sirloin or flank steak (ribeye tastes incredible because it's fatty, save it for occasions)
• White fish, shrimp, tuna
• 0% Greek yogurt (the full fat version is great, the zero fat wins on protein per calorie)
• Egg whites mixed with whole eggs
• Cottage cheese
• Deli turkey or chicken
• Protein powder, one scoop is roughly 25g for about 120 calories
• Beef jerky for the road

Your idea, and it's a good one. A protein snack mid to late afternoon does two jobs: it knocks out 20 to 25g of your daily protein, and it means you arrive at dinner satisfied instead of starving.

• A tub of 0% Greek yogurt with berries
• A protein shake
• Cottage cheese
• Jerky

Around 150 to 200 calories, 20 plus grams of protein. That's dinner insurance.

Drinks count. They go in the log like everything else and they come out of the 2,000.

• Vodka soda with lime: about 100 calories, your best option
• Glass of wine: about 120 to 150
• Whiskey neat: about 100

Plan them into the budget on the nights you're having them, and the day still works. And a heads up on the scale: after a night with a few drinks your weight can jump 2 to 3 pounds. That's water, not fat. Ignore it, it'll drop off within a day or two.