Want to eat more food and still build a better body? These are the exact FASTer Way meal ideas I use right now in my maintenance phase.
As a FASTer Way coach and certified nutrition coach, I create custom macros and a personalized nutrition plan for every client. I do not hand you a rigid list of exact meals. That approach fails the moment real life shows up (travel, busy workdays, family dinners, or just being human).
Instead I teach you how to fuel your body so you can hit your targets and still feel satisfied. I show you how to build your own meal structure and, most importantly, how to eat more food while losing fat and improving body composition, how to enjoy fun foods (like the chips you love, ice cream with the family, and pizza night). The goal is lasting skills, which later translates into intuitive eating, not temporary compliance which is why a “done-for-you-diet” fails.
These FASTer Way meal ideas are the exact combinations I rotate through so you can see how simple and repeatable real-life eating can be.
FASTer Way Meal Ideas for Maintenance
Right now I am in a maintenance phase. My goal is to add muscle without gaining fat. At 5’2″ and around 120 lbs I am eating roughly (see what my body transformation has looked like over the years):
- 2,300ish calories
- 140 g protein
- 63 g fat
- 290 g carbs
- about 25-30 g fiber (not a macro but important, most of your fiber will come from quality carb sources)
How do I know how much to eat right now? This is all based on data, and why I’m a data-driven coach with all my clients. Data is our guide to understanding just how much your unique body needs to eat for fat loss, maintenance, and a better body composition.
Curious about macros? Check out this post.
In a fat-loss phase, I keep the same foods and simply reduce portion sizes. Same meals, smaller amounts. In my last fat loss phase (in 2025), I was ended my deficit around 1550 calories. That is the power of learning how to eat this way. You build skills that carry you through the nutrition phases needed to build the body of your dreams. Building your best and strongest (and healthiest) body requires nutritional phases and strategic strength training (both of which I coach clients through when you work with me); not just “losing 10lbs.” Most people need to change their body composition, not just lose a few pounds to achieve the body of their dreams and that takes nutrition and training strategy (and why you work with someone like myself to guide you).
Below are the exact meal ideas I rotate through at the moment. These are high-volume, whole-food combinations that I love and repeat regularly to keep my life simple and my body .
What I Eat in a Day: FASTer Way Meal Ideas
Below are the exact FASTer Way meal ideas I rotate through at the moment. These are high-volume, whole-food combinations that I love and repeat regularly to keep my life simple and my body progressing.
One thing I teach clients is how to create a meal structure and why this is vital long-term. This is the structure I keep in my daily home life and even when traveling because predictability removes decision fatigue.
Morning start (upon waking)
Large glass of water with 5 g L-glutamine, coffee with 2 tbsp half-and-half, and half a serving of collagen peptides (tracked for calories). Everything is measured and ready the night before to make mornings easy.
Pre-training carb snack (training days only, around 7 am)
1 caramel rice cake + 25 g Greek yogurt + 10 g honey + 50 g banana + cinnamon. Low fiber for fast carb/sugar digestion and no heavy fats – a key to fueling my strength trainings. Carbs are your energy source and if you want to build the best body (lean, toned, a robust metabolism), you need to embrace carbs! On non-training days I skip this snack and add the calories later through a larger lunch, dinner, or afternoon snack.
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Breakfast (9:30–10 am)
Protein- and carb-focused with a bit of fat (fats add up FAST so fat portions remain small at all meals). Lately this is protein waffles or 45 g quick oats with hot water, 1 whole egg + 100–200 g egg whites scrambled with avocado (or 15 g peanut butter if no avocado), sugar-free maple syrup, berries, kiwi, and seasonal fruit (peaches right now).
Travel Favorite: Greek yogurt with fruit, 1–2 hard-boiled eggs or egg white omelet option, and bagged oats mixed with PB Fit plus hot water. (I pack these bags with me- 45 grams quick oats and 16 grams PB Fit). Or the hotel restaurant oatmeal + fruit + lean protein option (like chicken sausage, egg white omelet).
Lunch (around 2 pm)
Weekend-prepped 93/7 lean ground beef or grilled chicken (or pre-cooked chicken from the store) with rice or potatoes (sweet potatoes or white potatoes). I turn it into:
- A large salad loaded with veggies, mustard-balsamic dressing (10 g balsamic + 5 g mustard), plus crunchy chickpeas or edamame
- A bowl with salsa, avocado, and light sour cream
Always finished with fruit for carbs (watermelon, berries, apple, or peach- whatever is in season). Sometimes 28 g chocolate or a mini ice cream cone (the Trader Joe’s and Aldi ones are perfect for portion size). And always enjoy a Diet Coke with my lunch, too! Zero calorie beverages are wonderful additions to your long-term goals, in my opinion.
Travel Favorite: Deli turkey or ham wraps or sandwiches with an apple and peanut butter. This is also my “go-to” lunch if I’m out and about all day for work or meetings.
Dinner (around 6 pm)
From my regular dinner rotations (steak and potatoes, tacos, fish and rice, and similar high-volume plates). Here are two nights worth of dinners: a shrimp taco bowl and a steak and potatoes night. I share a full list of meal rotations with clients in my private client resource library.
Evening treat (around 8–9 pm)
Either a large bowl of Greek yogurt with PB Fit, fruit (like berries, kiwi, apple), and 20-28 grams of chocolate chips, or a Ninja Creami with 20–28 g of Oreos, Biscoff cookies, Captain Crunch, chocolate chips, or PB Fit mixed in.
After the last meal I close the kitchen. Hot tea or sparkling water only. This structure creates predictability and stops random snacking.
These FASTer Way meal ideas keep volume high and decision fatigue low. That is what I teach clients: build a short list of meals you actually enjoy, pre-log the night before, and stop winging it. When you work with me, I teach you the skills needed to fuel your body, build meals that satisfy you, and achieve your body composition goals.
Q&A: Carb Cycling, Fasting, Dairy/Gluten-Free + How I Coach
Q: What is carb cycling and do I have to carb cycle? Carb cycling can be a useful tool in a fat-loss phase, and I will teach you exactly how and when it may benefit you. I customize based on your goals, preferences, hormones, training, and lifestyle.
Q: Do you have to intermittent fast? Everyone already fasts while sleeping. You do not have to follow a strict 16-hour window (I don’t and most of my client do not). Intermittent fasting can be helpful in a calorie deficit and for practicing more mindful eating. For some people it also works as a behavioral strategy if they tend to overeat in the evenings (as most people do out of boredom and habit). The important part is understanding the why so you can decide how (or if) to use it. And this is what I teach you: why fasting may be helpful and how to use it, and you can decide if it’s beneficial for you. For me, it’s been a powerful strategy to avoid consuming calories at night when I want to emotionally eat and have already met my needs for the day.
Q: Do I have to be dairy- and gluten-free? No, unless you personally need to be for medical or preference reasons. You can eat anything you want as long as you hit the calorie and macro target ranges I give you. Calories drive weight loss and weight management, macros determine your body composition long-term. Dairy and gluten have nothing to do with your weight or body goals. As you can see, I eat all the dairy and gluten and have achieved incredible body composition goals over the years, and my clients are the same way (unless they need to cut dairy and gluten due to allergies, etc.).
Q: How do I work with you as a coach? We begin with a 6-week foundation that includes education and training so you understand what you are doing and why. Coaching is completely one-on-one (not a Facebook group). Support happens via text and email so it fits around your real schedule and life, and personalized. I set your custom macros/nutrition plan, walk you through the nutritional phases and data collection (so you understand what you’re doing and how your body is responding), and teach you how to adjust as life and goals change. If you’re currently a FASTer Way client and looking for more coach support and education, I’d love to work with you, contact me.
Handing someone a meal plan is easy. Teaching them how to eat for their body, achieve their goals through nutrition and movement, and still live their life is the key to lasting results that just keep getting better and better (just like the results I’ve gotten and many clients are achieving). That is what I do with clients.
If you are ready to stop guessing and start building sustainable results with custom macros and one-on-one coaching, join me here. I would love to help you use FASTer Way meal ideas the right way, eat more food, and create the body and energy you want.
