I Just Made An Easy Fat Loss Dinner That Kept Me Full For Hours So I Didn’t Want To Chew My Arm Off At 10pm. Oh, And It’s Insanely High In Protein.
Yes the photo sort of gave it away. But I bet you don’t know which fish it is?!
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by Audie Metcalf
I’m not going to drone on and on like I normally do because I just checked our “heat maps” and it turns out you guys whiz right by our intros anyway so if you’re not going to even PAUSE for my painstakingly-crafted words, I’m not going to write them!
But as a refresher, I recently lost 60 lbs without a trainer or any medical intervention, and have kept it off for a year—here, here, here, here, and here are lots of articles about it with pics for proof.
Fine, here’s one pic for proof:
The key to losing weight, as we can see with the total explosion of GLP1 use, is being in a calorie deficit. And the key to being in a calorie deficit successfully, is finding meals that make us as full as humanly possible. And being full, starts with protein. And then in order to KEEP the weight off, you need to be able to eat like that, all the time, forever. Which means you can’t dread every meal. I will tell you however, that the lusty relationship you have with food does have to be reimagined. I don’t dream of whatever delicious, rich, creamy dinner awaits me come 4pm anymore. Because that sort of sensual, longing towards food needs to be totally reexamined and redirected toward a very specific goal. And that goal can be whatever you want it to be. Strong not skinny, yada yada. Doesn’t matter. It just needs to exist where that longing used to exist.
And I have just the dinner to help. It’s one of about 6 dinners I make in a heavy rotation because another key to weight loss is being almost diabolically consistent in what you eat. So once I found meals that kept me full, I would put them on my list, and return to them weekly.
Ok, here’s it is. (Also so much for keeping the intro short. I’m verbose!)
Cod, half a sweet potato, and veg:
The thing is, meals sort of need to be like this for me to be able to easily count cals, control portion size, WHILE being easy enough that my whole life doesn’t revolve around meal planning. Because I just can’t do it, bbs. I just. can’t. do it. I have a site to run.
Ok, first, here’s the nutrition info of the entire meal—
So I’ve written about cod before HERE touting its extraordinary “macros” (sorry) but I have new info about how to make your life so very easy, regarding your cod acquisition:
You buy it frozen, individually wrapped, in a big bag from Costco.
THIS WAS LIFE CHANGING FOR ME.
I throw mine, fully frozen (but taken out of the plastic obvs), onto a parchment lined baking sheet, on 425 for about 20 min. My sweet potatoes have already been in there for about 50 min so these go in above them, same temp—meaning the total time for the SP is 70 min or so.
I actually bake 3-4 sweet potatoes all at once and keep them cold in the fridge so I don’t have to go through all this rigamarole every night, but freshly cooked cod is a must. And no prep and 20 min is pretty good.
I throw lots of different veg into a big pot, I loooove THIS* one because it’s not so heavy that it gives me a bulging disc when I lift it, and it cooks food so evenly. (Actually HERE are all my favorite kitchen tools and bits and bobs if you're curious)
But my veg blend ALWAYS features zucchini as the star—zucchini is such a weight loss hack. It’s full of water so it’s wildly low in cals, but it’s sort of thick and toothy so it feels like you’re really chewing on something meaty and satisfying. Just don’t overcook it or it’ll be mush. My usual blend I make to have over a few days is: 5 zucchini, 1-2 peppers, one package of mushroom (I’ll splurge on trumpet mushrooms because they’re superb), a whole sweet or red onion, and then I’ll throw in some chopped asparagus that needs to be eaten, or some carrots (always cook them first before bunging in the rest of the veg because they take much longer to cook) or anything else that’s about to go “off” as the Brits say. Which is most items in my produce drawer because I hoard vegetables and herbs. Oh, scallions is another great one, especially if they’re becoming limp. Snow peas, too.
I usually make all my own sauces and dressings because I am an insufferable snob, but I actually tried this tzatziki from Costco for the first time a couple weeks ago and it’s quite scrummy!
Here’s another new go-to dinner that I saw Beatrix Whipple make (remember her from THIS article?) and it’s exploding with flavor:
Maybe I should just do another article with every single fat-loss-/high-protein dinner I make because one article per meal is ludicrously poor planning? Please dm us HERE to encourage me to do that and/or yell at me for not having done it sooner.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used in place of professional advice, medical treatment, or professional care in any way. This article is not intended to be and should not be a substitute for professional care, advice or treatment. Please consult with your physician or healthcare provider before changing any health regimen. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease of any kind. Read our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
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We have to eat.
