Naomi
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Hello there, I’m ordering online for this week and I cannot seem to find fat free cream cheese. Does this exist? I’m looking at my local publix and walmart. Hmmm… Any thoughts?
Hey Cindy!
Kroger should have Fat Free Cream Cheese: https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-fat-free-original-cream-cheese/0001111059935
If they don’t have any in stock, I would recommend choosing an alternate meal, there isn’t really a replacement for fat free cream cheese as an ingredient in this recipe.
The link to the “Plate Sumo Squat-Front Raise Combo” on the ‘Gym-Phase 1-Saturday Total Body’ just takes you to the “join now” page.
I would re-try, this sounds like a glitch with your internet browser. Let me know if you continue having issues with it!
Hello! I’m struggling to Fit my workouts into the 45-50 min time slots suggested. So I’m wondering which the best choice would be.
1) I could decrease sets or go lighter in weight (less rest between sets) to finish in the time I can commit to lifting
2) I could do half the workout before my kids get up and then break for 30 mins til I get them on the bus and then finish the 2nd half. This wouldn’t work on cardio days, though 🙁
3) I could switch to just dumbbells to decrease set up time between exercises?I think option 3 would be the best option 😉 Next best would be option 2 – I wouldn’t even consider option 1 an option, you would not be getting as much of the benefits by decreasing sets or lightening the weights.
On the women’s meal plan 1, meal 4, option 2 it just says a can of tuna. I was using the small can & asked my husband to get more. He brought home one of the bigger cans. I forgot there were different sizes. Which size should we use?
What meal plan are you following?
I’m wondering if we can food prep like the meal prep video. In the video meats, veg I’d, & carbs are all cooked in bulk then separated as needed. How do we do that and still get the proper portion of fat from the olive oil? Do we have to prep every meal separately for best results or is the difference not enough to worry about?
I would recommend prepping your proteins and carbs in bulk, then adding your fats as you portion everything out according to your meals. You can cook in bulk, but then weigh and measure out your portion sizes specific to your meals, does that make sense? You definitely need to weigh and measure out everything separate;ly for best results but you don’t need to cook every individual meal “to order,” and can prep most foods ahead of time 🙂
After over 5 years of doing these challenges I’ve never mastered the nutrition prep. I’ll crush the workout though 💪I buy all the ingredients and give up before getting started a lot of the time because it feels so overwhelming. I’ve got breakfast prep down and then I usually just aim to hit macros by the end of the day with smoothies, bars, simple egg white or tofu wraps. I am vegetarian so I waver between both meal plans. I thought I would start here before leaning on the Facebook page. I was hoping someone could guide me on the best sequence to prep meals for all day for the week… or how to prep for the prep better? Maybe that’s the problem 🤣 Yes, I’ve watched Nicole’s videos.
I would keep everything as simple as possible and follow these steps:
1. choose the simplest, most basic meals (not complicated, time-consuming recipes, at least for right now to stat with).
2. calculate all of the foods you need to buy from the grocery store you will need for the meals in the meal plan – all the very basic ones (veg proteins, rice, potatoes, frozen veggies, etc., super simple) – and write out your grocery list.
3. go to the grocery store with your list and only buy the foods on your list for meal prep for the week ahead.
4. cook all of your starchy carbs, cook all of your proteins, cool all of your veggies and other foods
5. portion them out via food scale in grams based on the meals and portion sizes in your meal plan and put them in storage containersYou are done! I would recommend separating the above steps out by about 3 days, for example:
Friday: steps 1 & 2
Saturday: step 3
Sunday: step 4 & 5I hope this helps! 🙂 As you get the hang of the simple foods and feel like you have it down pat (may take longer than you realize, might take a few challenges of keeping everything basic),
Also, the meal plans are not interchangeable between plant-based and regular meal plans. In other words, you should eat all your meals for the day from either one of the meal plans, but not having meal 1 from the non plant-based and meal 2 from plant-based.
I really don’t understand the fast 7. Is there a video that explains it? Did I miss it somewhere?
Can you please tell me what page you are looking at, or what workout you are looking at that says “Fast 7”?
Yes I totally get that, but I was under the impression ALL meals were interchangeable so if I wanted to eat meal 4 option 1 the entire time, I could. That doesn’t appear to be the case though…so glad I asked. I will just stick with the macro options for meal 1…then meal 2 and so on. Thank you 🙂
You are able to eat the same meal for all 4 meals but it is not recommended for optimal results. The calories and macros for the meals ARE all the same, except post workout. But the portion of fats, proteins & carbs it takes to comprise each meal is slightly different, does that make sense? If you eat Meal 1 for all 4 meals, you are hitting all your calories & macros. If you eat meals 2, 3 or 4 for all 4 meals, you would be hitting all your calories and macros.
just need clarification before I go one second day. I understand the exchange list BUT, say for example, that i wanted to exchange 1 1/3 scoop of Isolaste, and the parentheses ( ) has and exchange for (1 1/2 LP), so i would go to the LP list and say i choose
4 slices of turkey bacon. Am i eating 1 1/2 serving size so 6 pieces??Correct 🙂
I had bunion surgery a couple of years ago. The most proximal joint on my left big toe is fused. I have figured out over time how to do lunges, push ups, and most other things that usually require hyper extension or flexion of that joint. I mostly balance on the very tip of my toes. However, I really struggled with the calf raises. I tried hanging my feet off the edge of the treadmill so I had some range of motion. My foot was pretty sore after my workout. Is there an alternative or better modification you can recommend? Thanks in advance!
If you have access to to a leg press, you can do calf presses on a leg press machine in place of calf raises 🙂
Are they only interchangeable for within each meal bracket? I was under the impression all of the meals were interchangeable. (Minus post workout)
Correct, all of the meals are interchangeable within Option 1 & Option 2, except the post workout and not interchangeable between the regular and plant-based plans. Nicole calculated everything for you with a range of calories and macros, it’s not going to be exact but within about 5-10g of your macro goals. She calculated the exchange portions based on the other foods listed in the meals, so if there is a fatty protein in one meal and a lean protein in another meal, the fat serving size is going to be different because of the fat content contained in the fatty protein, does that make sense?
So if I don’t eat the fat with the greek yogurt can I add it to Meal 1, as long as I get it in somewhere throughout my day? Or do I need to consume it with the other items in meal 2?
You can take a fat out of one meal and add it to another meal, yes.
So if I don’t eat the fat with the greek yogurt can I add it to Meal 1, as long as I get it in somewhere throughout my day? Or do I need to consume it with the other items in meal 2?
Another factor making this very difficult to determine is that some 100% cacao can be 12-14g of fat and 10-14g carbs while others can be higher in carbs and lower in fats depending on how the particular company processes the cacao. It can vary greatly across the board due to a number of factors. If you want to plug in your own food in My Fitness Pal and aim for the meal calories and macros so that you can continue eating the cacao brand you are eating, you can do that. We don’t recommend that unless you are petty well versed in tracking your own meals and macros but that is another option if you aren’t wanting to go without cacao for the duration of the challenge.
I also want to note that 100% cacao is a healthy food, but it is just not part of the meal plans for this particular challenge.
So if I don’t eat the fat with the greek yogurt can I add it to Meal 1, as long as I get it in somewhere throughout my day? Or do I need to consume it with the other items in meal 2?
Cacao is not a fat source per se, depending on how it is processed, it could be more carb dominant. 100% cacao often contains a higher percentage of carbs but also fat and protein so it is not an even swap. It is not recommended unless you are tracking in My Fitness Pal, food journaling and able to fit cacao into a meal based on the target macros, but you will have to not only take out some fats somewhere but also carbs and protein. You will need to calculate the correct portion size of cacao in order to calculate how many grams of carbs, proteins and fats when trying to fit cacao into your meal plan. Cacao is not a cut and dry “even swap” which is why it is not listed on the exchange list.
Hi there,
In Meal Plan 3 for Meal 5 (Rest Days) it states eat this only on days you do not weight train. To clarify, on training days, there are 4 meals + a post-workout meal…is this correct? Kindly, J
Correct, you will eat 5 meals on both weight training days and rest days. On weigh training days, you WILL eat the post workout meal but NOT meal 5 (rest day meal). On 1st days you will NOT eat your post-workout meal but you WILL eat meal 5, the rest day meal. Does that make sense?
I took my photos this weekend but upon checking, my hashtag sign is upside down .. it’s readable still, is that acceptable? I don’t have any more Tien at home during daylight hours to do a retake.
It should be fine as long as it is the correct hashtag, even if it’s upside down 🙂
If I am going to make a turkey burger or chicken breast, and I need 3oz but I should weight it cooked, how do I know how big to make the portion before I cook it?
You won’t really know, it is hard to gauge, so you will just have to over-estimate (make it a big patty), then weigh it after you cook it and cut off any excess. It’s trial and error, eventually you will start to be able to gauge better about how big it will be to weigh close to 3oz. Maybe start with weighing out 4oz raw and see what it comes out to cooked (cooked will always weigh less than raw).
Meal plan 2 – Meal 2
Just want to make sure I understand this correctly. I think this is where I fail at that meals because I am always unsure.
24g of peanut butter is 1.5 servings of fat. 1 serving of fat is about 10 grams of fat. So to exchange I need to eat an approved fat that equals 15grams of fat?That is correct 🙂
I like eating 100% Cacao Chocolate in my Greek Yogurt with the blueberries and cinnamon. Why isn’t 100% dark chocolate on the approved fat exchange list? This would qualify correct? It’s easier to stick to a meal plan if its foods I love to eat already. To exchange the chocolate for the 24 grams of peanut butter would mean I need to eat 28 grams of the 100% dark Cacao chocolate?
I just looked up cacao chocolate in MFP and came up with the below macros, which is not a pure fat source, 28g of 100% pure cacao chocolate contains:
12g carbs (53%)
2.5g fat (25%)
5g protein (22%)The fact that over 50% of calories come from carbs means it would be considered more of a carb source, but because 25% is fat and 22% is protein, it’s more complex to try and fit into a meal plan evenly. Things like butter and coconut oil are pure fat sources, with 100% of calories coming from fat, and zero coming from from carbs or protein.
Good morning! Which oat bran is intended for women’s MP 3…
MEAL 4
OPTION 1
• (LP) 226g nonfat cottage cheese
• (¾ SC) 30g oat bran
• (½ F) 15g chia seeds
• (½ F) 15g hemp seedsIs the oat-bran supposed to be the hard boxed cereal, or the hot cereal consist to oatmeal?
And how would you eat/combine this meal? 🙂
Not the Oat Bran cereal, actual oat bran. You can eat this meal any way you choose, people can come up with all sorts of ways to eat this meal so ideally you will come up a way of eating it that you enjoy best using these ingredients or swapping some foods using the food exchange list 🙂
Thanks!
On the meal plan can I pick and choose between option 1 or 2 for each meal, or do I have to select all option 1’s or all option 2’s for the day?
Thanks!
You can switch between options 1 & 2 within the same meal plan.
Hi –
This is my first challenge.
I too was looking for info on spacing out the meals, etc. I don’t see where the nutrition section in the e-book talks about meal frequency, and how to “set up” Your meal schedule each day? I’ve read the entire book 2-3 times but must keep missing that info. Is there other meal frequency info I’m missing? (I see the meal plans so know there are 5 meals each day, and I know to swap between the post-work out meal and no-work out meal on appropriate days.) Anything else?
thanks!If you look at the main challenge page (not the ebook), you will find additional videos with more in-depth info: https://nicolewilkins.com/challenge/buns-guns-challenge-2025/
Is there any workout log in this challenge that can be printed out and used I find it so long having to rewrite the exercise to keep track of what weights I used thanks
There is an accountability section starting on page 83 of the ebook, and a place for you to stay accountable with your goals on page 93, but if you want to track you workouts in detail, challenge participants typically use small notebooks to track more details like the weights used. You can also write directly in a printed out ebook in small print each week at the top of each exercise if you don’t want to re-write out each exercise.
In the women’s meal plan 3, meal 3 option 2 is there supposed to be another fat? Right now it’s only 1/2 fat. I’ve noticed most of the other meals have 1 1/2 fat. TIA.
It is correct, Nicole calculated all of the meals to equal about the same macros but some will require a little less/little more depending on the end totals “range” that she calculated for the whole day.
Hello. I am sorry to sound so dumb but, how far apart are the meals from one another?
This cvaries from person to person based on what your preference is and what your schedule throughput the day is with when you are able to fit in your meals. A general rule outlined in the nutrition portion of this challenge is to space them out about 3-4 hours apart but there is no “right or wrong” way. You don’t want to space them too close together to where you eat everything in a close “window” but you also don’t want to spread them out so far apart that you’re starving by your next meal. Does that make sense?
