I’ve been on a journey to get fit for the last 3 years but my love for chocolate fudge cake with cream tempts me ever so often. I am the perfect weight for my height but I long to get rid of my love handles and become that girl with the toned body. unfortunately I’m not motivated to work out although the saying “you are what you eat” and the tons of articles that express eating healthy contributes to 80% of your body fat loss. Inspired me to get an exclusive insight into the world of meal prep with fitness instructor Mai Fitness. So for all food lovers and mothers out there this one is for you.
Fitness instructor Maomi Remy struggled to lose weight after giving birth to her second child. Not feeling so good in her own skin she decided to join cardio classes and take jogs in the morning. To my surprise she didn’t enjoy it, untill she began to see a difference. With hard work and determination she fell in love with fitness and gained herself a fitness and nutrition qualification.
There are plenty of mothers out there that don’t have time to work out, be a mum and have a full-time job. Maomi admitted it was hard but her determination to finish her course in Personal Training and a Nutritional Advising kept her going. She decided to quit her office job and follow her new passion.
“If I am to leave my children to work I’d rather do something that I LOVE.” – Maomi Remy
ME: Why is food prep so important to the fitness community ?
Maomi: Food prep is important to the fitness industry as it will help you stay on track with your fitness and nutritional goals. Prepping meals prevents you from making bad food choices, there are times when you might be really hungry and don’t know what to eat so will pick up something unhealthy or not part of your plan. If your meals are prepped (incl snacks) you will not make these bad decisions. You also know exactly what ingredients are in each of your meals, another important factor is it saves time in a busy schedule. It is a great form of discipline.
ME: What advice can you give to other mothers that want to start preparing meals ?
Maomi: Firstly I would say keep it simple, it doesn’t need to be hard and for variety cook two different meals one for lunch and the other for dinner.Have plenty of containers, preferably of the same size so they can be stored in the fridge neatly and can be stacked on top of one another. Plan your meals before you go shopping. Know what Protein, Veg and Carbs (preferably complex carbs) and make sure you have all the ingredients before you start. Wash up as you go along, the avoid a messy hectic kitchen 🙂
ME: I tend to go food shopping at random times and end up going to dine restaurants way to much. How often do you go food shopping ?
Maomi: As I prep twice weekly I usually go shopping twice a week, however if I have a lot going on I will shop online.
ME: How often do you prepare food ?
I usually meal prep every 3 days (sometimes 4). The reason why is because when I used to meal prep weekly I would find I would get fed up with my food choice after the 3rd day so prepping twice a week allows me to change my mind on food options and have a bit more variety plus I prefer to keep the food in the fridge rather than storing some in the freezer (there is nothing wrong with freezing the food but there has been times where I’ve forgotten to take the food out the night before which can be very annoying.
ME: What is your Favourite food to prepare and why ?
Maomi: My favourite meal to prepare is Quinoa, grilled salmon and spinach with onions and mushrooms. This is a delicious meal and very nutritional.
I love preparing quinoa because not only is it gluten-free but it is a great source of protein one of the few plant foods that contain all nine essential amino acids. It is also high in fibre. Salmon is light and it’s important to have at least two portions of oily fish a week, it’s a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids.
I have an intolerance to dairy and low iron so I enjoy eating spinach as it is high in calcium which is essential for a balanced diet.
Readers we are lucky enough to get an example of what she prepares for the week.
Carbs:
Porridge for breakfast, I will get these ready in little freezer bags, usually a fist full of oats.
I will also prep Brown Rice, Quinoa or Sweet Potato (roasted and skinned) This will be served with my lunch time meals
Protein:
boiled eggs in the morning I will do these on the day however if I’m out I will skip. Chicken, Turkey or Fish for lunch and Dinner. Then usually have Tuna (canned) or meat / fish in the evening
Fats:
Avocado or humus to go with my evening tuna and nuts (usually almond) or seeds (usually pumpkin seeds) to snack on.
Veggies / Salad
I will prep plenty of Veggies to go with lunch, dinner and evening snack. For variety I prep different veg for lunch and dinner and usually have salad with my evening snack.
Fruit:
I will prep for two portions of fruit a day, seasonal fruits or what is on offer.
All meats are grilled or roasted and keep oil to minimum. When I’m really focused on a very specific goal I will not use oil at all.
ME: Lastly how has career path impacted your life
Maomi: This career path has impacted my life in many ways. I am more aware of the nutritional benefits of food, I’ve become a lot more creative than I ever knew I had inside me. I have also become more appreciative of the human body. My household has also benefited and now have healthy home cooked food and are a lot more active. I get to work more closely with the local community and share my experience and knowledge with women and men like me.
To all my readers i really hope you learned something from this article. I will be planning to make my own prepared meals to share with you all. After my birthday on July 19th because I shall be eating lots of cake and alcohol.
To get in touch with Mai Fitness details are below:
Classes
At the moment I run two classes a week and am available for 1:1 Personal Training or in small groups:
Cardio Jam – Saturday mornings – Peckham/Nunhead
Groove Fit – Wednesday evenings – Dulwich
Details are as follows:
For The Uninspired Woman 
Quick question, what about when you have a family. Do you also do meal preps for them too. Because my problem wouldn’t be preparing for myself. It’s what to cook for my family If I’m doing a meal prep.
What day would you usually prepare and once you have prepared the meals for the three days do you include dinner for that day?
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Mai Fitness said: “I meal prep all meals for 3 days so that incls dinner.
Meal prep is after every 3 days so the days can Change….. So Sunday, then Wednesday, then Saturday, Tuesday etc and dinner will be incl in that day, I start early and am usually done before lunch as its prep for 3 days so less time consuming. Food for that day is included.”
You can prepare meals for your whole family. Meal prep are based on nutrional goals. So if you personally wanna lose weight thats fine and if you just want your family to eat better then dont be afraid to make up some meals and include your fruit n veg.
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