30 Days of Only Ground Beef
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Weight's been steady for me.
I think because I'm pushing myself to finish my prepared amounts of meat (eating beyond hunger) rather than try to figure out how much I ate versus the precooked weight.
I'm going to start just making smaller portions and go back for more if I am hungry. But I fear I'm going to end up in a caloric deficit if I do that, which messes up the experiment a bit.0 -
I've actually been eating my normal amounts the last two days. Yesterday, I got to the full 2,800 calories. Will try for the same again tomorrow.0
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I've been an average of 200 calories over my TDEE, so I'm happy to drop it down a bit. It's just annoying because my meat is already portioned in a way that makes it difficult to control. I'm going to have to buy more meat just to portion the right size to get those 22.23 ounces on the nose.
I've been eating 24 just because everything is portioned to a pound or half pound. :P So I can have my 8oz chunks already frozen in the freezer for one meal, and then 14 ounce chunks later on. Definitely wish I'd made 11 1/8 oz portions so one meal wasn't always so big! I guess I'll get through these two pounds of portioned/frozen meat and try again with the next batch.
Will be posting my Week 1 Recap with measurements tomorrow!0 -
I have been making 6oz patties for lunch and second lunch (eating two at each meal) and a smaller meal of 8oz total (2x4oz) for dinner.0
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For a total of 32 oz, you mean?
I wish I could take a second lunch! I suppose I could eat at my desk, but egh, I hate to eat near my keyboard.
I think the half pound pieces are my problem. I had 12 oz patties for lunch Mon/Tues and that worked out far more comfortably than 8 oz lunch patties. I don't like loading a pound on in the evening, nor do I really feel like cooking more than once to eat two smaller meals in the evening. Next week's pre-portioned pieces will probably be in 4 oz chunks. Sliders/meatballs. LOL. Colloquially known as quarter pounders.
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Yeah, my aim is 32 ounces a day. I find that I am rarely hungry enough to get more than half a pound in at the evenings. And, this breakdown of 12oz-12oz-8oz gets me to the goal calories without me losing interest.0
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I've scanned all the posts, and sorry if I missed this -- why does the beef have to be ground?0
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olivebeanhealthy wrote: »I've scanned all the posts, and sorry if I missed this -- why does the beef have to be ground?
There's actually no good reason for that detail. It started in the bacon thread and I said I couldn't do two pounds of bacon a day for a month. So, I stated:I could do two pounds of ground beef a day, and nothing else, for a month. That's actually pretty close to some of my months in the past. I like bacon, but I don't find it satisfying enough on its own.
@kirkor said I should do just that and blog it. Yes, I blame him. I guess I said it because eating just beef for a month wouldn't be a challenge for me. I go weeks eating nothing but beef anyway. The ground beef is a little harder because it's not as tasty as steak. On the third hand, it is a lot cheaper. I estimate that I'll save about $120 this month off my normal grocery budget. I made it even harder by restricting my seasoning to light, so I don't cheat and make a big bowl of taco meat or "chili" and eat that. That wouldn't be challenging (and it would also have a lot more carbs). That would also be a lot more tempting for cheese and sour cream.
I could have just said, "strict beef" for 30 days. But, that doesn't have the same ring as only ground beef.
Meanwhile, my wife wants to stab me. Apparently, it isn't fair that I dropped 7.6 pounds in scale weight in just over a week. I was going to point out that she hasn't exactly been sticking to her diet; but, I am not a stupid man. I know how that would play out.
Edit: Another side benefit of using only ground meat is that the macros are easier to get close. A steak can be hard to tell. Is my normal ribeye fattier than the one in MFP or leaner? How about my chuck steaks? I don't trim those and I eat all the fat. The ground meat isn't perfectly spot on, but it's going to be a little more accurate. I am probably losing some of the fat cooking on the grill. Hopefully, not too much. Most days, I pan fried and consumed all the drippings too.0 -
Edit: Another side benefit of using only ground meat is that the macros are easier to get close. A steak can be hard to tell. Is my normal ribeye fattier than the one in MFP or leaner? How about my chuck steaks? I don't trim those and I eat all the fat. The ground meat isn't perfectly spot on, but it's going to be a little more accurate. I am probably losing some of the fat cooking on the grill. Hopefully, not too much. Most days, I pan fried and consumed all the drippings too.
This has been the reason I've used to defend the format.
Heck, if we were looking for excuses, we would have said Corned Beef is beef, and ground it up in the processor.
My grilled beef is generally as barely cooked as I can make it. I think you once mentioned you 'threaten' with the grill rather than cook with it?
I use the skillet if I want more seared texture, so I know I'll get those juices.
When I reheat the grilled pieces at lunch, they're in a bowl so I can pour the drippings into a paper cup when I'm done and drink that.0 -
LOL 0
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@kirkor good one!0
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[quote="glossbones;35833146
When I reheat the grilled pieces at lunch, they're in a bowl so I can pour the drippings into a paper cup when I'm done and drink that. [/quote]
I'll be honest, I saw you mentioned that your drink the grease before and I am mildly disgusted. Can you set the juices aside and dip the meat in it? I feel like the drinking thing just sounds... wrong. But I'm sure it's just a weird mental block. I lick my plates often so maybe it's similar?
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DorkothyParker wrote: »I'll be honest, I saw you mentioned that your drink the grease before and I am mildly disgusted. Can you set the juices aside and dip the meat in it? I feel like the drinking thing just sounds... wrong. But I'm sure it's just a weird mental block. I lick my plates often so maybe it's similar?
No worries, you can be as disgusted by me as you want. I'm sure I can list off a few more things about myself that you wouldn't approve of.
I'd much rather drink warm, tasty grease out of a disposable cup than lick cold congealed grease off a public-use ceramic plate in front of my coworkers. I do lick the plate at home, as long as it's not congealed. Then I scrape it up with a fork and choke it down.
I do get most of the grease with the solid pieces of meat, but there's always a not-insignificant amount leftover, and the best way for me to track my intake accurately is to eat all of the meat that I prepare. Besides tracking, I do believe the key to the success of this challenge is to eat the FAT, far and above the protein. If I could find 70/30 meat I'd opt for that. Then I'd have to drink the leftover grease out of a carafe.
If I ate a bowl of kiwi, and then drank the leftover kiwi juice, no one would call me disgusting. When you embrace that such an act would actually be far more damaging to my health, the grease seems far more natural.
I also lick the spatula when I'm done grilling my meat. And my fingers when I'm done picking at the meat.
Don't forget, the inside of my burger patties is also cool and raw. I mean, come on, the line in the sand was washed out to sea long ago.
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glossbones wrote: »DorkothyParker wrote: »I'll be honest, I saw you mentioned that your drink the grease before and I am mildly disgusted. Can you set the juices aside and dip the meat in it? I feel like the drinking thing just sounds... wrong. But I'm sure it's just a weird mental block. I lick my plates often so maybe it's similar?
No worries, you can be as disgusted by me as you want. I'm sure I can list off a few more things about myself that you wouldn't approve of.
I'd much rather drink warm, tasty grease out of a disposable cup than lick cold congealed grease off a public-use ceramic plate in front of my coworkers. I do lick the plate at home, as long as it's not congealed. Then I scrape it up with a fork and choke it down.
I do get most of the grease with the solid pieces of meat, but there's always a not-insignificant amount leftover, and the best way for me to track my intake accurately is to eat all of the meat that I prepare. Besides tracking, I do believe the key to the success of this challenge is to eat the FAT, far and above the protein. If I could find 70/30 meat I'd opt for that. Then I'd have to drink the leftover grease out of a carafe.
If I ate a bowl of kiwi, and then drank the leftover kiwi juice, no one would call me disgusting. When you embrace that such an act would actually be far more damaging to my health, the grease seems far more natural.
I also lick the spatula when I'm done grilling my meat. And my fingers when I'm done picking at the meat.
Don't forget, the inside of my burger patties is also cool and raw. I mean, come on, the line in the sand was washed out to sea long ago.
I am becoming more and more interested in the ground beef challenge. I have too many out of town trips coming up, but I may see how a week of it would treat me sometime.
I'm not sure I could drink the drippings, though the idea of it doesn't disgust me, I'd be more likely to eat the meat from a bowl, soup style. lol
I'd definitely rather drink a cup of drippings than a donut... That's a weird change of taste from the old me! I could definitely handle the rare patties. I prefer beef rare anyway.
I appreciate your meticulous calculations on the experiment.
I think doing this over a full week could help to determine if the digestion issues I have when I eat heavy protein for multiple days are really that or just coincidence or maybe combination of things that coincide with the slower digesting protein...0 -
I'm curious as to why not seasoning. Maybe I missed the rationale in the start of the thread.0
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Could make cream gravy out of drippings . I don't think that requires flour to thicken.0
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ChoiceNotChance wrote: »I'm curious as to why not seasoning. Maybe I missed the rationale in the start of the thread.
Remove all possible confounders. I have used some seasoning, but trivial amounts. Ideally, I would quit coffee, seasoning, and stop using salt. But, those things are simple joys that I don't believe harm me to any great degree.0 -
Could make cream gravy out of drippings . I don't think that requires flour to thicken.
But it does require cream, which has been eliminated at this point.
I did add coffee to the juices and found it decadent, but so rich I regretted pouring it over my slider patties after the second or third one. I think it also made the grease congeal faster, if you can imagine.
I have used cinnamon and nutmeg a couple times in my coffee but decided to just forego that as well. Now I have salt in my first bottle of water of the day, just to help with the hydration. I don't like my burger meat salted.0 -
I imagine that after a certain point the thought of drinking drippings would sound delicious. I feel the lower carb I am the more fat appeals to me, like licking bacon grease off my fingers is one of the most delicious things, or licking out the melted butter from my butter dipping dish.0
