My Experience with Personal Trainer Food

Welcome to our weekly Foodie Friday link up! I’m linking up with Annmarie from the Fit Foodie Mama + Esther from Chocolate Runner Girl to create awesome healthy recipes each week! This week’s theme = Pinterest Curiosities!

I’m changing up this week’s Foodie Friday by a bit and sharing a meal delivery service with you this week!

You’ve probably gotten somewhat of a glimpse of my life via my “Day in the Life” posts over the past couple years, but life as a resident is slightly similar to being a medical student. Both sap most of your free time away, but to put things somewhat into perspective, life as a resident is like:

• Working 2 full-time jobs (we’re capped at 80-hour work weeks, but this doesn’t count the amount of time spent with charting/documentation and other obligations/expectations)
• Still being a full-time student (although I’m not taking exams on a monthly-ish basis anymore, we do still have boards to study for and are expected to read/study every day)

I semi-recently finished up my Community Medicine rotation, where I was giving a number of talks about sugar, healthy eating, and sleep hygiene to different senior citizen centers in the county. As you may know by now, I’m an advocate of meal prepping to both save money and eat healthier, but there are definitely times where I’d really, really rather sleep.

Note: I received compensation/free meals from Personal Trainer Food for this post–as always, all thoughts/opinions are mine and mine alone.

My Experience with Personal Trainer Food

Personal Trainer Food came into my life at the perfect time–I was feeling absolutely terrible physically, and the last thing I wanted to do was to spend time meal prepping, so having ready-made meals definitely helped out a lot! I don’t much enjoy using my one day off during daytime hospital service to cook either, because all I really want to do = wind down and catch up on sleep. Of course, it didn’t hurt that each of the meals are packed with nutrition and keep me going through my 12-14-hr shifts!

I was super happy that I got to choose exactly what meals I wanted for breakfasts, entrees and vegetables–I don’t have toooo many food restrictions, but being able to customize what I want to eat is always a win in my book! Personally, I would’ve liked to see more non-pork options in the breakfast section, and cheddar is one of my least favorite cheeses, so I was a bit disappointed to see only one option with neither of the two (“1 Plain Omelet + 1 Egg Patty”), and 3 total options without pork. (It was fine after I scraped off the cheddar–personal preference!)

That being said, I liked that each entree showed allergy information and showed what the meal contained (e.g. soy, milk, egg, pork, etc.), as well as which selections were spicy or were low-sodium (great for people trying to improve their blood pressure!).

I rarely add salt to my cooking, and for the most part, tried to opt for selections with higher protein/fiber in this (with some exceptions).

You can look up more info on each of the selections by pressing “More Info” on the lower right hand corner, where it’ll show you everything from nutrition facts (calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, protein) to the ingredients and reviews from others who’ve tried it before.

Truth be told, I was somewhat concerned that I would not be able to adhere to the guidelines–I’m not much for restriction when it comes to eating (everything in moderation!) and I was vaguely concerned that I would still be pretty hungry with this program. But like my program director likes to say, “You can do anything for ______” (in this case, the blank would be “2 weeks.”)!

What was probably hardest for me to follow was the lack of fruits in this diet (other than the apple a day to keep myself away). At baseline, I never drink alcohol, rarely drink juice, milk, or use any added sugars. I also have no idea how much I weigh since I can’t recall the last time I weigh myself, but oh, fruits, I missed thee. (Nuts too. And protein shakes/bars, mostly because I have so much that I’m trying to finish off.)

I don’t know that I can actually pick a favorite lunch or dinner entree, because I liked everything that I tried! The meals were all super flavorful even without seasoning, and the proteins were never too dry or tough. (I can especially attest to this because I was on a soft diet for the first week!)

My friend came over to visit me/bring me fresh raspberries during my 3-abscess fiasco, so I “made him some dinner” by way of Personal Trainer Food‘s ready-made meals (heh heh heh) and he really liked it (so it ain’t just me!)! While I’ve been on hospital service, I’ve been bringing em’ with me in a Tupperware so I wouldn’t have to buy lunch and could save the money on my meal card to treat my intern/students to lunch. I even brought some over to my friend’s place to make dinner with edamame spaghetti! It cooks up really well in a pan too! (He doesn’t own a microwave.)

3 of the 42 packages opened up in transit but heated up just fine. If plastic waste is a concern, this (and most other meal delivery options) likely won’t be your friend, but overall, this was a win in my book if you’re looking for super easy, healthy, ready-made and delivered meals with almost no prep work involved. (P.S. “Prep” = microwaving for 2-4 minutes.)

End-of-Week-ish Recap

• In the market for a smartwatch? Join in on a summer fitness challenge and check out my review of the Amazfit Stratos (20% discount code included in the post!)!
• Learn how to make these 5-ingredient Protein Chocolate Matcha Popsicles!

• Have you ever heard of Personal Trainer Food?
• What are your top priorities when it comes to meal delivery services?

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