Sunday Prep

Your week

Pick meals. Shop does the math.

Tap what you want and set how many times. Cottage scramble is an easy breakfast if you like it. Shop builds the grocery list from your picks, by store.

Brown the meat. Roast veg until it gets color. Bloom spices in the pan. Lemon, lime, or vinegar at the end. Yogurt is a sauce, not a garnish.

Some meals can be a wrap. Warm 1 CarbSmart tortilla, add the protein, 1 to 1.5 cups vegetables, and the sauce. Use less cabbage than the bowl so it actually closes. Soup, curry, and lasagna stay bowls.

Aim for 1,400–1,500 cal, 140g+ protein, 30g+ fiber. High volume veg. Oil is a teaspoon, not a pour. Cheese is optional, not required. A wrap adds about 70 calories.

The week

Four lifts. Muscle first.

Finish Upper A, Lower A, Upper B, Lower B. Those four are the main work. Cardio supports them. It does not replace them. Leave 1–2 reps in the tank. You do not need failure to keep muscle.

Warm up 5 min easy, then 2 light sets of the first lift. Rest about 2 min on the big lifts (longer if you need it), 60–90s on accessories. Do not rush sets to burn more calories.

If you only have 30 minutes: first three lifts, 3 sets, leave. Do not swap the gym for HIIT because you are short on time.

Progress

Hit 12s, then add a little.

Example: 10/9/8, then 10/10/9, then 11/10/10, then 12/12/12. When every set is a clean 12 with 1–2 in the tank, add a little weight and start the range over.

While eating like this, holding the same weights while the scale trends down is a win. The program is not failing if the load does not jump every week.

Monday

Upper A

• Bench press, dumbbell or bar

  3 × 8–12
• Chest-supported row or one-arm dumbbell row

  3 × 8–12
• Seated dumbbell shoulder press

  3 × 8–12
• Lat pulldown

  3 × 8–12
• Rear-delt fly or face pull

  2 × 12–15
• Optional: curl + tricep pushdown

  2 × 10–15 each

Tuesday

Lower A

• Goblet squat or barbell squat

  3 × 8–12
• Romanian deadlift

  3 × 8–12
• Walking lunge or Bulgarian split squat

  2 × 8–10 each leg
• Leg curl

  3 × 10–15
• Calf raise

  3 × 10–15
• Plank or dead bug

  2 × 30–45s / 2 × 8 each side

Wednesday

Not a required fifth workout.

A. Preferred on a hard cut. Rest. Normal walking. That is a complete Wednesday.

B. Easy movement. 20–30 min walk, bike, mobility, or light dumbbells. Finish feeling better than you started.

C. Optional HIIT. One Nourish Move Love session only if Mon and Tue went well, legs feel normal, sleep is fine, lifts are not sliding, and you actually want it. One session. Not stacked on a lift day.

If the gym is closed, a home session can replace that lift. It does not get added on top. Missing Wednesday HIIT does not need to be paid back.

Week 1 · 35 min

HIIT EMOM

7 circuits, 2 moves each. Repeat each circuit 3 times. Every minute on the minute: hit the reps, rest until the next minute. Aim for 10+ seconds of rest. 15–20 lb dumbbells.

• Alternating reverse lunges

  10 · then goblet squat jacks ×10
• Kneeling curl + shoulder press

  8 · then down-dog push-up ×4
• Deadlift + clean squat

  5 · then jump lunges ×20
• Plank row

  10 · then kneeling overhead triceps ×10
• Lateral squats

  10 · then mountain climbers ×30
• Chest press

  10 · then glute bridge ×10
• Dumbbell burpee

  5 · then squat to overhead press ×10

Video + form on NML

Gym closed substitute

Bodyweight HIIT

Use this to replace a missed lift, not as extra work. Repeat the trio until time is up. Low-impact: step the burpees, march instead of mountain climbers, skip the bounds.

• Lateral bounds
• Push-up burpees
• Mountain climbers

NML 30-minute HIIT (10-min option)

Saturday

Zone 2. Still easy.

25–30 min. Incline walk, bike, easy elliptical, or a brisk outdoor walk. Conversational. This should not feel like HIIT. Then 5–8 min core if you want: dead bug, bird dog, side plank.

Optional add-on, only if the four lifts happened and you feel good: 2 sets curls, 2 sets triceps, 2 sets lateral raises. Stop there. Not a second HIIT day.

Thursday

Upper B

• Incline dumbbell press

  3 × 8–12
• Cable row or machine row

  3 × 8–12
• Lat pulldown or assisted pull-up

  3 × 8–12
• Lateral raise

  3 × 12–15
• Face pull

  2 × 12–15
• Optional: hammer curl + overhead tricep

  2 × 10–12

Friday

Lower B

• Hip thrust or cable pull-through

  3 × 8–12
• Leg press or a different squat

  3 × 8–12
• Step-up or reverse lunge

  2 × 8–10 each leg
• Leg curl

  3 × 10–15
• Hip abduction

  2 × 12–15
• Calf raise

  2 × 12–15
• Side plank

  2 × 20–30s each side

If recovery is slipping

Drop optional first.

Keep protein, the four lifts, and sleep. Keep Saturday Zone 2 if you can. Drop Wednesday HIIT first, then optional arms. Do not sacrifice lifting just to burn more.

Make Wednesday full rest and/or skip accessories if several of these stack: lifts falling, sleep is junk, legs always heavy, you dread sessions that used to feel fine, hunger plus poor recovery, the scale dropping very fast.

Skip these

• Random extra HIIT classes, or HIIT after every lift
• Adding cardio because the scale ticked up for a day
• Paying back a missed Wednesday with a Marine workout
• Swapping a lift day for HIIT because you only have 30 minutes
• Skipping lower body because of the scale

Hacks

Cottage cheese, but cute

Buy 1% at WinCo in the big tubs. Two to three tubs a week is normal. A fork is enough. Blender optional.

Cottage scramble

Default breakfast. 2 eggs + 1 cup cottage, spinach, salsa. ~320 cal, 40 g protein. Wrap it in a CarbSmart tortilla if you need something you can carry. Sunday muffin tin: 4 eggs + 2 cups cottage + spinach, 350°F ~18 min. Grab two.

Pizza bowl

One dinner a week. 1 cup cottage, 4–5 oz leftover chicken or turkey, crushed tomato (not salsa), garlic, Italian, red pepper flakes. Microwave until hot. ~400 cal, 50 g protein. Or fold it into a CarbSmart tortilla and toast it. Optional Parmesan. Lazy lasagna.

Fork-mashed ranch

1/2 cup cottage, lemon, garlic powder, salt, hot sauce. Spoon over chicken or chili. ~80 cal.

Sweet bowl

When sweets hit. 1 cup cottage, cinnamon, tiny pinch of salt, 3/4 cup frozen berries (let them thaw so they go jammy). Optional vanilla. ~230 cal, 28 g protein. This replaces the planned snack.

Cold brick

1.5 cups cottage, cucumber, tomato, everything bagel. Campus breakfast. ~280 cal, 42 g protein.

No microwave

Campus bag

• Cottage tub
• Sliced chicken, even cold
• Cucumber
• Salsa cup
• Greek yogurt

Not pretty. Works. Costco rotisserie, pulled Sunday, is the backup protein.

Rules

Three stores. Protein is not from TJ.

Costco, every 2–4 weeks: chicken, turkey or beef, eggs, Greek yogurt, frozen broccoli, salsa, olive oil. Optional rotisserie.

WinCo, weekly: cabbage, produce, 1% cottage cheese (2–3 tubs), canned tomatoes, lemons, bulk spices, hot sauce, soy, bouillon. CarbSmart tortillas (Mission Carb Balance, soft taco) if you want wraps. Flavor kit: garlic, onion powder, chili, cumin, smoked paprika, Italian, pepper, vinegar.

Trader Joe’s, flavor only: salsa verde, chili onion crunch (1 tsp), everything-bagel seasoning, riced cauliflower if WinCo is out.

Skip most weeks: avocado, salmon, pre-cut fruit, rice bowls, juice, “healthy” bars, TJ frozen meals.

After the freezer is stocked

About $40–55 a week

The first Costco run looks bigger. That is inventory, not one week of food. If the fridge is tiny, freeze meat at home in 1-week bags.

Do not add

Rice, regular flour tortillas, chips “for the bowl,” sweet sauces, granola on the yogurt, peanut butter by the spoon, avocado every day, dining-hall “I’ll be good tomorrow.” CarbSmart wraps are the exception, and only on the meals that say bowl or wrap.

If a treat is happening, put it on Saturday after the gym. Keep protein at the other three meals. Do not negotiate with Tuesday.