I just spent a bit of time trying to identify the simplest foods possible to meet some macros for the shred program I’m starting on Monday.

The nutrition calculator gave me the numbers in this image.

I tried to simplify that down to as few foods as possible just to get a sense of things. Two pounds of chicken breast would get me 200-225g protein and about 900-950 calories. Two cups (cooked) of white rice would give me 76g of carbs and 340 calories. Let’s say we add some (3 tbsp) butter to the rice for about 34g of fat and 300 calories. Probably 2 tbsp of olive oil to sear the chicken for 27g of fat and 238 calories.

That all adds up to:

• Protein: 225 g (950 cal / 52%)
• Carbs: 76 g (340 cal / 19%)
• Fats: 61 g (528 cal / 29%)
• Total Calories: 1828 cal

I’d probably choose some other fats like coconut oil and that’s way too much butter but the chicken will have some fat in there. Also, I might sometimes prefer black beans to rice and they would have a little more protein. Still, this comes in closer than I expected when I first started looking at the numbers.

Now the trick is how to hit these kinds of numbers with anything that looks remotely like variety or, god forbid, something green.