Bodybuilder wins big after dieting with ready meals

A natural bodybuilder has revealed how he turned to ready meals to help him get in shape for national competitions.

Loic Perusset from London has been training since he was 18 and competing since 2018 but in the latest round of comps, found he was struggling to prepare healthy meals.

His 8-hour day working in marketing, combined with 1.5 hours of training made it hard for the 32-year-old to find the time to prepare healthy, low calorie meals.

He turned to ready meals from Prepped Pots powered by MuscleFood to support his diet while still enjoying the foods he loves.

Among his favourite meals were the Satay Chicken and Rice Pot and the Levi Roots Sunshine Chicken Pot.

Loic began bodybuilding when he was just 18 and in 2019 was crowned Novice British Champion.

In the last 12 months he’s picked up 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings in competitions, placing twice in the top 3 in UK finals and 2nd place in Switzerland’ Natural Bodybuilding Final.

Loic spent five months getting into shape for the events, dropping almost two and a half stone (from 14 stone to 11.8 stone) to get his body as lean as possible.

He cut calories from around 3,500 down to just 1,775 to shred and lose body fat while preserving muscle mass.

Loic switched his diet and opted for ready meals to allow him to juggle his pressured job and commute with his rigorous training schedule.

Loic said: “Normally when I prep for a competition, I eat the same thing all the time – chicken with some broccoli or asparagus and it can become very boring very quickly. It also takes time to prepare the meals in advance so I can take them to work with me. When I’m prepping for a competition I’ll eat around five meals a day.

“This time around I needed to find an easier and more interesting way to get the nutrients in without going back to chicken every day.

“The Prepped Pots meals have a really good balance of everything I needed and they weren’t heavily processed unlike supermarket ready meals.

Loic continued: “You have to be really disciplined when training which can be hard for someone like me who has a full time demanding job. I’m travelling every day for an hour and a half to and from my office so I just want to eat meals that are convenient without ruining what I’m working towards.”

The training for Loic’s most recent competition began at the start of May and finished at the end of October where he went from 14 stone to just over 11 and a half.

“When it comes to the diet, the idea is that you add things to your meals to begin with to increase your calorie intake. Then slowly over time you take things away to lower your calories and meet your goals.

“You have to do it in a structured way though so you are reducing your calories while preserving muscle mass” said Loic.

He continued: “I’d start off training consuming around 3,500 calories and then I would slowly decrease this until I hit roughly 1,775.

“I’d start off my morning with an omelette and plenty of vegetables on the side then for lunch and dinner I would reach for a Prepped Pots meal but I’d pair it with something else to increase my calories.

“I’d eat the chicken fajita pot for example but I’d pop it into a wrap and add my own Greek yoghurt instead of adding sour cream for a healthier option. By the end of my training I was relying on just the ready meals alone without any additions to help me bring my calories down.”

Throughout his day Loic was also incorporating protein shakes and other healthy snacks into his diet.

He praised Prepped Pots for their variety of meals which made his diet much more interesting than usual.

He said: “I was pairing the ready meals with different things – the Levi Roots chicken for example I’d have with a baked sweet potato which doesn’t take long to make at all! Over time I found that I could actually pair any of the meals with a simple bag of rice and I was good to go.”

Prepped Pots is designed to support busy Britons on the go who are still looking to eat healthy with each meal being rich in protein, low in sugar and under 520 calories.

Now that his training has come to a close Loic says he’ll still be incorporating these healthy ready meals into his daily diet.

Loic said: “I still eat them all the time! It’s just become part of my routine now and I’ll stick to the ready meals to help fuel my workouts for bulking.”