Everything a Sports Dietitian and Busy Mom of 2 Eats to Build Muscle

At 4:30 a.m., before her husband and two kids are up, Morgan Walker is typically just starting her workout.

“I’m kind of a first-thing-in-the-morning type of person when it comes to exercise,” Walker, a 32-year-old registered sports dietitian at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, told Business Insider.

Walker focuses her own workouts on a mix of cardio and strength training. Each week, she spends three to four days building muscle mass by gradually increasing the weights and rep counts of exercises like bench presses, deadlifts, and squats. She also runs twice a week, for up to an hour at a time.

Occasionally, she’ll throw in a higher-intensity workout. “Usually, it’s a shorter session that’s 30 minutes during one of my kids’ naps where I’ll do some sprint intervals or use our heavyweight bag at home,” she said. The rest of the time, she and her husband try to walk outside as much as possible with their kids, who are three and one and a half years old.

Fueling up for her workouts takes a little effort — Walker said she preps the bulk of her meals in advance, from homemade meatballs to sheet-pan dinners.

She also has to consider her children’s preferences. “I have one who will eat everything, and then one — she’s been doing a lot better, but is a little bit on the pickier side.”

Walker shared the protein-packed, nutrient-dense meals she eats to build muscle, feel energized for workouts, and stay full throughout the day.

Dried fruit for a pre-workout boost

Right when she gets up, Walker starts with a small snack.

“I always have something small, easy to digest, and carbohydrate-focused,” she said. Her favorite pre-workout snacks are dried fruits (such as dried mango), applesauce, or half of a granola bar.

She sneaks in protein-packed cottage cheese and Greek yogurt

Walker loves cottage cheese and Greek yogurt, both of which are high in protein and easy to incorporate into meals.

They tend to be some of her favorite protein sources for breakfast, which she eats right after working out. One of her go-to breakfasts is mixing overnight oats, another high-protein food, with Greek yogurt, milk, and occasionally whey protein powder. She’ll top it with fruits and chia seeds for extra nutrients.

Cottage cheese often features in her lunches, such as when she blends it into butternut squash soup for added protein. Another recent favorite is her take on a baked sweet potato: “Putting cottage cheese on top of that with pumpkin seeds and walnuts and a small drizzle of honey, that’s been something kind of easy, and satisfying too.”

Snacks include quick smoothies made with yogurt, frozen fruit, and protein powder, or low-fat Greek yogurt topped with fruit and dark chocolate to satisfy her sweet tooth.

“I’ve been on a big pistachio kick lately, so recently it’s been blackberries and pistachios and just a small drizzle of honey,” she said.

She meal-preps lean protein sources like turkey meatballs and sheet-pan eggs

Walker prefers lean, whole protein sources such as chicken, turkey, fish, and eggs, which have lower cholesterol than beef or processed meats.

To save time in the morning, she meal-preps homemade chicken and sage patties, baking them in the oven. She also bakes eggs on a sheet pan, cutting them up and reheating them instead of using a skillet.

After a hard workout, she’ll have a breakfast sandwich that she preps in advance — eggs and a patty on an English muffin or bagel for replenishing carbohydrates paired with fruit for extra fiber.

For dinner, she has a rotation of protein-forward options. “Because I have two kids, I have to keep in mind things that are also going to be friendly with them,” she said. They love turkey meatloaf, which she pairs with steamed vegetables and either baked potatoes or a grain such as farro or quinoa.

If the kids prefer pasta, she swaps regular pasta for protein-enhanced lentil pasta, which she serves with a homemade meat sauce or chicken-and-turkey meatballs that she batch makes and freezes in advance for easy meals throughout the week.

Sheet pan dinners pack in lots of nutrients

Walker is a huge fan of sheet-pan meals. She pairs a main protein source, like a grilled chicken breast or one of her sausage patties, with roasted seasonal vegetables for fiber.

“I do really love the seasonal fall veggies,” she said. A recent meal included maple-dijon grilled chicken, turmeric couscous, and roasted beets and Brussels sprouts.

She also tries to add fiber into her main protein sources, such as cannelini beans in her meatball-and-pasta dinners.

She makes homemade sweets and pairs them with fruit

While sweets like ice cream don’t help with gym gains, Walker still enjoys them.

“I’m somebody who does find value in that all foods do fit,” she said. “Especially with my kids, it’s something I want to teach them.”

If they eat dark chocolate, she pairs it with fresh fruit, such as grapes, to encourage them to enjoy both.

She also makes many sweets like cupcakes and cookies from scratch, but always in smaller portions. She likes to freeze cookie dough to bake occasional fresh cookies.

“The kids really enjoy it, but we don’t just have a whole plateful in the house all week,” she said.