Portion key. Barley: 1 cup cooked = 160 g cooked = 50 g dry. Potato: 225 g raw = 1 medium-large yellow potato (about a fist). Kale: 2 cups (130 g) raw or thawed-and-squeezed.
Cook potatoes ahead and refrigerate. Reheating from cold builds resistant starch — gentler glucose response, feeds gut bacteria.
Sunday prep, ~30 min. Cook 4 cups dry barley (~12 cups cooked). Roast 4 lbs / 1.8 kg yellow potatoes, cool, refrigerate. Brown 1 kg ground beef with garlic and onion, portion. Hard-boil a dozen eggs as backup protein.
Whey is a buffer. Menu hits ~200 g protein without leaning on it. Use post-workout or to top up a meal that came up short.
Track waist, not just scale. 3× weekly weigh-in (same time/conditions) plus weekly waist at navel. Waist is the better signal that fat — not water or lean — is moving.