Here is another Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals post with pictures and descriptions of everything I ate and drank for an entire day. Before I get started, I had someone ask me the other day what macros were and if they were specific to me. Well, yes and no. Macros is a short term for macronutrient, aka carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Micronutrients refer to vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, A, D, E, zinc, iron, etc. Think macro as in “big” so you need higher amounts of each and micro as in “small” so you need small amounts.
Tracking calories alone can help you lose weight. Tracking the amount/percentage of macronutrients can help you lose body fat. I personally track macros because my goal is to lose body fat, not just lose weight in general. Macronutrients are tracked in terms of grams, for example I aim to eat 120 grams of carbohydrate per day, 160 grams of protein per day, and 58 grams of fat per day. Carbs and protein each have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram. Basically, I need 640 of my calories to come from protein, 480 calories from carbs, and 477 calories from fat (it comes out to 40% protein, 30% carbs, & 30% fat). Does that make sense? So, yes, the macros I am talking about refer to me and my body. However, anyone can track macros and you can make macros whatever you want them to be depending on your goals. Make sense? If you want help figuring out how to calculate your needs then let me know as well.
Now on to my food intake! Here is what I ate Monday. I ended up drinking about 5 1/5 liters of water or so. I had one right when I woke up and then drank 4 1/2 liters throughout the work day. I try not to drink too much water after work because then I get up to go to the bathroom too much in the night! Haha yes, I’m 100 years old.
4:30am – Pre-workout:
No surprises here….1 liter of water to start the day. Half of it plain and the other half mixed with 1 scoop MusclePharm Assault (fruit punch). Assualt is a pre-workout supplement that helps with energy and endurance. It also helps me focus a little more when exercising, which makes me really think about the contraction when lifting. I wasn’t sold on using it until one workout I didn’t take it and I noticed a huge difference. I don’t usually take it if I am doing a light workout, but I try to take it every day that I’m going to be either lifting heavy or doing some HIIT cardio. Pre-workout is suppose to be taken 30-45 minutes before your workout so it has a chance to start working. I also take 1 BCAA capsule pre-workout and one post-workout.
My pre-workout snack was also familiar. 1/4 cup 1% cottage cheese mixed with 1/4 scoop MusclePharm Isolate protein (chocolate).
6:20am – Meal #1
Breakfast was 3 egg whites scrambled with 80 grams cooked broccoli. I had one over-easy egg as well and (after the picture) put the egg on top of the scramble so all the yolky-goodness ran over the rest of the scramble. Yum! On the side I had 1 slice Food for Life 4:9 Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin bread topped with 1 Tbsp almond butter, 20 grams sliced banana, and a little dash of cinnamon. Take a minute and notice the whole in the center of my toast…WTF! Hahaha I arranged the almond butter and banana around that mishap. I also had one cup of warm water with 1/4 lemon in it.
9:30am – Meal #2
My mid-morning meal was yogurt-chia pudding. I combined 4 oz Greek yogurt (0% fat, plain), 1/2 scoop MusclePharm Isolate Protein (vanilla), 50 grams mashed ripe banana, and 1 Tbsp chia seed. I was suppose to top it with 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter. I forgot. Talk about heartbreaking! I have been eating Adam’s Organic peanut butter and I love it. It is super runny, which I like because I can drizzle it on my foods! I had planned to drizzle it on the chia pudding, but obviously did not. Sad day. This snack was really good. It tasted like banana pudding!
12:00pm – Meal #3
Lunch was a gigantic veggie salad with 1 1/2 cup romaine, 80 grams diced cucumber, 45 grams diced Roma tomato, 1 oz broccoli slaw, 20 grams mini bell pepper, 1 oz avocado and 1 large hard-boiled egg. I also had 4 oz pork tenderloin on the side. I bought a Bountiful Basket the last two weeks, which has motivated me to make fresh salads in order to use all the produce. I am loving it!
3:30pm – Meal #4
My mid-afternoon meal was 5 oz grilled chicken breast, 50 grams zucchini/yellow squash, 50 grams asparagus, and 3 oz grilled Russet potatoes. We got 5-6 large Russet potatoes in the Bountiful Basket as well so I decided to grill them. Donny said that is one of this favorite things to grill because they get crispy and a nice char on them. I didn’t add oil, but they would be even better if you drizzled extra-virgin olive oil on top before grilling. Delish!
6:30pm – Meal #5
Dinner was a burrito bowl. These are becoming a staple in my diet. We make extra food on the weekends so that we can throw together some quick, healthy dinners on weeknights. It makes it super easy to eat healthy and also easy to hit my macros. This particular burrito bowl contained 3 oz grilled New York Strip, 1/2 cup black beans (canned and rinsed), 1/4 cup sweet corn, and 50 grams zucchini/yellow squash. I topped it with 1 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt and some spicy broccoli slaw. The slaw was made using 1 tsp mayo (Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayo), Cholula, and a sprinkle of salt & pepper. I love this mix! I haven’t had it in a while, because mayo is not exactly clean-eating. However, I just found this Primal Kitchen mayo on Thrive Market’s website. I just got it on Friday and I was really excited to try it! It turned out really well.
That’s everything for today. I consumed 1,577 calories according to My Fitness Pal. I ate 158 grams protein (2 under my goal), 125 grams carbohydrate (5 over my goal), and 58 grams fat (5 over my goal). I lower my daily calories a couple weeks ago and I am finally getting used to it. It took me two weeks or so to get used to how much to pack for my mid-day meals in order to still have a good mix of protein and carbs left for dinner! I am definitely getting the hang of it and I don’t even notice those 150 calories I took out.
