Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals [#16]

Here is my latest Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals post where I document everything I eat and drink throughout the day. I am still aiming for 1,600 calories per day with 40% coming from protein sources, 30% from carbohydrate sources, and 30% from fat sources. I really like this ratio and feel like I can manage it for a long time without feeling deprived of carbs!

By the way, Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals posts are here to show you that it doesn’t have to be difficult to eat healthy or eat mostly clean foods. It does take some planning, but there are a lot of short cuts you can take too. If you ever have any questions about the foods or preparation it took for any of Mel’s Meals then please, feel free to ask!

Today I drank around 5 1/3 liters of water. I had one right when I woke up. Then throughout the workday I managed 4 more, plus around 1/3 on the drive home from work. I typically drink quite a bit of water on Monday’s, because I’ve generally slacked in water consumption over the weekend. Now on to foooood….

Pre-workout:

I always start the day with one liter of water. If I am working out first thing (on weekdays like this) then I will mix half a liter with 1 scoop MusclePharm Assault (fruit punch), which is a pre-workout supplement to help with endurance and focus. I also take 1 capsule BCAA’s pre-workout and 1 capsule post-workout.

Jodi usually texts us the night before a workout to give us a little heads up about what we will be doing. She said we would be lifting pretty heavy, so I wanted to eat a few extra carbs before the workout. I had 1/4 cup 1% cottage cheese sprinkled with cinnamon, 27 grams mashed banana (about 1/4 of a medium), and 1 date that weighed 5 grams (I chopped it up).

6:30am – Meal #1:

Breakfast was 1/4 cup quick oats + 1/2 Tbsp chia cooked in the microwave using water. I topped that with 1.25 oz avocado (1/4 of a large) and 1 large egg cooked overeasy. I sprinkled salt and red pepper flakes in the oats and also on top.

On the side I had a small protein smoothie made with 3/4 scoop MusclePharm Isolate Protein (chocolate), 2 almond milk cubes, 1 spinach cube, 30 grams frozen banana, and about 1/2 cup water. I like my smoothies THICK. Hence all the frozen items. It makes it feel like ice cream!

9:30am – Meal #2:

I mentioned this last week, but I might be trading in my nonfat Greek yogurt for 2% fat Greek yogurt. Woah, getting crazy over here, I know. I find that it does in fact have a different taste and texture. Not a ton, but enough for me to notice! I said I was going to buy some and try it for my mid-morning snack this week and that is exactly what I did. I mixed 6 oz of 2% Fage Greek yogurt with 1/3 scoop MusclePharm Isolate Protein (vanilla). I put 1/4 cup fresh blueberries, 1/4 cup fresh raspberries, 3/4 Tbsp peanut butter, and 1 tsp toasted coconut (unsweetened, shredded) on top. It was such a good snack! I think the 2% Greek yogurt is slightly more rich than the nonfat. It is super thick and super creamy. Yum!

12:20pm – Meal #3:

Lunch was a homemade hamburger patty. I made these similar to how I made the Hamburger Lettuce Wraps, the only difference is that I used whole wheat bread crumbs instead of wheat germ. I topped the burger with 2 Tbsp feta cheese and had a side of yellow mustard. For veggies I had 50 grams broccoli, 50 grams yellow squash, and 35 grams cooked carrots.

2:00pm – Afternoon Coffee:

We will occasionally make an “office run” to get coffee in the afternoon. My sister & I were running some errands around town and she found a Peppy’s Coffee gift card in her wallet. She offered to buy me a coffee so I accepted! It was too nice out for a regular coffee so I got a regular iced black coffee. Sssshhhh I only drank about half of this….don’t tell Lindsey. 

I love Peppy’s Coffee. If you live around Fort Morgan then you know what I’m talking about. I prefer it compared to Starbuck’s even!

4:00pm – Meal #4:

Here is the thing….all day I kept thinking I was going to forget to take a picture of my food. I made it to Meal #4 before actually doing so! I realized I’d forgotten when I was almost done with the meal….whoops. I had 4.75 oz cod, 2.2 oz green beans, 20 grams mini bell pepper, and 1/2 cup Southwestern Quinoa Salad. I made the quinoa salad to take to a friend’s house over the weekend, but the get-together was cancelled. It turned out just fine because I ended up using the salad for meal prep!

6:00pm – Meal #5:

Dinner was quite random. I had originally wanted lettuce wraps, but it was raining when we got home and I didn’t feel like eating something cold. After much debate, we threw together this dish that is what I will refer to as a Mexican version of baked ziti! It was 1 oz black bean penne (Tolerant Foods, pasta measured pre-cooked), 4 oz cooked chicken, 1/4 cup dark red kidney beans (canned, but rinsed), and 1/4 cup petite diced tomatoes with chiles (canned and heated over the stove). The chicken was already cooked so I put all of this into a small baking dish, gave it a stir, covered it with 1 oz shredded fresh mozzarella, and put it under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes. It was surprisingly delicious!

I had a few more calories and macros to go so after dinner I had 6 grams Bare Snacks Baked Crunch Banana Chips and dipped them in 1 tsp Justin’s Classic Almond Butter. Yum! Donny showed me these banana chips the other day because I LOVE banana chips. I don’t eat them very often because they are deep fried, meaning not so healthy. These little gems however are baked and the only ingredient is BANANA. Woah. I found these at Safeway in Fort Morgan in the produce section, by the way.

Well that is everything for Mel’s Meals today.  If you want to know more about how I prepped my food this week then check out my post from yesterday Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep Week 1.

According to My Fitness Pal I consumed 1,604 calories, 165 grams protein (5 over my goal), 124 grams carbs (4 over my goal), and 52 grams fat (1 under my goal). Not too shabby…..I am definitely used to meal prepping and eating around 1,600 calories now. I don’t miss those extra 150 calories, but I had to get used to packing my meals to fit the different calorie amounts. If you have questions then let me know!