Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals is a weekly post where I get to show you everything I eat and drink throughout the day. I want to show you that simple, healthy meals are possible using clean eating ingredients. They don’t have to be difficult recipes or made with weird ingredients. Most of my meals are made with whole foods and very few foods that have been processed. Occasionally I’ll incorporate “convenience” foods, which is perfectly fine every once in a while.

I track everything that I eat in terms of macronutrients. I aim to get 40% of my diet through protein sources, 30% through carbohydrates and 30% from fat. I use My Fitness Pal to track these values and have the app set to those goals. When I prepare my meals for the week I prepare 3 full meals ahead of time. I use breakfast and dinner to “fill in the gaps” in terms of rounding out macros. I also aim for 30 grams of protein at each meal throughout the day in order to keep a steady influx all day long.

I definitely like eating 5 small meals per day with a pre-workout snack in there. Each meal throughout the day is anywhere between 250-400 calories. This eating schedule works for me, but yours might be different! Don’t worry about, just do what works for you.

So I consumed 1 liter of water right away, then another 5 liters throughout the day. I did not do a great job drinking water on Sunday, so I could definitely tell on Monday that I needed a little extra H2O.

Now here is what I ate throughout the day. If you have questions about how I prepared these foods then check out yesterday’s Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep Week 11 post. [Read more…]

Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals shows you everything I eat and drink throughout an entire day. I start at 4:30am with what I eat before I head to the gym and finish with either dinner or after-dinner dessert.

I track my macronutrients so occasionally I explain why I chose to eat certain foods. I try to spread my protein out throughout the day, without consuming too much more than 30 grams of protein per meal. I think that helps give me a steady supply of energy throughout the day to avoid an afternoon slump.

In terms of water, I consumed one liter of water right when I woke up and five more throughout the day. I drank a ton of water on Friday & Saturday, but also sweat a lot (it was in the upper-90s or 100 both days). I didn’t drink nearly enough on Sunday, because honestly I slept most the day! I definitely needed a lot of water come Monday. So here is everything I ate on Monday, from start to finish. [Read more…]