WIAW

What I Eat in a Day: Cinco De Mayo Edition

May 6, 2020 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Back in the day of blogging, there was What I Eat Wednesday. I love getting new ideas for what to eat so I thought I would take you through a day of my eating. I eat the same foods frequently on repeat, but today I had some leftovers and it was Cinco De Mayo so we had to have a nice dinner for that. After being in quarantine for several weeks and not having my usual heavy lifting workouts, I decided to loosely start tracking my macros again to make sure I am getting in enough protein and not overeating. When I am lifting I eat more in the 2200 or so calories a day, but right now I am doing at home workouts and lots of yoga and stretching that I know are not burning as many calories. Since starting to track and still making sure I get close to 100g of protein a day, I have noticed feeling more satisfied and not so bloated. I had my fair share of lots of sugar and carbs in the first few weeks of quarantine so I am happy to get that more under control. I would say I don’t have specific macro targets at the moment besides the 100g of protein, but I also tend to eat higher fat and less carbs when possible as well. This is just from trial and error over the years and noticing that I feel more satisfied and my digestion does better with it. I do find when I weight lift, I can handle more carbs better. It is also about choosing the RIGHT kind of carbs for me and that means carbs with higher fiber, so veggies are great. I also love Ezekiel bread since it is higher fiber. Those are just some of my thoughts. You have to find what works for you and honestly I am not perfect either. I am still learning daily.

So let’s begin with breakfast. I was full of energy when I woke up on Tuesday so I jumped right into my PIIT28 workout. I think I have finally found the happy medium of intensity to take with these workouts and I have seen some progress since starting, so at least I am working some muscles. After my workout and a shower, I decided to make a smoothie for breakfast. I have added a couple ingredients recently to my smoothies that I am loving. My smoothie was half a banana, about a half cup of blueberries, 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed, 1 cup almond milk, a giant handful or so of spinach, a scoop of About Time vanilla protein powder and some ice cubes. I recently started adding the flaxseed and berries for some more fiber and flavor. Also I love the About Time whey protein because it’s lactose free. I do best with little dairy but this lactose free protein powder doesn’t bother my stomach.

Also because I can’t just drink my breakfast, I had a slice of Ezekiel bread and peanut butter, topped with everything bagel seasoning.

My favorite snack lately has been some honey bunny grahams and cashews. I don’t know what it is about the combo, but it’s so good, that sweet and salty. Also I do like half a serving of the honey bunny grahams so it’s a little less on the carbs.

When lunch time came around, I went for a walk around the neighborhood and then warmed up the rest of my carbonara spaghetti. It doesn’t take a pretty photo due to the edamame noodles being green, but I promise it’s delicious. My typical lunch would be a giant salad plate, but I had this to eat up. I also rounded out lunch with a few pieces of chocolate and some hibiscus iced tea without any sweetener.

Dinner was Cinco De Mayo style with a make your own burrito/taco bar. I made some cilantro lime rice, heated up some canned black beans and made some homemade guacamole while Brian cooked up some chicken. It was very delicious. We used protein wraps as well. I also added a tiny bit of tequila to my sparkling water. Like so little that I could taste it, but the average person who drinks would probably say nothing was in it.

I finished up the night with some blueberries and Lily’s chocolate chips. I love the Lily’s brand chocolate chips because they are vegan so no dairy and also sweetened with stevia so less calories than regular chocolate.

When counting my macros, I weighted out my snack, like the cashews and bunny grahams, but in other places I estimated, like how much chicken I had on my burrito or the approximate black beans and rice. So my numbers are no where near perfect, but my macros for the day were around 186g carbs, 60g fat and 112g protein which totaled 1645 calories. This doesn’t seem like much, but like I said, I eye balled more than I probably should if counting strictly and so I feel I was probably closer to 1800 calories which I feel like is an ok number with my current activity level. Once I am back at a gym and lifting again I will definitely be increasing my calorie intake, but here is where I am comfortable now. I am not necessarily tracking everyday but definitely tracking loosely to see where I am at and making good choices with protein and veggies.

New Dishes, Weekend Eats and Getting my Steps

July 29, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hello Hello!! July has flown by and this is officially my last week of summer classes. Well technically they go for another week and a half but I am hoping to finish my finals next weekend and be done by Sunday. Then I can sit back and relax for about 3 weeks and hopefully get some house projects done to prepare for our reception party.

This week we got a nice wedding gift of some new plates. The original plates I had picked out for my wedding registry were no longer available so I had deleted them from my registry. I was going to just be content with my college dishes for a bit, but then I picked out this Kate Spade set for a family friend to buy us. It’s even more exciting to have a full set of 8 as I previously only had 4 and even with 2 people we go through the 4 plates quickly. I’m not really familiar with buying dishware so I was surprised to see all the boxes and how each plate setting came in its own box, which makes sense because they sell them individually as well. The stack nearly came to my shoulders it was so tall.

I thought I’d do a bit of a different weekend post and share my eats from Saturday. Brian left early for a diving weekend so he woke up at 4am and left around 5:30. I was somehow wide awake at 5 so I just got out of bed right before he left. I had signed up for an 8:45 yoga class, but since I woke up so early it gave me time to reorganize the cupboard with my new plates, do laundry, make breakfast and go to Wegmans all by 7am!! I then just cleaned up around the house for a bit before going to yoga.

The yoga class was challenging which was good. I felt like it was a great workout and I was so productive before yoga so it was a good morning. I stopped by the farmer’s market on the way home and I saw some scones that caught my eye. I haven’t had a scone in a while so I had to buy one.

I had an early lunch at 11 once I got home, assembling some leftovers from the past couple days: steak, potatoes and zucchini fries. I also got some fresh Parmesan cheese at Wegmans so I sliced some of that up and it was a great filling lunch, ending with the scone of course.

That kept me full till 5pm and I wasn’t even that hungry then. Usually on weekends I tend to snack eat instead of eating full meals, but Saturday I had some pretty full and satisfying meals. I was also on a roll with productivity on Saturday and worked diligently on homework for a while with a quiet house.

For dinner, I made some cauliflower rice with veggies. I got some giant rainbow carrots and small onions in my Misfits box this week and had cauliflower rice in the freezer. I also added in a couple eggs for extra protein and flavored with sesame oil and coconut aminos. I switched to using coconut aminos instead of soy sauce because last time we made a cauliflower rice with soy sauce I got quite the upset stomach. I have noticed sometimes tofu seems to do that as well so I am thinking it was the soy sauce. I think I have a slight sensitivity to soy, mostly in large amounts, I’m not sure. I eat edamame and am fine, but lately have stayed away from tofu and soy sauce. I think the important thing is to not overdo foods and sometimes a break helps.

I also heated up some chicken we made last week to add into my cauliflower rice mix. I felt I put too much on my plate, but I ate it and then followed up with a few chocolate chips and popcorn. I was craving some popcorn this week and picked it up at Wegmans finally.

So while I was making dinner, it started pouring outside basically out of nowhere. I had no idea it was supposed to rain and I pulled up the radar and it was like the tiniest spot of rain, like maybe just over my neighborhood lol. The rain quickly passed as expected and the sun came out and I could see steam coming off the pavement where the sun was hitting. It was humid and felt like a Florida rain outside. I decided to go for a walk (which was actually my second walk of the day because I took an afternoon walk to break up my homework time). I walked until I reached my 10,000 steps and then I decided to crash on the couch and snack on some crackers too. Oh and I had a kombucha mid afternoon too.

Overall I was pretty full from all the food I ate. I’ve been loosely tracking my meals to make sure I am getting enough protein. I have noticed slower recovery lately from workouts and I think my protein is lacking. I didn’t really track after breakfast on Saturday though lol. I just try to incorporate a good portion of protein with each meal and have been adding in collagen more lately to my diet again to amp up the protein. This week as far as workouts go, I will probably just do some yoga videos at home in the morning. I learned last semester that having a slower morning with some movement helped during my crazy study/finals week, especially with working during the day and this week being month end, I will have a late night at work Wednesday. A slower morning before crazy work days will be nice and hopefully help me focus on studying too. Also while the temps are in the 70s and 80s again, walks are nice to ease my mind.

Eating from the Pantry and Freezer: WIAW#23

September 28, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey it’s Wednesday so let’s talk about food. I have been trying to cut down my grocery bill and I tend to buy too many things which then end up going into the pantry and freezer and getting lost. Anyone else have that problem?

I am making it my mission to use up as much from the pantry and freezer so (almost) nothing goes to waste. Let’s take a look at Saturday’s eats.

wiaw-fall-into-good-habits-button — Thanks Jenn

I had so much on my mind that I was up before 7am, but being the weekend, I made some pancakes with some About Time chocolate chip pancake mix, half a banana and an egg. Topped the pancake with the other half of banana and syrup and had a side of bacon. Talk about protein for breakfast! I think that was 30g of protein in my breakfast which was good since I headed for a 2 mile swim shortly after. Also not pictured, a glass of Spark for a bit of energy before my swim.

I got home around 11am, a little early for lunch but decided to make some pasta salad. I had half a box of brown rice pasta to use and some tomatoes in the fridge and some fresh greens I bought Saturday morning. Add a few spices and balsamic vinegar and you have yourself a nice pasta salad. I also had a side of crackers and cheddar cheese (this has become a weekend thing and so tasty). Then I was still hungry and ate some peanut butter crackers I had left in my pantry and an almond cookie from the freezer. To drink, I enjoyed a half and half that was on sale at the store too.

Even though I ate lunch super early, I obviously ate a lot and so it kept me full until 5pm when I started making dinner. I had pulled a steak from the freezer and cooked that. I also had some potatoes to use so I decided to make a steak salad with a side of potatoes.

Of course I had to have some sort of dessert, so I had an apple left from apple picking a couple weeks ago and then some dark chocolate and fresh strawberries.

Later in the evening I really wasn’t feeling great, so I had a couple cups of tea and more crackers to snack on.

Do you have days where you clean out your pantry and freezer for eats?

Meals on the Go WIAW #22

August 24, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Happy Wednesday. It has been a few months since I shared a WIAW post, so I thought I would share my eats from Monday this week.

If you have been following my blog, you may recall that back in April I decided to try low carb high fat for my eats. While I may not strictly follow that way of eating all the time (I don’t turn down cupcakes and cookies), I have found that it has really helped my digestion to eat this way. I think what helps the most is that it forces me to stay away from that tempting junk food. I now think more carefully about my choices and think about what I am eating and how it will make me feel later. Junk food and more processed food does not make me feel my best and I strive to feel my best.

Monday morning I headed to the gym about 5am so I had a banana before heading out the door.

I came home and it was time for breakfast. Breakfast can still be a challenge because I really like my breakfast carbs, but here are my recent eats. I buy my favorite Bob Evan’s sausage and make patties and cook all of them on Sunday. That way it is easy to warm them up on a weekday morning and it helps me to get equivalent sizes by making all of them at once. The patties come out to be just over 3oz a piece before being cooked.

I then pair a sausage patty with some roasted sweet potatos and this week some Brussel spouts and a few blueberries left over. I like representing as many colors as I can. Sometimes I will have broccoli or zucchini. I never thought I’d be eating green veggies for breakfast but it does work. If I am extra hungry after the gym, I will make a slice of bacon. Yes give me all the fats!! My breakfast with the banana comes out to be almost 500 calories. I really like big breakfasts and lighter meals and snacks throughout the day. It works for me.

I noticed when I changed my breakfast up, I didn’t need my apple and peanut butter snack mid morning. Actually it seems eating an apple sometimes made me MORE hungry.

Now, I usually just have almonds or cashews and a few peanut butter pretzels (my co worker keeps a giant container and they are hard to resist, but protein and fat from the peanut butter and carbs are only 13g for a serving).

Monday I had salted roasted cashews and some of those pretzels as I was on a conference call. Good thing I had the mute button on with all that crunching.

Finally I had a break between meetings and got my salad from the fridge. I had a spinach base, half an orange bell pepper, half a tomato, a few carrots and some honey turkey meat.

For my something sweet, I had half of a Cookies and Cream Quest bar. Still addicted to this flavor, seriously my favorite and my next box should be arriving any day!!

Our receptionist keeps a bowl of mints and skittles up front. Thankfully I am not a skittles person, but the mints are delicious even though I know there is some sugar in them. I have a few of those through the afternoon. I usually only grab one when I walk by it.

I stayed an hour late on Monday and I brought my “just in case” dinner or really just an appetizer, but it ended up being my dinner, a bowl of bean salad. Forgot to take a photo until I gobbled half of it down.

After eating and sending a couple last emails, I headed to the train. I got home and had some things to get done so that distracted me and then it was past 7pm so I decided to skip eating chicken and go for the Arctic Zero ice cream to end the night and a handful of cashews as I packed my lunch for the next day.

My protein was a little low, carbs were not too bad for a workout day (always high with eating a banana) and I was surprised that I wasn’t more hungry, but maybe I was just too distracted working on things. Throughout the day my estimated totals came to 1,500 calories with 150g Carbs, 76g Fat, 76g Protein. I don’t track my macros everyday, but was curious in the last week to see what they have been.

Meal planning has been essential for me lately with staying late at work a few nights a week. Even if only an hour, it cuts into my eating time because I like to be eating dinner at 6 ideally. If I eat too much too close to bed, I don’t sleep well and I’m pretty much a grandma and go to bed at 9:30 most nights. That is what you do to wake up at 4:45 to get to the gym. At least for now it is still light outside when I get home and with it cooling down, (please summer don’t go) I can open my patio door and get some fresh air through my apartment which is definitely a plus and saves me from running the AC.

Do you meal plan?

Do you like big breakfasts?