"What I Eat" Meal Examples

I get a lot of questions about what, specifically, I eat to stay fit, so I thought I would just throw together a quick meal example post to give you an idea of what some of the typical foods that I eat throughout the day are. Keep in mind, my diet varies from day to day depending on what I'm in the mood for, what I have in the house, and what I have time to make. But I took pictures of some of my meals from yesterday to post so here goes:

 I'm in a little bit of a Pumpkin Spice frenzy this week (mostly because the can of Pumpkin
from my  Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake is going to go bad if I don't use it!) so I went with
Pumpkin Spice Oats (top) and Pumpkin Spice Cottage Cheese (bottom) for breakfast. They photograph a little funny, but let me tell you, words can't express how good this was!!!

Egg Salad on a Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin with Baby Spinach and Tomatoes
To keep the calories and fat down I use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, with light mayo
 and spicy brown mustard. Throw in whatever seasonings you like and enjoy!

This is a prime example of why you shouldn't give up so easily when trying
something new! These chicken meatballs almost ended up in the garbage
because I was getting frustrated with how they were browning, but they
actually ended up turning out AWESOME! I used egg whites and
whole wheat bread crumbs with my fave Italian seasonings and threw them
on top of some spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli! I think my hubby might be
holding a grudge because there was only enough leftovers for one and I
claimed them for lunch the next day!  :)

   

Like I said, these are just a few examples of meals that I eat throughout the day to hit my calorie and macro goals. I typically have about 6 small meals a day and try to track everything that I'm eating when I'm really focused on a particular goal. If I'm just trying to maintain my weight then I tend to be a little more relaxed about tracking but if you are just starting out I can't stress enough how important it is to know what you're eating! 

Well I hope this was helpful in giving you some ideas of things you could add to your diet - feel free to customize them any way you want! Let me know if you enjoyed this type of blog post and I will be sure to take more pictures of my meals for posts like this in the future!  :)

No-Protein-Powder Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Always has been - how could it not be? The weather is cool and perfect for taking walks with the baby, the leaves are gorgeous, plus you have Halloween AND MY BIRTHDAY! Summer's great and all, but I LIVE for this time of year. So when the daily Pumpkin Spice Latte posts started popping up on Facebook, it made me WAYYYY jealous!!! But in sticking with my clean eating routine, I wouldn't dare order one for fear of the effect that the extra calories and sugar would have on reaching my goals. So I got to work on a healthy alternative, and it turned out pretty dang good, if I do say so myself!

It's really easy, requires no Protein Powder, and tastes *AWESOME*! Just add:

~1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
~1/2 cup 100% Pure Pumpkin in a can (Make sure it's not Pumpkin Pie Mix - they ARE different!)
~1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
~ Cinnamon to taste
~Stevia (or your choice of sweetener) to taste
~Ground Nutmeg to taste

Throw it together in a blender and microwave it for 1-1 1/2 minutes. (You could add ice and make it a frozen shake, just reduce the amount of almond milk you use by about half - I personally like it hot though - my way of saying  "In-Your-Face" to all the Pumpkin Spice Latte Drinkers!) For a little added flare I drizzled some Walden Farms calorie free Caramel Syrup on top.

Here are the nutritional facts for mine - you can customize it however you like and just plug it into MyFitnessPal. If you are not a big fan of cottage cheese, you can substitute it for Greek Yogurt or Vanilla Whey Protein Powder. You can also use a pre-mixed Pumpkin Pie Spice (these are just what I had in the house!) if you prefer.

Sometime this week I'm hoping to take Little Girl apple picking, so perhaps next week I will have some fun, healthy apple recipes to share! Wish me luck! In the meantime, hope you enjoy your Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake!  :)

The "Anti-Goal" Board Challenge

I know this might sound a little backwards, since part of motivating yourself should be to constantly remind yourself of reasons you CAN reach your goals. Lots of people make goal boards or lists of reasons why they want to reach their goals to serve as a reminder when they need a little boost. Seriously, I'm all for this, as it can be a great tool to keep you consistently motivated to keep going when times get tough. But have you ever considered making a list of things that could potentially stop you from getting where you want to be? 

We live in a society full of "What if's" and "I wish"'s and we often have a tendency not to be very pro-active about the things that we want. If I had a nickel for every time someone came up to me and said "I wish I could lose weight like you did, but..." I'd have a TON of nickels (thought I was gonna come up with something wittier than that, huh? Sorry to disappoint you - thought I'd take a straightforward approach on this one!)  :)

Stick with me for a minute and I'll explain my line of thinking...Since these "I wish, but"'s keep coming up so often, it would make sense to address them head on, rather than treating them like the giant elephant in the room. The truth is life is always going to try to get in your way. There are always going to be obstacles and the only thing you can do about it is to push through it and work your way around them. If you just sit back and wait for them not to be there, you're going to be waiting around your whole life!

So, a little off topic, but I'm going to tell you a story. I once had a bad day at work (yes, I like my job that much that it's only happened once! - haha!) Everything just seemed to be going wrong - from being late (that's definitely happened more than once!) to not being able to make my clients happy to hitting traffic on the way home. I was in such a funk when I got to the gym that night that one of the staff members actually pulled me aside and asked me what had been so bad about my day that I was so angry. I was 100% prepared to go on an all-out self-pity rant and let loose everything that had gone wrong that day...and then nothing came out sounding quite as bad as I meant it to. All of the problems that had gotten me all stirred up throughout the day sounded...sort of silly when I said them out loud. It was then that I realized that sometimes a problem can seem monumentally unmanageable in your head and then when you actually address it, it's not really so bad. 

This brings me to the "Anti-Goal" idea. When you have a goal in mind and you start thinking about all of the obstacles in your way, it can seem impossible to reach that goal. But if you break each of these obstacles down and really face them, the task of beating them becomes a lot less daunting. All you need to do is write down what your specific challenge is and then brainstorm the most obvious, logical, realistic solutions. It differs from a Goal Board in that when you make a Goal Board you are using emotions to fuel your motivation to reach your goal. "I'm going to reach this goal because I want..."  The problem is that emotions are sometimes fleeting and they won't always be there to keep you inspired. With an "Anti-Goal" board, you are coming up with a tangible explanation of reasons you can't possibly fail! You're shutting down every excuse before it has a chance to shut you down. 

Here are a few examples of things on my "Anti-Goal" Board:

Here is my challenge for you: Make an "Anti-Goal" Board and see what you come up with! You might surprise yourself with the solutions you find once you look at your own personal obstacles in writing. Post them on my Facebook if you feel comfortable doing so and/or let me know if this has worked for you!

Diary of a Semi-Clean Eater: Food With Purpose

Empty Calories. We've all heard it before. "Don't drink soda - it's empty calories!" "All those empty calories will go straight to your hips!" 

But what does that even mean anyway, "empty calories?" There are those that believe that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are in a caloric surplus (taking in more calories than you burn), you will gain weight; if you are in a caloric deficit (burning more calories than you take in) you will lose weight. While I am under no circumstances disputing this logic, I'm not one of those "all calories are created equal" thinkers - nor am I a hard core "clean eater", though.

How did these Doritos and Pop-Tarts get here????

If you Google "clean eating" you will find multiple definitions that tend to vary quite a bit. It seems that everywhere you look, everyone has their own standards when it comes to "clean eating." But some of the most prominent features of a clean eating diet include eating only whole, minimally processed foods in small meals several times a day to keep your metabolism constantly running. I suppose you could say that in it's purest form, a clean eating diet can be quite restricting.

In bodybuilding, there is an acronym "IIFYM" (If It Fits Your Macros), which has caused somewhat of an uproar among clean eaters. Upon first glance, the name implies that you can eat whatever you want, as long as they fit into your daily Macronutrient (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) allowance. Want Pop-tarts, soda, and ice cream? Not a problem if you follow IIFYM, right? Well....it's more complicated than that. If you look further into IIFYM, you will find that most of the people that follow this approach actually eat a diet that is primarily "clean" with a small allowance for "dirty" foods.

The reason these foods are considered "dirty" is that they tend to contain a lot of empty calories...aaaannnnd we've come full circle (see, and you thought I was just rambling!). Empty calories are calories that contain no significant nutritional value - that is, they're doing nothing to provide you with the essential macro- and micro-nutrients that your body requires to run optimally.  I suppose I land somewhere in the "IIFYM" range, in that I try to make most of the food that I eat macro- and micro-nutrient dense, but allow (for my own sanity) some of the foods that would be considered off limits to a hard core clean eater.

For it to really stick, everyone needs to follow a nutrition plan that works for them, and I am certainly not qualified to say what the optimal plan for anyone else is. What I will tell you is that I have had the most success, both in my physical progress and maintaining my mental health, by following a "Semi-Clean" approach. I plan my meals out and pack them to go to work with me the night before, so that I am prepared. I make sure that each meal is well-balanced to fulfill my macronutrient requirements...but on the occasion when a balanced meal is not available to me, or on special occasions, I don't freak out about consuming a couple of "dirty" foods here and there (just had a chocolate chip cookie today, as a matter of fact - and it was amazing!)

Essentially, what it comes down to is that you have to have balance. I have eaten at both ends of the spectrum in my life - from eating nothing but fast food and junk to eating only whole, clean meals 6 times a day every 2-3 hours like clockwork. The former makes you really unhealthy, physically, while the latter...well that can have a tendency to make you a little nuts!

For me, I define "clean eating" as "eating food that serves a purpose" - filling your body with the energy and nutrients that it needs to be healthy. I truly enjoy learning about these foods and using them to fuel my body to its fullest potential...but let's be honest...you can't be all business ALL THE TIME, right?  ;)