I talk about how much I eat all the time, and I preach to anyone who will listen about the importance of balance and enjoying yourself food-wise. So, for a little fun, I thought it would be interesting for you to take a peek at what my diet generally looks like on a normal, working day.
I haven’t tracked my macronutrients in years – this was something I used to do religiously. Through my consistent macro tracking I was able to learn how to balance my meals and diet, as well as how to eyeball serving sizes pretty accurately. Since then, I have switched to a more intuitive eating style; I eat when I want and what I want, while also making educated decisions on the food I’m consuming to make sure I’m getting enough veggies, fruit, and protein throughout the day.
I’m the kind of person that really thrives on a high carb diet, so you will see that reflected throughout this blog post. This is my basic, normal food intake. I eat pretty much the exact same thing every single day so I’ll give you that, along with the macros and calories for each meal/snack, plus my overall intake for the day.
*Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, nor am I qualified to give dietary recommendations, so please take this post with a grain of salt. If you are overweight and trying to lose weight, your diet will look different than mine (lower calorie). If you have had some trouble with your food relationship for some time and have been restricting calories, please don’t suddenly jump into a high calorie diet as your metabolism won’t be able to handle the surplus very well. Everyone’s caloric intake is different and catered specifically to them, their bodies, and their energy expenditure (how much movement/exercise they do per day).
Breakfast – 6:15am
My work day starts at 7am and I don’t get a break until around 10:30am so I need a meal that will keep me full for a long period of time if I’m expected to make it through 4 hours without food (#teamalwayshungry). I’ve tried many different meals as my morning fill-me-up, but oatmeal always comes out on top.
Before I eat my oatmeal I always make sure I have an apple cider vinegar drink (1 tbsp ACV + splash of maple syrup + 2 cups water). If you’re wondering why this is, I wrote a blog post on the Benefits of ACV that you should check out! Once I’ve had that I have my oats. I use 1/4 plain, 1 minute oats and cook them over the hob with about 3/4 cup almond milk. Once it’s done cooking, I mix in 2 tbsp all natural peanut butter, along with a few drizzles of honey to sweeten it up!
Macros for this meal: Carbs: 31, Fat: 19, Protein: 13
Calories for this meal: 357
Mid morning (pre workout) snack – 10:45am
After working all morning I get pretty peckish, and during my break is when I go and get my workout in. I am not the kind of person who does very well in the gym with no food, so I have to make sure I fuel myself before I exercise. My pre-workout snack usually consists of a granola bar and a banana, as well as the occasional cookie if I’m feel extra hungry, or I know I have a tough workout coming up that I need extra calories for! In the past I would have had a protein shake and a banana pre workout, however I ran out of protein like… 8 months ago and for some reason I just haven’t gone out and replaced it yet. Interestingly though I have not found that my physique or performance in the gym has been negatively affected, so I’m in no rush to get some new protein any time soon.
Macros for this meal: Carbs: 51, Fat: 4, Protein: 3 (without cookie)
Calories for this meal: 260 (without cookie)
Lunch (post workout meal) – 1:30pm
This meal varies a little bit, usually depending on what we have in the fridge, or if there are leftovers from dinner the night before. Most days though, I have a sandwich:
2 slices of bread (whole wheat), 2-3 slices of lunch meat, cheese, & lettuce.
I find that my hunger level at lunch time really depends on how intense my workout was, so I don’t tend to stop at just a sandwich for lunch. I’ve recently started bringing rice cakes to work with me as a filler food, but usually I’ll lean towards another cookie to satisfy my sweet tooth. On days when I’ve had a particularly hard workout I’ll grab a donut from Tim Hortons as a treat but that happens maybe once every 2 weeks.
Macros for this meal (with 2 rice cakes/2 cookies): Carbs: 71, Fat: 26, Protein: 23 (+ 47C, 8F, 4P with donut)
Calories for this meal (with 2 rice cakes/2 cookies): 622 (+ 270 with donut)
Mid afternoon snack – 4:30pm
Seeing as I don’t usually get home from work until about 7pm, I get rather hungry as the afternoon goes on so I have to make sure that I’m always armed with (more) snacks. A recent favourite of mine is plain Skyr yogurt with frozen fruit and honey. The yogurt is packed with protein so it keeps me full for a good chunk of time, and the fruit and honey help make it a little bit sweeter.
Macros for this meal: Carbs: 41, Fat: 0, Protein: 22
Calories for this meal: 240
Dinner – 7pm
This is the only meal that varies throughout the week, however we do have about 8 staple meals that we seem to cycle through regularly. I’ll give you a few examples of what a dinner in my household consists of.
3oz chicken breast, asparagus, 1 baked potato with butter & cheese: 30C, 11F, 28P, 315 cals
Pasta with minced pork, mixed veggies, tomato sauce and cheesec: 42C, 32P, 21F, 488 cals
Ginger soy chicken over kale salad w/ ginger sesame dressing: 17C, 16F, 30P, 315 cals
Broccoli, cheese, and onion quiche: 31C, 31F, 20P, 460cal
As you can see, meals range quite a bit, but usually follow a general theme: a meat protein, some kind of veggie and some kind of carbohydrate.
Evening snack – 8:30pm
The evening is usually where my diet goes a little haywire. It seems that the evenings are a time when my sweet tooth really kicks and I get some hefty cravings for something sugary, so this snack can sometimes get a little out of hand. It can vary some something pretty innocent, to a reaaally naughty.
If I have a hankering for icecream, we will go out and get some; usually in the form of Haagen daz. If I’m not feeling that naughty, I’ll usually have a bowl of cereal or a cookie or two.
Approximate calories/macros for cereal (usually honey nut cheerios): 33C, 2F, 3P, 165 calories (approx 1.5 servings)
Calories & macros for 1/2 tub Haagen Daz: 62C, 42F, 8P, 680 calories
This little overview also does not include the odd handful of chips, nuts, candy, or otherwise that I may also grab throughout the day. The point of this was to give you a general idea of what my food intake looks like throughout the day. It’s not perfect, it’s not the healthiest, and it most definitely isn’t low-calorie or restrictive.
The overall calorie count for this entire day is about ~2200 calories, give or take 100-200 calories depending on the day. This is sustainable for me. I don’t end the day hungry or overly full, and my weight (as far as I’m aware) hasn’t changed drastically over the last 2 years or so.
My goal with this post was to shed some light on the world of fitness and achieving your goals without making yourself miserable. I am a healthy weight, I exercise 5 times a week, and I eat my fruit and vegetables… BUT I also enjoy myself, I eat what I’m craving, and I’m not too hard on myself when I have an off day. I’m not trying to get lean or shredded, I’m just trying to be the best version of myself while still living life without restrictions. I have been down that road before; the unbalanced one, the one where I count calories and macros to the exact number, the one where I redistricted my food intake or worked extra hard at the gym to make up for a slice of cake that I had eaten the day prior. It was not fun and not a road I particularly feel like traveling down again.
I urge you to try and steer away from letting food consume your whole life. Living is not for counting calories and getting caught up in how much we weight, it’s about getting out there and enjoying yourself – and if that means eating pizza and getting icecream all in the same weekend (or day) because you have friends visiting, or eating cake because it’s someone birthday, then so be it!
I hope this helped those struggling with their relationship with food. It gets better.
Until next time
xx