In addition to really trying to track my macro nutrients these days, I've also been playing around with just how many calories I eat during the day. I somewhat play around with carb-cycling, especially since starting my training for my full marathon, so on Fridays I carb load and tend to eat more calories in preparation for Saturday's long run. I also really try to taper my meals throughout the day, with the exception of my post long run meal on Saturdays because those runs usually burn anywhere from 1000 to almost 2000 calories in just one run.
I'm not a fan of calorie counting because it's discouraging to the beginning clean eater but don't kid yourself, I am by no means a beginner and so I've got portion controlling down to an art as well as staying away from an excess of processed foods and just down right "dirty" foods. I'm well into a higher level of clean eating.
I should note here that I've really had a huge mindset change and while I used to eat with the goal of abs and a toned body, it is no longer the case. I eat to fuel my training. I eat so that I've got a full tank of gas to take me through some grueling boxing and weight training after my morning run. That fuel then has to carry me through how many crossfit classes I teach and running around the club I do coaching and helping members. There's always that one late nighter Hulkie or group of Hulkies who dragged me, coax me or ask me to train with them so I have to be able to last through that and not only last but go strong with it. I very much eat according to my training, my sport... sports. Having said that, some days I do eat more based on what training I am doing. On days that I run, I eat definitely try to get in 6 solid meals whereas my non-running days, days when I only do boxing and weight training, I often just get in 5 meals. Today I didn't go running outside but I did do HIIT on the treadmill today, so I made sure to get in 6 meals. Here are some details of my meals.
10am -- MEAL 1: Breakfast
388 calories
Blueberry oatmeal bake with a dark roast coffee.
I'm a huge fan of oatmeal and have numerous breakfast variations on how I will eat my oatmeal on different days. I always prepare my breakfast the night before and so last night I made myself an oatmeal bake. It's pretty much like eating bread with blueberries in it, minus the need for butter, milk, salt, and all that other stuff. My oatmeal bake only has the following 5 ingredients in it: oatmeal, 5 eggs (4 whites + 1 full egg), blueberries, baking powder, and water. I then usually sprinkle cinnamon on top, ingredient number six then I suppose, or spread a bit of my homemade peanut butter on it. My other favourite oatmeal go-to breakfast are overnight oats.
2pm -- MEAL 2: Pre-workout Snack
378 calories
Banana Smash with an espresso.
Usually my pre-workout coffee is a straight espresso but today I add a dash of milk to it. And as for what a Banana Smash is, it's toasted multi grain bread with homemade peanut butter, bananas and cinnamon except I like to prepare it in a particular way when I eat it. I like to put my banana and peanut butter into a cup and heat it up. I then smash it all together, hence the "smash" in "banana smash", then I spread it onto my toast and sprinkle some cinnamon on to it.
5pm -- MEAL 3: Post Workout Meal
283 calories
Caribbean Citrus Chicken with cinnamon, rosemary sweet potatoes and a salad of mixed greens and roasted asparagus with a splash of oriental dressing. This is my new favourite go-to meal because I can cook the chicken in the morning, have the potatoes baking while I'm training and then just add some mixed veggies to an already-made, store-bought salad pack. My salad pack isn't exactly a salad pack. I think it's really suppose to be used for a Korean side dish, to have red pepper or something else added to it, but I like the mix of greens and it sure beats the average salad.
7:30pm -- MEAL 4: Snack-on-the-go
210 calories
A chocolate protein bar with a cup of hot milky hazelnut water.
This is just a quick snack I treat myself to in between coaching members and hosting my crossfit classes. These days we're super busy from about 6pm until 9:30pm so getting a chance to sit down for a meal during these golden hours is really hard. I like to add a cup of hot milky hazelnut water to this snack as it's proven to be quite the snack power couple. As for what is hot milky hazelnut water, it's super simple. It's about two tablespoons of milk plus a drop of Stevia in hazelnut flavor and then hot water.
10:30pm -- MEAL 5: Late Night Dinner
156 calories
A five egg white omlete with brussel sprouts and broccoli.
Eggs and chicken, two protein sources I will just never get sick of eating. This is a pretty easy meal to make though I should note it takes longer to bake in the oven than it does the microwave. But it's super easy to prepare and so if I prepare it a bit in advance than it can just take it's time baking in my toaster oven while I'm coaching. Tonight I added a bit of chilli sauce on it and then I used the other half of the one slice of marble cheese I decided to enjoy today.
1am -- MEAL 6: Late Night Snack
130 calories
Broccoli with edamames.
I'm really trying to up my veggies and stick them with most of my meals so I don't really care so much about the brocolli. I nibble on it usually when I'm reading emails or reading in bed. But the edamames, I love them. I don't actually own salt to be able to add it to any of my other meals so I allow myself this late night salty treat. The edamames are high in protein but are a bit salty so I get my protein in plus a little bonus for my taste buds.
I usually wake up either at 9 or 10am, depending on if I'm going running and most often go to bed at 2 or 3am. Tonight I went to bed around 3:30am so my late night snack wasn't so close to my bedtime.
154g of carbs
140g of protein
44g of fat
My goal was to eat 1,800 calories but I fell 255 short and only ate 1,545 calories.
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