07 What I eat and do in a day...

What I eat and do in a day

Hey Folx, 

Eating.

A huge part of my success in counting calories and losing weight has been the idea and ability to plan out my meals for the day. Before I realized the power of doing this (which seems simple and obvious), I would eat too much during earlier meals in the day, then I would spiral and be left with minimal calories at the end of the day. I’d reject this result, give up, and indulge - I was still hungry. 

As I started to learn about what I typically ate in a day (and the outrageous amount of calories it totaled = 4000-5000+), and where I could start cutting back, I realized how much food I needed at each meal to be satiated. This was another huge realization. Currently, in a day, I eat 2100 calories. I don’t need that much food (calories) in the morning, lunch is a bit more than breakfast, and dinner is where I wanted to “spend” most of my calories. I like to be full at night. I don’t want the feeling of potential hunger at 10 pm, when I typically go to bed at midnight. The point I want to get across about my new eating habits is that I was able to figure out an eating routine/diet/lifestyle that worked for my very particular appetite. Below is a typical day’s worth of eating (including some options).  

Breakfast: (210 calories)

• Morning Muffin
• Coffee with ¼ cup of half-n-half

Lunch: (450-600 calories)

• Chicken
• Squash
• Potatoes
• Cheese
• Sauce 

Dinner: (1300-1450 calories)

• Beer (12-16 oz)
• Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese (whole box) + Deli Turkey OR 
• Chicken and Cheese Tacos OR
• Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, egg sandwich, etc.) OR
• Burrata Salad (recipe below) + quesadilla

Exercise.

When I’m at work, I sit at my desk, I’m up walking around the room or campus every so often, and going up and down stairs a couple of times a day. It’s not a highly active job, but I’m not sedentary. After school and on the weekends, my goal is to do something active at least 4 times a week. On the days I’m not active, I don’t beat myself up about it. Actually, sometimes I get bummed that I wasn’t active, not because I feel guilty, but because I didn’t receive the enjoyment from doing the activities I love (mental health play here). The activities I do require varying levels of effort, but are all activities I enjoy doing (I’ll never own a gym membership). These include: 

• Surfing 1-2+ hours, depending on time and conditions
• Vigorous neighborhood walk, about 2 miles with hills and pushing stroller
• Leisure neighborhood walk
• Skateboarding with my son (he scoots)
• Pushups and lunges
• Nightly stretch routine

During the school year, I fit in what I can. My free time and daylight time are much more limited. During the summer, I try to surf as much as possible, but typically add on the other activities as well (my time permits that). One crucial note: I do not add back calories I've burned to my daily total. If I burn 400 calories during a surf session, I do not look at that day's calorie total as 2500, but still 2100. The point I want to get across about my physical activity is that I only do things I enjoy. I wouldn’t eat or do an activity that I didn’t enjoy. 

Mental Health Tip: The most important thing about making changes is making sure that they are genuine. There’s no point in making a change that is later given up on because it was predicated on someone else’s opinion or direction, or just inauthentic.  

Food Choices Tip: Similarly with mental health choices, make choices about food that you want to eat, that you enjoy eating. In a way, having your cake and eating it too is possible here. The tough part is the restriction of quantity. But at least you go to eat cake and not parsnips!

Recipe: Burrata / Mozzarella Peaches Squash Balsamic Glaze “Salad” (584 calories). This recipe makes one large “salad” that can be shared (I guess). I love burrata. It’s basically a formed ball, with the outer layer being fresh mozzarella, and the middle creamy ricotta. It can be expensive though, so it can easily be replaced with just fresh mozzarella, which I’ve had this with and it’s just as delicious. Leave it whole, in the center of the salad, and cut into for your bites. I love peaches, but any stone fruit, or any fruit can be substituted. Slice into wedges and arrange around the burrata. I love squash, and squash, in this dish, adds a savory component to blend with the fruit’s sweetness. Use chunks or wedges from the oven roasted squash from the last post’s recipe, and arrange with the peaches around the burrata. The picture of my burrata salad includes the above, plus beets and sundried tomatoes. The calories and macronutrient values expressed below are estimates. I try to err on the side of higher calories than lower.

• Burrata - 1 ball (~4 oz) - 20 g protein - 0 g carbs - 28 g fat - 360 cals
• Peach - 1 medium - 1.4 g protein - 14 g carbs - 0.4 g fat - 59 cals
• Butternut Squash - 7.5 oz - 1.9 g protein - 22.3 g carbs - 0.2 g fat - 85 cals
• Balsamic Glaze (Trader Joe’s) - 2 tbsp - 0 g protein - 20 g carbs - 0 g fat - 80 cals
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add whatever components you like

Cooking Tip: You don’t always have to cook! Meaning, you don’t always have to use the stove top, oven, bbq, etc. Like the recipe above, you can always make a “salad” by throwing components (i.e. peaches, squash, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.) together and drizzling some sauce on top. Quick, delicious, and easy. 

Meal Prep Idea: The salad above, or other thrown together salads are super easy to assemble when you have a large quantity of the components to mix and choose from. Setting up 3-4 containers in an assembly line, weighing each component, and then adding it to each container   

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