Food For Thought

First of all, Happy Belated Easter! I hope everyone had a great holiday. I spent the evening with my family and dying some eggs. I'll be having colorful eggs all week long!

So since my daily outfit picture was all weird because of too much sun, I nixed it. I took it in the afternoon instead of the morning...bad idea. It was kind of a boring casual outfit anyways so you weren't missing much. So since I don't have an outfit pic, I thought I answer Candice's question about my diet.

Last year, when I lost the bulk of my weight, I was pretty religious with my diet. I started out losing 1.5 lbs a week by eating 1450 calroies a day. I was kind of just eating whatever I wanted as long as I stayed within 1450 calories and working out 5 days a week. Then I got a little more serious and started pushing myself harder. I consulted with my trainer and we made some adjustments to my eating habits and my caloies. I stayed within a range of 1200 - 1300 calories a day and continued to worked out 5 days a week. Doing that allowed me to lose 2lbs a week slowly. Once the holidays came around, I started baking more and I just wasn't conscious of what I ate on a daily basis. So fast forward to today and I am back on track. I had my checkpoint weigh in on Friday and I am very happy to report that I am losing 2 lbs a week. So how am I doing this? Well last year my trainer gave me a couple of meal plans to use as a guideline. Like I've said before, I try to eat 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% of fat within 1200 calories. I take a multi-vitamin, fish oil supplement, and a green tea supplement. I suggest finding a program online that allows you to log your food and that also breaks down the percentage of protein, carbs, and fat so you know where you stand throughout the day. Here are a few tips that get me through the day...

Breakfast - I always have breakfast. I am starving by the time I get up so I make sure I eat and get my metabolism going. Here is my breakfast of champions (I have this almost everyday).

1 cup of cooked oatmeal (not the instant packets, I buy the huge canister and measure it out)

3 tsp of raisins

1 packet of Splenda (or sweetener of your choice)

dash of cinnamon

2 hard boiled egg whites.

Lunch and Dinner - I always cook my dinners so I have leftover for lunch the next day. I always make sure I have a balance of protein and carbs. I tend to eat more carbs at lunch and try to have mostly veggies with my protein at dinner. I basically eat anywhere from 2.5 oz - 3 oz of lean protein (chicken breast, turkey, fish), 1-2 cups of veggies. At lunch I like to have red potatoes, sweet potatoes or black beans. I usually mash or boil them. I try to go light with any seasoning.

Snacks! - I have a mid morning, afternoon, and after dinner snack. My mid morning and afternoon snacks are usually protein shakes. Sometimes I mix it up and have 2 oz of chicken breast, or a couple of hard boiled egg whites. Late night or after a major workout, I may have a protein bar or cookie. It kind of gives me the feeling of having a treat or dessert. Sometimes I have a small cup of lowfat yogurt (about 60 calories).

So that's basically my daily food. I know it's tough to always prepare meals and sometime we go out. I found a few places around Houston that have items on there menu that I can have. I always try to go to those places or I grab a few meals on the go from a local healthy joint. Below is My Fit Food's Turkey Chili.
So I hope this info helps. If you are looking for more info, just shoot me an email or leave a comment. Here was my food and activity for the day... Have a great and healthy day! I'll be back with a fab outfit tomorrow :-)