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My Diet Plan

Calories

First thing is that I don’t count calories, but I do look at them. For example, if I am going out to eat I will absolutely look online to try to find the nutritional info for what I am getting. You think getting a salad will be healthy, but some of these salads have over 900 calories, and I’m talking about the ones that you think are healthy. Another thing I try to do when looking at nutrition is to have 25% or less of the calories from fat. For example, if something has 100 calories I try not to get things that have more than 25 calories from fat. Of course it depends on what I’m getting. If it’s good fats like nuts, peanut butter, or avocado then that doesn’t apply. Although I don’t count calories, I definitely do pay attention to serving size.

Fat

Most people try to cut fat too much. When it comes to fat I do really try to stay away from saturated fat, but don’t mind mono or polyunsaturated. A lot of people ask how I lost weight since I eat so much fattening peanut butter, but I consider peanut butter healthy. I do eat smart balance because it doesn’t have any added sugar. I think it has 200 calories and 16g of fat which sounds horrible but really there is maybe 1g of saturated fat and the rest is the good fats. In case you are confused on the whole “good fat” thing, I made a list of some:

I do still watch fat, though. I don’t always eat fat free because usually with fat free there is a lot of sugar added. And fat free shredded cheese literally tastes like rubber in my opinion. I eat 1% cottage cheese, fat free or low-fat sour cream, fat free yogurt, fat free milk, low fat cheese. I also try to decrease fat other places like getting very lean ground turkey or turkey bacon.

Carbohydrates

Oh carbs. I was definitely afraid of carbs for a long time. I have done my share of low-carb diets and really thought I had to cut carbs by A LOT to lose weight. You just have to find the good carbs. I eat almost all whole or multi grain. The only time I eat white is before a race or a long run. I try to eat most of them in the morning and not many for dinner, but sometimes I have a few. I also eat a lot of fruit without paying much attention to glycaemic index. I know some people refer to grapes, watermelon, and other more sugary fruit as “unhealthy fruits” but I really don’t think there is any such thing. It’s natural sugar, so I’m going to eat it. I do really try to stay away from added sugar though. I have some frozen yogurt in my freezer just because sometimes you need a little sugar, but in general try to stay away from it. My whole theory on carbs is that if I’m not getting enough, I won’t have enough energy to get in a good workout and therefore won’t burn as many calories.

Protein

I have no trouble at all getting all my protein and have some every single meal. I also always drink some after I lift. I won’t go into a ton of detail here since I am putting my actual plan below, but don’t skimp on the protein. I hear some people tell me what they eat and they are so consumed with getting all these good veggies and fruits that they really aren’t getting the protein that they need.

Drinks / Hydrating

Water, Water, Water. Probably 95% of what I drink. I go to the store and get a big bottle, well jug. Its 3 litters. I get it in the morning before work and drink it all day. I also drink milk. After my runs I have fat free or 1% chocolate milk, after I lift I either mix protein powder with water or milk. For running, I will occasionally drink orange juice, but started this in the past month. While really trying to lose weight it was mostly just water and milk. As for Alcohol, I am 22 so yes I go out and drink. I’m not too crazy and actually am not drinking at all since I am training for a marathon, but I say if you want a few drinks just do it.

My Daily Eating Plan

Breakfast – For breakfast I always make sure I get some carbs and protein. Normally my breakfast is 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter. I also eat Special K protein plus cereal. When looking at cereal try to get some with protein and look at the ingredients. You want to avoid getting cereal with sugar as the second ingredient. This special K protein is one of the best I have found and actually tastes good. I stay away from the other special K flavors though. Not much protein and too much sugar! Some other things I eat are oatmeal, multi grain cream of wheat, eggs ( 1 yolk and 1 egg white), toast, and turkey bacon. I sometimes also get ground turkey sausage crumbles and make omelets with eggs, salsa, those crumbles, and low fat cheese. Whole wheat ego waffles are good too. I usually put either peanut butter or spray butter on top (just count your sprays!) Sometimes I’m just not feeling typical breakfast food though, and I’ll boil some pasta and warm a few turkey meatballs and have that lol.
Snacks – I have a snack in between breakfast and lunch, lunch and working out after work, and sometimes in between dinner and bed. – I eat almonds, walnuts, scoop of peanut butter, Luna protein bars (mint are awesome!), yogurt (normally Greek because that has more protein Chabani is good), low-fat cottage cheese, Supreme protein bars are also great, if you can’t stand the taste of protein you will probably like these. They are the best tasting I have had. They are lower carb, but have more saturated fat than I like to eat. But sometimes will anyway. Will also snack on fruit and tuna. Starkest has these flavored tuna packs that are pretty good too. They are slightly high in sodium, but not horrible. I also like hummus and whole wheat pitas
Lunch -A lot of the time I will just have left overs from dinner. If I only have protein and veggies for dinner though I will grab some individual rice packs and add those for carbs. I usually eat the brown and wild mix, plain brown or multigrain mix. I will also have grilled chicken salad, whole wheat wraps or sandwiches with lower sodium turkey lunch meat, grilled chicken, or tuna. I like to have pasta for lunch but you seriously need to watch servings. What you think is a serving of pasta is really probably 3. For sauce on pasta I try to stay away from the kinds with too much added sugar. Sometimes I like to make pizza too (whole wheat shell, lower sugar pizza sauce, reduced fat cheese, and turkey pepperoni.) I also make veggie pizza occasionally.
Dinner – Usually chicken, salmon, or ground turkey cooked somehow. I try to keep the chicken grilled, but sometimes I’ll put a little breading on it. Salmon is usually grilled. With ground turkey sometimes I’ll make crockpot turkey chili or tacos. I will try to eat veggies with dinner. I try not to eat many carbs but will eat sweet potatoes or Yukon gold occasionally. I also get lean turkey sausage and cook it with veggies.

Eating Tips

Try to eat slowly and drink water while eating. Putting your fork down after you take a bite and chewing usually helps me not to over eat. I have also heard that if you stand and eat you will eat more.
If you go out to eat there are some things you can do. I LOVE chipotle so when I go there I get either 1/2 the rice in a chicken bowl or no rice, and double chicken. If I get sour cream I get it on the side. I am also addicted to sushi so with that I try not to get any that are fried. Go online and try to figure out what you are going to eat before and check out the nutritional information.
Don’t be too strict. I think it is better to eat semi healthy and keep that up for life than to eat very strict for a few months and then not be able to keep up with it. If you are competing in a fitness, figure, or body building competition that is one thing. But for most people I would say just eat healthy, it’s okay to cheat just try to avoid binges. Eat things that you like. IF you hate salmon don’t force yourself to eat it, find something else.

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