Here is a picture of a typical day of eating for me. People are always surprised when they see the amount of food I eat!! I always tell them that when you are eating clean, whole foods you can eat a lot more food for less calories than when it is processed. I was working from home this day, but most of the things I ate I had already cooked in bulk earlier in the week. I also prep my husband’s meals for him while he’s at work and he ate pretty much the same as I did and I had prepped it the night before in tupperware containers for him.
Meal 1 – 6 egg whites scrambled with veggies (I precut my veggies earlier in the week and keep them in a gallon sized ziploc bag so that way in the morning all I have to do is grab a handful and throw them into my scramble – I don’t mix the spinach in the ziploc but also add that to the scramble). Here I had onions, red bell peppers, baby portabella mushrooms, jalapenos and I also had some sundried tomatoes (not the kind in oil, just the dried ones). One Food for Life brand English Muffin with sugar-free jelly on top (I found one at my grocery store that is sweetened with Truvia! http://www.smuckers.com/
Meal 2 – Salsa Chicken (cooked earlier in the week – click HERE for the recipe with Fage 0% yogurt on top and lime juice squeezed on top. Mini bell peppers on side.
Meal 3 – Turkey Burgers. I pulled everything out for this picture so you could see what I make these with. I found these awesome Turkey Burgers from Costco that taste really good! The macros are really good on them too. You could always make your own Turkey Burgers (click HERE for my recipe) but these Kirkland ones are pretty good if you are pressed for time just be cautious of the sodium in them. I sprinkle them with sea salt, ground black pepper, and garlic salt and then cook them for 10 minutes on my George Foreman. I usually cook 6 of them on Sundays and then my husband and I will eat them a few times a week for lunches heated up in the microwave. I use low-sugar ketchup and mustard and Food for Life brand Ezekial buns. Big salad on side.
Meal 4 – Homemade Protein Bars. I used THIS recipe and then added walnuts, orange extract and almond extract. My favorite protein bar recipe right now! I made a double batch of these before I left for Mexico and still had some in the freezer so I just grabbed some before I left to run errands. They were actually still frozen when I ate them, but if you were at home you could put them in the microwave for 1 minute.
Post Workout – 1 scoop MRM Rich Vanilla Whey Protein with 1/2 banana, 1 cup Almond Breeze brand vanilla unsweetened almond milk (the 40 calorie one), and a handful of spinach.
Meal 5 – homemade turkey spaghetti with 1 cup whole wheat pasta. Click HERE for the recipe.
Meal 6 – Frozen PB Chocolate Egg White Dessert! My favorite way to eat my egg whites at night https://www.facebook.com/
I don’t typically count calories but because I knew people would ask after I post this I went ahead and plugged my meals into Livestrong.com. I was at about 1850 calories today and almost exactly a 40/40/20 breakdown of protein/carbs/fat
7 Comments
thanks, i rarely cook and need ideas, this is great! ive been very hungry since starting james wilson’s program, eating about 2000/day soming from 1700 although i think i ate more than that yesterday, i need to find the right mix before i start gaining weight! how did you figure out your calories>
I took my current weight and multiplied it by 10 then added 300. That is my base amount of calories. On days I workout I eat additionally the number of calories I burned in my workout.
So, if you weighed 150 you would take 150 x 10 = 1500 + 300 = 1800. So, you would need to eat 1800 calories on rest days. On workout days you would add however many calories you burn. So, if you burned 400 calories in your workout, you would eat 2200.
Yes, thx, I use that too , my hr monitor broke tho, thx love the blog!
Natalie, the calorie count just seems so high. I haven’t started one of the “hard-core” workouts yet b/c I know with moving in a month, etc I can’t be committed to a workout like that now. But I am wanting to change my eating habits more toward the clean eating plan. I’m used to a lower caloric count when I am trying to “watch it” with my eating. Is the 1600-2000 like in your eating plans a normal amount for when you are working out really hard? I’m working out but it’s probably not as intense as I’d like it to be. Would you start out with lower caloric intake? Seeing those calories just makes me think I’ll gain weight eating like that. What are your thoughts on that?
Hey Julie!
Here is the base calorie formula I like to use:
To maintain your current weight: Take your current body weight and multiply it by 10, then add 300 calories. That is the base amount of calories you need to eat on rest days. On days I workout I take the number of calories I burned in my workout and split it in two. I eat half the calories I burn in my workout right before I workout and half the calories I burn right after. So, if I burn 500 calories in my workout I will do a protein shake (or whole foods) equaling 250 calories (I try to do 50/50 protein and carbs) pre workout and the same thing post workout.
So, I am 5’8″ and weigh 145 and I’m trying to maintain my current weight. To calculate my calories I take 145 x 10 + 300 = 1750. This is the base amount of calories I need to eat (split between six meals). Then on workout days I eat around 500 more calories in my pre and post workout shakes so that’s about 2250 calories.
If I were trying to lose weight I would subtract 250-500 calories from that base number.
If I were trying to gain weight/muscle I would add 250-500 calories from that base number.
I hope that helps! I try to keep my macros at a 40/40/20 split (40% carbs/40% protein/20% fats) . I have found that this formula has shown me the best results. I know it can seem scary eating that many calories, but once your body starts to trust that it’s going to get fed your metabolism really picks up and you start burning fat so much faster. And, the best part is that because I am eating so much I don’t go on huge binges from feeling so deprived. I do stop eating starchy carbs (brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread/pasta, etc) between 3-6pm and after that just stick with healthy fats and protein.
Hey Natalie,
I’m curious…I know you’re doing James Wilson’s program I was wondering why you don’t go by the calorie count from the 24 hour HRM test. Thanks in advance. 🙂
Jamie this was an example of my daily meals before I started James’ program. The more recent posts are examples of what I am doing on James’ program.