Let’s Break it Down

I get a lot of emails from people asking me how many calories I eat a day to maintain my 100 pound weight loss. They also ask me how I deal with cravings and what I eat any typical day.

I used to talk a lot about what I ate at every meal but honestly that’s boring because I eat the same food! But let’s break it down by calories.

BREAKFAST

I never skip breakfast. I either have oatmeal (130-300 calories depending on what kind I make) or the usual: eggs.

Michael and I split 3 full eggs with a splash of milk scrambled. I sprinkle a tiny bit of cheese on top and sometimes add salsa and one spoonful of light sour cream. I also have some sort of breakfast meat too.

Usually it’s 2 turkey sausages for a total of 90 calories but this recently it was half of the last spicy bratwurst.

I also have a full glass of unsweetened iced tea (zero calories). When I first started drinking the unsweetened tea I didn’t like it but then I got used to it. Now if I have sweet tea it’s awful! When I get to work I also make one cup of coffee in my French Press (adding 2 servings of flavored creamer).

Breakfast calories: about 300 calories.

AM SNACK

Monday – Friday I have a morning snack. It’s usually a banana or an apple sliced. This week it’s oranges.

On the weekends I rarely have snacks. This is usually because I’m out and about and not around the house, plus on weekends I tend to eat just 2 or 3 big meals a day instead.

Snack calories: about 80-110 calories.

LUNCH

Lunch during the work week is almost always leftovers from the previous night’s dinner.

If I don’t have leftovers I sometimes make a big salad, or I will have a Lean Cuisine.

I used to solely eat Lean Cuisines for lunch but in the past year I’ve slowed that down. I’m trying to get away from eating processed food as much as I can but sometimes in a pinch I need a quick lunch.

Lunch calories: from 250-400 calories.

PM SNACK

I only have an afternoon snack on the days I am going to the gym right after work. If I don’t I don’t have enough energy to workout and I get overly cranky. 🙂

My pre-workout snack is either Greek yogurt (110-140 calories) or a banana.

If it’s a Rest Day I usually skip the afternoon snack because I don’t need the calories, plus I’m going straight home and fixing dinner.

Sometimes I snack on work treats. I try not to. It’s often a struggle to resist.

Snack calories: 100-150 calories.

DINNER

Since dinner is the typical meal I post regularly on I don’t need to cover that. But I do save about 800-1100 calories for dinner because I know that I will eat more in that meal. If I just worked out and burned a lot of calories my dinner is often higher in calories too. On the flip-side if it’s a Rest Day I eat something “lighter.”

Sometimes I have a glass of wine with dinner. I usually limit that to 2-3 times a week only. Most of the time I just have ice water. Sometimes I have a sparkling water with lemon.

Recently we picked up an amazing cut of steak–beef chuck eye steak. I marinaded it and made Trader Joe’s gnocchi with fresh Parmesan on it.

Delicious and healthy.

Dinner Calories: 600-1100 calories.

DESSERT

I also save about 100-200 calories of the day for some sort of treat. I’ve tried skipping dessert all together but that sets me up for binges. Having something small and low in calories gives me the sugar fix I need without going nuts.

It’s often a small dish of ice cream (100-200 calories) or a 90 calorie Rice Krispie Treat.

Dessert Calories: 100-200 calories.

ACTIVITY

I write a lot about my physical activities and I am a very active person. Part of the reason I can splurge and eat treats yet maintain my weight loss is keeping up with a healthy, active lifestyle.

I like to start my day with a walk. In the morning I walk about 2 miles from where I park my car to my office.

It’s a really nice walk across the river into downtown. Isn’t the morning foggy mysterious and romantic?

I walk across the bridge with the cyclists and runners and enjoy the scenery. When I get to work I often go for walks around downtown on my lunch break. If the weather is nice that is. For example the other day I had some time to kill on my lunch so I walked for about 40 minutes. I get to see parts of the city I’d normally not visit, I get out of the office and see sights like this:

No it’s not real. 🙂 But I enjoy my walks. They are nice and casual but I walk briskly enough to get something out of it.

I workout vigorously 5 days a week with 2 Rest Days. I try my best to fit in physical activity in different ways. Even just going for a walk with a friend is a nice way to spend some time.

QUESTION: Is your day to day food pretty standard? How often do you exercise a week?