What I’m Eating Wednesday

Alright.  So here’s the latest. I’m still considering myself in a cut, and I’ll probably stay here for a little bit before I truly reverse up. I just felt like I needed a change and I actually do feel a tiny bit leaner so far at these numbers rather than when I was eating at 1618 calories.  It’s confusing. I know. Here’s a quick summary of my history with my macro-goals: Feel free to skip! I get all chatty. Surprise surprise.

I started tracking about two years ago at those lowest numbers 1618 calories/170c/42f/140p… I leaned out in what felt like a really short time period and was able to start reversing my calories up within about a month. I reversed by raising carbs by 10 or 20, and fats by 3-5 each week until I reached about 2300 calories. I ate at those new numbers which were somewhere around 280c/60-70f/140p (don’t test the math, I’m too lazy to confirm right now!)… for about six to 8 months.. maybe close to a year, before I saw the scale creep up a few pounds over a trip and tried to do a mini cut. I thought it would fall off fast like the first time but it didn’t.  Eventually I decided I’d accept the new, higher scale number and slightly thicker frame… I didn’t have a ton of fat, I had just enjoyed how lean I felt a few pounds lighter but realized it wasn’t worth it anymore!

So I gave my body a break and reversed up again, this time hoping to push my metabolism a little higher. I prepared myself to let the scale climb only one or two pounds… and at one point I was eating over 300 carbs and around 2500 calories! That was super fun.  But I did start to feel a little softer… and after a few months… it was time to head to Hawaii and all sorts of fun beach trip with the family! So I did it again. Tried the quick pre-trip cut. Which I’ve read is a bad idea for a million reasons. But obviously I don’t listen… I just wanna feel cute in a suit! ha.

Sorry this is really dragging… but bottom line. Results were about the same. Maybe down a pound- maybe two. Maybe felt a little tighter. Who knows and who really cares since the next two months were filled with family, food, travel, and improvised work outs.

So that brings me to now. I came back from the summer… figured for sure after mostly maintaining at 2500 in the Spring…. then eating pretty liberally throughout the summer with rough tracking (definitely over 2200 each day) that THIS time, that 1618 calorie range would FOR SURE WORK.  But SURPRISE! Kind of the same deal. Bodies are funny.

For reference, I’m five pounds up from where I like, but 9 or 10 up from where I maintained for 6-8 months… and actually 14 up from the leanest I got when I started macros!  That sounds nuts. Maybe it’s the muscle I’ve added through weight training (I will admit I see some new shapes I’m appreciating!) maybe my tracking has gotten a tiny bit too relaxed, maybe I’m getting older, maybe my work outs are less intense… who knows!  Luckily I enjoy this process of tracking and setting goals and experimenting.  That’s where I’m at.

So after six weeks at those 1618 calories with pretty much no notable improvements to me, definitely none on the scale (not the best measure but still a measure) I decided to reverse just a hair to see if things started moving with a little more fuel. I’ll probably stay here for another month or two before I reverse back up to around 2300 calories… regardless of the scale!

In the mean time. It’s a good thing I love my food no matter what. Here’s what I’m eating today:

A full day of eating at 200c/52f/140p 1828 calories

An illustration of a day of eating

My fitness pal food diaries for a day of eating

What I ate today:

  • Pre-workout: Plain rice cake with 30 g light and fit yogurt, 20 grams nectarines, 3 g PB drizzle, 3 g granola
  • Post workout: Tried the new pumpkin spice flapjack mighty muffin! (It wasn’t in My Fitness Pal yet so I logged the S’more… but I hate the s’more FYI!) Did half, with 75 g pumpkin light and fit yogurt, 75 g cottage cheese, 15 g figs, 15 g blueberries, 5 g granola, 4 g mini chocolate chips, 3 g PB drizzle. (I know I get HOOKED ON THINGS. And then I drizzle them in a tiny bit of peanut butter that seem to small to matter but it’s NOT!)
  • Lunch: My usual Turkey Crunch Wrap. I tried! I tried to consider something new, pretty much for your sake. And — so you wouldn’t think I am the weirdest and most habitual eater of all time. But the truth is out. I am the weirdest and most habitual eater of all time. At least I don’t drizzle this in peanut butter.  But I did stuff it with the few decent peach slices I could gather. (You can use “lillie10” for 10% off a 24 pack of these wraps that I love if you decide you need some too!)
  • Snack: G2G bar!  I’m well aware that protein bars are not the best way to make your food stretch when you’re in a cut. This has as many calories as my crunch wrap. But I don’t want a second crunch wrap in the afternoon. Things are busy and crazy with kids. I don’t want to think or plan or even weigh. I want to grab. I want to grab their cheezits and nibbles of their yogurt bowls of sips of their smoothies… and I want something sweet to survive the long journey ahead until bed time. Ha! So if I plan for this baby. I can push as long as I want and then when I find myself wanting to snatch something from my pantry. IT’S TIME. And then there’s literally nothing I’d rather eat because these are SUPER GOOD.  It may as well be a chocolate chip cookie to me. And I’m not one of those people that doesn’t know what a real cookie tastes like. Trust me.
  • Dinner:  These easy enchiladas! I’m just gonna swap out the chicken mixture I usually do for straight bbq pork because I made a bunch last night. I always run out of protein so I had to reduce my amount to just 120 g which will be lean… so if they seem too wimpy– I’ll just use three tortillas and free up a tiny handful of carbs for some mango on top or a little more granola or fruit on my dessert!
  • Dessert: (Copied in from last week): My favorite dessert bowl ever since I went to Hawaii and was trying to lighten up my usual massive dessert a little bit to compensate for all of the vacation eating! It sounds so weird and I’m sure it’s not for everyone but here’s what I do!
    • 75 g each, low fat knudsen cottage cheese (brand matters big time to me), Dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt, and tonight, Dreyers Slow Churned mint chip. I mix those three things together and now I’ve got a big bowl to top! WIIIIITH……
    • ½ of a Flapjacked double chocolate mighty muffin (that one’s technically an affiliate link FYI)… underdone, cooled a tiny bit and then plopped on the side. More details about those on the massive dessert bowl post over here. Or this lighter day-time version here.
    • 7 g Cocoa bar in a Jar (I drizzle it on first and freeze for like two minutes while my muffin cools and I chop fruit)- I love Monique, whose company it is, and I LOVE the product. Small biz, so only sold online.- She gave me a code for 10% off so use this if you order: “LILLIELOVESMACROS10”
    • 10 g Purely Elizabeth granola
    • Sometimes like 4 g mini chocolate chips and/or peanut butter but not tonight
    • 25 g bananas tonight (didn’t make it for the photo)– usually strawberries and peaches… I know the flavor combo sounds weird. But I. Can’t. Get. Enough. Something about the tart and sweet maybe? And the not too sweet because it’s not all ice cream? I don’t know but I’m digging it.

What I’m Eating Wednesday

A full day of eating at 200c/52f/140p 1828 calories

 

A grid of photos displaying meals

What I ate today:

  • Pre-workout: This Cottage Cheese Toast with blueberries
  • Post workout: mini egg white crunch wrap. I fried up 80 g egg whites, and one piece of canadian bacon (from Costco) and topped with half a slice of reduced fat swiss cheese. Then I folded that up inside of HALF of a cut-da-carb wrap like I do THIS TURKEY CRUNCH WRAP.
  • Lunch: A real crunch wrap! But instead of my usual Turkey Crunch Wrap, I filled this one with chicken, cucumber salsa, tzatziki and hummus just like I would these Greek pitas (OBSESSED WITH THOSE.)
  • Snack 1: Small yogurt bowl with 1 dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt (150 g), 10 g granola, 5 g peanut butter, and 15 g each diced blueberries and peaches.  Small because usually my yogurt bowls look more like this.
  • Snack 2: Rice cake with 28 g dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt, strawberries, a little bit of crumbled G2G bar, and a drizzle of peanut butter.
  • Dinner: My copy cat Cava bowl! Love these flavors so much so when I make a batch of cucumber salsa, I want it on everything!
  • Dessert: My favorite dessert bowl ever since I went to Hawaii and was trying to lighten up my usual massive dessert a little bit to compensate for all of the vacation eating! It sounds so weird and I’m sure it’s not for everyone but here’s what I do!
    • 75 g each, low fat knudsen cottage cheese (brand matters big time to me), same dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt, and my ice cream of choice! Sometimes I do the protein ice creams.. even the super light arctic zero flavors if I need to skimp, but lately Dreyers Slow Churned mint chip. YUM. I mix those three things together and now I’ve got a big bowl to top! WIIIIITH……
    • ½ of a Flapjacked double chocolate mighty muffin underdone, cooled a tiny bit and then plopped on the side. More details about those on the massive dessert bowl post over here. Or this lighter day-time version here.
    • 7 g Cocoa bar in a Jar (I drizzle it on first and freeze for like two minutes while my muffin cools and I chop fruit)- I love Monique who’s company it is and I love the product. Small biz, so only sold online.
    • 10 g Purely Elizabeth granola
    • Sometimes like 4 g mini chocolate chips and/or peanut butter but not tonight
    • 35 g diced strawberries and 35 g diced peaches. I know the flavor combo sounds weird. But I. Can’t. Get. Enough. Something about the tart and sweet maybe? And the not too sweet because it’s not all ice cream? I don’t know but I’m digging it.

What Does it say about me that my dessert took up half of this post? Just saying.

FDOE

Full day of eating 2- macro counting www.lillieeatsandtells.com

Ok this time I’ll just let the collage suffice for the photos. But here goes:

MEAL 1: (9c/2.8f/4.2p 67 cal) I didn’t eat anything before the gym, so this was my little snack when I got home to hold me over till lunch.

  • Half of a Joseph’s pita with 8 grams of strawberry greek yogurt cream cheese (love this stuff- looks like this only there’s a yummy strawberry flavor I find at my Stater Brothers), 18 grams of sliced strawberries, and 3 grams of mini chocolate chips because they just make everything better.

MEAL 2: (48.3c/11.6f/38.1p 423 cal)  My STAPLE TURKEY SUB! One of my favorite things to eat.  Like in life. I just don’t get sick of a giant decked out sandwich. And sometime I mix it up, but for the most part, I love it the same every day which makes it super easy to just add that saved meal to my diary and make everything fit around it.  I’d skipped it for a few days since my carbs are lower, but decided to make it fit today and it was worth it! So worth it.

MEAL 3: (20c/5f/19p 200 cal) Pure Protein Bar- Salted Caramel which is the only flavor I’d waste one macro on.  Ross likes them all but I think they taste like play dough. Except for this one I find boxes of at Walmart. I really like it and it’s only 5 fat.  Still, a protein bar is never the smartest way to spend your macros when you’re cutting and trying to make them stretch.  But I didn’t say I was the smartest, and I like protein bars.

MEAL 4: (51.8c/8.7f/31.6p 412 cal) Three carnitas tacos on extra thin mission tortillas, with homemade pico, mango (forgot for photo), greens, cotija, chipotle creme, and some homemade cilantro ranch. 

MEAL 5: (36.4c/15.4f/45.7p 436 cal) Ok so since I decided to have my sandwich and still snack a little (bar), I did have to change my routine dessert. And went with some protein ice cream — pretty much this one.  Still got to stir in an entire mighty muffin, and added a little  fat free whipped cream, a few grams of mini chocolate chips, a tsp of PB fit, and a few grams granola.  Still got to go to bed with a full tummy like I like.

That’s it for that day! Below is my older post…

 

FDOE

A full day of eating and tracking macros www.lillieeatsandtells.com

Ok so right now I’m cutting for an upcoming trip to Hawaii.  Writing it down makes it feel far too official. And maybe two weeks isn’t enough to reap the benefits but we’ll see! In the mean time, I thought it could be helpful to share some food diaries for this current macro count since lots of people start low to lose some body fat.

I’ve set my numbers back where I started November 1st of 2016.  This is what I’m shooting for:

170 carbs/42 fat/140 protein which adds up to around 1618 calories. 

On these numbers, I’m hungry! But that’s part of the deal when in a deficit so I’m doing my best to handle it… by building my day mindfully.  Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I blow too many macros on something stupid… all part of the process!

Here’s what I ate yesterday.

MEAL 1 (Sort of ): Pre-workout (and post-workout snack): 1 serving total of soy crisps (15c/3f/8p 120cal)

I was going to put the yogurt bowl here, just so it would make more sense to you and I would seem more normal. Since it looks much more like breakfast…  but decided I’d just let you into my weird habits.

I don’t like to burn through too many macros early. I just find it easier to go without in the morning, and I prefer to work out on a mostly empty stomach.  Also, I’ve found my willpower decreases and hunger INCREASES as the day progresses! And mostly I just value food more in the afternoon. So I usually have about five of these soy crisps as I run out the door (a current habit) … just to have something to chew on… and then the remainder of the serving (these 20 crisps), I grab and snack on after the gym. It’s weird. And not pretty. But it’s working for me right now and I’m obsessed with these.. I’ve only found them at my Stater Brothers since it’s their brand..(they look like this) but for 20 crisps it’s only 15c/3f/8p! High in protein and lower in carbs than any other salty, crunchy snack like this. And such a bigger serving than crackers or pretzels etc… moving on!

MEAL 2: Lunch: Two Egg White Pitas.  (27.2c/10.6f/40.5p and 343 cal)

Really loving these during my cut and any time I want a slightly lighter lunch than my go-to turkey sub that will always have my heart.

MEAL 3: Afternoon Snack: Yogurt Cottage Cheese Bowl: (22.7c/3.6f/23.7p and 221 cal))

This is one of the yummiest things to me to get a balanced snack that’s super low in fat.  It’s close in macros but lower fat than a protein bar, and definitely lasts longer!  And I love that it could even be zero fat if I need it to be by skipping granola and using only fat free cottage cheese. I’ve got a similar recipe here.

But this is what’s in this particular bowl:

  • 70 g each: greek yogurt, fat free cottage cheese, and low fat cottage cheese.  Drizzle with walden farms pancake syrup (you could use stevia but I’ve really grown to love this syrup!) and stir together.
  • Add 25 g each: blueberries, diced apples, strawberries.
  • Top with 10 g granola (I LOVE Purely Elizabeth and get mine at Walmart or Target, and ALWAYS use it even though it’s not especially low in fat or anything. If you get a low fat granola, the carbs are higher.. either way I’m only gonna fit about 10 grams when I eat it so this one fits just about as easy and is THE BEST.)
  • Drizzle with more walden farms and sprinkle with cinnamon!

MEAL 4: Dinner: Albacore Sandwich on a Seeded Bun from The Habit.

One of our favorite easy dine-out options with the kids. (41c/10f/33p and 390 cal). And I LOVE it.  Sometimes I’ll order a small side salad and bring my own dressing so I have something to munch on while everyone else is eating fries! Because I do not want to ruin what’s coming next. Ha.

MEAL 5: DESSERT! Double Chocolate Mighty Muffin Bowl Halo-Top Bowl: (68c/18.5f/38p and 527 cal).

Some people probably think I’m crazy that I save and spend that many macros on dessert. And SOMEtimes I don’t. (Ok it’s rare). And maybe some day I’ll feel differently. (Probably not.)  But for ME, this is just something I really value.  I love to know I’ve got a great reward at the end of the night.  That’s probably breaking some rules and I probably need therapy because food shouldn’t be a reward or something.  But it fits my macros and my life! It works for me. I really like going to bed nice and full. And it makes me less likely to cheat if I’ve got this late at night… I’ve found if I’m out of macros at 8, either I’ll cheat or I’ll be depressed. Neither are good options.

Hi I’m Lillie and I’m a late night eater.

And that’s a wrap! My day rang in at 1601 calories, 174c/45f/143p… so I was over a few on each macro. I’m cool with that.