A Day In the Life Of...

I've gotten some requests to do a "day in the life of" post, and I thought it would be a fun idea!  So I have documented a few days in the past couple weeks.  Most of you have asked about my food and workouts, so this is focused mostly on that aspect.  Although to be honest, I really don't do much else since I do have to work everyday... lol!  But I did include a weekend as well.  :)

Friday 10/25

6:05 am:  Alarm goes off.  I snooze at least twice.

6:30 am:  I'm running late again!  Get my butt up and out of bed finally.  Start getting ready for the day.

7:00 am:  Rush out the door to go to work (I'm really supposed to be there at 7 am).

7:20 am:  Arrive at work, immediate take my probiotic pill since it is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach.  Proceed to drink about 20 oz of water.  This is the Jarrow Formulas brand:

8:00 am:  Breakfast. There is a kitchen at my work and I am on the half meal plan which gets me 10 breakfasts and 10 lunches a month.  This was one of the days I got food from work.  As usual, I get 4 hardboiled eggs, but throw away 3 of the yolks so I end up with 1 whole egg:

They have oatmeal daily at work but I like to know exactly how much I'm eating, so I keep Quaker's old fashioned oats at my desk and make it myself.  I use 1/2 cup (dried) with hot water.  Then mix it with the 3 egg whites, sprinkle some salt on it:

I also keep a supply of berries at all times in the work fridge.  Right now I have raspberries, so I take 1/2 cup of that.  I also keep a bag of raw almonds in my drawer, and I eat about 0.3 oz of them with my breakfast (that's about 7-8 almonds).

8:30 am:  About time I finish my breakfast.  I take 1 vitamin C pill.  I'm currently using the Twinlab brand 500mg:

I drink another 20 oz of water during the next couple hours.

9:30 am:  Walk to Starbucks with coworkers and get a tall Pike.  Add a little bit of whole milk and grounded stevia leaf.  I don't really need coffee, but I like going for the walk.  The two guys I usually go with are pretty funny.

10:30 am:  Snack time.  I eat 5 oz of non-fat Greek yogurt (prefer Fage for the creamier taste and higher protein count, but settle for Chobani sometimes) with 1/4 cup of berries.

10:45 am:  Right after I finish eating my morning snack, I mix a teaspoon of magnesium powder with about 8 oz of luke warm water and drink it.  I love the Natural Calm lemon raspberry flavored magnesium citrate:

I fill up my water bottle again at this point, and drink another 20 oz of water in the next couple hours.

1 pm:  Lunch.  I went to get food at work again. Fridays are always fish days.  I get a side salad with no dressing (I'm kinda weird like that), some string beans, about 4 oz of fish and 100 calories worth of carb - in this case potatoes.  I don't like that I don't know what they cooked the fish with.  So I actually get a bowl of hot water and rinse the fish in it before each bite.  Yes, eating clean requires weird sacrifices sometimes.

1:30 pm:  Right after my lunch, I take my multi-vitamin pill.  I take the Jarrow Formula Women's Active Multi with Lutein.

Again, drink another 20 oz of water for the next couple hours.  I'm pretty much sipping water all day long.

3:30 pm:  Afternoon snack.  I make a green smoothie every night and take it to work with me in the morning.  I make it with about 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of kale, 2 oz of banana (about half of a regular sized banana), 1 tbsp of almond butter, and a pinch of ginger, oregano, turmeric, cinnamon, and whatever spices I have at the moment that I can throw in.  You can't taste any of them but they are supposed to be good for you so whatev!

I keep protein powder and my shaker cup at work.  I mix my pre-made green smoothie with 1 scoop of protein powder.  I don't add protein powder the night before because the instruction says to mix and drink within 30 minutes.  I sure as hell would not bring my blender to work and make smoothies in the kitchen, so this is the best solution I got.  

My current preferred protein powder is the Dymatize Elite Cappuccino Rush flavor.  It's so yummy!

I do have vegan rice protein powder as well which I like because of the natural ingredients, but it just doesn't taste as good.  

I take another Vitamin C pill, and then drink another 20 oz of water for the next few hours.

4:30 pm:  Get off work and head to the gym.  It's leg day.  I warm up first by doing leg swings and spider crawls (I do it on the treadmill so I don't look like an idiot).  Then I do 6 different leg exercises, ranging from squats, leg presses, lunges, deadlifts, high step ups, etc.  I use weights as heavy as I can go for 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps each.  It takes about an hour to complete this workout and feels like death.  So I end with 30 minutes of cardio intervals on 15% incline treadmill.  I go a minute of fast pace, usually around 4.7 mph, followed by 45 seconds of slower pace at about 3.2 mph.  Repeat for 30 minutes, then cool down.  This includes 17 intervals. I watch the Food Network at the same time while on the treadmill.  It's usually some show like Chopped, or Restaurant Impossible.

During my workout, I drink at least 20-30 oz of water.

6:30 pm:  Leave the gym and head home.

7:00 pm:  Get home, and immediately start cooking dinner.  I like to eat within an hour of finishing workout.  Today I am having ground turkey and garbanzo beans.  I get those 99% fat free packages from the grocery store which contains 20 oz of turkey and I use exactly half of the package.  One can of garbanzo beans - I pick any brand that has less sodium.  Then I cook it altogether with chopped onion, tomato, and whatever other vegetables I have.  The most important ingredient in this dish is lots of ground cumin, and some ground red pepper for taste.  It's one of my favorite meals and is SO easy and quick to make.

7:30 pm:  Start eating dinner.  Note, I eat 1/3 of the portion I made as shown above, not the whole thing lol.  Drink a little bit of water and/or tea during dinner.  Immediately after dinner, take 3000mg worth of fish oil, 50mg of zinc, and 1 more Vitamin C pill.  I use GNC Triple Strength fish oil, and Zinc.

  

8:00 pm:  Shower.

8:15 pm:  Done with shower.  Watch re-run of House.  Mess around on my laptop - check facebook, check blog email.  I rarely go out on Friday nights because I'm just so tired!

11 pm:  Take the last of my supplements of the day!  1 more probiotic pill, and 1 tsp of Natural Calm magnesium citrate mixed with 8 oz of water. 

11:30 pm:  Bed time!  I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  :)

Saturday 10/26

9:00 am:  Get up.  Brush my teeth, wash my face, and take my probiotics!

10:00 am:  Make my green smoothie.  Since it's Saturday, I make it with protein powder and drink it right away.  Same ingredients.  I take my Vitamin C pill with it.

10:30 am:  Head to the gym.  Today is upper body supersets.  This workout consists of  4 supersets, with exercises such as military press, lateral raise, lat pulldown, preacher curl, tricep dips, etc. etc.  I do total of 9 exercises with 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps, 1 minute rests between supersets.  So this is a quick workout.  Takes about 45 minutes.  I do my same 30 minute cardio interval afterwards.

I drink about 30 oz of water throughout the workout.

11:45 am:  Done with workout.  Shower at gym and get dressed.  My gym validates parking for 2.5 hours and then it gets very expensive, so I get out of there ASAP.  Fill out my water bottle again prior to leaving so I can hydrate on my way home.

12:15 pm:  Leave the gym and head home.  Drink about 20 oz of water.

12:45 pm:  Home, start making breakfast because I am starving at this point.  I always make pancakes on weekends, but I make the batter with 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of 100% liquid egg whites, and 1 whole egg.  I throw in 1/4 cup of blueberries, add some dashes of salt and blend everything together.  Then I start making pancakes with olive oil spray.  After I pour the batter into the pan, I add some fresh pineapple chunks and chopped walnuts.  It makes about 5 thin pancakes and I end up eating exactly 2 oz of pineapples and 1 tbsp of walnuts.  This is soooooo delicious, and very healthy!

1:15 pm:  Take 1 tsp of magnesium citrate, then start preparing for dinner.  Eating healthy requires a little preparation!  I use my slow cooker very very frequently.  It's just so easy!  Today I have 2 pork tenderloin pieces, so I throw them into the slow cooker, top with a mixture of about 1/4 cup of organic apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp of ground red peppers.  Then just cook on low for the next 7-8 hours.  Total preparation time:  about 2 minutes.

1:30 pm:  Make some tea and chill for a bit.  Drink equivalent to about 20 oz of water.

3:30 pm:  Lunch time!  I had some left overs from earlier in the week.  So I just heat it up.  It is 3 oz of slow cooked chicken breast (in balsamic vinegar and whatever spices I had on my spice rack), with about 4 oz of sweet potatoes (cooked along with the chicken in slow cooker).  Add about 1 oz of avocado.  Throw on some dashes of salt.  Delish.  I take my multi-vitamin pill with this meal.

4:00 pm:  Head out to get coffee at the Farmer's Market at the Grove (bring my 24 oz water bottle with me and drink along the way).  Coffee Corner makes a great latte.  Look around at the farmer's market without buying anything.  Then go to the stores right next door to browse some more.  Try stuff on at Nordstrom.  Play with gadgets at the Apple store.  Look at pretty shoes at the Nike store.  Browse at the Splendid store and wish I could afford it all lol.  Go into Athleta for 2 minutes with good intentions and leave immediately (happens every time, I just can't get into this brand).  Walk past Banana Republic and Zara, really want to go inside but I was with company that didn't!  Ugh.  

6:00 pm:  Snack time!  I have 2 more meals to fit into the day - the Greek yogurt snack and dinner.  Since I was out, it was hard to get Greek yogurt.  But no worries, I brought along my Questbar - raspberry white chocolate flavor.  I don't eat protein bars very often at all, but it is handy to have them in my purse, at home, and at work, in case I need it.  Again, it's all about planning ahead!  I like Questbars because they use natural ingredients.  They are high in protein (20g for this flavor!) and high in fiber (17g).  Fat at 8g is a little high for my macro.  But this is the best bar I've found.

7:00 pm:  Go to Trader Joe's next door and get groceries for the following week.  I usually buy chicken breasts, turkey, pork tenderloin, beef top sirloin, veggies, eggs, yogurt, and whatever replenishment I need for bread, rice, potatoes, almond butter, etc.  For a healthier snack, I always grab the dried seaweed sheets, and sometimes chili dried mangos.

8:00 pm:  Back at home!  The pork tenderloin I threw in the slow cooker earlier in the day is now ready!  I smell it as soon as I walk in the door.  Yum!  So I turn it to "keep warm" setting, and shred the pork with 2 forks.  Done in 1 minute!

Drink some water - about 8 oz.  I'm thirsty since I finished my bottle while I was out.

8:15 pm:  I toast my 100 calorie whole wheat sandwich bun, and measure 6 oz of pork.  Mix it with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce, top with 1 oz of avocado, and eat it like a pulled pork sandwich.

I have my Vitamin C pill, fish oil pills and zinc pill with this meal.

I have a cheat meal once a week, usually on either Saturday or Sunday night.  This time I was planning on having it on Sunday night, so I stayed in on Saturday.  It saves a lot of money actually lol.

9:00 pm:  Go watch Gravity in 3D.  Mehhhh... not sure what the buzz is all about.  I get a bottle of water at the theater so I don't die of thirst during the movie.  I go get a drink afterwards.  Not really supposed to do that, but I've worked hard!  One small drink to indulge!  I get a cucumber martini because I can't stay away from any drinks made with cucumber for some reason.  It was great.  I drank about 3/4 of it only and gave the rest to my companion.  :)

12:30 am:  Back home.  Take my probiotics, have my magnesium drink, and go to bed!

Monday 10/28

6:00 am:  Alarm goes off... dammit it's Monday again.  Snooze my phone angrily.

6:30 am:  Crawl out of bed, very grudgingly I might add.  Late, as usual.  My intern asked me once why I can't get up 10 minutes earlier.  I have no idea!!!  

7:00 am:  Head to work.  Hoping my boss is not there before me.

7:20 am:  Walk in.  He's there.  Great.  Time for my probiotics.  Drink 20 oz of water.

8:00 am:  Breakfast!  I made pancakes the night before and brought it to work with me!  I blended in 2 oz of banana instead of 1/4 cup of blueberries this time.  I love banana flavor in pancake batter.  No pineapple either since banana is higher cal.  So I just heat it up in the microwave for a minute and eat.

Take my Vitamin C pill with this meal.  Drink 20 oz of water for the next couple hours.

9:30 am:  Starbucks!  My Starbucks app on my phone likes to start reminding me at 9 am.  I get my usual tall Pike with a little bit of whole milk and stevia.

10:30 am:  I have my 5 oz of Fage Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup worth of blueberries and raspberries.

Then I take my magnesium drink, and fill my water bottle with water and drink 20 oz worth before lunch.  It's really easier to drink water if you portion it out.

1:00 pm:  The menu at work is Moroccan style chicken today.  Like!  So I go get it.  As usual, I get a side salad, top it with their mixture of sliced cucumbers, artichoke, and sun dried tomatoes.  Get the chicken, which is topped with green olives and dried apricot.  Couscous on the side with mint and pine nuts in it - great, there's my carb and fat source for this meal.  About half a cup eyeballed.  And a grilled vegetable skewer.  I actually measured the chicken to 3 oz exactly - of course I keep a food scale at work!  I don't rinse off the chicken this time because it's grilled and rubbed with salt and turmeric.

It must be noted that I only get the food at my work when they are offering healthier options.  Fish and chicken are always great.  But sometimes they make cheeseburgers or burritos and I pass.  I can always ask them to make me a turkey sandwich or salad, so there are always lots of options.  But I nearly always stay away from the dessert table.

Continue drinking 20 oz of water for the next couple hours!

2:00 pm:  Get back to work from lunch, take my multi-vitamin pill.  Drink 20 oz more of water in the next few hours.

3:30 pm:  Get my green smoothie from the fridge that I brought in in the morning.  Mix it with my protein powder in shaker cup again.  Drink it and then take Vitamin C pill.  Continue drinking more water.

4:30 pm:  Leave work and head to the gym.  It's lower body huge circuit day.  I do 6 lower body exercises back to back without rest.  Then rest for 2 minutes.  Then repeat 3 more times.  Then 30 minutes of cardio intervals.

6:30 pm:  Done with this shiat.

7:00 pm:  Walk in the door.  Heat up my cast iron grill while making brown rice in rice cooker.  I have some bell peppers which I slice up, add some frozen edamame, and cook them for a while in the pan.  Cast iron grill is now heated enough.  I throw on about 4 oz of top sirloin (salt and pepper on it is all that is needed) and cook a few minutes per side.  I like it medium rare.

7:45 pm:  Rice and meat are done at around the same time.  I eat them along with the veggies I cooked and 1 oz of avocado.  It's so freaking good.

I take my Vitamin C, fish oil pills, and zinc pill.

8:30 pm:  Shower time.

9:00 pm:  Watch Person of Interest while drinking tea.  I have so much tea.

10:00 pm:  Prepare for tomorrow's dinner!  I put 3 pieces of chicken breasts into the slow cooker.  Top it with red wine vinegar mixed with random spices from spice rack (oregano, basil, parsley, mint, bay leaves, salt & pepper).  Dice up some potatoes, and throw them in too.  Cook on low overnight.  It will be ready the next morning before I leave for work, during which time I switch the setting from "low" to "keep warm" where it will stay all day until I get home from work and eat it.

This meal is actually great because I can have it for dinner or lunch, or both.  I make a lot so it lasts a few days.

11:00 pm:  Take my probiotic, my magnesium citrate drink, and get ready for bed.  I always have good intentions of going to bed earlier but it rarely happens.

So... my life is pretty boring, isn't it??  HAHA!  Perhaps next time I should post about my cheat meal!  But anyway, this is pretty much my routine 90% of the time.  As I said above, eating healthy requires planning ahead.  But it's really not that hard.  It doesn't have to take a lot of time to make meals, and it doesn't have to include weird ingredients or under-whelming flavors.  You CAN have a full time job, workout at least 5 days a week, and still make your own healthy and yummy food.  Make better food choices every time you are at the grocery store or out at a restaurant.  It's totally do-able!  I hope I helped answer some of your questions!