Plenty of protein at every meal
It’s time for another “What I Ate Wednesday,” in which I share pictures of everything I eat and drink in a day. I’ve been doing these posts for about two months, and they’ve been super popular. You guys really seem to like pictures of food.
So here we go: This recap of eating is from yesterday. I was at Equinox for 12 hours, trained some clients, did my own workout and had a couple of meetings.
What’s special about this recap is the fact that I’ve added the approximate protein counts for all of my meals. Protein is so very important, and I’ve been extra careful to monitor and increase my intake now that I’ve changed the intensity of my weekly weight-training and workout program.
And by the way, have you entered the giveaway to win four boxes of ProYo High-Protein Frozen Yogurt sent directly to you? The contest ends tomorrow night at midnight, so enter today!
5:30 a.m. breakfast at home
I’m a creature of habit, and usually stick to my tried and true overnight oats for breakfast each day. I prepare a few batches of overnight oats in individual tupperware containers at the beginning of the week. Each concoction has almond milk, Greek yogurt, rolled oats, chia seeds and cinnamon. When I pull it out in the morning, I add more cinnamon and a chopped-up banana. It gets consumed alongside a mug of hot green tea, sweetened with stevia and almond milk.
This meal had about 20 grams of protein from the chia seeds and yogurt.
9:30 a.m. snack at work
After I trained two clients, I wandered into the break-room for a snack. I had a Focus Food energy bar by Game Plan, as well as a crispy cold Fuji apple. I’ve mentioned before that I was looking into trying new protein powders, and it just so happens I received a care package from Game Plan with powders and bars. This bar is filling, has caffeine in it for extra energy and is full of good stuff like grass-fed organic whey and is non-GMO. I don’t drink coffee, so the jolt of caffeine in this bar definitely put me a pep in my step. Stay tuned for more details on the Game Plan products coming soon.
This snack had about 18 grams of protein from the bar.
11:30 a.m. lunch at work
I’ve been on a salad kick as of late, because it’s so easy to throw it all in a container to-go. Yesterday’s lunch was a typical salad, which had a ton of veggies and some leftovers from our Sunday taco night. It included spinach leaves, purple cabbage, grape tomatoes, grilled peppers, black beans and grilled chicken, coated with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing. This salad is very pretty in person. In fact, someone in the break-room asked me if it was store bought. Love that!
This meal had about 33 grams of protein from the chicken and beans.
2:30 p.m. post-workout protein
As I always do, right after my weight-training session I had a protein shake. I absolutely love protein shakes. In fact, I look forward to pulling my pink bottle out of the break-room fridge and taking a swig right after I’ve stretched and cooled down. It’s my reward and my treat. Yesterday, I tried a bag of Vega Sport Performance Protein, mixed with some water. (As a Sweat Pink Ambassador, I received the Vega powder to review. So expect some more details on that soon as well.) I’ve never had protein powder that comes in individual baggies, and boy it’s convenient when it comes to measuring and taking to-go.
This shake had about 25 grams of protein.
3:45 p.m. afternoon snack
Isn’t this one pretty? It’s about half-a-cup of cottage cheese, topped with blueberries and a warmed-up and crumbled-up strawberry SOYJOY bar. This was a delightful afternoon snack, which I had standing up in the break-room as I scrolled through Facebook on my phone, leaning against my locker. Sometimes I look around at my surroundings and wonder if I’m back in high school each day … just saying.
This snack had about 30 grams of protein from the cottage cheese and bar.
8:45 p.m. dinner at home
First and foremost, yes this was a late dinner. I know. Dave picked me up from work just before 7 p.m., and by the time we were home, unpacked, settled and we had finished up our respective work on the computer, we didn’t get to cooking until 8:15 p.m. However, this dinner was a winner, and I was the chef behind it (yay!). It’s baked mahi mahi, covered in salsa and laying on top of a bed of brown rice, sauteed collard greens and black beans. Truly a yummy meal, which was healthy and also reminiscent of an easy fish dish I created several months ago.
This dinner had about 34 grams of protein from the fish and beans.
After dinner, I took a few chugs of some soy milk and called it a night.
So why track the protein you ask? Based on advice from a certified nutritionist at my work, I’m trying to eat one gram of protein, per one pound of my body-weight, and this day of eating more than fulfills that. In fact, it’s extra protein at more than 160 grams. Everybody’s need for protein intake is a bit different, and if you’re not as active or trying to gain muscles, you can get away with a little less than your bodyweight of protein in grams each day.
Now, I’m heading off for another day of training clients and training myself. Go forth and have a good one, friends!
For more food recaps, check out my past posts, or visit the “What I Ate Wednesday” creator.
- A full day of eating in pictures
- Another full day of my eats and drinks
- Real food isn’t always pretty
- Do you have a balanced dining out strategy?
- What I ate and drank all day
- Three meals, two snacks and a shake
- Food trucks and rest-day eating
Questions of the day
Do you keep track of how much protein you eat each day? Do you ever cook fish at home? If so, what’s your favorite fish recipe?
Love that you warmed and crumbled up the SOYJOY bar! That’s my favorite way to enjoy them 🙂 Your days certainly are busy! Looks like a great day of eats!
Yes, lots of color in my meals yesterday. I bet you could warm up any kind of granola/protein bar … I may start doing that more often!
I keep track of my daily eats by using the myfitnesspal app. I strive for 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. I find this is the mix that works the best for me.
I love cooking fish at home. Just this week we’ve already had salmon one night and trout another night 🙂
Love your wiaw posts. I enjoy seeing what other healthy eaters eat for some ideas on what I can add to my diet for variety.
Ohhh I’ve never made trout at home, but love to order. Do you have any good trout recipes to share? 🙂
We cooked the trout on our bbq but it could also be done in the oven if you don’t have access to a bbq. We put some lemon juice on the trout then covered it in a mix of spices (this time we used greek seasoning, garlic power and a bit of dill) then we put some onion slices on top (optional) and wrapped it in tin foil to bake. It’ll take 15 – 20 mins to cook at 425. You’ll know it’s cooked when it flakes easily.
I always feel like I need to work on my protein intake. I just ordered some new protein powder, so hopefully it will be awesome and will help me get my daily allotment! I also totally need to eat fish more…I just feel like I suck at preparing it! Any tips? 🙂
I feel like you can’t go wrong with baking fish. I preheat to 450, put the fish in a glass-bottom baking pan, covered in some coconut oil and olive oil, then bake for about 15 minutes. You can cut into the fish at the end to make sure it’s white all the way through. Baking has always been the best for me. Give it a try!
Your meals are always so colorful and balanced! I really need to focus on eating more protein too. I’m a vegetarian so it can be a struggle sometimes since I try not to eat a lot of processed faux meat. Thanks for the reminder!
Do you do eggs, milk and cheese? Lots of real protein in those animal products too!
I’ve been trying to increase my protein intake lately because I’ve been doing a lot more weight training and high intensity training. Also, I’ve noticed that nut butter seems to get incorporated into my snacks/meals/everything way too much (I’m talking almost every meal), and I want to try decreasing the healthy fat in my diet a bit, and replacing it with lean protein.
Is it weird that it’s been kinda fun seeing the different ways I can incorporate protein into my diet?! (ie. getting pretty creative with the protein powder…)
Hi Nicole, I like nut butter a lot too, but of course, complete animal proteins are definitely better when you can. Glad you’re on board the protein train!
Consequently delectable! That appears to be amazing!
I keep general track of the protein I eat in a day to make sure I consume enough since it is kind of easy to let it slip. Salmon is my favorite go-to fish to make at home!
Oh man, I’d faceplant any of those meals!
I typically naturally have a protein source which each of my meals, but never really pay attention to how much- you have me intrigued now to test it out one day!
Hi Arman, Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like the food pictures. Yes, protein is important, especially complete proteins. Try keeping track and see how you do!