What I ate Wednesday: Simple and easy work-day meals
I’ve been writing this blog for several years, and “What I Ate Wednesday” posts are some of the most consistently requested, right up there with fitness tips. While I used to regularly document my colorful and healthy meals — mostly prepared at home — while I was working in gyms and doing freelance, these days, much of my food is packed on-the-go as I work in a totally different job. Therefore, what I’m eating rarely makes an appearance. (Read more about the job change here.) Quite frankly, it’s not easy to take decent photos of your food when you (A) eat in the car or (B) eat under a fluorescent light, but that is neither here nor there.
The background: I do a full grocery shop on the weekends and get everything I need for the entire week. And while sometimes I take Sundays to do a full meal prep, which looks much like this “a meal-prep plan for five days of healthy lunches,” other times, I merely assemble a few healthy items together to make rounded out and mostly balanced meals, which is what you’re about to see here. Let’s take a look at everything I ate on a Tuesday.
5:30 a.m. – Pre-workout
I ate this Larabar in the car on the way to teach a 6 a.m. BODYPUMP class at a 24 Hour Fitness gym in San Ramon. I love my early morning crew, because they are super dedicated. When I took the class over months ago, it was a small group, but nowadays we fill the room with more than 40 people.
I always eat something sweet with a little protein and carbs before a morning workout, and Larabars have been my mainstay for some time. It’s just enough and not too much, and of course, full of real-food ingredients only.
7:15 a.m. – Post-workout
In the car on the way home from teaching, I drink a pre-made protein shake to help my muscles recover from the one-hour resistance workout. I make the shake the day before, then let it sit in the freezer for about four hours and finally move it to the fridge overnight. That way, I can bring it with me to class, and by that time, it has defrosted and is slightly slushy when I go to drink it.
This day, I drank Vega Essentials, which is a nutritional beverage with 20 grams of protein, a bunch of vitamins and minerals and a couple servings of greens. It’s tasty! I got a tub of it at IDEA World Fitness Convention and just started working through it.
8:15 a.m. – Breakfast
After showering up and doing a quick get-ready (bun-life), I sit down for breakfast. And because it’s technically my third meal of the morning, I’m not starving at this point, but still like to get something else in my system before starting the day.
I always choose full-fat Fage plain Greek yogurt, and top it with a tablespoon of raw pumpkin seeds (for the extra magnesium, which helps you sleep) and a teaspoon of chia seeds (for healthy omegas). I enjoy that alongside a big ripe banana and a mug of green tea. The standout is definitely the tea, which is filled with two tea bags, a scoop of Vital Proteins collagen (obsessed), some stevia and a splash of pure coconut milk from a can. It’s my favorite beverage of the day! And yes, my mug is massive. Dave calls it my “drinking bowl.”
12:15 p.m. – Lunch
Lunchtime is the best time! In the middle of a weekday, when I’m working at my office, I always take a full break and step into the little cafeteria to eat away from my desk and distractions. Lately, instead of bringing leftovers, I bring a bag of store-bought organic hard-boiled eggs, whole avocados and some toppings. Then, I chop it all up on the spot and eat it!
This plate has four eggs and a full avocado. I put hot sauce or sometimes salsa on top, and it’s a totally tasty and filling concoction, with lots of healthy fats and protein.
4:30 p.m. – Snack
Snack time rolls around, and I usually go for another mug of green tea (once again lightened up with canned coconut milk, which I bring from home), and some more stevia. What would I do without stevia? This day, I also had a GoMacro Thrive bar (full of superfoods and quite filling), and an organic green juice. While I don’t like to have two packaged bars in one day, sometimes it happens, and at least they are both pretty clean.
I gobbled this all down while finishing up some work before heading home for the day. The best part of my day? Walking in the door and being greeted by Rudy, of course! We usually go for a short walk, before I get unpacked and settle in for the evening.
8:30 p.m. – Dinner
Weeknight dinners for Dave and for me are super simple. We usually have chicken and cauliflower rice, turkey burgers or even breakfast for dinner (my personal favorite). However this week, we had an order of Green Chef organic meal kits (referral link) that were gifted to me, so we cooked up this little beauty.
That’s seared yellowfin tuna puttanesca, with green beans, tomatoes, olives and capers and a well-dressed salad, which Dave so kindly prepared for us, while I worked on the computer. Seriously, Green Chef is one of the best meal-kit services, as everything we’ve made has been divine! This meal was light and well-flavored and a great healthy dinner. Oh, and don’t mind the little white guy wandering around the kitchen.
I finished the night with a single coconut-covered date for a sweet bite, and that’s all she wrote. Boy, my purple manicure sure looks dark, doesn’t it?
Overall, it was a tasty and mostly healthy day of eating!
If you liked this “What I Ate Wednesday,” check out all of my older ones, and have a fab day! (Thanks to Laura for the link-up.)
Need some food inspiration? Check out these #healthy #workday meals by @apstyle for #WhatIAteWednesday Click To TweetP.S. There are affiliate links in this post, so thanks for your support!
Questions of the day
What do you usually have for lunch?
What’s your favorite meal of the day?
LOVE your polish choice! And I also love the little white wanderer. 🙂
Yay for the return of WIAW! And I’m happy to see you eat 4 eggs in one sitting. I often have 3 1/2 or 4 hard boiled or scrambled eggs for breakfast and people at my office make me feel like a Sumo wrestler for that. But it’s good, clean protein. And I’m HUNGRY, darn it!
Yes, I started out bringing two eggies with a bunch of veggies, but it wasn’t enough. Each egg only has 60 calories, so you need to load up! Four is the perfect number. Happy Wednesday to you, lady! Keep on keeping on! 🙂 Oh and Rudy says hi!
Woo! Love those hard boiled eggs! I have them every morning (and sometimes at lunch, too!). Best way to get in fats and protein. Larabars are great bars to eat on the go– I haven’t had one in a while, but I love the cookie dough flavor. Well, I love everything cookie dough, really!
Hi Carrie! How’s CITY LIFE?? Miss you out here in the Creek hahah! Come back to check out Broadway Plaza! And yes, I’m with you on eating multiple eggs a day. Sometimes I have eggs for dinner too haha! Happy Wednesday!
Dinner is my favorite meal of the day since I usually try to find the time to cook. I have been loving hard boiled eggs lately, I need to try them with avo and hot sauce though! That sounds like a tasty combination.
I’m not that big into hot stuff, but I love a little bit on hard-boiled eggs. And I’m all about breakfast — I just wish it wasn’t always so rushed. What are some of your fave dinner meals to cook? You have a lucky hubby, Patricia! 🙂
Simple & Easy = BEST DUO of words ever when it comes to… Oh, everything in life 😉
Agreed. I like everything to be simple and easy. 🙂 Happy eating to you, GiGi!
Everything looks so good! I need to check out those Thrive bars.
Lunch for us is usually a salad and some form of protein – grilled chicken, salmon, etc. It’s a litl easier now that I work from home!
OHHH how I miss making lunch in my own home! Enjoy that, Laura. It’s so nice. And yes, the Thrive bars have some cool flavors! 🙂 Have a Happy Wednesday!
Why do you consume the collagen, what kind of benefits are u noticing?
Hi Andrea! When I came back from IDEA Fitness Convention in July, I realized I needed to hop on the collagen bandwagon, because it was a popular subject. This is a clean collage source, which I put in my tea once a day. You can’t taste it and it dissolves. Collagen helps your hair, nails and skin to be strong and grow, and it helps joint health and digestion. It’s still too new for mw to tell the effects — but I will definitely write more about it one day soon! Have a fab day, lady!! 🙂
I’ve been on the collagen band wagon as well, love it! I love bars, but hate the price tags, so I only pick some up when they are on mega sale or I’m having a weak moment at the store hehe. Loving Rudy sneaking into the pics 🙂
I’m all about the eggs for breakfast, two scrambled with some cheese plus a big bowl of loaded oatmeal and green tea. My lunch is almost always leftovers, and I try to make a nice dinner most nights of the week, cooking is just a relaxing way for me to wind down from the day.
I wish I felt relaxed when cooking, because then maybe I’d do it more often hahah! Sounds like you have a nice and hearty breakfast to get you going for the day, Jessie, love it. And I always find my Larabars on sale for $1 each, so I get tons at a time YAY! Happy Wednesday, friend!! Hope all is well!
That freezer to fridge protein shake trick is so smart! I don’t really make shakes anymore, but maybe I would if I could have them stay cold after a workout. I’ll be giving that a try!
Hi Cayanne- I’ve been using that trick for a long time. Give it a try! It’s so good to reinvigorate with a quick shake after you sweat. Even better when it’s cold!
I love Larabars; they are just the perfect little size for a quick snack and not too heavy. I love that you do a simple meal of hardboiled eggs and such for lunch; that keeps things easy especially for the mid day.
I like to keep it really easy, Emily. How about you?? 🙂
That dinner looked mighty delicious, I am so in the mood for that plate right now.
Beautiful photography!!!!
It was super tasty, Stephanie. I love some colorful food. Hope you had some great eats too, lady! Have a fab night!
I have to hand it to you for getting up so early to teach Pump and then working a long day after. That takes commitment! And lots of snacks, hehe. 😉
I keep seeing the Vital Proteins everywhere. It’s popular stuff!
It’s not easy to have such long days, that’s for sure. But you know I love my BODYPUMP. Are you gone yet? Come to my BP class this Saturday morning hehehe in WC?? 🙂
Yum this looks like a great day of eats! I love the idea of bringing hard-boiled eggs and avocados to work with various toppings. Maybe I will try that next week for lunches at work! Do you try and prep all of your hard-boiled eggs in advance? I have yet to find a good method to do that.
It’s an easy lunch. Actually, I buy the pre-cooked hard-boiled eggs to make it easier, so they are always perfect. I had been doing them on my own, but it’s so much quicker to buy them. Happy eating, Danielle! 🙂
I”ve been wanting to try Green Chef, but we were traveling so much that it obviously wasn’t going to happen! Maybe now that we are back, I will give it a whirl. First, though we need to work through what is in our freezer, protein wise. If I can just remember to thaw it out….
Isn’t it funny how it’s hard to get a big amount of food when you know you have a lot of places to be or are away? We’re in the same boat, because Dave is gone a lot for dinner or we each have events and I don’t want the meals to go bad hahah! The Green Chef is great — I get the Paleo dishes. Not terribly hard to make either! Happy day to you, Susie! 🙂
green chef sounds so good! I’ll totally have to check it out since I love hello fresh and freshly! Do they have meals that accommodate to allergies, AKA gluten-free?
I love seeing other people that work a “desk job” share their healthy eats! I’m lucky that our office has tons of healthy options (Quinoa! kale!) but it’s still hard! I swear there are always cupcakes around, haha. Your meals look great!
There are always sweets at work! So many birthdays, I guess. It’s tough to say no, but we can’t have those treats every day! hahah! And yay for kale at your office, Liz!