Weekly Tip: Food Snapshot

I've been getting a lot of questions from people about what I'm doing in terms of diet throughout my challenge.  People are asking me if I'm following a strict diet and what I eat, so I decided to give you a snapshot of what a typical day's worth of meals looks like for me.  I'm not actually following any specific diet plan, I just try to stick with lean proteins, veggies, and whole grains.  I also am trying to stay away from a lot of processed and pre-packaged foods and I started learning how to cook so that helps a lot.  To give everyone an idea of what I usually eat, here is my food snapshot from this past Tuesday:

7:00am - Breakfast: Oatmeal and a banana

280 calories

10:15am - Morning Snack: Vanilla greek yogurt with blueberries and granola

240 calories

1:30pm - Lunch: Turkey slices and a Laughing Cow cheese wedge on whole wheat bread with carrots

230 calories

4:30pm - Afternoon Snack: Granola bar

140 calories

7:00pm - Dinner: Chicken breast, sweet potato, and sweet peas

335 calories

9:00pm - Evening snack: Trail mix

160 calories

As you can see, I actually eat quite a bit, and I'm eating totally normal things!  My total calories for that day was about 1380.  Eating a bunch of smaller meals throughout the day means I don't get the urge to binge on something really unhealthy, and this way I never eat too much in one sitting.  This has been a really helpful way for me to watch my portions and also satisfy my snack cravings.  I have fallen in love with trail mix as a low calorie snack in the evenings that still gives me the sweet & salty combo that I love.  I also try to include fruit or veggies with almost every meal.  Chicken or fish are easy enough to make in the evenings for dinner in order to get lean protein.  In terms of drinks, I drink water all day long, so no added calories there!  Usually I have at least 8 glasses, sometimes more.  I also might have a cup of coffee or tea once in a while, which have almost zero calories.

Have you made any changes to your diet that have worked well or not so much?  Tell me about it!  As always, feel free to send any questions my way.  Happy eating!