19.6.17

What I eat in a week | 1 |

Hi everyone, I hope the start of your day has been fabulous! From my last post, you would know that on Monday's it will be more lifestyle oriented. Today's post will be starting a new series, 'What I eat in a week'. Close friends and family members know that this summer I'm dedicated to getting in shape and eating healthy. Living on campus for the first time was really different for me this year and I definitely did not eat healthily (like chicken fingers and fries every day). So I grabbed this cute notebook at 5 Below a few years ago (I love stationary and I tend to hoard them) to write down what I eat each day.
The notebook has a nice nature vibe to it

I'm not sure how many pages this notebook has and before I decided to use this at my food diary I would write notes or lists in there if I couldn't find any sticky notes. To start a food diary you don't need a super fancy notebook -- just something you like and that's easy to use is fine!
Before I even begin to show you what I've eaten I want to share a few tips in case any of you want to do this and don't know where to start. Like I said before you don't need a super-fancy notebook just something that you like. I suggest one that has lines in it because I like how organized it looks but if that's not your style that's fine! 
It can get tedious and boring if you write in just one color if I'm being honest. I've tried doing a food diary a couple of times but it's SUPER boring if you don't decorate it or do something that makes it look fun. When it comes to decorating my notebooks I'm not really into drawing or putting stickers on so what I do is in each heading (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner) I write them in different colors. Not only does it make it look more interesting I can also break them up much easier. Basically what I'm saying is make this food diary fun for you!
I also write the date at the top corner so I know what day it was and so I can figure out what I did that day that led me to what I ate. If you have to write notes like if you went out to eat I put the note with the food just so I don't get confused.
Really all that matters is that you can navigate it easily and that it's enjoyable. You don't want to dread putting in your food each day. Make it interesting!
One last tip is that I HATE bringing it out with me and I don't like to bring a lot when I'm out and my bag isn't that big, to begin with. So if I'm out and I have a meal or a snack I write it down in my notes app so when I go home I can write it down. If you don't do that it can get really confusing -- especially if you don't write it down in a few days (which I do sometimes).
Okay so now that I got all the tips and tricks out of the way (if you have any questions leave it below and I'll try to answer asap) let's get on to what I had this week and let's see if I can justify any of it!
So this is normally how I set up my journal (I know it's a bit boring but it works for me):

Breakfast June 12-17:
Generally, when I first wake up I have a cup of warm water and something small like a crunchy rice roll so then I can go do a workout. I think it's super important to have something in your belly before you work out --because how else are you going to get energy? Then after I workout I normally either have a smoothie or I make something. For a few days, I ate a strawberry banana crepe because they're delicious and I'm the only one that eats them and the recipe makes a few so they had to go somewhere. It's honestly not that unhealthy and I'm getting my fruits in! Although, one day I had McCdonald's the night before and I had leftovers so I did finish it the next morning (oops)!
Also, Every Thursday (or almost every Thursday) my dad has the day off and my family goes out to breakfast at our favorite diner. So I got Italian toast with butter and strawberry jam, scrambled eggs, home fries, Canadian bacon, with a side of ketchup. Definitely not my healthiest choice but it's once a week so I like to think of that as a treat! In the future, I am going to try to wheat toast as a healthier alternative but like I said...it's a treat I get once a week so we'll see!
Overall my breakfasts this week were really healthy! I like to have at least one day where I can treat myself a little because everyone needs a break once in a while. I do generally drink my breakfast (aka smoothie time!). So I have no worries about what I'm consuming in the morning!

Lunch June 12-17:
For the most part, I eat at home for lunch (I really don't go out too often because I also want to save money) so it's mostly homemade meals that I eat. I've gotten into cooking this summer because I'm trying to also encourage my family into eating healthier. My dad works for a chip company and always brings home unhealthy chips. While there a few that are on the healthier side those seem to much rarer so when we don't have them I make my own chip! I'm not a huge meat eater but I do love chicken and so I like my make my own baked chicken and honestly the recipe I found is SO yummy! I'll be sure to share it with you guys in the future once I get all my recipes written down.
I did go out for lunch once with my sister because it was my late birthday present. But like I said earlier we're trying to eat healthier and we live next to a city so there is always a more healthy option so went to this new restaurant called AS220. I got vegan mac and cheese with broccoli and I shared house cut fries with my sister. I also had leftover fish and chips from one of the nights I went out with my coworkers (and I still have some left). I think it's important to have a few leftovers if the meal is big enough but over eating always makes me feel disgusted and SUPER bloated. Lastly, I had three chicken tenders, fries, with a side of sweet and sour sauce at work. I KNOOOOW...not healthy at all but it was yesterday and I had work early in the morning so I wasn't able to have a big lunch and on top of that something came up in the family and I was left alone at my house and I was way too tired to cook.
Overall my lunches this past week weren't too bad...I can't expect to be perfect every day but I'd say this was a success and I'm happy with what I had.
Dinner June 12-17:
Okay....I definitely could do better with my dinner...But I also want to defend myself a little and explain why I didn't eat that healthy last week. On the 12th I had a leftover bacon cheeseburger from work because my parents decided to have a late dinner and I got hungry early...Granted I should've just had a small snack like an apple but I'm not perfect! Later that night though I had pasta with clam sauce so it wasn't too bad. The next night I was HANGRY...and in general when shark week is approaching I'm not in a good mood and some ~dramatic~ things happened between my sister and I and I got upset...So I ended up having another late dinner and it ended up in me making up with my sister and craving a Mcdouble and some fries (I also ate two nuggets that my mom offered). The next night I actually ate something healthy! WOOOO! I had salad, brown rice, turkey, and chickpeas... Honestly, one of the most simple meals to make and it fills me up quickly!
Then on June 15th, I had my favorite baked chicken with brown rice and chives! I wish I had added a vegetable but there's always next time!
The next night I went out with my coworkers and I had fish and chips and onion rings...I only had a tiny bit because I didn't eat that much (in the lunch section I already covered that I still have leftovers!). Then the next night I had brown rice with chives, peas and carrots, and my favorite baked chicken. I brought it to work and ate half before my shift and then the rest of my shift. I did that because afterward my coworkers wanted to go out to eat again (my friend Jess was home for the weekend and we're not able to see her that often and so the group tries to get as much bonding time with her that's possible). So I didn't eat dinner when I went out I got a dessert instead (I saved money on a whole meal and it wasn't too unhealthy).
Snacks/Other June 12-17:
I honestly don't snack that often and when I do I try to make healthy choices...but that isn't always going to be perfect. One night I had a handful of organic animal crackers from Whole foods because they're addictive and I like to have a light snack before I go to bed. Generally, I try to eat an apple or my homemade potato chips if I'm going to snack after lunch or before dinner so I don't get too hangry or if my lunch wasn't enough that day.
I also want to point out when I snack on these items I put them in a small bowl and only have a handful normally!!!
Sometimes when I go to work if I don't bring a meal I'll bring a crunchy rice roll and some Nutella or at night and I don't feel like having fruit I'll eat that instead. I only ever eat one in a sitting because to me they're filling!
One day I did have two hot dogs with ketchup and some kettle chips...I had already had lunch and it was way too early for dinner (by like 3 hours)... I should've just had a small snack but I was in the mood for a full meal I guess. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body because small snacks aren't always what you need! The night I had a healthy dinner and then went out with friends I got ice cream with warm apple crisp -- which is basically just an apple pie without the crust. I didn't eat all of it because it was huge... my friend Chris actually ate some of it to help me!
For snacks, I don't think I do too badly but when I have lunch I should make sure I eat enough so I don't have a whole other meal before dinner. So I just have to make sure I portion meals better (it was one day though so I'm not going to go crazy). 
Drinks June 12-17:
Every single morning I have a warm cup of water with lemon to wake my system up to start my day. Then during or after breakfast, I'll have a cup of green tea and at night I'll have green tea, a red tea to help my acne, or a herbal supplement tea if I had a workout that was tough on my body. Throughout the day I drink water with lemon and very rarely will I drink coffee or soda.
I did have one cup of soda while I was at work and I immediately regretted it because I could taste the syrup...I did have a bottle of soda when I went out with my sister but that was really good and it wasn't your typical Pepsi or Coke product. When I went out with friends I did have a bottle of sweet tea...which, in all honesty, wasn't that good but I wanted to shake things up and have something other than water. Then on Sunday, it's a tradition that when the whole group is together at work we get Starbucks so I got a venti strawberry refresher. I like getting that instead of coffee because I love tea and it's literally just the tea and some water!
Normally during the school year, I like to drink coffee when I'm tired or have to get a lot of work done but during the summer I try not to consume it too often because I don't do that much that I would need a boatload of energy.
Anyways, this post is extremely long and I'm sure not many people read all the way through (if you did thanks!). These generally won't be too long but I had a lot of things I wanted to explain in this first post. I hope you found this interesting and I'll be back here next week with another food post!
Thanks for reading!

-Jona
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