I think it will be fun and useful to show a full day of what I eat. The day that I recorded this, I had an 8-mile easy run and a bunch of bodyweight exercises to do. For reference, I am 24, 6′ 190lbs.
I don’t track my calories, and I don’t follow any special diet. I think tracking calories is good when trying to lose weight, but when just looking to maintain, tracking can be overwhelming. I also feel that tracking leads people away from choosing high-quality food, and leads them towards lower quality food that they can fit into their macros.
I am a big fan of what the guys over at Renaissance Periodization are doing. I took a lot of what they do and made it work for me. I just think of my meals as X amount of protein from a lean source, Y amount of carbs, and potentially some extra fat added in.
7 AM – Breakfast
I wake up between 5:30 and 7:00 depending on the day. I have breakfast as soon as I wake up. I keep breakfast high protein with moderate carbs and fats. This morning I had 4 egg whites + 1 egg scrambled with mushrooms, peppers, spinach and a little bit of shredded cheese. I also had a Dave’s killer English muffin with butter and raspberry jam. These English muffins are incredible and so is the jam. The jam is from Trader Joe’s and tastes like the filling for a good NY jelly donut. I don’t think NY is known for its jelly donuts, but when I go back to NY I always go to my hometown bakery that makes amazing jelly donuts.
10 AM – Snack
I have a smaller meal between breakfast and lunch. I will either have a protein bar or whey protein mixed with almond milk and something on the side, either fruit, oatmeal, or some toast. Today, I actually had none of those, and had two Greek yogurts from Aldi.
1 PM – Lunch
For lunch today I had 0.5lbs of 96/4 ground beef with some cheese on top. Along with that I had two small sweet potatoes and some sauteed spinach. This is a pretty typical lunch for me. I usually either have chicken or beef, a carb source, and some vegetables. I try to get in at least 50g of carbs because this is my last meal before I train. Yeah, it doesn’t look that pretty but I was trying to work while eating.
530 PM – Dinner
For dinner today I had 0.5lbs of hangar steak, white rice with vegetables, and some roasted broccoli and cauliflower. This rice is what I call “Vertical Rice”. Anyone who knows about Stan Efferding’s Vertical Diet will understand it . It is white rice cooked in chicken stock, with peppers, carrots, and spinach. I just throw it all in the rice cooker and let it rip. It is extremely good. I will sometimes throw Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning on top. If you know about Tony Chachere’s you know.
Like lunch, this is a pretty typical dinner for me. Chicken, beef, or fish, a carb source, and vegetables or a salad. I also had a beer with dinner today. The beer that I had today was New Realm Hazy Like A Fox. This is a NE IPA brewed in Atlanta, GA.
8 PM – Snack
I will have one more meal before I go to bed. I try to get a slow-digesting protein with some carbs and a little fat. Tonight I had around two servings of cottage cheese and a banana.
Snacking throughout the Day
I usually snack during the day, especially now that I am working from home. This helps me get extra calories in when I am still hungry between meals. Some snacks I keep around: carrots, blueberries, raspberries, rice cakes, tortilla chips, or something that I made during the week like bread or banana bread.