A Day of Eats

If you follow me on My Fitness Pal, this post will likely be old news, as I'm going to rehash exactly what a "day in the life of the Farrell's nutritional plan" looks like for me.  Without further ado, let's analyze Sunday, April 7th:

I "slept in" until 7:00 when I had to wake up to take The Boy to the airport.  The lucky duck gets to spend a couple of days in Boston, a city that he loves and that I have never visited, for work.  When I got home, I decided that I couldn't fall back asleep and instead brewed some coffee and whipped up breakfast:

First, I know how disgusting this looks.  (Also, I spent a lot of yesterday learning how to take better photos with my point-and-shoot, so look forward to that.  Maybe.  If I decided to not be lazy.)  Second, this is a recipe from my mom's (and my) good friend Mary Lu.  Third, it did not look anything like the ones my mom has made.

Anyway, I made this "pancake" with oats, cottage cheese, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and just a splash of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze so that it would blend in the Magic Bullet.  I know it doesn't look like it, but this was delicious, especially since I topped it with a tablespoon of sunflower butter and half a banana.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 296
• Carbs: 30g
• Fat: 11g
• Protein: 16g

For my midmorning snack, I ate a green apple, a piece of string cheese, and a fourth cup of wasabi peas.  (I didn't take a photo because I was gobbling these down in the car, just like Bethenny advises not to do.)

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 252
• Carbs: 39g
• Fat: 7g
• Protein: 9g

Considering I'm supposed to be getting 33 grams of carbs and 14-18 grams of protein per meal, this one was kind of an oops.

For lunch, I had Orange Marmelade Glazed Tempeh, courtesy of Kath Eats atop spinach and carrots.  You guys: this meal was soooooo good and soooooo easy.

I had never had tempeh before, but I really like it and could see marinating it in a variety of different goodies: different jams, soy sauces and chili pastes, etc.  It has quite a high caloric content, but besides that, I'm in love with this food.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 386
• Carbs: 37g
• Fat: 18g
• Protein: 22g

Again, this meal was a little "oops," as it was too high in both carbs and protein.  Oh well.  I feel like it was okay since it was too high in both categories.  :)

For my afternoon snack, I munched on carrots, two mini Babybel cheeses, edamame crackers, and two tablespoons of hummus.  I'm not going to lie: initially I had planned on a half cup of pistachios, but those things are a PAIN to shell.  I got lazy and resorted to this.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 280
• Carbs: 25g
• Fat: 8g
• Protein: 15g

I was a little low on carbs, but oh well.

I already told you all about my dinner -- the best crab cakes in the universe (with some roasted asparagus).  I truly hope y'all make those sometime soon, and please let me know how much you love 'em.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 284
• Carbs: 28g
• Fat: 14g
• Protein: 14g

Again, I only had one of the crab cakes, topped with the salsa, and a side of asparagus.  I did not account for the oil on the asparagus (since I make it a little differently than BFF), but I was likely still within range nutritionally.

For my bedtime snack, I had the usual: a chocolate protein shake.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 142
• Carbs: 2g
• Fat: 5g
• Protein: 23g 

I am not supposed to have carbs before bed, and while this is a little too much protein, it's the best I can do without carbs.  And this shake is goooooood.

Overall for the day, here are my totals:

• Calories: 1,640
• Carbs: 161g
• Fat: 63g
• Protein: 99g

While this is pretty darn good, I still have some work to do.  First, while Farrell's advises against counting calories, I would still like my daily intake to be less than 1,600, even with the crazy workouts that I do.  I didn't workout yesterday at all, so the 1,640 seems especially high to me.

Second, according to The Nutrition God (aka my brother), the ratio of carbs-fats-carbs should be 40%-30%-30%.  According to this handy-dandy pie (mmm, pie) chart from My Fitness Pal, I'm a little off base with the percentages.  I need to work on upping my protein intake and decreasing my fat intake.  While I'm not eating many "bad" fats, I still need to strive for lowering my saturated fats and decreasing fat intake altogether.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about this particular nutritional plan.  I truly believe in it whole-heartedly, as I do not feel deprived at all, and I feel like it is something super realistic that I can keep up for months and months and months.

(Remind me of that in a few weeks, mmkay?)