Okay! Will try to blab on less today and just share some stats. I started tracking on Monday. I’ll try to list the approximate times I ate, too, if I can remember.
Reminder- P= protein, F= fat, C= carbohydrates.
My daily “goals” were: P 127, F 50, C 134, ~1,500 calories
Monday
Daily Totals:
Calories: 1,477
119P/ 52F/ 131 C
Fiber 22 g
Breakfast– 8 a.m.
2 large hardboiled eggs
1 packet Simply Nature Oats and Flax Oatmeal
2.1 oz strawberries
P16/ 12 F/ 29 C/ 292 calories
Snack-11 a.m. (pre-workout)
2 Quaker plain rice cakes
1 Tbs. Crunchy PB
P6/ 9F/ 17 C/ 170 calories
Lunch ~1:30 p.m. (post-lunch hour workout) – Chicken Tinga salad
1 cup chicken tinga
1 cup romaine lettuce
1/8 C. chipotle salsa
1 clementine orange
P27/ 12 F/ 21 C/ 294 calories
Tea- late afternoon- Collagen Tea
1 Green Tea with Mint tea bag
1 scoop 1Up Nutrition Collagen Peptides mixed in (can’t taste it!)
P18/ 0 F/ 0 F/ 72 calories
Late afternoon snack– 4 pm?
1 can (4 oz.) Chunk Light Tuna in Water
80 grams Honeycrisp apple (chopped and mixed with tuna + salt/pepper)
P22/ 1 F/ 15 C/ 157 calories
Dinner– 7 pm
1.5 cups homemade cream of zucchini soup
4 oz Jennie-O 93/7 Ground turkey
3/4 cup frozen mixed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots
1/3 cup white rice
*turkey/veggies/rice all mixed together, like a one pan meal
P 30/ F 18/ C 49/ 492 calories
Tuesday
Daily Totals:
Calories 1,474
128 P/ 54 F/ 128 C
Fiber 25 g
Breakfast- 8 a.m.
1 hardboiled egg
1/2 red grapefruit
1/2 tsp white sugar
7 P/ 5 F/ 15 C/ 128 calories
Mid-morning snack- 10:30?
6 Triscuit crackers
1 Sargento Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar stick chopped up
Raw jalapeno slices on top of cheese/crackers
6 Blue Diamond Habanero BBQ almonds
10P/ 11 F/ 22 C/ 219 calories
Lunch- post-workout (12:30?)- leftovers
3 oz ground turkey
1 oz. poached chicken
3/4 cup mixed veggies
1/3 C. white rice
1 cup cream of zucchini soup leftovers
31P/ 13F/ 44C/ 426 calories
Afternoon snacks/tea- (grazed on this all a bit during the afternoon)
4 oz. shredded boneless/ skinless chicken (poached)
80 gram apple
(Mix chicken/apple together, add some salt. Odd but tasty mix.)
Collagen Tea (1 scoop Collagen + Green/Mint Tea)
2 Hershey Dark Chocolate Kisses
53 P/ 7 F/ 21 C/ 353 calories
Dinner- 7:30 pm- steak tacos
thin cut Mexican flank steak 3 oz.
1/3 cup Refried Beans (regular)
1 corn tortilla
1/2 tbsp corn oil for cooking
1/3 C. chipotle salsa
1/2 raw jalapeno
*Ate 1 as a taco, rest of the meat w/o tortilla
27 P/ 18 F/ 26 C/ 348 calories
Wednesday
Daily Totals
Calories 1,476
133 P/ 53 F/ 133 C
Fiber 26 g
Breakfast #1– quick bite at 07:30 a.m. while kids ate
1 slice Healthy Life bread
2 tsp Peter Pan peanut butter, crunchy
5 P/ 5 F/ 9 C/ 102 calories
Breakfast #2- 8:30 a.m. – Egg Scramble
1 whole egg, scrambled
2 Bob Evans liquid egg whites (6 tbsp), scrambled
1 slice Thin Pepper Jack, Crystal Farms melted into eggs
1/2 C. arugula mixed in eggs
19 P/ 8 F/ 0 C/ 163 calories
Mid-morning soda break
(*This is my one and only true vice. Regular soda. I love it. I have a (very long) history of drinking WAYYYYYYY too much of it. I’ve drastically reduced my consumption lately, b/c duh- it’s horrible for you, but I felt like fitting one in today. Baby steps.)
1 can Dr. Pepper
0 P/ 0 F/ 40 C/ 150 calories
Post-workout snack– 1:00 p.m. (was not super hungry at this time for my planned “lunch”)
2 medium celery stalks, chopped
2 oz. poached chicken
3 oz. sugar snap peas
15 P/ 3 F/ 11 C/ 117 calories
Late lunch– ~3:00 p.m. Chicken Salad
3 oz. Grilled and Ready Oven Roasted Chicken Diced
1.3 oz leftover steak
1 cup arugula
1.5 cup romaine
2 tsp parmesan cheese
80 gram apple
1/3 c chipotle salsa
3 mini bell peppers on the side
32 P/ 7 F/ 26 C/ 288 calories
Tea + sweet treat- 4:25 p.m. while working
1 scoop 1Up Collagen Peptides
Bigelow Green Tea with Mint teabag
2 Hershey’s dark chocolate kisses
19 P/ 3 F/ 6 C/ 112 calories
Dinner-WAY later than usual due to driving to a late swim practice and just not feeling hungry before it: 8:45 p.m. This timing was so not ideal!! The entire night was very goofy schedule-wise for me. I felt too full going to bed, but slept totally fine. This was also too much protein for one meal. Listing this all though for full transparency. Amazingly, my weight was markedly down at 5:45 the next morning, even with these tacos on board. 😉 But if I hadn’t been specifically trying to hit my macros, I would not have eaten this much….I also ate a huge salad for lunch, also very late in the day. Just a weird day!!!
2 corn tortillas
1/2 medium avocado
1/3 c refried beans
3.5 oz thin cut Mexican flank steak
1 stick Sargento reduced fat cheddar cheese
57 P/ 26 F/ 41 C/ 544 calories
I started taking more pics of my meals on Wednesday:
I think I’m going to wrap it there for now. So this was Monday- Wednesday, above. I’ll share Thursday and Friday maybe tomorrow. Thursday was an interesting day, with a lot of really high volume foods (I actually felt too full much of the day) and an impromptu movie night out (i.e. movie theater snacks!). Stay tuned on that.
A few notes on meals:
- This is definitely more “red meat” than I would normally eat. It just so happens that Ivan stopped by the Mexican grocery store and picked up a bunch of fresh pulpa, which is a thin and very delicious cut of Mexican steak. It is on the expensive side and definitely not okay to waste!! So, I ate more of it than usual. Just FYI before anyone freaks out.
- I hadn’t tracked macros in many years, so I stumbled around a little getting my bearings with it again. I’m not claiming these are perfect or even 100% ideal meals for anyone. These are based on foods I had on hand, utilizing leftovers, with pretty minimal forethought. It’s one of those things that definitely gets easier as you do it more often. I did do a big grocery run Tuesday a.m. with macro tracking (high protein, lots of fruits/vegs) in mind.
- Also, a PRO TIP (which I’m bad about following myself)- tracking is a lot easier if you eat many similar foods or meals. You can save them in My Fitness Pal, which makes it a breeze to just copy then to the next day.
A few notes on weight:
- I have been weighing myself daily this week, just to monitor. (For reference, I “normally” weigh myself….basically never. Literally, I usually never weigh myself.) When I used to track macros in 2015-2016, I weighed myself once per week. However, I recently heard mention on a podcast the idea that weighing yourself daily, and then looking at the average for the week, actually can be much more accurate. It can also take the “pressure” (if you feel that way) off of the “weigh in day”. (Maybe you ate a lot of salt the day before, and your weight is UP (water weight) the one time you weigh yourself that week. But maybe it’s actually been down all the other days!! So with just one weigh in per week, it can be tricky to really have the full picture. Based on a single weight, you may feel like you aren’t making progress- but maybe you really are.)
- My weight has decreased every single day since I started this. By a lot. Again, full transparency here: On Monday I weighed 136 lbs. Tuesday 134.6. Wednesday 134. Thursday 132.8. Friday 131.4. This is a huge drop in 4 days. I am watching this VERY very closely. If it continues in this drastic downward direction in a couple more days, I will be increasing my calories!!!!
- My “starting calories” (1,500 goal) was kind of a guess, since I wasn’t tracking my maintenance level before. It’s very possible that due to my previous dietary habits of less filling/ but much higher calorie dense foods, I was actually consuming many more calories than I actually realized. (This is VERY COMMON. Most people eat way more calories than they “think” they do.) Therefore, 1,500 may be (is probably) too big of a deficit for me. I am now thinking I might have been mostly maintaining my weight on well over 2,000 calories per day. Maybe even like 2,500+ calories? I don’t really know.
- A good starting point normally for a calorie deficit= cutting out about 10-20% from your maintenance calories. (So if you maintain on 2,000 calories, you’d cut 200-400 calories per day. So in this example, your goal calories would be between 1,600-1,800). I was thinking I’d been eating more like 1700-1800, but these numbers are showing me I was probably eating a LOT more. Science don’t lie, folks. This is why it is helpful to even track for a while if you don’t want to lose weight, just to figure out where your maintenance calories are.
- To be very clear, I do not and will never condone over-restricting or over-dieting or anything of the sort. Fat loss SHOULD BE GRADUAL. So, like I said, I’m watching this very carefully. As you can see above, I am eating a lot, though!! Actually, I feel like I am eating way more than I normally do. I am full all the time. It is rather mind boggling in some ways….
- Final note: My “starting weight” of 136 lbs was taken on Monday morning. After eating Chick Fil A/ fries/ Coke on Saturday for lunch and pork nachos/ beer on Saturday night, plus a turtle sundae with Asher on Sunday 😳. It is highly likely that that weight was a bit falsely elevated/ water weight. I did weigh myself after our trip last month and I think I was around 133.5. Like I said, I don’t really weigh myself often, but I think my weight has been in the 134-135 range of late, with my “preferred”/ “feel better” weight being around 130 or so. For reference, I’m 5′ 8″ with a pretty naturally slight build.
- Final final note: I’m also drinking WAY more water than usual = flushing out excess water weight. And, I’m eating a lot more fiber than usual. Probably easily double my normal fiber intake. And, probably triple my normal quantities of fruits/ veggies. So, a bit of a cleansing effect is probably happening right now, leading to a quicker than normal weight drop.
Workouts so far this week:
Monday- Leg Day #1 (gym) + light walk on treadmill
Tuesday- Shoulders/ Triceps (gym) + walk to/from gym
Wednesday- Fight Club #77 from Morning Meltdown (Beachbody)- this is a 25 minute home workout/ martial arts style cardio + walk outside
Thursday- Leg Day #2 (gym) + walk to/ from gym
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a fun impromptu movie night last night. Hadn’t been to the movie in quite a while. We saw The Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. About what you’d expect- totally unrealistic, kinda dumb, but cute/ funny with lots of shirtless scenes for Channing. 😂 (not complaining. That man definitely counts macros. Wowza. hahahaha.)
GRATEFUL KAE 
We are about the same height, but I am definitely heavier than you, which I’m ok with. I weigh about 148. I have not been below 140 in such a long time. Like my 20s probably? When I got married 5 years ago, I was 142 and felt like I was in excellent shape so I don’t think I would ever get back to the 130s – which again is totally fine! But I do not the bikini body you do and have always carried my weight in my stomach! When I ran my first marathon in 2006 and got down to 126 (which was too low for me personally), I still had a tummy so it would require a lot of work and sacrifice to have a great ab area! It is amazing how quickly you can lose weight when you really dial in your eating. I think I lost something like 6 pounds during my first week of weight watchers.
I think it’s great that you were still able to drink a Dr. pepper and stay in your macro/calorie goal. I try to have about 1 soda/week. I drink more when sleep is awful as I see that as a treat/source of extra caffeine! So I had a coke yesterday as we’ve had some early wake-ups this week. If I am going to drink soda, it’s going to be a regular soda because diet soda tastes awful to me and is not really a treat!
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Yes, it is funny how people store fat differently. Also yes- the nutrition piece is, unfortunately, HUGE. I think most of us would agree, we’d work out any day if we could just eat whatever and never gain weight! I am trying to be more mindful/ change some of these “bad” habits, because I know I am lucky that I am overall naturally thin and have a good metabolism. But I’m almost 40. I’m not sure how long I can play that card, you know?! Haha. Especially with my soda habit….I won’t get into details, because it’s embarrassing, but I have always drank a lot more than your one per week. Let’s just leave it at that!! hahaha. But I have definitely thought, and more lately, how long am I going to be able to keep this up? At some point all that sugar/ carbs is going to catch up with me. I might as well kick the habit for good. I know my Dad used to drink a ton of Coke back in his 30s-early 40s, but at one point did the Atkins diet (around when I was in college) and gave it up, and he’s never had it since! And he used to be a daily drinker of it, similar to me… So that gives me hope. 😉 I am with you though 100% that diet is gross. I would really like to just be able to have soda occasionally/ once a week or so, or maybe here and there when out for lunch, etc. without feeling almost a pull to have it more. That’s my ultimate goal. 🙂
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I didn’t drink any soda while I was on WW because I could not handle seeing how many points a soda was!! So I went months without but have let myself have 1-2/week. We all have our vices, though! I love ice cream and have slipped back into the habit of having a couple of bowls/week.
I heard on a podcast once that ounces are lost in the gym and pounds are lost in the kitchen. I thought that was really interesting and has been very true for me, especially since my exercise is cardio-heavy so not really optimal for toning/weight loss. I definitely eat better when I track what I’m eating but I was getting fatigued with tracking so it’s kind of a hard balance!
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I am sure I would lose weight w this eating style (and I’m 5’1” and weigh under 110, because I’m short!). It does looks like a lot of protein but I would crave fat (real cheese dressing avocado etc!).
Fine I guess maybe I will try logging macros a few days. Now I am intrigued! Also how do you survive without chocolate? Lol. I’m one of those people who has to end the day with chocolate – a tiny dark square is fine but something!
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Well, I did eat quite a bit of full fat stuff- regular eggs every day, normal PB (not low fat), regular pepper jack cheese (although I did buy some of the “thin” slices, so the quantity was less), regular Triscuits. I also ate 1/2 a big avocado on my tacos! And the refried beans were normal, not low fat option, too. 😉 I don’t like dressings though- I never have. So I always put salsa on salads.
Re: chocolate, well, I’m actually not a huge chocolate person, but I did have 2 dark chocolate hershey kisses each day, Tues/Wed with my afternoon tea! And I had a can of regular Dr. Pepper (very sweet!) one day. And not shown on these days, but I had a bunch of frosted animal crackers (very high carb/fat) for a snack on Thursday + movie theater popcorn. So I feel like I still fit in plenty of not-healthy stuff too. 🙂
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How did I miss the kisses? Yep those count :). Good point. Maybe it was just missing the dressing/sauce components.
I’m motivated to track now!!!!
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my first reaction is 1500 is seems little for someone your height… I’m 5’4” and I’m sure I eat more than that.. but you do you 🙂
I think with any diet/eating style change, as long as you cut out junk./packaged food, you’ll feel better right away and loose (water) weight pretty quickly. I haven’t tracked for a long time although I do log my meals for the continuous glucose monitor. how do you weight/measure quantifies? it seems complicated if eating outside the house.
and that’s a lot of protein indeed… which probably makes you feel satisfied.
how do you meal plan now? any change? or do you just eat less of usual to fit into the macro.
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Yes, I chose 1500 trying to put myself in a deficit for a little while, but I do think it might be TOO low of a deficit for me and I may be able to increase, while still eating less than my maintenance calories. I wanted to lose just a little fat/tighten up, hence the lower calories temporarily.
For the amounts, i use My Fitness Pal and just search the item- many things are in there as is, if it’s a packaged item- (example, 1 slice of deli cheese). So I just search and find an option that matches. If it’s fresh food, I try to weigh my food if I can- ex my meat, fruit, veggies- or at least use a measuring cup and then Lot like 1/2 c of blueberries. Weighing is more accurate, but it doesn’t have to be “perfect”. I have a little kitchen scale. In the my fitness pal app you can usually find options to record in various quantities- ounces, grams, etc. If I eat out, well, many American restaurants are in the app, so could possibly find the meal I ordered there. If not, I just search for something similar, or enter the ingredients separately. Eating out is a lot of “estimating” so it’s not going to be perfect, but it’s not like I HAVE to lose weight or anything… so I’m fine with just mostly being close enough/in the range.
For meal planning I have been trying to sit down and enter my meals into the app the night before or early in the morning. There’s no way I would hit the target macros if I just randomly ate throughout the day, at this point, bc I’m not used to this style of eating really. I’d probably eat too little protein and too many carbs and fat. So by entering in advance I can watch the totals and fit in foods that will equal the macros I’m aiming for. Then during the day, I just eat that stuff and that’s it! 🙂
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I am saving this post. So helpful. And yes, I endorse both my Fitness Pal (for easily logging and also saving food/meals that you eat frequently!) and the Happy Scale app. I’ve been weighing myself daily for the exact reason that you stated. One weigh-in doesn’t tell you much, but the Happy Scale gives you a “moving average” which is much more accurate than the one-time weigh in on a random day!
We’re pretty similar in height and weight, so your examples will probably work for me as well!
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I’m glad you found it helpful!! I wasn’t sure if people would love or hate this type of content, ha. Thank you for the Happy Scale app tip! I’d never heard of that. Definitely going to be checking that out!
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You know I have lots of thoughts on weight and food and all of this! Such a great post and I appreciate how mindful you are of rapid weight loss and maybe recalibrating your total calorie count for the day if it keeps coming off quickly. These meal plans are so, so helpful. I actually eat (minus spice) a lot of the things you mention. Eggs are such a staple in my diet!
I’ve been doing a lot of intermittent fasting the last few years and it worked so well for me for a long time, but lately I’ve been really struggling with my routine (I do IF both for weight maintenance AND for health issues that seem to be improved by fasting). Some of it, I think, was having to give myself permission to bend the rules a bit. For example, I read a book that labeled consuming anything – even a calorie-free flavoured sparkling water – as “dirty fasting”. Only black tea and coffee were “allowed.”
But here’s the thing. All I want/need in my tea is 2T of oat milk to love it (which is under 10 calories)…so I have my tea and I’m calling it clean fasting because it works for me.
I’ve taken the whole month of April off from weighing myself (for YEARS I weighed almost daily and this was a huge help as I lost a lot of weight – I was over 200lbs post partum with my first child and have been down in the 140-150 range for the last 8-9 years. I credit the daily weigh ins as being a huge part of that initial weight loss + keeping it off; I’m 5’4″). But my preferred weight is about 135, and this winter the regular weigh ins were just…demoralizing. I’m not sure if I’ll hop on at the beginning of May? I think not. Right now I’m trying to go by how my clothes feel! I can tell I’ve lost weight and MIGHT have cracked the 130s which is really where I feel best physically…but I think I might stay off the scale for…a while?!
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I also have a lot of thoughts on your comment! Probably too many to respond back here. From your posts, I can tell your weight has been a bit of a stress point for you. I think it is something you’ll obviously have to decide for yourself- you much you want to focus on it, or not. On the one hand, I don’t think there would be anything wrong if you say, decided that you are TIRED of battling your weight, and really “went after it”, if you will, with a very set weight loss plan of action. I don’t doubt that you could successfully get to your goal weight fairly easily with the right efforts. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to change something about your body.
That being said! I also completely understand if it’s an area you’d rather NOT focus on, and would rather learn to be content where you are. The scale is a personal thing. I do think it can be a useful tool, but only maybe if you’re actively taking real steps to change your weight. If you’re not, really, but kind of “wish you were”, then I can see how it could be really frustrating and maybe better to stay off. If that makes sense. I like to compare measurements and weight to keeping tabs on your bank account/ expenses, though! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with frequently keeping your budget OR health/weight “in check”, though i know the scale has gotten a bad rap lately. 🙂 Anyway, all I want for you, Elisabeth, is to be happy and healthy, so do whatever you think will keep you in that headspace! 🙂
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Just to endorse the Happy Scale app. I started using it about 4 years ago and it was game changing for me, raised on weekly WW weigh ins. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using it alongside a menstrual cycle tracker. I discovered my weight goes up overnight by 2lbs without fail on the day I ovulate. I could have saved a fortune 10 years ago on ovulation sticks! But also drops by 1lb the day before my period comes and goes up by 2lb if I have more than a glass of wine or any soya sauce based dish. I’m much more relaxed now and only really look at trends on a long term basis.
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Thanks for this! I’d never heard of that app until San mentioned it above. I’m surprisingly really liking the idea of daily weighing, too! Never thought I would, but I can see the benefits to it now. It really does also kind of remove the “pressure” of a single weight…actually makes it feel less significant if you do it everyday. Like just another day, another number, whatever.
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Yes! I’d like to chime in (again) and share that I saw similar patterns. Super helpful for women as the weight naturally fluctuates throughout the month!
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