During the last three months of my journey, I’ve received some pretty cool comments on my posts and some pretty neat emails. Just neat stuff that makes me feel REALLY GOOD.

In the beginning, I started this blog for me – to keep me on track and to get healthy. Gaining a small following has been icing on the cake for me because in your comments and emails I have found I enjoy helping others more than helping myself. There’s just a really good feeling you get when you think about affecting someone else’s life in a positive manner.

One of my goals is to hit 100 on the Google Friend Connect box to the right. If you haven’t already, would you think about being my friend or subscribing to my RSS feed? :) If you know of anyone that may like my blog, think about mentioning me.

If you are commenting and giving me help, I’ll comment on your blog and support you too. It kind of works both ways and I’d love to read about your journey and support you in any way I can.

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One of the cool emails I got today was from a blog reader who told me that they “have become addicted to reading my blog” (how cool is that?!) and they were curious about the types of foods I eat. I’ve had a few other people ask me this as well.

I’ve always shied away from blogging about my foods because it’s just kind of boring to me and what I eat may not be what works for you. I also don’t want to be one of those people that gets critiqued for what I eat, you know what I mean? But I did promise this reader I would post about the type of things I eat in any given day. What I’ll post is what I ate yesterday (since today was a little odd with going out to eat).

I don’t get obsessive over my calories like I did the first month and a half. I’ve tried to learn how to listen to my body and feed it when it needs to be fed. I’ll eat more depending on if I’m hungrier or on how much exercise I do in any given day.

General rules I try to follow (most of these were recommended to me by my trainer):

• Eat 5-6 small meals
• Eat every 2.5-3 hours
• Eat 160 grams of protein per day (as recommended by my trainer)
• Food portion sizes fit into the palm of my hand (for example, a small chicken breast that would be about the size of my fist, plus a veggie that would fit into my cupped hand)
• Clean eating (whole foods from the Earth – I do my best to stay away from anything processed)
• I try to keep my meats lean when possible (turkey, chicken, fish)
• I love eggs and eat them whole (sorry can’t do egg whites only!)
• I do eat large salads
• I drink protein shakes at least 1-2x per day (directly after workouts)
• I drink lots and lots of water and usually drink a large glass before any meal
• I typically don’t eat sugar – I avoid it like the plague
  
• If I can afford it, I will eat organic, but I don’t beat myself up about it if I can’t or don’t

My foods from yesterday:

Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with frozen wild berries (no sugar or syrup)
Morning Snack: Protein shake (after a.m. workout)
Early Lunch: Large salad with lots of dark greens and spinnich leaves, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and homemade olive oil dressing; tilapia fish on the side
Afternoon Snack: Greek Yogurt with a scoop of protein powder
Dinner: Chicken breast, fresh green beans and a side salad
Evening Snack: Protein shake (after p.m. workout)

I can’t even tell you how many calories this is off hand without really thinking about it and calculating and frankly that’s a lot of work for me, so I’m not going to do it. But what I can tell you is that I’m choosing whole foods that are fresh and taste good. Sometimes I may have a Lean Cuisine meal or some soup or a taco salad. It just depends on what I have on hand or what’s available.

One thing I have learned is to never get past the 3 hour mark between meals because I am more apt to overeat. And if I have something that isn’t ideal (like the dessert on my birthday today) I don’t beat myself up about it. What’s the point?

Another thing I’ve noticed is that when I keep my body fed every 2.5-3 hours and hit my protein I’m just not as hungry as I used to be (pre healthy lifestyle). Sometimes I’m struggling to eat everything on my plate. I still eat, but I won’t clear my plate if I’m full. I’ll stop.

If I am hungry – and I know that it’s not just thirst disguised as hunger – then I will eat another snack. I’m not going to drive myself crazy with feelings of hunger or the fact I’ve eaten more than 6 times during the day. Big deal, right?

(Before starting any eating plan, I would recommend that you consult with a trainer or health care professional because the things I do may not work for you, your body style or level of exercise. Just keep that in mind.)

I hope this helps you and maybe gives you some ideas. I know my eating is kind of boring, so if you’d like to share some of your favorite foods or ideas, please do so.

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