My daily nutrition

I get asked a lot what I eat on a regular day to lose weight/get healthier. And truth be told, it is nothing too crazy. Not some secret pill or anything. I will tell you what my meals usually look like and what "rules" I go by, daily. Please keep in mind that this might not work for everyone, but this works for me!

My eating habits are actually quite simple and come down to these basic things: make healthier choices, eat smaller portions and eat on a regular basis so you don't get hungry and binge. I try to stick to these rules for optimized success:

• +/- 1,500 kcal daily
• 5 to 6 small meals or: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, (snack), diner
• breakfast is the biggest and most important meal of the day
• keep diners small and simple (based on veggies and some lean meat)
• no more food after diner (diner not after 7.30pm)
• at least 1,5 - 2L water daily
• at least 1 or 2 cups of green tea daily
• if I want a cookie or some chocolate, I will have 1 or 2 pieces, max (I do not believe in deprivation!)
• if I want to have a bigger diner, I will lower my calories for lunch
• plan my meals every day in the morning

BREAKFAST: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I make sure to always have a good breakfast with proteine and fruit. Especially because I exercise 6 days a week, having a good start of the day is so important. I have a protein shake every single morning, around 8 or 9 am. "But, protein shakes are nasty?!" Yeah, only if you do not know how to make them taste good. Add anything to the shake you like: a banana, berries, a pear, whatever! As long as it is healthy. You have it with water or with skim milk. My breakfast shake contains around 400kcal. It should be the biggest meal of the day. This will keep you from getting hungry throughout the day! I also have other breakfast foods on occassion, maybe 2 times a month. This will be something like oven buns with a cheese omelet or something.

MORNING SNACK: Around 11am I will have a snack. Anything I want, I just try and stay within the 200kcal range. This can be either some fruit (banana, pear, plums, oranges), a handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts), some dark chocolate, granola bar, hard-boiled egg. If I want a snack that is high in fat and/or carbs, I will have it right now, with my afternoon snack I try to stay on the low end of this.

LUNCH: Lunch time is around 1 or 2 pm. I either eat a big bowl of veggies (spinach with sauteed onions and garlic is my favorite!) with some tofu. Or I will have an english muffin with an omelet, cheese, some ketchup, cucumber or whatever. Or an omelet with onions and paprika. I try to be creative here. Most of the time I will have a piece of fruit with it also.

AFTERNOON SNACK: Whenever I get hungry after lunch (which is usually around 3 or 4 pm) I will grab a snack (again, staying within the 200kcal range) low in fat and/or carbs. This is usually some sort of fruit or a mix of fruit and 1/2 handful of nuts.

DINER: I keep my diners as simple as possible. I will have a piece of meat (mostly turkey breast, chicken breast, shrimp or any type of fish, but I also like to have steak, pork, beef - again: I eat anything I want!) with vegetables. I will make enough veggies to fill me up.

I do count my calories, because I tend to undereat, which leads to water/fat retention and thus will cause me to gain weight. I don't go crazy though, I try to stay around 1,400kcal without counting condiments and butters/oils, etc.