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.

Snacks, snacks, snacks!

Snacks are just as important to me as meals are. Snacks are what get my mind through the day. Breakfast wakes up my body and starts my metabolism, lunch will refuel my body and diner gets my body ready for bed, but I couldn't stay sane without my snacks!

As you all might know, I eat 3 meals and 2 to 3, sometimes 4 snacks a day. When I snack, I try to stay in the 150 - 200 caloric range. You have to be really creative with snacks, I think. Step awap from the cucumber, carrots, but try to think more along the lines of satisfying your sweet tooth or filling you up so you won't think about being hungry anymore. Cucumber will not do this for you.

I have listed a few of my favorite snacks to eat throughout the day:

Source

• 30g salted peanuts (187 kcal)
• 30g roasted almonds (177 kcal)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs (140 kcal)
• granola bar banana-chocolate (107 kcal)
• 1/2 avocado with salt & pepper (119 kcal)
• 1 Apple (88 kcal)
• Medium banana (116 kcal)
• 2 oranges (96 kcal)
• 100g greek yoghurt (124 kcal)
• 150g raspberries (64 kcal)
• 2 squares Lindt 85% dark chocolate (105 kcal)
• 1 tablespoon peanutbutter (84 kcal)
• 30g chunk parmesan cheese (123 kcal)
• 1 pear (98 kcal)

Keep in mind, you can really mix and match here. There are so many different things you can try. I am always looking for new snacks. What do you like to snack on?

Lunch: Paprika-onion cheese omelet

I love eggs. I try eating them every single day, but eggs can get really boring. It is easy for me to get sick of eggs. But I found that experimenting with them, will help you find amazing recipes. Here is one of my current favorite omelets that I love making:

You'll need:

2 eggs

1/4 paprika (doesn't matter which color, yellow is the sweetest)

1/8 onion

olive oil

grated cheese (I love Emmental cheese)

salt & pepper to taste

First you heat up the olive oil in a small pan. In the meantime you dice the onion and paprika, I like my dices to be a bit big, so they have a bite to them. When you're done, you throw the onion and paprika into the pan and let them brown a little. You then crack and beat the 2 eggs. When the onion and paprika are a bit browned, you stir it and divide the dices all over the pan. Evenly distribute the egg mixture over the onion and paprika. Put the heat on medium and let it sit for a minute. I lift the sides to help the mixture run from the center to the sides, which allows the omelet to cook evenly. After 1 minute I throw some cheese on it. I let it sit for a bit mroe until the omelet is cooked completely. Season with salt and pepper, flip half over the other side and enjoy!

This is very simple, and you can basically throw in anything you like. I've used spinach and garlic, but you can also use broccoli, tomatoes, etc.

Eating right on a tight schedule

I got a question concerning eating healthy when you have a busy life, and I think this is a topic that a lot of people struggle with, because they work full-time, they have other social responsibilities or children to look after.

When I started changing my eating habits, I faced that challenge also: I worked 40 hours a week at my internship, and we would always eat together at lunch. I knew I had to create a plan to keep myself on track. It is really easy for people (at work or school) to influence your eating habits, but if you have a plan, and you try not to listen to what people say, you are very likely to succeed.

My first tip is: keep it simple. I know I've said that you should experiment with your meals, but you can still keep it simple then. My breakfasts are always the same. I have protein shakes every single morning. If I have time in the morning, I will drink it in the morning. If I don't have time, I will take it with me. I am in love with my purple Coffee Bean tumbler!

Since I have 3 meals a day and 2 snacks, depending on how long I will be out, I will take some snacks with me. I find that a granola bar (not too often!), some almonds or peanuts, a hard boiled egg or fruit are easy grab-and-go snacks to carry with you.

If I am away for lunch, I will prepare something, either the night before or the morning of. When I worked at my internship, I loved to whip up a big pot of spinach with sauteed onions and tofu, the night before. Just nuke it for a few minutes the next day and that's it! It doesn't have to take up a lot of extra time, while you are cooking diner, just make extra or have an extra pot on the stove making your lunch.

If I don't feel like cooking something for lunch, or I just want something super simple, I love english muffins. They are amazing! You can do so much with it. Throw on some ketchup, a piece of cheese, 1/2 avocado and cucumber and pack some extra fruit with you to have with it.

Our diners are always extremely simple. After school or work we are not always in the mood to make big diners. We always make sure we have a shit load of turkey and chicken in our freezer, and a lot of different veggies. Frozen veggies are great. Contrary to popular belief, they are just as healthy or even healthier than fresh ones (fresh veggies lose their nutrients during transportation, frozen veggies are frozen when they are at their best, so they still contain all the healthy nutrients!). Plus, they are easier than fresh veggies. You just throw them in a pot and you're done - no cutting, no washing. As for our meat, we spice it however we want and bake it in a pan for a few minutes. Preparing diner never takes up more than 20-25 minutes.

There are also people that like to prepare all their meals on Sundays for the entire week but I haven't gone that far yet, as I have found that food goes bad over time, no matter how well you store or refrigerate it.

Try not to overthink your meals, only if you have time for that and you want to! I try to experiment with my meals on weekends, so during the week I don't have to think about it too much.