Of course, keep in mind that I am no longer in recovery and thus I do not eat to the Minnie Maud guidelines. I am at a very healthy weight, not experiencing starvation symptoms, and have my period back. I maintain my weight on roughly 2300-2500 calories, strength train about 5 times a week for an hour each, and eat whatever I want. My food philosophy is simple: no restrictions. I do tend to eat healthy because that's what I usually crave, the foods are simple to make, easily accessible, and I function best when I eat a variety of nutrients. However, I still eat out every week (sometimes more than once), have "junk food," order late-night wings or Chinese delivery with friends, and generally eat whatever my body craves. Nothing is off limits for me. Like I said before, the restriction mentality is much more harmful to your health than the "junk foods" you are avoiding.
On Thursdays my first class isn't until 10 AM, so I get to snuggle in bed for just a little while longer. Despite it being 7 degrees Fahrenheit today, I started my day off with some cold overnight oats. I've been trying to experiment around with the recipe lately and I think I've found the perfect one! Be on the lookout for a recipe coming up soon. This little concoction contained a full cup of oats, full-fat greek yogurt, almond butter, flax and chia seeds, honey, and goji berries.
I tend to eat multiple times a day because of my class schedule, but I make sure to never let having a class be an excuse for skipping meals. Because I don't have time to stop for lunch in between my classes, I made sure to pack a snack to have in between. This was a whole-wheat english muffin that I filled with fig preserves, cinnamon, and ate along with a packet of this walnut butter. Gourmet PB&J anyone? I ended up buying a cup of coffee with half and half to drink with this snack.
Luckily it's still the first week of classes so I didn't have labs today. "Lunch" was at 2:30 PM and consisted of some chicken breast cooked in olive oil, broccoli, and roasted sweet potato with some almond butter, cinnamon, and honey.
After lunch I had an interview and worked on some school work (yes, second day of classes and I already have a ton of work) before heading off to the gym for a back and biceps workout. After a quick shower, I made myself a delicious post-workout smooth with frozen mangos, pineapples, strawberries, honey, a little bit of protein powder, and some full fat greek yogurt. Remember guys, muscle growth happens during recovery and yes, carbohydrates are just as important as amino acids for muscle recovery. Plus, they taste delicious.
I ended up studying with some friends and later and we decided to make dinner together because no one wanted to brave the cold and go to the dining all for food. I was really craving a salad, so I decided to throw together this little number. I added in some penne pasta (way more than that flimsy 2 ounce serving), strawberries, chicken, and almonds before topping it off with some poppyseed dressing and a balsamic glaze for that "gourmet-looking" effect. And yes, it was a BIG bowl and it was overflowing.
Even though it's pretty early in the semester, I still somehow ended up staying up way too late and so I ended my night with some of these homemade brown sugar crusted pecans I made at home before I came back to college for the semester.
There you have it: a whole day's food. I eat what I want, whenever I'm hungry. I like to keep it simple and easy during the week and always have some sort of easy to grab snack or meal already to prepared just so I can have something when I'm in a rush and hungry.
No restrictions. No deprivation. No 100% junk but also no 100% healthy. It's all about balance.
