I'm curious as to see what everyone's average day, few days, week, whatever you want to share is like. What food do you eat? Do you plan your whole day out? What works best for YOU?
Everyone is so different that I'm curious as to see what works better for some than for others.
One of my typical days goes like this:
6:00am- go to the gym -45 minutes of some type of cardio. Weight lifting for 30 minutes. Jump rope for 5 minutes. (I drink 1 bottle of water working out)
7:20- Go home
7:30- shower, get ready for work.
8:15am - Eat. - Special K cereal with 1 banana, non fat skim milk.
11:00- Snack - Nature Valley Oat Bars (2 in a set), or sugar free apple sauce. (1/2 a bottle of water)
1:00pm - lunch - Turkey burger with diced onion, and whole weat organic bread. Baked sliced sweet potato. (about 1 whole) (1 bottle of water)
6:00- home from work
6:30- dinner - Whole wheat organic spaghetti with ground extra lean turkey meat, organic spaghetti sauce. (about 1 more bottle of water)
Wow Mac, you are doing great getting up early to do the gym. I'm more of a night owl and really struggle to keep a "9 to 5" routine.
7:00am wake up or hit snooze for 9 min (sometimes 2x) while ignoring animals' stares
7:02am (on a no-snooze alarm day) let whining dogs out to pee into the backyard.
7:03am feed meowing psychotic cat. Put on water for morning tea.
7:03:30am give screaming bird his morning treat and change his water.
7:04am bathroom, glare at self in mirror, weigh.
7:05am grab dog cookies on way back to kitchen, fix tea, let in dogs and hold out cookies as they zoom past. Check to see if all fingers are present.
7:06am Consume tea and breakfast (2/3 cup granola + 1% milk OR container of Fage Greek yogart with tbsp agave syrup) do this while watching news to make sure planet is still intact.
7:30a All animals take their morning nap, I shower and prepare for work.
8-8:30am arrive at work
10am snack - cashews and/or banana
12 noon - usually an instant add water meal of rice noodles or soup.
2pm - granola bar (peanut butter) snack and perhaps diet soda.
5pm - go home.. fix cheese and crackers (baby swiss and triskets), or have almonds. Talk to the animals, contemplate a nap.
7pm - let the out-of-control snacking begin! This is the worst time of day for me. Granola bar, fiber bar, almonds, crackers, pieces of cheese, olives, baby dill pickles and/or yogurt. These aren't all at the same time, btw.
7-11pm Practice guitar, speak to chaotic family members oh phone, watch my fav tv shows and/or play WOW (online game).
11pm bedtime - start preparing at 10:30p. One dog under bed, one dog in footpath to bathroom, one cat in bed demanding the entire pillow. Parrot sleeps in own cage after I catch him and put him to bed. Always one dog pretending to eat cat as cat jumps up on bed - a couple mean barks and me0wing ensues. Cat doesn't know how to retract claws... geesh. Extract cat from crocheted blanket, negotiate pillow space. Sleep.
I think my worst times are the snack fest and 2pm time. If I don't plan what to have in advance, I go to at least 2300-2500 calories and don't lose any weight.
Summers are very relaxed for me the school year is a whole other subject..lol
Summer:
7:00 am - roll out of bed after hitting snooze from 6:17 am - 7ish.
7:30 am - eat breakfast - whole wheat english muffin with a slice of fat free cheese and two slices of turkey bacon on it and a glass of fat free milk.
8:15 am - Drop Son off at school
8:30 - 10 ish - Clean house, do laundry if needed.
10ish - noonish - Have snack small apple and string cheese (Im IR)
Hit the Gym..usually 60 mins of cardio and 30 mins of weights..then 20 mins of tanning (its at the gym..so I count it.haha)
12:30 - Pick up Son from School
1:00 - 1:30 - Lunch my favorite is taco salad
Spinach or I like mixed greens - 4% Extra Lean Hamburger, Fat Free shredded cheese, Fat free or low fat sour cream, topped with Salsa..Its low fat and FABULOUS! YUM!!
1:30 - 4:30 - eh it kinda depends, this is my down time..watch TV, run erronds, Drs appointments etc.....
I definitely plan all food and exercise. I figure I've proved that what I need won't happen on its own! I also tend to have a pretty structured life, because I have an "out-of-town" husband and a five year old.
For water intake - I have several 32 oz sports bottles - one goes with me and gets refilled at the water coolers all day. I drink 4 - 5 bottles of water per day. And that's all I drink as a rule.
4:45 am ish - Get up, let 1 dog out. Swap dogs. (I really need to get my yard fenced) Feed dogs. Get water and vitamins and read forum for a bit while I wake up and remind myself that I really want to work out today. Fold laundry, start new load
5:30 am - work out
6:15 am - Shower, dress, etc.
6:45 am - Get 5 yr old out of bed and dressed. Do breakfast for both of us. Pack my lunch. Swap dogs around again.
7:40 am - leave house, drop child at day care, get to work
8:00 am - Work. Usually eat at desk first thing if didn't have time to eat at home. Egg white omelet or smoothie.
12:00 - eat lunch at desk. Varies - spring rolls, meat with veggies of some sort.
1:00 pm - actually take my lunch break - go run errands. WalMart, pay bills, check mail, banking, etc.
5 pm - leave, usually run one errand on the way home - groceries or some such - pick up Lance, home by 6:00
6:00 pm - deal with dogs, a few minutes of downtime
6:30 pm - Make dinner - 3 - 6 oz lean meat, usually on a spinach salad w/ lots of veggies. Meat with other sides for son.
After dinner, play with son, work with workbooks, bath time if needed, etc. Family time.
9:00 pm - Child to bed - Mama time. My treat 1 cup of sugar-free, non fat chocolate ice-cream (better than it sounds) and crochet while watching a movie.
10:30 pm - dogs out again, lights off, dishes done
Well let's see...
I'm usually up around 3:30 am. Not not choice, I took a spill down some stairs years ago and that's all my bad back and neck will allow me to lay still.
Coffee is ready to brew just have to turn it on.
Feed the dogs (or else).
Let the dogs out (or else).
By than the coffee is ready and I grab a cup and sit down in front of the computer and pay a visit to 3FC.
I don't really work aside from an occasional photography gig on saturdays.
My full time job is caring for my mother, she has dementia and can't be left along. So aside from cooking, cleaning, raising an awesome 12 (going on 13) year old, caring for mom and my DH, I manage to fit some exercise in there everyday for about an hour. Right now I exercise in the pool, it's easier on my bad body parts.
I don't have any set eating pattern, just healthy. I am set in my ways when it comes to breakfast. After I've been up a few hours I usually have a bagel and small glass of orange juice.
The morning are my favorite time because nobody is up yet but me and I get the time by myself.
I'm usually in bed by 10 pm, asleep by 11 pm.
My life is so unstructured with school being out for the summer. However:
7:30 - get up, get dressed (shower after walk if going out, after swim if not)
8:00 - walking (M-F 30-45 mins)
9:30 - breakfast (some type of eggs, pc of toast/jam, orange)
garden, whatever needs doing
12:00 - morning snack (usually beef jerky)
swim if the weather co-operates
2:00 - lunch (some kind of meat with mustard/lettuce on a tortilla, fruit)
whatever, more garden or another swim
strength training Sun, Tues, Thurs
5:00 - afternoon snack (hummus, flatbread)
7:00 - dinner (various)
clean-up, bring in next day's dinner item
8:00 - salad
tv, computer work, whatever
10:00 - evening snack (fruit salad, protein shake)
in bed by 11pm
See, not much going on. On Sat/Sun I usually let myself sleep in a little. If the weather sucks I work inside (cooking, baking, soon to be canning season).
Wow, my day is not nearly as structured as most of yours, probably because I don't have children. I generally get up around 7, walk to Metro, eat when I get into the office 9:30-ish, eat around 1-2-ish, eat around 5-ish, walk home from Metro, then sometimes I have dinner and sometimes not. I count carbs and am mindful of calories. I basically eat the same things over and over...chicken, lettuce, almonds, water, occasionally a steak. That's it. I really enjoy not having to stress about what I'm eating.
Great thread! Trying to write the answer below helped me think through some issues I need to work on. And your examples are all very interesting.
My life is very unstructured always... during the school year, my class schedule is different every semester, and there are always meetings, etc., that vary, so that some days I'm at work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and other days I'm only there for four hours... but when I'm at home I'm often still working, and my deadlines vary. Over the summer is even worse--I have 5 million things to do and no set time to do them. The folks I work with like to plan work-related meetings that happen in coffee shops and bars, and my friends who are WONDERFUL invite me to a million social events (which all involve food). My DH is in another town and does not drive, so on weekends I either go to his place or bring him here. My mother, who's currently a couple of states away, spends at least half the year with me. She's physically challenged as the result of a stroke, and emotionally challenged and challenging as the result of a stroke. So when she's here, she requires a lot of attention and assistance, and when she's not here, there's a lot of keeping in touch by phone with her and with my other family members.
I know! I haven't even mentioned food or exercise yet. That's because the chaos of my life is part and parcel of my failure (so far) to get a real handle on planning.
What really works best for me is when I'm on auto-pilot: That is, when I've already decided what makes an acceptable meal--not exactly planned, "Tomorrow I will do x" but just generally "For breakfast, I can have x y or z, for lunch a b or c, and for dinner 1 2 or 3." And then I just don't let myself be in the situation where I have other choices.
My bigger challenge is finding time for exercise. Sometimes I exercise in the a.m., sometimes in the p.m. Sometimes I exercise by walking outside (when the weather and my mother permit); other times I exercise using DVDs in the apartment. I'm getting better at keeping at eye out for ex. opportunities.
My "good meal choices" look like this:
Good breakfasts:
oatmeal w/ blueberries and 2 T peanut butter or a T almonds
OR whole grain waffles w/ peanut butter
OR egg beaters, scrambled, one piece whole wheat toast
Good meals at restaurants:
At my fav tavern: ham and cheese sandwich w/ cottage cheese on side
At the Mexican place: spinach enchilada
At fancy restaurants: soup and a fancy entree salad, OR whatever the fish special is with extra veggies, OR chicken w/ extra veggies
Good lunches/dinners to make at home:
couscous with chickpea & vegetable stew
mega-tuna tuna casserole (I triple the normal amount of tuna to make the protein-carb-fat balance better)
at coffee shops: a soy latte with sugar-free flavoring is okay if there's no food involved; if I want a bagel, then it's black coffee
at the bar: one drink is okay (gin and club soda or scotch rocks), but if popcorn's at the table, then I need to drink club soda, since I'm unable to resist the popcorn.
I need MORE items on my list and more rules for the many situations I find myself in.
What is your average day like?
Test blood sugar at my desk.
