I’ve had a ton of requests come through my Facebook Group lately to share more information about tracking macros, and what a typical day of eating is like for me.
I love food, eating food, and talking about food, so I jumped on this real fast.
One thing I do want to mention, though, before we get to the good stuff, is these foods are set up with serving sizes to fit MY macros.
Meaning: the amount of carbs, proteins, fats, and calories I consume on a daily basis, while they work for me, may not work for you. It’s all about figuring out what YOUR macros should be, and eating in a way that fuels your body and your goals. But more on that later.
Please keep in mind, this is a typical day when I’m carb cycling. When I’m eating more balanced, my overall carbs are much higher.
Tracking Macros: What I Eat in a Typical Day
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Breakfast 7:30 am
I always try to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up every day.
The reason for this is because eating first thing in the morning is one of the easiest and best ways you can turn your metabolism “on.”
I then follow a pattern where I try to eat about every 3 hours for the rest of the day. This is what keeps my metabolism working and keeps it burning throughout the day.
My typical breakfast of choice:
- 2 over easy eggs sprinkled with everything but the bagel seasoning
- 1 piece of gluten free bread (toasted)
- Mixed greens (missing from this pic because we’re currently out)
- Coffee
- 2 tbsp nut pods creamer
*I shared this exact recipe in an earlier blog post. You can find it here.
Total Macros: 16g carbs, 11g fat, 14.3g protein, 222 calories
Variations of this meal:
Most mornings this is what I eat. But depending on the day, sometimes instead I’ll have:
- 1 egg + 3/4 cup egg whites scrambled
- 1 packet Better Oats oatmeal (any flavor)
- 200 g strawberries
- Coffee stays the same
Some days I double up on the carbs at breakfast if I know for whatever reason I want to keep dinner “lean, clean, and green” – meaning just veggies and protein.
Morning Snack 10:30 am
Depending on when I workout, this snack gets a little fluid in the timeline of my day. If I workout early, I’ll often have this snack a couple hours AFTER my post-workout snack. If I workout later in the day, it comes before.
- 1 scoop Liv Body Vegan protein powder (shake with water or add to oatmeal)
- 1 tbsp organic creamy peanut butter
- 1 packet of Better Oats Maple & Brown Sugar 100 calorie oatmeal
Total Macros: 21.5g carbs, 10g fat, 37g protein, 305 calories
Variations of this meal:
I do switch this one up quite a bit. More mornings than not, I usually shake my protein powder with water and drink it on the side, while I eat 0.5 ounces of whole, raw almonds, and 1 medium sliced apple. Or banana. OR, sometimes I’ll make this tasty bite of heaven.
Post-Workout 12:00 pm
This is my post-workout snack, every single day, without fail. I typically drink Sculpt Nation BCAAs but I’m currently out of stock so this one is my backup (I’m not married to a backup brand, it often changes).
- 1 Cliff Builder Protein Bar
- 1 scoop BCAAs mixed with water
Total Macros: 29g carbs, 11g fat, 20g protein, 300 calories
Lunch 3:00 pm
So here’s where things get interesting, folks. I never track my veggies.
Unless they are starchier ones; like corn, carrots, or peas, all veggies in my world are considered free.
So they’re a great way to add some bulk to my lunch and dinner (and sometimes I’ll throw them in elsewhere throughout the day).
Obviously veggies are going to be adding calories, but I know my body is using more energy to digest them than the calorie count I’m consuming when I eat them, so I just don’t even pay attention to them.
- 4 ounces lean (93%) ground beef
- 1/3 package brown rice from the Uncle Ben’s whole grain brown rice microwave pack
- Coconut aminos
- Broccoli
Total Macros: 29g carbs, 10g fat, 26.3g protein, 302 calories
Variations of this meal:
- 4 ounces of a sweet or regular potato
- Mixed greens
- Ground turkey + taco seasoning
If I’m super hungry, 4 ounces of protein can quickly become 5-6 ounces, just depending on the day. Same goes for dinner.
Sometimes the mixed greens become leftover sautéed peppers and onion from the night before. But we often don’t have leftover peppers because they’re amazing and we eat them right away, so that doesn’t happen too often.
Dinner 6:00 pm
Depending on how the day has gone, or how I feel, sometimes I have carbs at dinner, and other nights I try to keep it to just protein and veggies.
- 4 ounces lean ground turkey
- 1/4 packet taco seasoning
- 4 ounces air fried sweet potato
- Sautéed onions and sweet mini peppers
A lot of times I would also add mixed greens, but again – we’re out right now. So..no greens.
Total Macros: 23.9g carbs, 10g fat, 23g protein, 289 calories
Variations of this meal: This is just like everything else. Sometimes I’ll have ground beef, sometimes it’ll be broccoli instead of peppers, or cauliflower rice. The veggies are always free, and sometimes if I’m super hungry, 4 ounces quickly becomes 5 or 6 of my protein.
PM Snack 8:30 pm
I always end my night with protein. Which is far different from the nights I’d end it with an entire bag of popcorn.
I’m sure I’ll have to get my salty fix soon, but for now, protein it is.
MOST nights I have a snack before bed. I don’t have any special rules about not eating past a certain time, or waiting so long to let my food digest before I go to bed.
Most nights, my evening snack consists of eggs. Yup. Eggs. But lately I’ve been super obsessed with Bowmar Nutrition Lemon Pound Cake flavored dairy free protein powder. It totally reminds me of the Halo Top Lemon ice cream that used to be my FAVORITE until I stopped being able to have dairy.
- 1 scoop Bowmar Nutrition Lemon Pound Cake protein powder
- 8 ounces unsweetened almond milk
- Lots’o’ice
Total Macros: 3g carbs, 2.5g fat, 26g protein, 140 calories
Variations of this meal:
- Sometimes I’ll take chocolate or salted caramel True Nutrition protein powder and mix with 2 tablespoons of PB2 and blend instead.
- Sometimes I’ll make eggs again: 1 egg + 3/4 cup egg whites and scramble them up. If I’m still hungry, I’ll add some veggies to my eggs for fiber and bulk.
My overall total daily macros usually come out to be somewhere around: 120-150g carbs, 40-60g fat, 140-155g protein, 1600-1900 calories.
If I’m ever hungry throughout the day and my meals aren’t cutting it, I’ll increase my protein and add more veggies for bulk.
You can see that aside from the peanut butter or almonds, I don’t really add any fats into my day; but instead, get them from natural sources and my protein.
Tracking macros might seem overwhelming at first, but honestly something that as you start to understand and practice, becomes like second nature.
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