As a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach, I get asked almost daily,
“What do you eat? How many times a week do you workout?”
Here is my answer, describing a day in my life, along with some of the habits I’ve developed for my mental health, inspiration and motivation.
My day starts very early – 3:45 am I am up, and I immediately brew a 12 oz. cup of strong coffee with almond creamer. While drinking my coffee, I spend about 5 minutes journaling about:
- My Aspiration for today,
- My Intention for the day and
- My #1 Goal for Today.
I then write a sentence or two about a belief or judgment that no longer serves me that I’d like to give up, and a sentence or two about the Deep Desire of My Heart – which helps keep me focused on what I want for myself and my life.
Breakfast
I then make a cold brewed iced coffee to drink in the car while I commute to the gym I work for. Breakfast is almost always a low carb whole wheat tortilla with either peanut butter or PB Fit and a banana thrown in the middle and then wrapped up to go – portable and tasty!
My commute is 35-40 minutes so I sip my coffee and spend a few moments saying out loud what I’m grateful for – it sets the vibe for a good day! I also listen to audio books or podcasts while I drive.
I am usually training between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sometimes I go as late a 2:30 p.m. with a break or two in between one of the hour long sessions.
Snacks
I pack the same repertoire of snacks nightly, and whatever gets eaten gets replaced that night. I have the following options to choose from, and depending on how hungry I am that day I will eat some or all of them!
- Clif Builder’s Bar, my favorite is chocolate 🙂
- Apple
- 4 Cuties (easy peel seedless California clementines)
- Sandwich bag – ½ filled with baby carrots, ½ filled with grape tomatoes
- Orgain Vegan Protein shake in Creamy Chocolate
I pick these snacks because they’re all portable, easy to eat while training someone, and keep me energized and feeling good.
Lunch
Depending on the day’s schedule, I will then go to CrossFit at noon and have lunch after OR have lunch at work or home and do CrossFit at 4 p.m. I currently do CrossFit Monday through Friday, and take the weekends off, and just go for a walk as active recovery, usually with Michael and Rey in her stroller as part of our family time.
Lunch has been one of these options for quite some time:
- Another low carb tortilla with Vegan cheese, ground turkey or grilled chicken and a bit of salsa and Vegan ranch, served with a big side of steamed (in the microwave) veggies topped with more salsa and ranch.
- OR, I have the meat and toppings served over the veggies in a bowl, and may occasionally top with some sliced avocado.
After lunch, I have a square or two of Lily’s Dark Chocolate.
Afternoons vary, but after my workout I will go for about a mile walk either at the park or by the gym to get my 10,000 steps for the day. I prefer the park because there is a lot of nature and it’s very calming. I listen to an audible book or do what I call “walking meditation” and listen to soothing music and just clear my head of thoughts to the best of my ability for 15 minutes.
Dinner
Dinner is whatever we meal prepped for the week. We usually prepare enough of a recipe to make 6 servings per person, and we eat out 1x a week.
After Rey is down, I spend a few minutes reflecting on my day in my journal before bed, and may even meditate again.
This is what my days are like and it’s all really worked for me to keep me motivated, inspired, CALM, focused, feeling healthy, fit and ORGANIZED.
My life is just as busy as anyone’s working full time, being a wife and a mom, and fitness enthusiast. Being organized saves so much time and energy!
I do not track my macros anymore, but I spent 9 months straight tracking after Rey was born, and then took a 3 month break, followed by another 4 month period of tracking after I stopped pumping, to learn exactly what foods/ amounts of foods I needed and functioned best on. Now that I have that knowledge I can take the thought out of what to eat each day. I can also stray from this basic plan, but I built this plan based on foods I like so I’m happy eating this way!
I do have cheat meals every now and then too, but honestly, eating foods that you like and make you feel good, in satisfying amounts, you don’t really want to cheat that often. This is a complete 180 to the girl that used to dream about what cheat foods she was going to eat each week while dieting!
The daily morning/evening practice and meditation does not take a lot of time, but it keeps me calm and focused. I used to have severe anxiety and I rarely feel anxious anymore. I attribute that to my inner work.
I want to help you:
- learn healthy habits and routines that can make your healthy lifestyle and ideal body automatic, like it is for me. It does not have to be these specific foods or habits, but ones that work for you and your lifestyle.
- figure out solutions to any challenge. Everyone has challenges, and every single one of them is surmountable if your goals are your priority.
- have something you’ve never had.
You may need to do something you’ve never done, and get uncomfortable for a bit in the learning phase, but the payoff is so worth the effort!
