Planning Ahead

Tuesdays are one of my favorite work days. I work for 3 hours and then get to play pickleball for 2 hours. I come back to work for another 3 hours and get to go to the gym and meet my friends for a fun group fight class and then swim.

For some, this might sound like too much exercise and sometimes I am tired fitting it all in. Mostly however, I feel energized and really enjoy the time with all the wonderful women I get to interact with.

The issue with Tuesdays is that I have no time to eat because everything is scheduled so tightly. The awesome thing about Tuesdays is that it forces me to be more planful so that I have high protein, low calorie, healthy foods with me between activities.

Here’s an example of a rushed food day with pre-packed food,

Breakfast — Fairlife protein shake (30 grams of protein, 120 calories), green tea with honey, green smoothie (tastes gross but super healthy and makes my body feel good!)

Lunch — 8 Costco chicken, pineapple, teriyaki meatballs (28 grams of protein, 300 calories), cut up vegetables (carrots, kohlrabi, cucumber) and hummus

Dinner — 1 cup cottage cheese with chives (26 grams of protein, 240 calories), blueberries, 2 homemade pumpkin raisin muffins

Snack — (after workouts were done at the end of the day) bowl of cereal with almond milk

My workday starts at 6:30 AM and I’m not ready to eat before then so the liquid breakfast works well for me. I’m exercising a lot so I need more protein* and wanted to demo a day that’s pretty low calorie with high protein (and is actually what I’m eating today).

If you have leftovers from the night before, they’re also a super easy way to plan for a busy day but you have to budget in the time to pack your food so you have it when you need it.

*If you’re not exercising during a given day, the minimum daily protein recommendations are approximately 40% of your bodyweight in grams of protein. For example, a 150 pound woman would need a minimum of 60 grams of protein daily (150 x .40 = 60).

If you are exercising, the minimum daily protein recommendations are approximately 50 - 80% of your bodyweight in grams of protein, depending on the intensity and duration of your exercise routine. In our example above, the 150 pound woman would need a minimum of 75 - 120 grams of protein daily (150 x .5 = 75, 150 x .8 = 120).

Action Steps:

• If you don’t know your minimum daily protein needs already, calculate them using the information above.

• If you’re on track, keep up the great work!

• If you’re struggling to get enough protein into your diet daily, consider adding in a protein supplement.

  If you’d like recommendations, Fairlife is a great dairy protein supplement and Orgain is high quality vegan option.