The Workout Diary

The workout diary

The battle I face every day is… What to eat??? I am a pescatarian. Meaning I don’t eat anything that walks or flies. Basically I’m a vegetarian who eats fish. Don’t ask me why I am ok with fish because if I think too long on it I get kind of weird about that too. I work out 5 days a week, usually 3 of those with a trainer. My trainer, an effervescent blackman with long braided dreadlocks, is a fire under my booty in the gym. I’ve been training with Marco almost ten months now and have seen muscles come out in places I have never seen before. So back to the battle at hand! What to eat, what to eat? Let me run through a typical day of my “diet” Wake up, work out on an empty stomach. Usually I do weights with some cardio. When I work out with Marco my workouts are an intense circuit or a superset. When I get home around 9:30 I make a protein shake and steel cut oatmeal with ground flax seeds. So far so good right? Then comes a little less consistency. I go to work usually with an apple in hand and no plan for the rest of my day. I’ll usually get to my job at a restaurant bakery where I get to eat for free. A blessing and a curse! We have all kinds of options to choose from complete with calories. We have salads galore, breads, veggies and eggs. Also on display are cookies, cakes, muffins and bagels. This is how my thinking goes, “okay I’ll have a salad.” Then the clock ticks on and I get hungrier and hungrier. Instead of making a salad and sitting down to eat it I grab a muffin, and throw half in the trash, I’m cutting calories right? Another few hours pass and finally things slow down and I’m eating lunch. I have a salad with vinaigrette, provolone, tomatoes, onion, and veggie bacon strips. That holds my hunger over for maybe an hour. Back to snacking. I’ll grab anything that is convenient. I snack on egg salad on crackers, tuna salad, cookies gag. By the time things slow down again I’m eating dinner at 8pm. This time I might have a sandwich other times I will have my apple with peanut butter and some cheese sticks. And that’s it! So what am I doing wrong? Obviously, too much sugar (don’t get me started on a bad day) and not enough of the good things I could fill my belly with. When I eat too many carbs I instantly feel it. I am slower, and hungrier. I have done the south beach diet and done really well on it. Normally I like a lot of structure in my life but when it comes to having to eat the same foods every day I am at a loss. Eating healthy takes planning and what feels like constant shopping. Often times when I go to the grocery store I spend over $50 and only have enough food to get me through a couple days. So what’s a poor vegetarian to do? This is what I am working on right now. I’ll be writing more shortly but for now I have to go so I can do a heavy tricep and shoulder day tomorrow. Bye for now!

-Whitney