Metabolic Efficiency - Day 14 - Chick-fil-A

That's right, Chick-fil-A. But I'll get to that in a bit.

Today is day 14 of my Metabolic Efficiency Study. It's hard to believe it's already been two weeks! Have I found this hard to do? Surprisingly not at all. Do I miss whole grains? Sure - there are a lot of healthy ways to eat grains, but if you saw my summary report from yesterday, my activity levels is pretty low.  And because for the time being I have a desk job, if I'm not working out, I'm pretty darn sedentary. At least the walk to the cafeteria and back to get coffee in the morning gets me about 2/3 mile round trip, so I'm able to get carbs from fruits, veggies and beans. Are the holidays interfering with my eating. Not really. I could be "super strict" and not enjoy the holiday parties, but what fun is there in that? The key is not to over-indulge, and I think I've done a pretty good job at that. We need to enjoy our food and not think about good or bad. And we need to think about why we eat the way we do. Is this plan for everyone? No. What are your end goals? Mine revolve around an Ironman race, so I'm taking some extra steps to be as fit and efficient (both metabolically and physically) that I can.

OK - now on to what I ate! My favorite breakfast: yogurt, whey protein, cocoa, fruit and peanut butter. Powerful way to start the day. For fun let's count fruit and veggie servings again. I'd say two servings of fruit.

Did I ever mention that I like LOVE peanut butter

Not shown is a mid-morning snack of grapes, cantaloupe and cottage cheese. Two more servings of fruit. Looks an awful lot like yesterday's afternoon snack.

I went to the gym over lunch and did a strength training session - body weight exercises. I'm working through a book called You Are Your Own Gym and really like how the workouts are efficient, balanced across muscle groups, work multiple joints and are body-weight focused.

Back from the gym I eat my "lunch." A carrot and spinach salad, the last of the pork tenderloin topped with salsa and a couple clementines. Let's go with two veggie and one fruit serving.

Salad and pork tenderloin with salsa. 

A little later I reach for some green, red, pepper and jicama I had cut up last night. I ate maybe half, so that'd be the equivalent of one pepper plus some jicama. One serving on the conservative side.

one red pepper, one green pepper, and some jicama

 4pm rolls around and I'm planning on hitting the pool after work so I eat an apple with some almond butter. One more fruit serving.

After work I do hit the pool and do about 30 minutes of easy swimming. I bet you're wondering where Chick-fil-A comes in? Right now! There is a CFA right by the pool and I wasn't in the mood to cook (happens to all of us every so often, right?) so I went inside. The photo below is one of the reasons why Chick-fil-A is one of my favorite fast foot chains. (Their cookies & cream milkshake is another, but I passed on that tonight). I got a grilled chicken garden salad and carrot-raisin salad. Yum! What I didn't notice is that they actually have a version of this salad with fruit on it. I'll have to try that next time. But let's say this is three servings of veggies/fruit.

I did not eat the croutons in the photo. Promise.

There you have it. I got to enjoy my favorite fast food restaurant and get a quick meal. And today I count 12 servings of fruits and veggies. Wow! Come back tomorrow - it's week 2 weigh in day!