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Hey folks! Coming atcha with another new series here! Ever wondered what a veteran THMer eats in a day’s time? You’re about to find out!
Like the “Let’s Have Tea” post from earlier this week, today’s post is inspired by one of my favorite (non-THM) food blogs, Pinch of Yum. Lindsay periodically posts “What I Ate Wednesday” posts chronicling the food she ate on a particular day (we assume Wednesdays?), and even though we’re in different food niches I always read those posts because I just love seeing what other people are eating. Nosy, much?
I actually had a similar series – called “What’s on My Plate” (or WOMP) – going on back in the day, but those posts were just a conglomeration of food pictures taken throughout the week and didn’t give a clear picture of what I actually eat in one day’s time. I thought that doing things a day at a time might be less overwhelming for you and for me, so here we go. Hopefully this will become a monthly thing.
These particular pictures were actually taken back in July right before I left on a trip to South Carolina, and I’m just now getting around to posting them. I was trying to clean out the fridge in preparation for being gone and was also making some stuff ahead for Ryan to eat while I was away. I was all set to have a normal day at home and photograph my completely on-plan meals for this post, but then my husband came home from work and offered to take me out to eat for something special before I left on my trip. How could I refuse?? You’ll find out more about our evening and what we ended up eating further on down. 😉
Keep in mind…
- As you’ll see, 3 out of my 4 meals for the day ended up being THM E meals! I do this periodically and my body seems to respond well to it, but I get a good balance of S meals in a week’s time as well. Vary those fuel types!
- Different people need different amounts of calories, so what’s good for me might need to be tweaked for your body and/or activity level.
- My food is not usually quite this pretty. 😛
BREAKFAST (THM E – Carbs)
Easy Chocolate Oatmeal – salt, THM stevia, cocoa powder, and 2 tablespoons of collagen stirred into the oats after cooking – topped with half a sliced banana, a dash of half and half, and just a drizzle of Kroger natural peanut butter (my new fave natural peanut butter!). Hot tea with THM stevia.
- Carbs: oats + moderate amount of banana (keep to 45g net carbs or less in an E meal)
- Protein: oats + collagen
- Fats: half and half and peanut butter (watch the amounts to keep to 5 grams of added fat or less in an E meal)
Throughout the day I had more hot tea and lots of water to drink.
LUNCH (THM E – Carbs)
Operation Clean out the Fridge. 😛 Leftover pinto beans cooked up in the Crockpot with all kinds of onions and spices and goodness + chopped fresh spinach and tomatoes + low fat sour cream + strawberries + the last of some sourdough cornbread I was experimenting with (weird but strangely good) topped with cinnamon, Sweet Blend, and low fat cottage cheese. I might’ve added a dash of unsweetened cashew milk too to moisten the cornbread; I can’t remember.
I didn’t follow a recipe for the beans but you can check out page 210 of Convenient Food for something similar.
This lunch was a bit big. The beans really filled me up!
- Carbs: pinto beans + cornbread (I know it looks like a huge pile of beans in the picture, but we use pretty small dinner plates.)
- Protein: pinto beans + cottage cheese
- Fats: I didn’t add any fats to the beans or cornbread, so the only fats would’ve been a few trace fats from the low fat sour cream and cottage cheese.
SNACK (THM E – Carbs)
Again, trying to clean out the fridge, so this was the last slice of lean lunch meat wrapped around the last of the skim ricotta cheese and some spinach that was going bad + a few pieces of watermelon I cut up for Ryan to eat while I was gone in South Carolina + a small piece of homemade cinnamon raisin sourdough toast with a dab of butter on top.
- Carbs: watermelon + toast
- Protein: lean lunch meat + skim ricotta cheese
- Fats: trace fats from the skim ricotta + dab of butter
Watermelon is pretty high in natural sugars so I believe 1 cup is the recommended serving size on the THM plan. I only had a few pieces, so I don’t think I overdid the carbs with the small piece of toast.
I’m really pleased with how this cinnamon raisin sourdough bread is turning out; maybe sometime next year I’ll post it as part of a sourdough series once I have some more experience under my belt. 🙂 Trim Healthy Mamas, there are just enough raisins to get that cinnamon raisin experience – not too many. 😉 Even Pearl uses a few in her Sweatpants Oatmeal recipe!
SUPPER (F for Fail?)
This is where it gets interesting. 😛 Ryan got home and so kindly suggested we go out to eat somewhere! I didn’t have anything big prepared; I was just going to make breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, low carb wraps, mayonnaise, cheese, that kind of thing.
“Let’s go to Chick-fil-A,” he said. “Great,” I thought. “I can get their grilled wrap that’s supposedly sort of low carb and on plan.” So we drive to the Chick-fil-A but the parking lot is under construction and the store is closed.
Plan B: find the nearest Greek restaurant, because we both love Greek food. We found a little hole-in-the-wall place a few miles away, so away we went! We ordered, and about an hour later, we finally had our food. Not sure what was up with the wait, but it was pretty good. (At that point I was glad for my slightly-more-substantial-than-usual afternoon snack.)
Typically at restaurants my strategy is to order meat + veggies for an on-plan meal. I stuck to that for the most part, but we did get a falafel appetizer because I had just seen Dawn’s THM-friendly falafel recipe and had never had any sort of falafel before. I’m pretty sure the Greek restaurant’s falafel was off plan, for the oil it was fried in if nothing else. I also snuck a piece or two of pita bread – also off plan. For my main meal I got gyro meat with tzatziki sauce and a Greek salad and pawned the rice off on my husband. The meat and salad was on plan as a THM S as far as I know.
Altogether with the falafel and pita bread, it was probably a THM F for Fail, but it was yummy, I got to try a new food, and we went on a date, so it was a win in my book. 😉 I didn’t eat a basket full of bread or a big dessert – only a few bites of off plan stuff – so the damage was minimal.
After we went home Ryan and I went out biking for 8 miles to burn off some of that greasy restaurant food. When we came back I had a few strawberries and a few bites of homemade vanilla Greek yogurt before bed (Fuel Pull).
You tell me!
What’s your newest food obsession? What’s that current something you can’t get enough of? Comment below!
Click here to pin this post for later!
You may also enjoy:
-
STARTING THM – lots of helpful links and tips about the products I like to use
-
MY RECIPE INDEX
-
RECIPE INDEX BY FUEL TYPE/ALLERGY/THEME
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Katye says
I will try my oatmeal that way 😉 I have been wanting to try your protein pancake from your new cookbook too but every morning I’m like…”just get toast in belly immediately”. I think the trick for me will be to make the night before. I’m always so “hangry” in the morning. Me and my kids made your breakfast burritos today for our second time (I actually used bacon this go round). They are so yummy 😋 Thanks for the post!
Jennifer says
That oatmeal looks amazing!!
I’m currently loving IBIH’s Turbo Atkins Soup. I thought it would be gross or bland, but there are so many yummy veggies and chicken that it’s actually quite filling.
I use jicama in it and have found that pressure cooking it for about 30 min. after chopping it, helps it to be more potato-like.
I’m planning on jicama fries tomorrow!
Also…light rye wassa crackers are the bomb!
Who knew??? I lean toward the lower carb side of THM, but those are a carb I allow myself to indulge in often. Yummy crunch!
Have a great week!
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
Thanks for the pressure cooker idea! I’ve done a few things with jicama – mostly “jashbrowns” – but I’d love to experiment more!
Annette Haschke says
Thanks for this post Briana! It gives me some ideas to try. Also thanks for being so transparent
about your dinner (F) honestly I do this once in awhile too. I think as long as we plan on being mindful the next time we eat we’re doing good and it gives us a bit of food freedom and a date night with your hubby is a bonus!
Glad you got a much needed break but I’m also glad to see your occasional post.
Blessing and Peace!
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
Aw, thanks, Annette! I think you’re spot on.
Callie S says
Oh wow!! How neat! Thank you so much for sharing!
As I’ve been in a weight-gain mode (due to being underweight) for the past 4 months, and have just arrived at the stage where I’m at a good weight/size and need to maintain it, I’ve been eating lots and lots of THM crossovers every day…and my two favorite meals have been these: (1) Breakfast: 1 c Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt mixed with 1/4 c mixed nuts and cranberries, 2tsp honey, and 1 or so tbsp of ground flax seeds, with 1 pc toast on the side with butter and lightly drizzled with honey😊
(2) 1 pc homemade bread, little bit of lettuce, tad bit of mayo, 1/2 c or so of low-fat cottage cheese, small handful nuts, 1serving of fruit, 1/4-1/2 avocado, all drizzled in either apple cider vinegar or mustard and dusted with salt and a few seasonings😊
Those have been some enjoyable crossovers that the Lord has allowed me to discover over these past few months😊
Great job!! Keep up the good work!! ❤️❤️❤️
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
Thank you for sharing those, Callie! Those sound AMAZING!
Mary Kay Crowder says
So fun to see what you are eating! I am trying to incorporate Mediterranean style eating with the THM principles, so extra fun that your last meal was at a Greek restaurant! My daughter and I continue to enjoy many recipes from your wonderful cookbooks – the cookie dough ice cream and maple cookie ice cream definitely make our days brighter!! 🙂
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the ice cream recipes!
Kerry says
Thank-you. for the daily meal idea. I cook out of both of your cookbooks all the time, but many times have trouble figuring out what sides to put with it. I also struggle to get in enough E meals. This is going to be really helpful.
smiles,
Kerry
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
You bet! Thanks for reading!
Greta Unruh says
I think I need frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries with whipping cream and xylitol or monk fruit sweetener almost every day.
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
Oooh…sounds easy and yummy!
Emily says
I’m so eager to see your sourdough series. Breads are one of my weak spots. Aldi’s Sprouted bread helps fI’ll the need but I would like to make my own. And I’m super grateful to see E meals & snacks! I’ve been at a loss to come up with E’s beyond oatmeal for breakfast! 😲
Dianne says
I would not call it F for fail. I would say it was G for Grace. Also, G for great because you had a great date with your adoring husband and enjoyed your meal. Your evening snack was right back on plan.
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
I would concur with that. 😉