40-Day Challenge | Full Day of Meals with Macros

40-DAY CHALLENGE UPDATE
8/22/16:  Weight 111, Body Fat 22.7% (starting stats)
8/29/16:  Weight 108, Body Fat 21.7% (Wow! Lost one whole point in a week, fantastic!)
9/07/16:  Weight 106, Body Fat 19.1% (OMG! I’m at my goal already! I thought it would take longer!)


p.s.  I’m 5’1.

I always weigh myself first thing in the morning when I wake up, but by the time I weigh-in at the gym, I’m a couple pounds up.  I decided to go with my weight at the gym since that’s the number my trainer uses when calculating my body fat.  He uses calipers and the 9-point pinch test.  


I was beyond surprised to see my body fat had dropped from 22.7 to 19.1 in such a short time. I have been good on my diet (except for last night when I ate a bag of these!), but haven’t been working out that much, just 2-3 times a week lately because I’ve been so busy.  I was working out about 5 days a week at the beginning, but lately it’s dropped off.  It occurred to me recently though that I get an organic workout from carrying around Jordan, who weighs 15 pounds now.  She’s getting heavy and my arms are getting more toned! #winwin


MACROS
For my macros, I try to get 1400 calories, 123 grams of carbs or 100 would be ideal, 125 grams of protein, and 47 grams of protein.  I track it all in My Fitness Pal and it helps tremendously! Those macros break down to 35% carbs, 35% protein, and 30% fat.

MEALS 
I eat five times a day, about every 3-4 hours.  I have a protein waffle for breakfast, three meals (below are examples- I don’t eat ALL of this in one day), then a cup of Muscle Egg in the evening.  Muscle Egg is liquid egg whites and I buy the chocolate flavor. You can make them at home with egg whites, skim milk, and chocolate syrup too, but I’m lazy and like how the chocolate Muscle Egg tastes- like a cup of chocolate milk.  Also, I wouldn’t want to have protein powder account for the protein in two of my meals (since I already use a scoop in my waffle).


Protein Waffle: 1 scoop protein powder, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking powder, splash water (optional: salt)
1 tbsp sugar free syrup
(to make, just combine all the ingredients, then pour into your waffle maker)
CALORIES 226 – PROTEIN 22.3 – CARBS 11.4 – FAT 10.8


1 egg, 1/2 c egg whites, 1/4 cup mushroom, 2 pieces center cut bacon
CALORIES 201 – PROTEIN 26 – CARBS .8 – FAT 8.3
1 egg, 1/2 c egg whites, 1/4 c mushrooms, 1/2 c peppers, 2 pieces center cut bacon, 1 slice American cheese
CALORIES 284 – PROTEIN 29.5 – CARBS 7.5 – FAT 12.5
4 oz chicken breast, 2 cups Romaine, 1/2 cup peppers, 1 oz Fat Free raspberry dressing
CALORIES 253 – PROTEIN 33.5 – CARBS 15.7 – FAT 7.2
4 oz chicken breast, 1/2 c rice, 1/2 cup peppers, 1/2 oz Thai peanut sauce
CALORIES 329 – PROTEIN 35.4 – CARBS 27.7 – FAT 10.2
4 oz chicken breast, 1 cup mixed veggies, 4.3 oz red potato, 1 tsp coconut oil
CALORIES 337 – PROTEIN 31.3 – CARBS 36.1 – FAT 5.8
4 oz chicken breast, 10 brussel sprouts, 3 oz red potato, 1 tsp coconut oil
CALORIES 370 – PROTEIN 39.6 – CARBS 29.6 – FAT 11.8
Halibut 6 oz, red potato 4.3 oz, green beans 1 cup, tartar sauce 1 tbsp, coconut oil 1 tsp
CALORIES 322 – PROTEIN 32.8 – CARBS 29.2 – FAT 8.3
4 oz mahi mahi, 1/2 c quinoa, 1 cup broccoli, 1 tsp coconut oil
CALORIES 271 – PROTEIN 27 – CARBS 23.5 – FAT 7.4 
Chipotle chicken, white rice, pico, 1 tbsp sour cream
CALORIES 426 – PROTEIN 36.7 – CARBS 37.4 – FAT 15.3
When I go to Starbuck’s now, I get a tall black iced tea and add half a Splenda, unless I’m “cheating” and then I get a mini caramel frap! 
TASTE TIP:  You can season your food and use dressings to make it taste better!  I use salt and pepper, Mrs. Dash, and small amounts of peanut sauce, teriyaki sauce, tartar sauce, salad dressing, etc.  A little goes a long way!





What’s your GO TO healthy meal?  
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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

51 Comments

  1. Thank you!! This is so helpful!! I can't believe you got to your goal so quickly. I am at 115 lb and 22%, so hopefully I can do this. However I am not very successful when eating clean. This will be a great resource. Do you cook as you go or meal prep?

    1. It's taken me longer in the past, so I was surprised too. I think eating is even more important that working out when it comes to results, but both are helpful! I always prep chicken so it's on hand and also rice, but I can quickly cook one potato and heat up the veggies, so I don't precook those. You can definitely do it!

  2. Thank you so much for sharing this! I'm trying to lose a LOT of weight and can never get my macros quite right, but this will help immensely! Do you prepare all of these meals in advance for the week (aside from probably the eggs & waffles)? If so, do you freeze them, or just keep them in the fridge? I appreciate your help SO much!

    1. I cook the waffle fresh every morning – only takes a minute. I keep cooked chicken and rice in the fridge but usually heat the veggies and cook the potatoes fresh. You are welcome! So glad this is helpful for you!

  3. Thanks for posting this. Your meals look great and like something I could eat and get full on. I have tried paleo, but it is so restrictive. I am built pretty similar to you in terms of body type and height.(also the same age, but with older kiddos) I just need to find the motivation to start somewhere!

    1. Right now I'm just using Muscle Milk protein powder I think bc that's what we had on hand. I like Lean Body for Her and am going to research some others too.

  4. These meals look amazing. I need to up my meals per day but I cannot for the life of me eat that much in one day. I am trying to gain 10 lbs. I currently workout 5 times a week and try to avoid cardio (to avoid losing weight). But, the eating is really where I am stuck. I try eating more carbs, but I am basically full the whole day 🙁 I will keep trying

    1. I had to redo the graphic so people didn't get confused. I do eat 5 meals a day though, 1400 calories. Have you ever tried calculating how many calories you eat in a day so you know? It's really eye opening!

    2. Thank you Megan. I just started tracking my meals this week (as best as I can). Basically, it is telling me I have to eat double what I was currently eating. I have NO clue how I will do that… but I will try. Thank you for your meal ideas though, they totally help (more than you know). :::keep them coming:::

    3. Try eating more calorie dense foods; you'll increase your calories without having to eat twice the food. Good luck. I envy you:)

    4. thank you @DreamMom. That's exactly what I am doing now. I am basically consuming around 1800-2100 calories a day and I should be at around 3000! and trust me, I know some people wish they were in my shoes but it's a lot harder than it seems… (everything is relative, I guess).

    5. 3,000 calories is a lot! That's double what I eat in a day. I'd say the same thing as Dream Mom though, see if you can figure out which foods give you the biggest bang for your buck calorie and nutrition wise so you don't have to eat so much. Peanut butter comes to mind, but also has fat.

    6. tell me about it! I almost died when I saw that number. It's almost impossible for me to make it to that many calories in one day. I am 5'4 and currently 115lbs, and I would love to gain 10lbs total, but I am aiming for 5 right now. I also weight train about 4-5 days. I heard avocadoes are good, and someone also told me it was okay to have about 2-3 tblsp of olive oil throughout the day to increase calories and fat. I have English muffins with almond butter (cant have peanut butter) as a snack now. We shall see… thank you ladies for the input.

  5. I just love your blog Megan! Congrats on your weight loss 🙂 My daughter is 10 months and I'm still nursing. I'm having such a hard time losing weight. I don't know if I'm eating too little or too much. I use MFP too. Do you eat back the calories you burn for excersizing?

    1. Thank you so much Lindsey! I admire you so much for continuing to nurse for so long. I've done 2 bikini contests, completed law school on my own and breastfeeding is by far the thing I'm most proud of. It takes so much commitment. Good for you. I don't eat back the calories I burn from exercise.

    2. As long as I was breast feeding I wasnt losing weight. It was like my body clung to the weight for milk production. However, as soon as I weened my son it became much easier.I was really banking on being one of those people that shed like crazy bc I was breastfeeding and pumping..but no luck. Your body is just going to do what it needs. Be proud of what it can do!! (but I know its frustrating)

  6. Hi Megan!! A great post! Thank you so much for taking the time to put it all together! I just have three questions for you… What type/brand of chicken breasts do you buy? Could you recommend a good Thai peanut sauce? And why do you choose white rice over brown? Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  7. Love these ideas, I need all I can get! For breakfast lately I've been having plain greek yogurt with berries, chia and a little honey. Lunch has been mixed greens with chicken, feta, slivered almonds, etc. Do you eat beans? I love black beans especially but noticed you didn't have any in your Chipotle bowl. 🙂 Amy

  8. I am also on the weight loss train! My son turns a year in 6 weeks and I have about 12 pounds left of baby weight to lose. I'm trying to get there in a balanced way, we'll see!

  9. Could you let me know what scale you use at home? Is there one that's highly accurate. I feel after a few years they aren't as accurate anymore. Not sure if this holds true. Unless there are care instructions I'm not aware of. Thanks so much!

  10. Love this Megan! My husband and I just finished a 21 day cleanse and now we have really changed our eating habits. We are both in shape and workout a lot but just needed a kickstart to change some habits (like his love for red bull). It worked! I too, was going to ask you about your protein powder. I saw your answer above. I was just looked at the Ideal Lean for her and wanted to ask you if it was tasty. I am not that picky but do hate when the shake breaks down too fast and gets yucky really quick. You know what I mean?? I need some new powder but have been hesitant to buy any until I find a really good one worth the $. Thank you!

    1. Hi Corbie! I don't really like protein shakes which is why I buy the muscle egg. I feel like shakes are always too big for me to drink and I'm never crazy about the consistency either. But, in the past when I have drank shakes, I like Lean Body for Her.

  11. Great post, thank you! Can you let us know how tall you are? That helps put the other stats you listed in perspective and will help me compare to myself, since I'm 5'8".

  12. Hi Megan! This post is fabulous! It just energized me to get back on track. So much change can happen to the body with just what we put in our mouth. I am curious, though, Do you drink coffee or tea at home in the mornings? I can't drink coffee black and wondered if had any suggestions on cleaning up the coffee routine?

    1. I do drink coffee in the morning and have tried so hard to use more 'natural' creamers lately bc the one I love is CoffeeMate vanilla caramel. They make a natural one, but I don't like it as much. I've never been able or willing to give up my creamer, so I add that into my calories. And believe me, it adds up- 3 tablespoons (what I use in 1 cup) is 90 calories!

  13. I work in a corporate job and would love to hear how you might adapt this to your prior life. I used to eat 5 meals a day pretty consistently but it was just so much prep and hard to time weird eating times when my teams weren't on the same schedule! XO, Amanda @ life on linton

  14. Hi Megan! This post is so full of great information. I love that your food looks so good and has FLAVOR!!!!! I was thinking of getting Muscle Egg but it looks like you have to buy quite a bit and it's kinda pricey for me. Can you share what the recipe is to make my own? Thank you so much, you're such an inspiration!

    1. Thanks so much for your sweet comment! The Muscle Egg is expensive so making it on your own would be a solution to that. I'm not sure the proportions, but the ingredients are egg whites, skim milk and sugar free chocolate syrup.

  15. Megan, can you explain the difference between frying a couple of eggs in the morning vs. the waffle? How would eggs plus, say, a small piece of whole wheat toast compare to the waffle calorie wise? That's the one thing I can't wrap my head around from your diet, everything else makes perfect sense to me.

    1. Great question! I do eat eggs sometime, but the macro breakdown for

      2 eggs, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 piece whole wheat toast is:
      CAL: 253, PROTEIN: 15.6, Carb 12.7, FAT 15.2

      The waffle I actually enjoy more, so that's part of it, but depending on the protein powder the macros on the waffle are less calories, more protein, less carbs and less fat.

  16. For the meal that is chicken, potatoes and Brussels sprouts I'm trying to figure out what sauce you put on the chicken, it looks yummy. Is that the peanut sauce?

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