The 2600-Calorie Post

A while ago, after receiving oodles of requests, I promised to write a "Day in the Life of Me" post. One of the main reasons I've postponed publishing this post for so long is that I feel very, very vain in writing it! Since I'm not a celebrity or anything, I feel conceited in writing all about the mundane details of my life. Don't get me wrong; I like reading others' posts about their days... I just feel self-conscious writing one of my own.


But you asked for it, so here she be!

Normally I am not a calorie-counter. But in order to write this post, I spent one full week measuring out and counting everything, so that I could give you an accurate glimpse into my chocolate-covered life. Before embarking on this endeavor, I had it in my head that it'd be fun--ooh, an experiment. Ha! Calorie-counting is anything BUT fun. What a time-consuming CHORE! I don't know how some of y'all do this every day. (It was also pretty hard to remember to look at the clock all the time to see how long my meals were.)
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My daily totals averaged around 2600 calories (most was 2850, least was 2375). I can't say that the following accurately sums up what I eat every day (My diet is super-varied, meaning I hardly ever have the exact same meal or snack two days in a row). But it's a good reflection of how I eat every day. Yeah, I guess it takes a lot of food to keep me going... but I'm not complaining. While my poor, dieting friends are eating 1300-calories per day of rice cakes and Slim Fast (*gag*), I get to eat twice that much and not worry about it. And my guy friends think it's hilarious that the vegan is the only one who doesn't always order a salad for dinner when we go out.
Here's a sample day to give you an idea of what, when, and how I eat:


A Day in the Life
Today (the day I wrote this post), I woke up at 6:45AM. My pre-workout breakfast was this:


An Amy's Bistro Burger (I always cut them in 1/2 so that the middle will cook better) and just a few pieces of frozen honeydew. For my "first breakfasts" I usually have either a Bistro Burger or a Gardenburger black bean burger (I switch off, for the sake of variety) and a few pieces of frozen fruit-- cherries, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes... you get the idea. Once it gets colder, I might soon stop with the frozen fruit, but for now, it really does a great job waking up my taste buds.


7:15- to 8:25AM: 1-hour run, plus a 5-minute warm up and a 5-minute cool-down.



8:40 to 9:20ish: 2nd breakfast
Indian-style tofu scramble (recipe here), with okra, red pepper, and mushrooms/ 2 slices toast with 1 teaspoon vegan butter melted on each slice (I use Smart Balance Light. Note to vegans: regular Smart Balance has whey)/ velvety cashews/ sweet frozen peach slices


Tofu scramble is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods (after blended grains, of course!). I eat it maybe 4-5 times per week. But it doesn't get monotonous, because I change up the veggies and seasonings.


9:45: Leave for class (about a 12-minute walk)


10-10:50: Class #1


11-11:50: Class #2


12:20 to 1ish: Lunchies! Unlike my friend, Brooke (who also just did a "day in the life" post), my meals don't always look gourmet. But taste is sooooo much more important!
Today's lunch was a ginormous (favorite word alert!) salad of mixed baby greens, kale, and red chard/ peach salsa for dipping (I like to wrap the baby greens up in the chard or kale. Voila-- Lettuce wraps!)/ Lightlife chick'n strips with Westbrae ketchup/ a raspberry Nectar bar (must. have. chocolate.)/ and blended wheatberry pilaf, a.k.a. Comfort in a Bowl.



Just for you, Julie (since you asked so nicely!), here's my wheatberry recipe: Cook up a serving of wheatberries, then drain most-- but not all-- of the liquid. Add some salt. Blend with a hand blender or put in the food processor until the desired consistency is reached. (Sometimes I like to leave the berries a bit chewy; at other times, they get blended to oblivion!) Transfer the wheatberries to a bowl. Meanwhile, melt a teaspoon of vegan butter in a little bowl or cup (watch out; it splatters in the microwave!). Now, pour the melted butter over the wheatberries and stir it in. Before eating, heat the bowl in the microwave for around 30 seconds to 1 minute. Creamy deliciousness. This works with other grains too.



***Insert homework here*** (yucky)


3 until 3:30ish: Snack time!
More favorite foods... actually, pretty much everything I eat is a favorite food. My food philosophy: I try to never eat anything that doesn't excite me. Life is short, so why waste it eating foods that are "boring"? With every morsel I put in my mouth, I want to be able to say, "Gosh, I wish this would last forever."

Whipped Chocolate Pudding (It's just chocolate protein powder blended with almond milk, but it's soooo thick and delicious), followed by 2 tablespoons cashew butter, eaten plain (Ever since I can remember, a favorite snack of my sister's and mine has been plain ole nut butter-- not mixed into anything, just eaten "straight-up")

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***Then I went to the mall with a friend :o)***

5:50-6:30ish: Dinnnnnnner
The perfect comfort meal: Amazingly creamy mushroom-carrot stroganoff (anyone want to count how many times I've used the words "creamy" and "comfort" in this post?) alongside soft, pillowy barley, with a side of steamed Brussel's sprouts.


But then the Brussels' sprouts got lonely and wanted to join the Mushroom party (I swear that's not a drug reference!).




***More homework, as well as watching an episode of West Wing with the roommie. We've been watching the episodes with the Santos/Vinnick race, to set the mood for our real election. (Side note: does anyone else see a scary resemblance between the West Wing race and our real political atmosphere of the moment? There are so many similarities that it's like the writers of West Wing were psychics!)***


8:30 until 9ish: Nighttime snack Banana Brulee Oat Bran


(I'll try and post the recipe in the near future. The ingredients are simple-- banana, soymilk, salt, and oat bran. But it's the cooking method that really makes this recipe special. If you really can't wait for my post, go try and bribe Miss Christie; she knows the secret.)


A creamy, comforting way to end the night.
(Add two more if you're keeping count. I guess "ginormous" isn't alone in the category entitled "CCV's favorite words")
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In bed by 10:30. I usually get 7-8 hours of sleep and wake up naturally (I loathe alarm clocks).

So there you have it-- more about CCV than you probably ever wanted to know!

Me in a nutshell ;o)

(a pecan, to be exact)