What I Eat In A Day for Weight Loss (5 Days at 1300-1500 Calories)

Is 1500 calories weight loss or maintenance for me?

I’ve been sharing my full day of eating for 6 days in a row on Instagram, and for now, I’m going to keep going? I like sharing my full day of eating record for several reasons:

1. It keeps me accountable. Generally, I’ll eat a lot of untracked foods, and then ‘wonder’ why I keep gaining weight. LOL. But, when I take a photo or video, log the meals, and share everything I tracked, I’m much less likely to eat things I’m not tracking.
2. I prefer sharing meal ideas to recipes. The older I get, the fewer recipes I follow. I like to put meals together with whatever ingredients I have on hand, and make sure they are balanced, and full of nutrients.
3. I like having a personal record to look back at! Just this morning, I was wondering what I was eating in the spring of 2022, because that’s when I ran my fastest paces (and fastest marathon) ever.

So, without further adieu, the last 5 days are posted below!

Day 1 1497 calories, 166 g protein, 107 g carbs, 46 g fat, 18 g fiber

What I ate day 1 as a grandma looking for more energy, more protein, and to stop grazing!

BREAKFAST 284 calories 29g protein, 22g carbs, 9g fat

• 39g sourdough bread
• 9 tbsp egg whites
• 28g reduced fat mozzarella
• Cooked mushrooms
• Cherry tomatoes

LUNCH 457 calories 39g protein, 22g carbs, 21g fat

• 4 oz chicken breast
• 28g roasted pepitas
• 1/8 cup craisins
• 2 tbsp G Hughes sugar free poppyseed dressing

DINNER 421 Calories, 54g protein, 17g carbs, 16g fat

• 5 oz chicken breast
• Mission low carb tortilla
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 tbsp Bolthouse ranch

SNACK 335 calories, 44g protein, 46g carbs, 0g fat

• Built Puff Bar
• Nonfat Greek yogurt
• Blueberries

Day 2 1,421 calories 144g protein, 106g carbs, 47g fat, 25g fiber

What I ate in a day to be in a calorie deficit!

BREAKFAST

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese
• 4 tablespoons egg whites
• 100 grams blueberries
• 30 grams sugar free syrup

LUNCH

• 4.5 ounces cooked chicken breast
• 3 tablespoons seasoned croutons
• 1/8 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons Bolthouse ranch dressing

DINNER

• 5 ounces rotisserie chicken breast
• 100 grams sweet potato
• 2 cups roasted cauliflower
• 2 ounces grated parmesan cheese

SNACK

• 2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 10 grams protein powder
• 2 ounces raspberries

Day 3 Calories: 1,446, Protein: 109g, Carbs: 107g, Fat: 65g, Fiber: 9g

What I ate in a day while dogsitting my granddog, while sharing some of my food with him. LOL Also, this was a Sunday, which means I was making a dessert as well as enchiladas for my kids, niece, nephews, and anyone else who wants to come for dinner. I did fit a cookie into this day, and stayed under my calorie target!

This day ended up being 1,446 calories and I skipped my snack today so I could have a big dinner and a cookie with my kids for our Sunday dinner.

I made cream cheese enchiladas (recipe on my blog) and Churro copycat crumbl cookies.

Learning how to fit real life foods into my calorie goals makes this sustainable.

Breakfast, 327 calories

• 9 tbsp egg whites
• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
• 52g sourdough bread
• 18 raspberries

Lunch, 355 calories

• 4.5 oz chicken breast
• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
• 2 tbsp Bolthouse ranch
• Baby carrots
• Cucumbers
• Cherry tomatoes

Dinner + Dessert, 764 calories

Dinner tonight was these cream cheese enchiladas

• Mission low carb tortilla
• 3 oz rotisserie chicken breast
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• Shredded Colby Jack cheese
• 1 cup Taylor Farms Mediterranean Crunch salad
• 1 Crumbl cinnamon sugar cookie
• 1 tbsp buttercream frosting
• *I see the photo shows rice, but I didn’t end up eating it.

Day 4 1,579 calories, 128g protein, 180g carbs, 40g fat, 24g fiber

What I ate this day after running a 5K, and placing first in my age group!

Today was Memorial Day. There’s a local race that I entered, and I was able to run an 8:28 minute/mile. I know I can run faster, but I’m either feeling extra fatigued as I get older, or I just haven’t run enough this season for it to feel easier. Hopefully, my race pace improves some over the next few months.

What I ate today after placing first in my age group at a 5K

Pre-run & Snacks 385 calories 13g protein, 81g carbs, 7g fat

• Banana
• Built bar
• And free bag of pretzels!

Breakfast 422 calories 28g protein, 35g carbs, 18g fat

• 1 egg
• 9 tbsp egg whites
• 52g sourdough bread
• 19g shredded Mexican cheese
• 93g strawberries

Lunch 297 calories 30g protein, 28g carbs, 8g fat

• 1 Mission Low Carb tortilla
• 3 oz rotisserie chicken breast
• 1 tbsp light mayo
• 4 baby carrots
• 93g strawberries
• 50g blueberries

Dinner 475 calories, 57 g protein, 36 g carbs, 17 g fat

• 6 oz rotisserie chicken breast
• 150g sweet potato
• 1 cup roasted cauliflower
• 1 oz parmesan cheese

Day 5 1,325 calories, 102g protein, 117g carbs, 51g fat, 18g fiber

What I ate today on an upper body workout day! I’m cutting back to 2 days of upper body days and 2 days of lower body training per week. And, I plan to take 2 days off from running every single week.

That upper body workout was:

• Lateral raise machine (4 sets)
• Shoulder press machine (3 sets)
• Lat pulldown cable (3 sets)
• Seated Row (2 sets)
• Reverse fly machine (3 sets)
• Bicep curl dumbbell (2 sets)
• Tricep press machine (3 sets)

Breakfast 245 calories, 21g protein

Low carb tortilla with egg whites and strawberries

• 1 Mission Low Carb tortilla
• 12 tbsp egg whites
• 93g strawberries
• 2 tbsp sugar free Reddi Wip

Lunch 199 calories, 20g protein

Rotisserie chicken salad plate

• 3 oz Costco rotisserie chicken breast
• 4 baby carrots
• 2 tbsp Bolthouse Ranch dressing
• 1 oz feta cheese

Dinner 691 calories, 56g protein

Homemade lasagna night

• 270g homemade lasagna
• 52g sourdough bread
• 1 cup roasted cauliflower
• 1 oz parmesan cheese

Snack 190 calories, 17g protein

• FitCrunch Chocolate Peanut Butter bar

FAQ Is 1500 calories this your maintenance calories?

I DO think 1500 calories would be maintenance for me if I stuck to it consistently. But I’ve been having several high days recently, so 1500 gets me back to the weight I like…. So do I call it a deficit or maintenance!? 😂 Not sure!!
Every single year I commit to the world that I’m gonna figure out how to maintain my weight loss, and every year I struggle to be consistent enough to find it!
But for simplicity, yes! I have lost 2 lbs this week on 1500, so for right now, it might be a deficit!