Tracking food consumption:  calories, macros and even water is a huge game-changer in fitness of any form.  Knowing what is consumed in a day is important wether on the path of losing weight, gaining muscle or staying healthy in general.  So many of us think we are exercising enough and eating right.  I can say, first hand, I was shocked when I started, actually, logging everything I consumed.  In fact, most individuals that have incorporated my methods for their own fitness journey have told me that were were genuinely shocked as well.  Initially, thinking my food intake was perfect for my needs, I wrote down what I was eating or drinking as I finished it.  After the first few days I realized, not only was I eating too much for my activity level, but I was eating the wrong types of foods too.  I was consuming far too many calories, too much fat & sugar and not enough protein and fiber.  Not even close.  All of the little bites and tastes I snacked on all day really added up as much as my meals.  I was also able to see on paper that most of my diet was processed.  I learned so much about this along the way.  Processed foods wreck havoc on hormones and the bodies ability to absorb proper nourishment.  Avoiding processed is best.  
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Seeing everything on paper was eye opening.  This lead me to find a fitness app.  I use My Fitness Pal.  I am not affiliated with this app at all, just sharing what I have found to work for me.  It’s a free app and I use it every day.  I log each thing I consume before I ever have a bite or a drink.  (There’s a database and virtually everything imaginable is already in the app, along with the coinciding nutritional information.)  I find it to be very accurate.  Wen I say I log everything, I mean if I have a piece of candy, take my gummy vitamins, have one slice of apple - I put it all in the app.  This gives me very accurate information, not only about what I am eating as far as calories, fat, fiber etc., but in addition to these macros, there are some of key vitamins and minerals tracked too.  So, I get a realistic view of my nutrition as well.  This app takes it another step and has an area to enter water consumption and exercise.  This enables an accurate view of the whole picture. Nutritional need factored in with exercise level can help to optimize whatever results your attempting to achieve.   Perhaps I seem a little off topic of “What I Eat in a Day”.  I am not.  I wanted to share background of how I actually know what I eat every day and why I believe it to be so important. If you are on any type of fitness, weight-loss, health journey I do believe that tracking everything will prove to beneficial.  Just try it!  It takes a little time to get in a habit.  According to research, habits take about 2 weeks to form.  My recommendation is do it for at least 2 weeks. 


Now, on with the meat.  No pun intended.  When I first started working out my goal was to lose weight.  I put all my specs in the app and found that I should consume about 1200 calories with light to moderate exercise.  As my exercise intensity picked up and weight dropped, I adjusted the app to get more accurate numbers.  Now, my goal is to consume about 1500 calories a day.  I have a very small frame and am 5’2”.   I am not a health expert, I am simply sharing my experiences.  Keep in mind, everyone is different so individual caloric intake and exercise needs may be very different from mine.  I recommend speaking with your healthcare practitioner before staring an exercise plan and changing your eating habits.  Everyone’s results differ too.  We all have different bodies and shapes.  


This is what my typical day of meals looks like.  I divide it into breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks usually.  I consume at least 8 - 10 glasses of water per day.  I like to start my morning with hot lemon water followed by an apple and my coffee with my breakfast of choice.   I take hair and skin multivitamins daily (which I believe are important to women in menopause as hair loss can begin).  I like to have consistent small snacks as illustrated below.  Usually, I include collagen as an extra protein that’s great for joints, skin and hair as well.  I will link the vitamins and collagen that I use below.  On this particular day I had 6 small meals.  (I am able to judge how much I need because using the app tells me if I ate too little or too much each day.)  I attempt to keep my meals very colorful incorporating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Now that I provided the visual of the meals, I’ll share my app screenshots for the nutritional breakdown as a reference.  Notable in the photos, I had about 90 calories left to consume on this day.  If it’s a day that I didn’t exercise I would not worry too much about this.  On a day with exercise I would finish off my last 100 calories with something like cottage cheese, protein shake, collagen or a small piece of tofu, chicken or fish.  Additionally, if I am doing something very strenuous, I consume more.  I am not trying to bulk-up to compete in body building.  I personally like being slim but having defined muscle, so my exercise and eating work perfectly for me.  Everyone has different goals and tastes.  This is why I believe an app to be so helpful.

I’m Sheryl of SheDo50Too, a lifestyle blog about being over 50 and staying fit, healthy and fashionable.  My motto is a healthy, beautiful and vibrant life at any age.  Please Subscribe, like, and follow me if you want all of my inspiration and tips for life over 50.  I am an Amazon Associate and the fitness apparel, equipment, supplements and more, that I use - are available in my Amazon Storefront.   As an Amazon Associate I do earn commissions off of purchases through my links.  This has no effect on the cost to you.   


The collagen (new packaging) and vitamins can be found at the link here: 

You can view all of my favorite things on my Amazon Store Front:
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Here’s shortcut to all my social media, links and sites
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Find me @SheDo50Too on social media to see more content, reels  and videos on: workouts, recipes, meal prep and healthy eating; as well as style and beauty inspiration for the active over 50 life. I wish you health in all things and success in your own fitness endeavors.


© Copyright, 2023, All content is created, displayed and owned solely by SheDo50Too and rights retained herein
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Throwing out leftovers can be very frustrating.  I attempt to maximize food, limit waste and save on the budget by using up all of our family’s food leftovers.  This can be a tough task if there’s not enough for a full meal.  Often, meat and vegetable leftovers make a perfect base for a soup or stew.  A cup of hot soup coupled with a salad or sandwich makes a nice nighttime meal for the family.  I also, love to use leftovers atop salads, which works perfectly for packed lunches.  My family loves hearty salads with a combination of raw and cooked vegetables and meat, tofu or eggs.  We also make a lot of bowls, consisting of rice or quinoa and salad alongside the leftover vegetables and proteins from the week.  All of this works great, but I recently tried something delicious and fun for the whole family.  Summer rolls. This is such an easy prep-ahead meal or snack and the whole family will love it.  It works great for lunches too.  

What is needed?
Any leftovers
Any sauce
Vegetables
Rice Paper wrappers (you can find these at most grocery stores with the Asian & ethnic foods) I will link them on my Amazon Storefront

Preparation:
Dip the wrapper, quickly into water and then lay it on a plate or non-stick work-surface.  I do not recommend a wooden cutting board as the rice wrapper will stick.  Note the wrapper will still feel a little stiff at this point. It will soften as you work.  Over soaking the wrapper in water will cause it to be mushy and too flimsy.     

Once the rice paper wrapper is wet, and on the work surface, place the filling in the middle.  My photos show that I used a combination of noodles, meat, tofu and kimchi along with lettuce and vegetables.  This filling can be anything.  Rice dishes, vegetables, hummus, noodles - anything.  Even traditional sandwich filling is delicious (meat and cheese and lettuce & tomato).  Top with any fresh herbs or vegetables before rolling.  These do not require a lot of filling, so they really stretch the leftovers.  Be cautious not to overfill the rolls, so they roll and seal well. 

Fold the top over and then fold in the sides and roll it closed.  That’s it.  So easy!  I have linked a short video, with the technique, here. 

To serve the summer rolls, any dipping sauce works great.  A traditional Asian version is soy sauce mixed with nut butter and lime juice.  This compliments the flavors of the Asian leftovers that I used in my example video.  

Wrap the finished roll in plastic wrap to prevent drying out.  These may be packed into a container for a lunch to-go.  The rolls are gluten-free.  The sauce is gluten-free too, because I use GF soy sauce.   They are delicious warm and fresh or chilled from the refrigerator.  

Let me know with a comment if you try this, and if you like it.  What do you do with leftovers?  

I’m Sheryl of SheDo50Too, a lifestyle blog about being over 50 and staying fit, healthy and fashionable.  My motto is a healthy, beautiful and vibrant life at any age.  Please Subscribe, like and follow me if you want all of my inspiration for life over 50.  As an Amazon Associate I do earn commissions off of purchases through my links.  This has no effect on the cost to you.   

You can view my favorite things on my Amazon Store Front:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/sheryldhealthinallthings

Here’s shortcut all my sites
https://linktr.ee/shedo50too

Find me @SheDo50Too on social media to see more content, reels  and videos on: workouts,  recipes, meal prep and healthy eating; as well as style and beauty inspiration for the active over 50 life. I wish you health in all things and success in your own fitness endeavors.


© Copyright, 2023, All content is created, displayed and owned solely by SheDo50Too and rights retained herein

Our family replenishes groceries every 2 weeks.  With each  food haul I take the time to wash, prep and organize the food to ensure  everyone in the family can find something appealing that meets individual health and fitnes needs.