I wanted to give a quick overview of my eating habits in case someone is interested. To start off, my body type is ectomorph and as such, I need more calories from carbohydrates than the other macro nutrients. Also, I need to do more strength training than cardio. I am a non-vegetarian and prefer eating meat daily, mainly because I will not be able to meet my protein requirements on a vegetarian diet. Keep those things in mind as I uncover details about my health and fitness. Remember that the diet and exercise I am following best apply to me and may not work for others. Do your own research on your body, figure out your body type, diet and exercise.


Disclaimer: I am neither a nutritionist or a fitness adviser. I don’t have any certification. Take all my advice with a pinch of salt. I have been into health and fitness since 2008 and that is probably my only credibility. I am not liable for any health issues that might arise following my advice. Risk is all yours.


I prefer to move as much as possible. On an average day I walk up and down at least 10 flights of stairs. Prefer to walk to hair cut, ATM, martial arts class, etc, in addition to the usual daily activities. I am 5'5" and weight in at 53 kgs. I go for about 2000 to 2200 calories a day mainly because I am quite active and need as many calories. For most at that height and weight, it may be too many calories. You can use a calorie calculator to find your calorie requirement based on weight, height and whether you want to lose or maintain weight. Here is an example of what I ate on one day to fill up my calories.



Morning milk is at 6:30 am. Breakfast is between 8:30 and 9:00. Lunch is usually around 12:00. Snack varies quite a bit depending on my hunger, anywhere between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Dinner is usually between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm. My morning, breakfast and snack almost always looks exactly the same everyday. The lunch and dinner change of course :) . The total number of calories came out to be around 2100 for the day. No I don't measure and weight my food :P , I just measured this one time for the blog. I know exactly how much I need to eat, so no need to measure. I have a mechanism in my brain and stomach that signal me when I am almost full and that is when I stop eating. I don't usually fill a plate first and eat all of it. I take very small portions and pause and think what my body is saying before going for another serving. Eventually I got so good at it that I can take the exact amount in one go.


Breakfast: Oats, cashew, raisins and honey (sometimes I replace raisins and honey with banana slices)


I eat oil less chicken or mutton, since the meat anyway has a lot of fat. And yes, you read it right, I had pizza for dinner! It is home made whole wheat chicken pizza. I almost never eat outside food. Perhaps once every 2-3 months, I might eat out. I do eat some sweets or pastries from time to time and most of the time they are home made. If I have to go on a long drive, I carry a bottle filled with water and mixed with 2 scoops of protein powder. I sip it through out my drive and at stops when family is eating breakfast or lunch at restaurants along the highway. I don't eat anything else, just protein shake for the day. People who know me know how crazy I am about healthy eating, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. Even when I was working, when there are some product launch celebrations or birthdays (which is pretty much every month at least), I resisted eating any cakes, sweets or drinks.


A co-worker's message on my 10th anniversary at work


As you can see, I generally eat a bit lighter in the morning compared to the evening mainly because I think my body responds better to heavy evenings and light mornings. Everybody is different, so don't eat like me. Understand your body. In winters, I noticed that in the mornings my palms and feet are cold and as the day progresses, I become more warm and I am the warmest in the late evening. So I figured (not sure if that is true) that my metabolism is probably slow in the morning and so I need to eat less and in the evening I eat a lot more. My wife is just the opposite, so I suggested her to have heavier meal in the morning and go light in the evening.


Sometimes I replace evening snack with a cup of sprouts or chickpeas mixed with onions, tomatoes, and a lemon squeeze


My body fat generally hovers between 7% and 10%. If I am on a long vacation and I choose to eat unhealthy it can shoot up to as high as 12%. As soon as I am going beyond 10%, I generally skip my breakfast which is about 300 calories until I bring it back to below 9%. More about exercise and body fat in my next post. I also practice intermittent fasting once in a while to give the alimentary canal a break. I end dinner on Sunday and won't eat anything until Monday night. Repeat once every 2 weeks until I am satisfied.


There you have it. My diet explained. In the next post I will write a bit about my exercise habits.