Day in the Life of an Entrepreneur Dietitian

When I first met Robyn IRL a few months ago it didn’t click right away that she was THE Robyn from The Real Life RD. She and I met at a food and nutrition blogger event and connected on our walk to the subway, chatting about ditching diets, mindful eating, and more. It’s always awesome to meet other like-minded dietitians who share a similar food philosophy. We got to know each other better over a (bitter bitter cold) walk in Central Park a few weeks later, and when she asked if I wanted to guest blog while she is away on her honeymoon, I said HECK YES!

Today I’m sharing with you a day in my life. As an entrepreneur, every day is different. Some days I’m talking with clients, others I run around the city from meeting to meeting, and other days I sit in my office all day and work on my writing, media, or consulting work. While the days vary, I thrive on consistency, so I try to stick to a fairly similar schedule as much as I possibly can.

Today I woke up at 7:15am to squeeze in a run before my first meeting. I’m a morning person, but now that I work for myself I tend to stay up later, so anything before 8am can be a struggle. I was proud of myself for not snoozing today (something I’m working on!). I try to follow the same morning routine every day. It feels so much better to start my day off this way, compared to when I used to just reach for my phone (which still happens sometimes, but much less often).  After my alarm went off today I sat up in bed and did a 10 minute Headspace meditation. I’ve meditated on and off for the past few years and am trying to make it more of a consistent habit. I always feel so much better and centered when I meditate on a regular basis. I love the Headspace app and typically do a 10 or 20 minute meditation depending on how much time I have.

After I meditated, I wrote in my Five Minute Journal. I got this a few months ago and love starting (and ending) my day with it.  The journal prompts me to reflect on three things I’m grateful for, three things that would make my day great, and then come up with a positive affirmation for the day.

It was a drizzly morning, but not raining too hard, so I stuck to my planned run along the East River. I have a fitness background as well, so it surprises people when they find out that I haven’t belonged to a gym in over three years. When I decided to start my own business I had to cut back on expenses, so I let go of my gym membership. For awhile I relied on friends with gyms in their apartment buildings (shout out to Christi for letting me work out with her for over a year!) but over the past few years I’ve gotten creative and have been able to work out regularly without paying much money. It helps that there are SO many free fitness opportunities in New York.

My friend Kate wrote an awesome blog post all about the free fitness stuff going on in NYC – you can check it out here. I often take advantage of the free classes at Athleta in Flatiron as well as the Ironstrength classes that take place all over the city. When I’m not doing classes (or tagging along on friend’s gym pass) I use the Nike Training Club app. They have dozens of workouts you can do anywhere. That plus the occasional run or interval sprint session (these are three of my favorites) has kept me going over the past few years. I also never say no to the offer of a free fitness class or training session, so that fills in some gaps too 🙂 Lesson here, you can find movement you love without a gym membership or workout schedule.

On my way home from my run I swung by Irving Farm Coffee Roasters and grabbed a whole milk latte. I drink one of these almost every single day and I credit it for helping curb my sweets cravings. It is such a satisfying thing for me and I enjoy it while I shower and get ready for the day. After my run I showered and then whipped up breakfast. People never believe me when I say this, but I never cooked eggs until a year ago! I was a picky eater as a kid, so I didn’t start eating eggs until college; even then it was only egg white omelets. I now eat eggs (with the yolk) frequently but had never tried making them myself until last year (the abundance of brunch restaurants + seamless made this easy!). Now I’m obsessed with eggs and cook them at least four or five times per week for breakfast. Today I made an omelet using some leftover lettuce from a cooking demo and some parmesan cheese that a friend left in my fridge. I ate that (cooked in butter of course) over a slice of Dave’s Killer Bread and some fresh pineapple.

Once I finished breakfast I had a quick client call and answered a few emails. Then I headed out to my once (sometimes twice) a year treat: getting my hair done at Brush Salon. I decided to splurge today and get my hair colored and blown out since I am working at a media event tomorrow. My appointment was at 11am and didn’t get over until after 2, so I packed a makeshift lunch of Greek yogurt, walnuts and dried cranberries, plus carrots and hummus. I had plenty of time to eat it since most of that time was spent just sitting in a chair under a heat lamp with my head wrapped in saran wrap.

After my hair appointment I had 45 minutes until my next meeting so I snuck in a quick manicure. I don’t get these often, but given that I’ll be in front of so many people tomorrow, I decided my nails should look presentable. The flexibility to do this stuff during the day (especially in NYC where places are crazy busy in the after work hours) is definitely one of my favorite things about working for myself. Of course I will end up working much later tonight since I took so much time out of my day to do stuff for myself, but it is always worth it 🙂

Next, I grabbed latte #2 and met with the people I’ll be working the event with tomorrow. I usually don’t have caffeine after 12pm, but since I know I have to work late tonight I figure it will be ok.

By the time I got to my office to actually begin “work”, it was already 4:30pm. Since my lunch was pretty light I was already getting hungry. I had planned to cook dinner at home but I knew I had a few hours of work ahead of me, so I got food from Dig Inn. Their Union Square location is only three blocks from my office but it was down pouring at this point so I ordered delivery. I’m obsessed with their lemon chicken and roasted sweet potatoes, and paired it with a salad made from broccoli leaves (sounds weird but it was yummy!).

I called it quits at my office around 7:30pm, mostly because I was craving chocolate and knew that I had homemade brownies at my apartment. My last few hours of work were accompanied by brownies and a glass of red wine.

I shut things down around 11pm so that I could get as close to eight hours of sleep as possible. Before I fell asleep I filled out my journal with a quick recap of the good stuff that happened that day, along with one thing I could have done to make today better (my answer: call my dad to catch up).

Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS, is a registered dietitian, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and the owner of Alissa Rumsey Nutrition & Wellness. She helps people who are frustrated with dieting rediscover the joy of eating and develop long-term, sustainable lifestyle habits. As a freelance writer, speaker and spokesperson, she consults with a variety of companies and frequently appears in national media including NBC Nightly News, ABC News, Prevention, Health, SELF and Women’s Health. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter, or visit her blog.

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