Challenge Accepted... Challenge Completed: Clean Eating for a Week

The past week I accepted a "clean eating challenge". It isn't something I had ever thought I would try and not really something, I feel, I could personally do for the rest of my life... BUT it was a great challenge and really opened my eyes to the food I had been eating.


I prepped for the week by making a meal plan. That can be tough! Thank goodness for Pinterest! I chose a lot of crock pot meals and easy ones to put together. I didn't have to do a lot of meal prep on Sunday, just more so figure out what I wanted to make.


I have always been very strong in my opinion of... you can't just go "cold turkey" for a change. You are just setting yourself up to fail. So, my goal for the week was 90% clean eating. That left room for some tweaks and not feeling like I had so much of a restriction.


Over all I think it was a success. I am not talking about weight loss success (which I did lose a few lbs). I am talking about just feeling "clean" on the inside. There were times I did feel hungry, which I was able to drink water or have a snack when that happened. Over all I felt my energy for the day was up, workouts went better and I just felt lighter... if that makes sense?


I continued to count calories during this past week and was surprised at how much I was able to eat. Not all "clean" foods are low in calories, but I kept that in mind when making my meal plan. Lots of veggies, fruit and natural ingredients. I was able to eat quite a bit and stay within my calorie goal.


I learned a lot during the week. I am going to try to incorporate this in my meals and snacks for the future. Just because it is "low calorie" doesn't mean it is healthy. I feel I am going to choose the more natural snack vs a low calorie "100 ingredient" snack... at times. It is all about balance and what works well for me.


When I went grocery shopping for this week, I checked all the ingredients in the food I chose. Some things still had quite a few, but I passed up on a few things that I would have normally bought. Having an "all or nothing" attitude doesn't always help. It is so easy to get down and even fail. Hopefully making these small victories will help me on my journey of just being overall healthy.


I stepped out of my comfort zone on this and am really glad that I did.


Challenge was accepted... challenge was completed


Do you think you could/would try it?






Example Menu of 1 day clean eating:


Breakfast- Blueberry oatmeal muffin and Coffee
Lunch- Chicken and Veg lettuce wrap
Snack- Apple
Dinner- Orange Chicken (crockpot) w/ stir fry veggies

Try, Fail, Try, Fail, Try....

That has pretty much been the pattern since moving here. Try to eat low cal, try to work out 5 days a week, it is an endless cycle. No one said this journey was easy though.


I have been doing really good this past couple of weeks. I am not seeing the # on the scale do anything, but have been feel strong when working out. I have been sticking to my 5 days a week of solid workouts. Feels so great! Even on the days I didn't really want to. I have been having more good days than bad as far as calories go. Over all... it is a wash. lol!


What can I do? I keep moving forward. A friend gave me some advice the other day. Long story short- I may not be eating enough calories to balance out the workouts. Essentially putting my body into preservation mode. Who knew I could eat too LITTLE calories to not lose weight? I get it, I do. Plus I need the calories to keep the energy to workout. The hard part is shaking that mentality of cutting calories. I mean that is how I lost the fist 115, why can't I continue? I can't bc I can't cut anymore than I have and still function as a person ...


SO! I need to make the calories count. Stay on the lower end, but pay  more attention to protein intake and all of that. We will see what happens, I was never very good at paying attention to that, but before.. I didn't totally need to. However if that could get me past this rut I have been in? I am willing to try!




In other news...


We are settling in well in NC. I have already done 2 5k runs since  moving here... we have been here two months! (are you surprised?) I have been finding a lot to do and still getting used to the whole working at home thing. I am slowly getting my routine down, which over all is making me feel more comfortable here.


Keeping it positive and moving forward. That is the only way to survive this wild journey.