When my friend Amanda posted on Facebook that she was hosting a 5-day clean eating challenge – I had to get involved. I love eating healthy and being active, but that doesn’t mean I always do it well, especially around the holidays. Despite my baking boycott through the month of December, I still managed to put myself into a good multi-week cookie coma by the time we reached the new year. It was time to start over and she’d given me the perfect excuse.
Even though I’ve read plenty about clean eating, going Paleo, ditching carbs, avoiding sugars and tons of other diet strategies — I’ve always had the hardest time committing to any of them for the long haul. I usually make it 2-3 hours before I’m craving a granola bar so hard that I eat an entire box of Oreos. Five days was just enough to be a good challenge and a great start, but still be an achievable commitment. For a truly clean eating first-timer, that was key.
So, I downloaded the amazing meal plans/guidelines Amanda made specially for us, snatched up my groceries from the nearby Trader Joe’s and started preparing to commit — with a box of chocolate and sea salt almonds. Hey, it could have been worse. Here’s how the rest of the week went down:
- Monday
Feeling great that I’ve committed to this. Doing what I can to hydrate more and just follow the steps. Totally didn’t have enough time to pack lunch, so instead of eating the amazing fried and glazed Chinese food that was catered into the office, I’m annihilating a Jimmy John’s lettuce wrap. Not bad for thinking quick. - Tuesday
Made a chicken recipes from Amanda’s menus and added a side of Brooke’s rad radishes. Snuck a little feta into the radishes. Eating them all day. Seriously, like three meals of chicken and radishes. - Wednesday
Today, I wrote my mid-week review on a Post-it. I literally wrote “skinny stomach” — not that I necessarily have one, but I feel like I do. I feel much lighter, not bloaty or tired. I even woke up at 5 a.m. for a spin class — loved every minute and still am not feeling the same exhaustion I’ve experienced over the last few weeks. Even managed to just say ‘no’ to some incredible Planet Sub catering over lunch and kept it healthy with a gorgeous salad while splurging on some still-healthy sweet potato fries for date night! - Thursday
It was a rough day for focus. Granted, my day job is chaotic and extremely busy at the moment, but slowing down to decide where to dig in was hard today. Usually, I’d grab something sugary when that happens, so avoiding the pop machine and giant basket of fruit snacks in the company kitchen was hard. By the time I made it home, I was feeling angry, frustrated, sad, mopey and lazy all at the same time. I’m blaming the sugar detox. - Friday
KC Restaurant Week would start on the last day of my clean eating challenge. I caved for lunch with the team, but still stayed as healthy as possible with my meal — ditching carbs and chicken skin for a more lean option with a white-bean stew. No doubt the sodium was probably a bit much, but I generally felt like I did pretty well with the day.
The concept was simple. Using very easy 2-3 ingredient recipes, breaking the day into multiple small portions instead of 3 large ones and hydrating like crazy — we would all eat healthier. And it worked! Using Amanda’s guidelines, I was able to snack my way through the day with baby carrots, strawberries and nuts to curb cravings, but also have my more savory breakfast, lunch and dinner without feeling guilty. What was even better is that EVERY healthy decision was celebrated by the group. And even through we each may have stumbled in one way or another, it wasn’t frowned on or considered a failure. We picked each other up – talked through how to change things up for an even healthier menu and celebrated the next healthy decision, again. This change in mentality was key!
Not wanting to lose momentum on my healthy eating ways — I kept to the plan through the weekend, too. Opting for yogurt over my go-to bacon with maple syrup is not an easy feat. But, it’s shockingly more simple when you start seeing results. After weighing my heaviest, ever, in November — I’m very happy to report that I’m down an official 15.4 lbs since the holidays began. Amanda’s 5-day challenge was exactly what I needed to reset after consuming much too much processed sugar and I couldn’t feel better about getting my mind back to consciously choosing healthier food options.
Now, to get back into that gym routine. Who’s with me?
This post originally appeared on Prettyography.
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