Completed: Nutrition Challenge!

For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been doing a Nutrition Challenge. It went pretty well! I cheated a little (some wine, 1 small cup of icecream on the snow day, a salad with some fruit in it), but I didn’t have grains or dairy or beer. It was hard to eat out, but not that hard to stick to it at home. I missed fruit in my smoothies (CANNOT wait to make one with fruit), sushi, beer, and the occasional wheat and cheese goodness. BUT, it wasn’t that bad, and really did meet the goals of resetting my eating habits, breaking the bad habits, and losing the holiday pudge.  Most importantly, I feel so much better than I did 2 weeks ago!

Results:

This was successful.

• lost 5 pounds (3 pounds were fat)
• -1 inch from my shoulders
• -0.25 from my bicep
• -1 inch from my waist
• -0.25 from my hips
• -0.5 from my thigh
• overall body fat percentage loss: -0.6%

As you can see from the pictures above, a little bit can make a pretty big difference! In the end, it’s all about balance. There’s no way I could stay on this diet long term and not go crazy, BUT I learned a lot about not needing the extra carbs or dairy, and the importance of healthy fats and nuts that will keep you full vs other crap that doesn’t. I experimented with some new recipes that make the no grain thing not so hard.

Moving forward, I’m going to continue to limit my wheat (and try to stick with rice based products, quinoa, etc) and dairy consumption (after I eat some pizza tonight!), as well as be more aware of the amount of alcohol I consume.

I’m also going to stop weighing myself again, except for weekly checkins. Because I’m so much happier without that number staring me in the face.

 

[sidenote: I continued to exercise as normal (5-6 days a week – combination of yoga/lithe/Sgt Nate). The frequency/intensity of my workout routine basically stayed the same.]

Anyone want to share any favorite wheat free/dairy free recipes?

2 Week Nutrition Challenge

On Sunday, I started a 2 week Nutrition Challenge with Sgt Nate and my fellow rangers over at Professional Touch Fitness. When I originally received the email, I was not very happy, but I was also feeling bloated and gross – so there ya go. I signed up, set a goal to not cheat during the 2 weeks, and off I went.

Here’s the break down!

Objective: To break the sugar habit, reset your metabolism, and help us prepare for healthier eating habits.

Details (from Sgt Nate):

• no dairy, no breads, no sugars ( you can use stevia for sweetness), no fruit, no breaded fried foods, no potatoes, no rice, no alcohol
• Sample meal plan: Oatmeal with crushed walnuts, almond milk, stevia, for breakfast. Remaining meals: lean meat/fish with assorted vegetables with nuts in between meals
• assorted nuts between meals for healthy fats
• 5 to 6 meals per day every 3-3 1/2 hours
• water at every meal and in between meals
• lean meats: fish, chicken, turkey, egg whites
• assorted vegetables at every meal after breakfast

That means – BASICALLY: oatmeal in the morning, and meat/veggies/eggs the rest of the day.

I’m doing this from Sunday, January 5th through Saturday, January 25. Sarge took our measurements and weight on Sunday morning, and he’ll take mine again that Saturday morning. It’s about 1 day shy of 2 weeks.

SO FAR: 

I’ve been eating overnight oats for breakfast, minus the banana plus slivered almonds. I’ve been making my green smoothies without any fruit, which I’m not gonna lie, kind of suck. It’s like drinking a salad. Except, I don’t want to drink a salad. I want to drink a smoothie. Oh well, I’ve been drinking them anyway.

For lunches this week, I’ve eaten Chipotle Chicken Salad (with the homemade mayo! Separate post coming about the mayo, total life changer) with some butternut squash soup that I made and froze over my Christmas break.

Snacks, I’ve mostly had almonds and hard boiled eggs, some spoonfuls of hummus and a couple spoonfuls of natural PB here and then.

For dinners, I had this chicken/onions/peppers recipe that I topped with some jalapeño tomatoes and guacamole. Last night I also made some kale chips.  Tonight, I made black beans, spinach, and tomatoes with 2 eggs. It was totally delicious. Then, I made some carrot fries. Again, total. life. changer.  My friend, Candie, instagrammed some not too long ago, and I’ve been curious ever since. See, I don’t really like carrots. But carrot fries dipped in some of my homemade chipotle mayo? Yes, sir! I ate 3 carrots worth of carrot fries tonight.

[Disclaimer: Beans aren’t technically  in this plan since they are a carbohydrate – and we can only have morning oatmeal. However, they are a slow digesting carbohydrate and have protein in them too. Since I don’t really love meat, I decided to include some beans as well.]

How I feel: 

I definitely felt a little tired and run down the first few days. Felt kind of weak in the yoga classes I took Monday and Tuesday.  Yesterday,  I went to Sarge. At one point, I said “This is hard today. I feel tired.”  I made it through. Today, I went to Sarge in the morning and then Lithe in the afternoon, and I’m feeling a lot less worn out. I did have a pretty massive dinner, but it was on the plan – so I’m going with it.

I weighed myself yesterday [I know, I know] since I was feeling much less bloated, and I was already down a couple of those extra pounds. So that’s good, because I started this about 8 pounds more than I want to be. [I know. I know. It’s a number, we’ve been through this. Put the damn scale away.]

So far. So good. Here are some pictures of food from this week.