Since the beginning of our marriage, we've been pretty good about eating at home. We've been on a fairly tight budget since we said "I do," and preparing meals in the house has been the best way to stick to it. One thing we've not managed very well, however, is our portion sizes. Before the first of this year, we'd typically eaten more than we should while relying on our metabolism and active lifestyles to balance things out.
This system was working out okay until a little over six months ago when I started taking a certain medication that really messed up my insides. I gained weight, was increasingly bloated, experienced a negative shift in my metabolism, and had a big drop in my energy levels. I took the medication until the beginning of December before stopping, and I was hoping that once it was out of my system things would go back to normal.
A month later, I still felt awful and, quite frankly, hated my body. I knew I'd have to be proactive to reverse what had been happening for six months, so I started researching. I looked up lots of plans we could follow, shared all of it with TJ (who agreed to take this challenge with me), and together we decided that a modified version of the 21 Day Fix was the best fit for us. We researched recipes, made a grocery list, went shopping, came home with our loot, and began the process of meal prepping -- something that neither of us had done before.
We shopped on Saturdays and cooked on Sundays, and each day of prepping took about four hours to complete. We prepared all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the following week, and we tag-teamed it from start to finish. We chopped and mixed and stirred and whisked and boiled and baked and paused for high fives and kisses, and we were pooped by the end of it! Each week got a little easier because we were getting used to it, and we became such big believers in portion control and preparing every meal with lean meat and fresh vegetables that we decided to continue meal prepping indefinitely. I especially loved making everything in one stint and not having to worry about forgetting to eat (something I'm very guilty of) or deciding what to make for dinner every day. Snacks were pre-determined, too, so it made it easier to not just grab whatever junk we had in the pantry when I got hungry throughout the day. We, also, drank lots and lots of water throughout the day. We've been a water-only couple for many years, but the amount of water we drank during this stint even impressed us!
At the end of our 21-day challenge, both of us had lost several inches in various areas, I was no longer bloated, my metabolism was almost back to normal, and we both just felt a whole lot better. It was amazing! I never dreamed that just three weeks of intentional discipline with food could bring about such big changes in our bodies and spirits, but I'm a most definitely big believer now. By simply eating good meals proportionate to our body size with a little bit of exercise each day, TJ and I both experienced better results than we thought we would. I've always known that it matters what we put into our bodies, but these results wowed me!
My advice to anyone who feels the way I felt is simple: be proactive! Make the necessary changes, no matter how difficult you think it will be. You will never regret being a happier, healthier you. I sat around for months hoping that the weight I had gained would simply "fall off," but it didn't. When I committed to reclaiming myself, THAT'S when things changed. And I plan to keep myself accountable and continue on this road for a long time. Our health is worth it, friends. YOU are worth it!
Week One
Breakfast:
-Fruit
-Avocado Toast
-Homemade Strawberry Oats
-Eggs
-Greek Yogurt with Honey
Lunch/Dinner:
-Sheet Pan Ginger Soy Glazed Salmon with Rice
-One Skillet Cashew Chicken Stir Fry with Rice
Snacks:
-Almonds/Cashews
-Hard-boiled eggs
-Celery with hummus
-Fruit
Week Two
Breakfast:
-Fruit
-Sliced bananas on almond toast, sprinkled with cinnamon
-Smoothies
-Greek Yogurt with Honey
Lunch/Dinner:
-Roasted Veggies with Rice
Snacks:
-Almonds/Pecans
-Hard-boiled eggs
-Carrots with hummus
-Fruit
Week Three
Breakfast:
-Fruit
-Avocado toast
-Omelette with spinach and cherry tomatoes
-Greek Yogurt with Honey
Lunch/Dinner:
-Honey Sriracha Glazed Meatballs with rice and sautéed carrots
-Avocado Tuna Salad on Rice Cakes
Snacks:
-Almonds
-Hard-boiled Eggs
-Homemade Energy Bites
-Fruit
We aren't professional meal preppers (yep, just made that word up), but we've learned a lot in our few weeks of doing it. We spent a little more on our groceries than we typically do during the three weeks of our fix, but we felt strongly that it was worth it. We shopped for our meals for this current week on Sunday, and we narrowed our meals based on our budget so we could get back on track. We reused some previous recipes, we added a couple of new ones into the mix, and we've decided to take turns picking the menus each week.
This whole experience benefitted us in so many more ways than just physically. Honestly, my favorite part of this new journey we're on is that we get to spend time together in the kitchen. We both fell into our roles pretty seamlessly, and they stuck. You know how I mentioned those high fives and kisses earlier? That's worth it to me! In our 14+ years together, we're always learning new things -- both in life and about each other -- and this meal prep thing is continuing to teach us to treasure each other, work well with each other, encourage each other, and flirt with each other.
We were allowed three "cheat meals" during our fix, and we used them for Braxton's birthday, a midweek trip to Chick-fil-a (nom nom nom), and date night this past weekend. We both agreed that we ought to celebrate this little milestone, just in time for baseball to begin again for the spring (aka no date nights for a few months), and we giggled over the fact that the things we ordered for dinner were steamed veggies and grilled entrees. Now, the ice cream we had afterwards, on the other hand, was definitely not compliant with our new lifestyle. But it was date night, so we didn't feel bad about eating all that chocolate!
As a grand finale, I finished off my fix with a one-day juice cleanse yesterday. My gut has been through a lot because of the medicine I was taking, and I thought this would be a good way to help it heal even more. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be (even though I did gag several times and have to coach myself to keep going --it's a LOT of juice to down in a day), and the juices were all pretty tasty. I drank six juices in a day's time, one every three hours, and drank 16 ounces of water between each one -- a total of 200 ounces, because I drank an additional 8 ounces between juices four and five. WOWZA! I chose the Signature Detox Cleanse from our local juicer, Southern Pressed Juicery, and it was a good mix of great flavor and incredible nutritional benefits. My body is definitely hydrated today! If I stay on top of it, I'd love to do a cleanse once a season.
And that, my friends, is our little journey in a nut shell.
Eating good food regularly can heal you of so many things. I'm now proof of that! Three weeks ago, I got all kinds of emotional when I looked at myself in the mirror. Today, I'm proud of the progress I've made so quickly, and I've got a renewed motivation to be healthy -- notice I said healthy not skinny.
Because healthy is the new skinny.
And I want to be healthy!
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