I was recently introduced to 'clean eating'. I joined in on a 90 Day Clean Eating Challenge a little over a month ago. Some people have asked me what kind of diet I am on or is there a weight loss program I am doing. Clean Eating is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle change!! I recently posted this on our 90-day Clean Eating Facebook Support page.....
At the beginning of the year I weighed 195lbs. If I ever told people how much I weighed they usually wouldn't believe me. I am 5'10" so my height helped me to carry the weight well. I had also had 4 babies within 5 years (none of them were twins). So, needless to say, my body had taken some hits with not much time to recover between pregnancies and lots of cravings.
Although my body and weight weren't where I wanted them to be, I felt relatively healthy and in decent shape. I played basketball every now and then at the park with the guys, did Zumba occasionally, would go for a run sometimes and had been able to complete 2 mini triathlons during the past 4 years (I was pregnant for both of them).
At the beginning of the year one of my resolutions was to lose 20lbs. In April I decided to make a change. I tried a 21 day cleanse (no carbs/dairy type of thing). It was intense, but I lost almost 20 lbs! I was so excited! However, it didn't teach me anything and the weight started to come back pretty quickly. By the end of summer I had gained 10 of it back.
As I mentioned earlier, I carried my weight well, but I was eating JUNK!! Looking back it was ridiculous!! I could easily eat an entire package of EL Fudge Double Stuffed cookies by myself. Not a sleeve of them, an ENTIRE package. I would actually buy them and hide them so my girls wouldn't get any of them. Then after they went to bed, I would sit on the couch with my bag of cookies and a glass of milk and eat. My breakfast on my way to work consisted of a package of ho-ho's, a bag of chips and a pop (Roglenda Smith can confirm that). I had no problem eating half of a bowl of brownie mix and making and 8x8 pan instead of a 9x13 because I had eaten so much of the mix. Pretty sick, huh?!?! I didn't think so.
I was VERY nervous about this 90 day challenge. First of all it was NINETY days! That's a LONG time and I am a picky eater so I was worried about failing, but I needed a change so I figured I would give it a try. I am AMAZED at how I am feeling!!
I have already lost 15 lbs, but what I am more amazed at is how easy it has been to not eat the sweets. Some people are struggling with this, but when I see how much energy I have by having apples and peanut butter as my go-to snack instead of candy and cookies, I am even more motivated to pass those things up.
My best friend came over the other night and I knew we were going to be getting pizza (one of my cheat meals). We got Little Caesars because that's my favorite and I was craving their bread sticks!! I was ready to CHEAT! After only 1 piece of pizza and 1 bread stick, I sat there wondering why I hadn't already gotten up to get another piece of pizza or even 3 more bread sticks.....weird.....was I really done??? I WAS!!! What a great feeling to know that I didn't NEED to have more. I was satisfied! YAY!!
This IS going to be a LIFE CHANGE for me and I am excited about learning more and being able to share this experience with others. This challenge is so different from the cleanse I did. That just deprived me from eating things I liked. This still allows me to eat those things, but it is also teaching me the RIGHT things to eat. Roanna and Karla, you have an amazing program here and I am so grateful to both of you for this opportunity for me to change my life!
We are into the 5th week of the challenge and I have already lost 20lbs!! Can you believe it?!?! 20 lbs, just from eating better and exercising 20 minutes a day. I am loving the way I feel and how much more energy I have.
The ladies who started this challenge are working on copyrights to the program so I can not share too many details about it, but here are a few:
*you are on a team of 4-6 people
*there is a points system (I love this, it keeps me motivated) - points for getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night, points for communicating with a member, points for watching certain DVDs or reading certain books on a given list, attending classes.
*report in with your team leader once a week with weight and points
* 2 'cheat meals' given each week
I will keep you posted on my progress in the next 6 1/2 weeks.
