21 days to go!

I have been having a really hard time getting myself psyched up for this 21 Day Fix. My challenge group started a week and a half ago, and I have been kind of half-assing the program. Why? Laziness. I've been busy, life has been stressful, yadayadayada. Well...I am starting tomorrow and I will finish the program. I have been able to see that a lot of the other women in my group have started to see results, and I want that. I want a before and after pic!

So here I am...restarting the program. 

Since I have been following the program to an extent, I am pretty familiar with how much I can eat of each container, etc.

Here is what I am allowed to eat each day:

Daily Container Allowance

Green--3

Purple--2

Red--4

Yellow--2

Blue--1

Orange--1

Teaspoons--2

My plan for Day T-21

Breakfast:

Greek Yogurt with Fruit

Morning Snack:

Great Grains Cereal (Whole Wheat)  

12 almonds

Lunch:

Salad: 50/50 mix (2 containers), Hard-Boiled Egg (1/2 of my second red), Vegetarian Chicken, and Sunflower Seeds 

Afternoon Snack:

Chocolate Vegan Shakeo, 1/2 banana

Hard-Boiled Egg

Dinner:
Asparagus (10 spears) broiled in Olive Oil,
Brown Rice

Day #3

So yesterday I learned the importance of not skipping meals and snacks! I had a ridiculously busy morning and forgot to make breakfast for myself, then was so busy that I missed my morning snack as well. Come lunch time, I was starving! I ate my lunch then headed to work and forgot my Shakeology at home. At work, I ran 3 miles with my class, and afterwards, I felt like I was going to pass out...this led to snacking!

I pretty much thought yesterday was a wash, but luckily, my workouts were enough to bring my weight loss total to 1lb...not that that is a ton, but it wasn't a gain!

My plan today had been to actually stick to the meals that I had planned, but nothing seemed to be going right today! First, my protein pancakes were really runny and I ended up throwing them out and grabbing a piece of whole wheat toast instead. Anyway, my revised plan is starting to look like this:

Breakfast:

Whole Wheat Toast (1 Slice) with 1 TSP Peanut Butter

Morning Snack:

1/2 banana

Lunch:

Flatbread Pizza (Homemade): Flat Out tortilla (Italian Spice), 1 TBSP Tomato Sauce, Mixed Veggies, Black Olives

Greek Yogurt

Afternoon Snack:

Chocolate Vegan Shakeology, Greek Yogurt, 

Fruit

Veggies and Hummus

Dinner:
"Chicken", Asparagus (10 spears) broiled in Olive Oil

My Daily Allowance:

Green--3

Purple--2

Red--4

Yellow--2

Blue--1

Orange--1

Teaspoons--2

Day #2

I survived Day #1, but I am only down 1/2 a pound. I was kind of disappointed, but oh well, progress is progress.

I thought a lot yesterday about how I wanted to approach Day #2 because Tuesdays are always challenging for me.

First off, they are among my busiest days. I get up early to get some work, laundry, dishes (and whatever else) done, take my son to preschool, meet with school directors for work, pick up my son, and grab some lunch and head to the after school program. Tuesdays are also among my most physically active day. Lucky for me, we are training for a 5K at work! (That may have sounded sarcastic...it was not.) I am loving the training; however, it is tough because Tuesdays are also one of the days where I go to RIPPED at the Y. This means, a lot of calories burned, and I want to make sure that I get enough during the day to keep me full, but also to give me the energy I'll need.

My Daily Allowance:

Green--3

Purple--2

Red--4

Yellow--2

Blue--1

Orange--1

Teaspoons--2

Today's plan:

Breakfast:

Protein Pancakes: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oatmeal

Morning Snack:

10 Olives, 10 almonds, 1/2 banana

Lunch:

Salad: Brown Rice, Mixed Veggies (1-1/2 servings), 1 Egg (1/2 of my second red), Olive Oil

Afternoon Snack:

Chocolate Vegan Shakeology, Greek Yogurt, 

Fruit

Dinner:
Asparagus (15 spears)--1-1/2 servings  broiled in Olive Oil, Hard Boiled Egg

I was curious as to what all this food would add up to calorie-wise, and it is right around 1200. After taking out the calories I burn during RIPPED, between 400-600 and my 30-minute run, I will have a net calorie intake of 569 today...I may need to add in an extra protein shake after RIPPED, just to keep me from waking up in the middle of the night starving.

The Night Before the 21 Day Fix

Being thin has never been easy for me. I have fluctuated between overweight and normal weight my whole life...with a few brief stints at underweight (and I do mean brief!). I haven't had a scale in my house in years, as I tend to fixate on the numbers more than I should... I do weigh myself from time to time at the gym or if I have to go to the doctor, and my weight has been pretty steady at 128 since I had my son, who is now 3 years old.

I work out quite a bit, but my diet tends to leave something to be desired. My husband is a junk-food junkie, and unfortunately, he's the skinny one. I try my best to eat healthy, but a kinda-sorta clean diet hasn't been working for me, so I decided to go ahead and give the 21 Day Fix a try. I hesitated a bit because I am a vegetarian, and I think a lot of sample meal plans and recipe suggestions are often meat-centered...so it doesn't really work for me, but I am hoping that I can come up with enough variety of healthy vegetarian proteins that I don't get burned out.

Anyway, I decided that I'd start this blog--mostly for myself--but hey, if some other vegetarian who is attempting the Fix stumbles upon it and it helps them at all, then that's fantastic.

I started using the containers a bit last week to help familiarize myself with the program. I was surprised how easy it was after a day or so to remember how many of each container I should use, and also, how non-balanced my diet has been.

Here is what I am allowed to eat each day:

Daily Container Allowance

Green--3

Purple--2

Red--4

Yellow--2

Blue--1

Orange--1

Teaspoons--2

Oh, and did I mention that I am a really picky vegetarian? Going to have to try some new things and get creative with my meal planning if I am going to avoid getting burned out on this. So here goes...In an effort to alleviate some stress for tomorrow, here is my plan for my containers for Day 1:

Breakfast:

Chocolate Vegan Shakeology with 1/2 Banana

Morning Snack:

Whole Wheat Waffle and Peanut Butter 

Lunch:

Salad: 50/50 mix, Broccoli/Carrots/Cauliflower (1/2 container), Hard-Boiled Egg (1/2 of my second red), Vegetarian Chicken, and Sunflower Seeds

Afternoon Snack:

2% Cottage Cheese, Hard Boiled Egg

Dinner:
Asparagus (15 spears)--1-1/2 servings  broiled in Olive Oil, 
Brown Rice/Quinoa

Dessert:

Greek Yogurt and Mixed Berries