On Monday I shared with everyone some words that keep me motivated on a daily basis.
Along with that I shared my journey on Instagram and Facebook, along with some before and after pictures that I have taken throughout the past year.
All I can say is WOW!
I was blown away by the amount of love that post received.
I just couldn't believe it and I just wanted to thank everyone for being so caring and encouraging!
My entire journey started about a year ago after I was given the "okay!" to start working out after Charlie was born. I immediately went into "get my body back" mode, however that didn't last long. The holidays came up and I fell backwards a bit, not too far back, but enough to discourage me. About six months ago I buckled down and got to work and way back on track. I've been through some crazy ups and downs along the way but with the support of my husband, the rest of my family and all of my friends (& now all of you awesome people here in blog land) I can proudly say that I am in the best shape of my entire life. I've lost all my weight and then some, however the scale hasn't been something I've been too concerned with lately, it's more about how I feel on the inside that's making this whole thing so much more meaningful to me!
So with that said I was wanting to share with everyone, today, kind of a break down of what I eat on a daily basis. Along with regular exercise and running, this is how I got myself back into shape!
***This isn't exact because, well, life happens and there are days where eating a completely healthy diet isn't exactly the easiest thing.***
Breakfast : 99% of the time I have a Green Kale Smoothie.
I look forward to this breakfast every single day and I even have to make a little extra for my son to have some, other wise he wants to drink all of mine. It's just a really easy way to get in some extra vegetables, which is what I have the hardest time incorporating into my diet.
Lunch : Usually I have a spinach salad of some sort.
Here I also have been trying to add in some vegetables as well, like corn and tomatoes mostly. Meat wise I usually go with ham or chicken, basically whatever we have in the fridge from the deli that week. For a dressing I go really simple and usually use red wine vinegar or lemon juice with a splash of olive or avocado oil. Instead of croutons I've been substituting my home made granola, which helps give it that crunch but it's coming from a bit healthier place!
... Of course there are days where I eat a wrap of some sort or left overs from dinner the night before. Either way I try to keep it as healthy as possible!
Dinner : Head on over to my Pinterest Page and on my Food board you will find the majority of what we have eaten here recently for dinner!
Now, this is where it gets tricky. For breakfast and lunch it's easy to make something for me and then something different for the boys. We tend to eat at different times and the meals are much more "on the go" in my opinion so I don't ever have to worry.
Dinner on the other hand is different. We like to eat as a family, at least I like it when we do! So cooking for two little boys, myself and my husband sometimes poses issues. I'm not making two to three different meals for dinner each night so I do my best to take recipes and substitute healthy alternatives in a way that won't mess with the taste or flavor of the dish. Now there are times where I just go with it, I eat healthy all day long and workout daily so splurging here and there on dinner doesn't really bother me anymore.
Also we have one to two nights a week we do leftovers so on those days I will be able to be a bit pickier about what I eat without it effecting everyone else. Plus it's Summer so we BBQ once a week which is awesome for me in the healthy eating department. It's easy for me to create a burger without a bun or grill up some chicken!
Snacks : It's inevitable that snacking happens throughout the day, what you choose to snack on matters.
I try to have a melon (usually watermelon) of some sort cut up in the fridge in containers ready to be eaten. This makes it super easy to just grab a container of the melon and go. I am a huge fan of the easiest route possible so taking the time to cut the melon one evening and having snacks for the week just makes good sense. I also like to pick up a banana from time to time and if I want it to be more substantial I'll add some peanut butter with that and it makes a more filling snack, along those lines I do the same with apples as well.
I've been slacking on the veggie department, like I said, here lately. However when I was in full on weight loss mode I would prep bags of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and grape tomatoes to eat throughout the week as well!
Another one of my favorite go-to snacks right now is a parfait with plain greek yogurt! I start with a couple spoonfuls of PLAIN Greek Yogurt, top it with some all natural honey. Add diced up strawberries and blueberries (or whatever berry you enjoy and have on hand!) then finish it off with some of my home made granola and voila, you have a great, healthy and tasty snack! (Make sure you stick with plain Greek Yogurt and don't get flavored, I've found I much more enjoy adding the natural honey for a sweetener!)
So, basically my daily goals are to keep bad carbs as far away as possible from breakfast all the way throughout the day... The only exception I try to give myself is dinner. I have found since doing the Whole30 keeping up with only good carbs is pretty simple! The Whole30 challenge was just what I needed to jump start my body into craving foods that are better for me!
***A little disclaimer, while doing the Whole30 I only dropped one pound. I know they advocate it's not a weight loss diet, it's more about mind and body and healthy eating, which is exactly what I found! But for those of you looking for a weight loss diet plan that may not be for you***
I hope this can help inspire you all to get out there and kick butt!!
I can share specific recipes and other details of my meal plan and workout plan for those of you who are interested, feel free to shoot me an email or message on Facebook/Instagram! I'd love to chat more with all of you :)
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
Cheers!
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