As if Will (my fiancé) and I haven't had enough changing in our lives, we also decided to change our diet significantly. We have both been overweight for a long time now. I've been unhappy with my weight and the way I looked and felt for as long as I can remember. I've tried working out, Weight Watchers, a low calorie diet, and even awful things like the cabbage soup diet (don't try it!!!). I always got the same results: lost weight only to gain it back plus a lot extra. I always started out really motivated and slowly (sometimes quickly...ahem, cabbage soup) lost steam because I was hungry or felt like crap or couldn't stop craving non-diet foods.
I knew for us to be successful we needed to find the perfect fit for us. We talked long and hard about what we didn't want: to be hungry all the time or be forced to eat food that tasted bad. I had pretty much given up hope of finding such a miracle diet when I found a picture on Pinterest leading me to heandsheeatclean.com. I spent hours reading their blog (if you haven't read it go do it...after you finish reading this, of course). It's a husband and wife following a "clean eating" lifestyle. As I read, I kept thinking it was too good to be true so I purchased the book they suggested that started it all for them: Tosca Reno's "Just the Rules: Tosca's Guide to Eating Right." It was cheap and only took about an hour to read. After I read it I felt disgusted with all the crap I had been eating.
So eating clean was my new project, and all that was left to do was convince Will to join me. He wasn't thrilled about it at first, but after he read the book, he was on board. A few weeks later on July 16, we began our new lifestyle (don't call it a diet or Will might snap at you that it's a lifestyle like he has to his family). Our starting weights were 349 lbs (Will) and 189 lbs (me).
If you've never heard of eating clean you're probably beyond confused and curious about what exactly I'm talking about. So what is eating clean? It sounds so restrictive when I list out the
parameters of the lifestyle, but it's surprisingly not. We eat no
preservatives, sugar, white flour, or white potatoes. We eat sea salt instead of table salt. We eat lots of
fresh fruits and veggies, and every meal consists of a lean protein and a
complex carbohydrate. We eat as much organic foods as we can find and try to eat only meat that has been grass fed and hormone free. We eat 5-6 meals a day (every 2-3 hours).
We've gotten into a comfortable routine that works for us. We cook dinner every night, making enough for leftovers for lunch the next day. We cook several things on the weekends for the whole week such as steel cut oats for breakfast, hard boiled eggs (only for the egg whites), and protein bars for quick meal options. We've found lots of recipes that taste fantastic and don't require a degree in culinary arts or several hours to prepare.
We weigh every Saturday to track our progress but not get scale-obsessive. So far Will has lost 28 pounds and I've lost 12 pounds. The first week we lost a lot, but we think it was mostly water weight due to a significant cut in sodium intake and increase in water consumption. Even more important than the amount we've lost is the way we feel. I've never felt this good in my life. I used to be tired all the time and could take a nap any time of the day but not sleep at night. Now, I sleep at night. I wake up feeling rested and don't get tired until it's approaching my bed time, and I have energy! I was shocked to find out how awful bad foods can make me feel.
This is our new life. Our ultimate goal is to be healthy for the children we hope to have someday, and I'll be sharing all the food and exercise it takes to get there.
Happy (clean) eating everyone!
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