21 Day Fix – Day 12

Friday Again!! Nothing Like A Treat Day After A Long Week Of Eating Good And Being Conscious Of Yourself!

But first… Let’s check in with my goals from 12 very long days ago.

1. Be active – I wanted to have 30 minutes of activity every day for this 21 day challenge. Well, we know that I missed Tuesday passed – trade (aka insanity) day. But other than that, I’ve been pretty good. Pretty aware of doing something every day. And it’s been good. I not feeling as stiff in my muscles/bones as what I was at the start of this.

I was travelling all day today in the car and so not much exercise there. Today will be a miss. But tomorrow, I’ll do a little stroll around the neighbourhood and find some great tea to sip on while I enjoy this beautiful city, the morning of my girlfriend’s wedding.

 

2. Keep eating out down to once a week. This one was easier. Well, wait… Let’s be honest. I can say that today because someone else is cooking dinner tonight (hahahahaha!). Honestly, it is easier when the day is not insane. But, once again, planning ahead made a huge difference. If I did not have an idea already, guaranteed I would have slipped and flopped lol.

But thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and we held firm. And as my reward, tonight, I eat carrot cake!! Woohoo! I made them yesterday and then may have snuck a look at them once or twice in anticipation for dinner tonight. I know, I know – I have a problem lol.

3. And the third thing I wanted to focus on was to really pay attention to myself. How I felt. My body. How I looked. How I felt about how I looked. And even that was good. I even spent a little time naked in front of the mirror getting ready a few times lol. Yes… Weird… But don’t judge.

It’s about learning to love your self. Your body. ALL of your body. You will pay more attention to what goes into the body when you love it more.

I think of it this way… I love my pup… And I am VERY attentive to what I put into her little body. Why should I be any less attentive to what goes into my own body?

 

The Cabbage Soup Diet

As a part of our journey today, we got to stop and have lunch with my father and mother-in-law. Super amazing people, and we just love them. Honestly, my husband is the man he is today because of the strong roots given to him by his dad. I’m very lucky.

But, of course, since I have been nothing if not FIXATED on this 21 day process lately, it naturally came up. Honestly, guys – I tried not to talk about it. Truly. But hubby brought up how we’ve been working on clean eating these past couple of weeks. Increasing our veggies, fruit, etc.

Then my mother-in-law mentioned that she is always trying a different diet, but she always falls off of it (sound familiar?). So I asked her (again, I’m trying not to talk about this too much, or preach – God forbid – as though I know everything all of a sudden) why she thought that was – and she said (no kidding) that it was because the food is boring or bland and she’s hungry and missing the snacks and treats.

This is what we’ve been talking about!!!

The one she had done recently is the cabbage soup diet (my gosh). Apparently, you eat cabbage soup for lunch, and then for dinner you can have one day of fruit, one day of veggies, one day of carbs. I’m like “ARE YOU KIDDING?!” That’s crazy. I told her, of COURSE she’s getting bored. That sound crazy! (Its crazy, right?!)

After leaving there today, I confess, I am even more determined to help people plan their meals out… And more importantly – find foods that actually taste good, are easy to make, and can become a part of a person’s every day life.

 

Tips For Success

With all of this meal planning and trying new recipes, reducing our take out, and just an overall big change, it can be difficult sometimes to keep going. But here’s some tips to help us stay on track:

Drink your water. Sounds simple but for me, it really isn’t easy. I have to consciously drink as much as I’m supposed to. How can we change that? Well, find a cool ass water bottle. Honestly, I find for me that if it’s in a bottle or has a straw, I am WAY more likely to sip away more often than I do from a glass. Keep a water bottle in the car too. Sip all the way home (probably not to ’cause you’ll be dying to pee! Ha!).

Get online – find your favourite Pinterest boards. (Maybe even mine ;o) There are so many fabulous recipes out there that home chefs just like me have shared. Look for a blogger that uses oils, vinegars, spices, herbs, garlic… These are the ones to check out because they are likely to have passion for making food that tastes great – and if I’ve never said this before – if it’s tasty, you are more likely to keep it up long term. Be careful when container counts are posted. As mentioned before, you really should try to double check them because they aren’t always posted accurately.

Use shakes to help meet your container goals. If you are finding that there is just not enough time in your day for all of the snacks and stuff in the program, consider mixing up shakes to help supplement your food. The 21 day fix offers Shakeology as an option for the program, which is a great way to ensure that you are keeping balance. Just watch the container counts because they have them too! You can also buy a container of low carb whey protein powder from GNC or other whole food store, which I’ve been using for years.

Shakes are a great way to get in all of these veggies and yoghurt, coconut oil, etc if you are finding difficulty getting them into your day. I post our shake essentials in my meal plan book for you.

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Refer to the 21 Day Fix Meal Plan for a complete outline of today’s food!