Clean Eating Plan

Anyone else feeling fluffy? Oh, just me?

We all know pregnancy does a number on the body.  You’ve got the hormones, the weight and the emotional stress that combined transforms you no matter what.  And I certainly have embraced that change.  I am happy that this vessel held, nourished, housed, and protected my daughter for 9+ months.  It’s an achievement and badge of honor that I love and am proud of.

Even beyond pregnancy, our perspectives of our bodies is definitely skewed.  At one point long and skinny was were it was at.  Then big booties were all the fad.  We’re all over the place when it comes to the perception of beauty instead of embracing our differences in shape and striving for healthy and quality of life.  Sure, having a six pack can be a by-product of that for some but it shouldn’t be the barometer.

With that said, now being older (I’ll be 34 in January 2019) and having such a young one, I want to be around and moving along with her as long as possible.  Hence, I think it’s no better time than now to get into my best shape, whatever that maybe.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for sometime but told myself that my body just wasn’t made to do that.  But honestly, after going thru IVF and having Lucky I feel as if my body can do all kinds of things.  Imagine if I actually took care of it, gave it good, whole foods and exercised what it would be capable of doing.

What really motivated me was my husband, Zell.  At 37-years-old he completely changed his lifestyle.  He was always one to hit the gym but in terms of diet things were a bit different.  In late 2016 he hired his trainer, Val Simonenko of Total Transformation Fitness, and began his journey of embracing a healthy lifestyle.

As you can see from his before and after, Zell leaned out, which was mostly this attributed to changing his eating habits.  He still eats and enjoys food – pizza, pie, etc. – but within moderation.  He didn’t follow a restrictive, annoying diet having to count calories, macros, no carb, low carb, Keto, Atkins, gluten free.  Zell ate – and still eats (my dad calls him “Slab” for his love of ribs!) and didn’t feel restricted.

Wanting that same flexibility and results, I am going to adopt this same plan.  To be honest, I don’t think I’m the worst eater but I will admit I am an emotional eater.  Food has brought me and my family and friends together over the years and a simple taste or smell brings back memories.  For example, my dad would pick me up from elementary school and we would stop to get Thrifty ice cream.  I would always get my favorite, cookies and cream, and to this day whenever I eat this flavor I think of those moments with him.

But I’ve had a lot of ice cream, cookies (gotta be Tollhouse Chocolate Chip!), and many other things over the years.  I’ve enjoyed them and I’ll continue to but perhaps need to slow my roll – before my roll gets out of control lol!

For me this won’t be a diet – it will be adopting a new lifestyle.  Again, my hope is to get healthier and build better habits so I can keep up with my daughter but also so I can have a better quality of life as I age.  

So, as promised, here is the Clean Eating plan with instructions and a food list that I plan on following for the next few months.  In addition to this plan, Zell will be tailoring at-home workouts for me that are weights-optional.  I’ll also be sharing those if you’d like to follow along.  But to start, here’s the breakdown for Clean Eating!

I’ll be sure to check in with a before weight and weight-ins.  Just a bit difficult to get all up while watching the little one as well.

Let me know if you all have any questions!

Best,

MJ