Clean Eating and Weight Loss

I've had a LOAD of questions come from readers all over asking me, "Okay, so you did you juice fasts/reboots/cleanses and you've lost weight. That's great, but now what are you doing?"

And I never really thought it appropriate to write about eating on my juice blog but I guess it's my blog, and I guess since I get SO MANY questions about it.....people want to know, right? So why not?

Well, I "eat clean", leaning more towards a paleo type diet.

What does all of that mean anyway?!

Well, I'll admit, there are a lot of grey ares when talking about clean eating and paleo but what it means to ME is....

I personally do not eat processed foods.
I do not eat refined sugars.
I avoid dairy (I've replaced my dairy milk with almond milk) and I only use grass fed, organic cheese as a rare treat.
I do not eat grains (breads, pasta, beer, rice, ect) and instead use almond meal/flour and coconut flour.
I've replaced vegetable oil with coconut oil, a much healthier alternative.
We use FRESH fruits and vegetables, we don't eat out of a box.
Fried white potatoes are no longer a food group of ours.
I only drink water, kombucha, fresh-made juice, a smoothie or my nightly protein drink for dinner.
With poultry, we always try to get cage free, hormone/antibiotic free, organic and with all other meats, we try to go with grass fed, hormone free. It's hard feeding a family of 5 on an all natural and organic diet, trust me, until I became a coach, I wasn't able to DREAM of it!!! But if you stalk your butcher's counter (and if you are brave enough to ask them about the time of day and which day of the week they do their meat markdowns for the GOOD meat.....you can really get a GOOD deal! We have a deep freezer and because the SELL BY date (not to be confused with the USE BY date) was coming up, I was able to LOAD UP on some cage free, organic chicken legs from the grocery store today, saving 25% on at least 3 packages (I think I forced myself to stop at 3 because I knew I was going to buy some fancy nitrate free sausage@ La-de-da! :p)

What do you make with nitrate free sausage, you ask? I am SO glad you asked! I'd be happy to not just tell you, but let me SHOW you!

Grass fed, nitrate, nitrite, and MSG free sausage, snap peas, and baby corn. 

This meal was simple, easy and DELICIOUS!

I could sit up until 5 am sharing with you photos of the foods I've made recently, and I'm sure I WILL be staying up until 5 am sharing with you photos of the food I've made...but not tonight.

I've also started working out 6 days a week, for at least 30 minutes a day. I give it everything I've got for those intense 30 minutes and I've been committed to those exercises and I replace one meal a day with a really good tasting and nutritious protein shake.

I started working from home, getting paid to do what I am most passionate about, which is getting healthy, working out, inspiring others and then helping them get on the right track to good health with proper diet and daily exercise. My life has changed so much over the last 2 months and ALL for the better!

I now run these Clean Eating/Fitness Challenge Groups that are just AMAZING and that help me and my challenge members stay accountable and motivated because as a team we post our "sweaty selfies" or our post-workout photos, we post photos of our meals, we share our struggles and our success and recipes and ideas. It's just an amazing group of people that help support one another and when you are on Facebook, you can't avoid it. It's right there. You HAVE to stay accountable. I can't say enough about it, it's just great!

Here is my photo collage for BEFORE starting the 90 Day Challenge (which started March 3, 2014):

I finished my first "block" of my fitness program (the first 26 days) and was told to take measurements, photos and my weight.

 Ya know, it's crazy. Fitness wise, I've NEVER stuck with something this long, EVER. I've been working out 6 days a week during this. I think I  missed 2 days due to going camping and then getting sick. But other than that, I've stayed with the program and I am proud.

You know how sometimes you start to do an exercise and you can feel a difference but you get discouraged because you look in the mirror but you just can't see the difference??? About one week in I could feel muscles on my chest that I didn't know where there! I even joked about it on Facebook somewhere.

Then Day 26 came...... and truth be told, I was scared. I had told everyone on Facebook that I was going to be posting my progress photos online and I waited until the end of the day AFTER we were done with the workout....because, ya know, I needed those extra muscles, right? ;o)

My husband took the photos and hours later when I went to put the progress photos next to each other and I saw the photo of me flexing, I about died! And then When I saw that my stomach is flattening out! Oh my gosh! I am NOT sucking in in either of those photos. Because I wanted a real actuate track of how my body was going to change, I "let it all hang out" so to speak.

I've gained so much self confidence from all of this!! I am not focused on the weight loss anymore. I'm technically one pound away from my "goal weight" that I set with my doctor not too long ago, so I will me backing an appointment with her later this week. I am SO proud of where I am and how far I've come! SO, SO, SO proud. I feel like I can move mountains now! And yet, I still have work to do. And I think that's perfectly fine, don't  you?

I had a friend post something on his/her page about "when is enough ever enough? when you get to your goal weight, is it going to be 10 more pounds?" or something along those lines. And I think both the person who posted that and the person who wrote it might not understand because they have possibly never reached a goal of that magnitude before.

Let me tell you something.

Being 137 pounds is something the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Wearing a size 2/4 is something the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Going to a yoga class for the first time and doing a move that the yoga teacher couldn't do is something the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Lacing up my shoes and going out for a run is something the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Actually looking FORWARD to my nightly workout is something the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Giving up nasty junk food like chips, candy, soda and alcohol was something that the old me would have bet AGAINST!

Becoming a weight loss coach, becoming a fitness coach is something that the old me would have bet AGAINST.

but something in me has changed. I've always been a winner, but now I refuse to accept anything less than what I deserve. Plain and simple. And I won't let anything stop me from achieving my goals. I am improving myself, I am improving my family and I am improving those who are serious, dedicated and who want the LIFESTYLE change, not just the quick weight loss.

Life is amazing....how about yours?

If you are struggling and need help, reach out! I'm here!