Clean Simple Eats Eating Plan

I have weighed the same pretty much since about 2 weeks after I came home from the hospital with Wesley.  He is now 19 months old.  I had felt over and over again how much I wanted to work to get some baby weight off and especially wanting to form new habits before getting pregnant again.  I loved pregnancy, but next time I want to exercise consistently and choose better foods for my body and I believe it starts with better habits now.  But the thing is, I kind of don’t love vegetables and “clean eating” always seems super hard for me.  Cue, Clean Simple Eats.

There is a woman on Instagram who has an account called Clean Simple Eats that I have followed for a very long time.  She posted that her summer cookbook and the summer challenge would be beginning on July 17^th.  I checked her Instagram account and her website to see what this was all about and found some amazing testimonials about how incredible her recipe book was and how much it helped change peoples lives.  I had been feeling so much how I needed to make a change and here was what felt like my answer! I talked Layton into it and bought the recipe book.  I am now on my second week and I feel like I can confidently say that this seems possible! Literally for the first time in my life, clean and balanced eating seems achievable! All of her recipes are calorie and macro balanced.  She helps you figure out how many calories to eat based on your goals and activity levels and then how many servings of her meals and snacks to eat.  It is foolproof if you follow it.

Literally everything has tasted AMAZING! I won’t lie, it’s starting to get to where I just want a huge doughy cookie at night because that’s what I’ve conditioned my body to want, but I am finally able to fight those cravings because she has delicious options.  I don’t feel deprived like at all.  I am still getting used to eating less but everything tastes so good, I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything.  And Layton has agreed with me that everything tastes super good.

I don’t know if I have lost any weight so far (I actually don’t own a scale), but I took some pictures last week and am planning on just taking some at the end of the challenge. 

I feel so grateful that I found this and that it seems to finally be something that will work and be sustainable for me because really, I don’t like raw vegetables and if there’s a way to eat clean and healthy and not have to be a rabbit, then yes please!

Her book has 6 weeks of weekly recipe plans (breakfast, lunch and dinner are planned out), a weekly shopping list, and a weekly bulk prep list.  All of her recipes have beautiful pictures to go along and gives you the calorie and macro count.  She tells you how much to eat exactly with each portion and yes, it’s a bit more work on the front end, but overall, I don’t feel like I’m spending any more time on meals.  In fact, since lunch is what dinner was the evening before, I just make extra and now I have my lunch ready for the next day. 

I can’t express enough how awesome it has been.  Even if nothing changes, I know that I am doing better for my body, I don’t have sugar crashes or headaches.  I don’t necessarily have more energy yet, I think my body is still getting used to it all, but I know I am putting good things into my body and it’s laid out right there for me.  All the work besides shopping, prepping and cooking is done for me.  And that to me is completely worth it.