The (NON)Diet: Week 1

Its been a moment since I posted out to the world that I planned on losing weight with an unconventional diet of my own creation. Please note that I am not a doctor, dietitian, or any form of health expert whatsoever. I am however a girl who has spent the majority of her life overweight, desperate to be healthier, and who has tried what feels like every diet known to man. As the old saying by Ben Franklin goes, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times, I figured out 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb.” Well, I have taken my many attempts and figured out what I think is a sustainable diet that will help give steady weight loss by helping make a change in HABITS. I’m not giving up entire food groups or doing any form of deprivation. If I’m at a birthday party and there is cake, I’m straight up having a piece. I’m not telling the birthday girl I wont partake cause I want to wear skinny jeans, um no thank you. I will turn down the ice cream side though. Its about celebrating without over doing it.

I try to make sure greens or veggies take up half my plate.

I’m going to be honest with you. Change is hard. I set out all these guidelines for my lifestyle change that you can read here and they seemed simple enough. I knew it would take getting used to but I didn’t think it to be that big of a challenge. This is my egg on the face moment. It was way more difficult then I anticipated and for the first few weeks I floundered. I have since then realized that A) I need a better plan and B) I need to be more intentional about focusing on my portion sizes. I have discovered that I eat out way more than I should and when I do, I often overeat. I have figured out that the best way to combat this is to eat kids meals. They tend to be closer to an actual serving size for an adult- no kidding look it up- and they are cheaper. I’m only struggling majorly with stress eating BUT that’s another post for another day. Without further ado, let me present this weeks meal plan.

Click on the picture to get the link.

I started using the My Fitness Pal App to track my food. I’m not the type of person that will ever remember to do it everyday so when I am prepping, planning, and shopping, I put the entire week in to make sure I’m eating an appropriate amount of calories. It handy because I’m able to see what the serving size is before I eat it. Make sure to go in and adjust though so that if you eat something not planned that you are still in serving size and not going hugely over budget.

This is what the chicken nugget salad on the menu looks like for me.

As you can see there is still a lot of ‘unhealthy’ foods on this plan. Like I said its not about deprivation. I try to make healthy swaps whenever I can and within reason ( I put mostly fruit and veggies on my charcuterie board and use corn instead of flour tortilla for my tacos). I’m never really hungry but I do have to make sure to slow down when I eat. I also distract myself after I eat so I don’t get more out of BAD habit. My mind will tell me I’m still hungry but my stomach really isn’t, it just talks a little slower.

I use a small salad plate for meals without veggies so that it doesn’t look empty.

You might notice that my weekend looks awesome. Even staying in portion sizes, I’m still going over my suggested calories by 200 calories or so a day. Its all good. Its still balanced diet and because I have been a mostly good girl throughout the week, these few extra wont sink the whole ship. I have a craving for these particular items and depriving myself isn’t living my best life so I wont. Its all about that moderation ( I might have sang that like a Meghan Trainor song). I can’t eat it everyday and expect to be healthy or lose weight but I can do just a little bit on the weekend.

The plan is completely editable so keep what you like and change what you don’t, just make sure you are substituting it with something equal or better in nutrition. That’s it for this week, my friends. Let me know in the comments how this works for you and if there is anything in particular you struggle with ( I can about guarantee that I fight with it too). If you fall off the wagon, get back on. Healthy is a journey, you wont get there in one day, and taking a detour doesn’t mean you wont get there, just that you need to get veer back onto the road. Keep up the good fight and happy (NON) dieting!