Hi there!
My name is Nancy and I turned 49 this October. My husband and I lost a combined 35 pounds with the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge. Here’s my story 🙂
I am married with two boys and I am a Kindergarten teacher in the Bronx, NY.
My commute is very long which makes it very hard for me to make time to work out. I am also ALWAYS tired from work so Eating Clean seemed like an ideal challenge to me.
Before the challenge, my husband and I used the CleanFoodCrush website and CFC Facebook page for recipes.
He is an excellent cook and I am excellent at food prep so we thought we were Eating Clean for a long time. We also dabbled in Weight Watchers and the recipes on CFC are fantastic if you are counting points.
The problem with Weight Watchers is that most Clean Food is close to zero points so we would ‘reward’ ourselves by having ice cream or sweets to make up the points. We both always felt bloated and uncomfortable in our clothes. It’s more of a system that focuses on calories in and calories out, and we wanted a real lifestyle change where we could rewire our eating habits and crave healthy food.
We are also VERY social, either hosting friends or going out at least twice a week if not more. We both ate excellent from Monday to Friday and then…alcohol and carb festival on the weekends.
I thought about doing the challenge for so long but I always put it off because of events on the calendar. I work so hard all week and I really enjoy my wine and friends! In the car on our way home from a long weekend away, I was feeling especially gross and just decided to sign up for the challenge.
My husband was on board too. We didn’t even think about it, which was funny because what we neglected to remember was that every single weekend during that challenge we had huge social events including a destination wedding and my birthday. But the challenge was paid for and our seat belts were tight so our mantra became “You can do anything for seven days” and just decided we would take it from there.
In the first few days, we both felt an immediate change! When you give up processed sugar, the bloating goes away instantly.
I missed my hot tea with milk and sugar in the morning, but I felt so great and the pounds were melting away. I knew that I could eventually reintroduce tea with maple syrup and I was okay with knowing I could have it again.
The first week was a challenge only because I food prepped the same thing for five days in a row, but I really liked that someone was telling me exactly what to eat. It took the guesswork out of it and when I began losing weight immediately, I was completely motivated.
During the challenge, I lost 12 pounds and since then I have lost 3 more. My husband lost 20 pounds! My clothes fit me so much better and I am wearing smaller sizes. I also play soccer on a women’s league and I felt like my stamina was so much better during games.
My favorite part of the whole experience is not sifting through my closet looking for over-sized shirts to hide my protruding belly. I feel amazing! My new favorite hobby is putting on clothes that never fit me and looking in the mirror. 🙂
Forgive the cliché but it is so true that Eating Clean is not a diet, but a lifestyle change. My husband and I find it very easy to use clean ingredients. The best way to find and keep success is in the food prep. When you have an assortment of Clean foods and snacks available and ready, you are setting yourself up for success.
My advice for anyone starting the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge is to follow the first week to a tee. Trust the process and learn all you can about making Clean choices. A little extra time at the beginning spent learning about what is actually Clean makes you a grocery shopping expert in no time!
Thank you to Rachel and the whole CleanFoodCrush team,
We feel amazing!
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