This week, I began my “back to balance” eating on a Thursday. Why a Thursday? Because waiting for the start of the week or month or another “good starting point” just gives me the excuse to overindulge and overeat for more days, reinforcing bad habits that I worked hard in the past to break.
I do much better when I eat frequently, so I planned to cushion a few high volume, low calorie meals with whole food orientated snacks.
Here’s what I ate!
Day 1
- Taco salad
- Watermelon
- 1/2 BBQ chicken quesadilla
- Strawberries and whipped cream
- Side salad with ranch
- Smoothie
- Madras lentils with rice
- RX Bar
I have found myself hungrier in the mornings lately, so I front loaded my day with a large salad. Despite salad being an unconventional breakfast food, this was delicious and an easy option using dinner leftovers.
I also tried to resume my former habit of drinking a full bottle of water before having my first meal. I achieved this goal nearly every day this week.
Day 2
- Smoothie
- TexMex salad with chipotle ranch
- Grapes
- Watermelon
- Half a waffle cone and a few bites of lemon sorbet*
- One piece of sunbutter and jelly “pizza”*
- 2 cups air popped popcorn
- Apple slices with natural peanut butter
- Pot roast with mashed potatoes and peas
- Strawberries and cream
*The trouble spot today was picking at my kids’ leftovers. This seemingly harmless habit can add on calories quickly.
Day 3
Unfortunately I missed logging this day because we were very busy preparing for and hosting a fantastic summer kickoff barbecue/picnic.
Day 4
- Baked beans, roasted sweet potato chunks, and grilled veggies
- Green grapes
- Cheeseburger with loads of pickles
- Grilled potatoes
- Half an ice cream sandwich
- Pasta salad and a bit more baked beans
- RX bar
This day was tricky because we had a ton of leftovers from a family picnic and my husband and I decided to make homemade ice cream sandwiches. I felt like the day was a success when I managed not to eat more than half of an ice cream sandwich though.
Day 5
- Pineapple chunks
- Coconutmilk yogurt parfait with granola and blueberries
- Leftover pasta salad and sweet potato chunks
- Ice cream sandwich
- Celery
- Grilled chicken with grilled zucchini, peppers and onions and basmati rice
- Strawberry shortcake!
We had company for dinner this night and they ended up bringing dessert (which meant that I indulged twice in sweets on this particular occasion). It wasn’t the most weight-loss friendly of days, but we had a nice time.
Day 6
- Coconutmilk yogurt parfait with granola and blueberries
- 3 homemade mini muffins (magically green because I used sunflower seed butter in them)
- Pineapple chunks
- Grilled vegetables and potato chunks
- Leftover grilled chicken, vegetables, and baked beans
- Pico de gallo with tortilla chips
- Vegan vanilla ice cream on a sugar cone
- Sliced colby jack cheese
Day 7
- Yogurt parfait
- Multigrain bagel with vegan butter
- Cantaloupe and watermelon
- Homemade adaptogen mini brownie
- Turkey burger
- Chips and salsa
- Enchilada casserole
At the end of week one, I felt better and more “in control” of my eating since I avoided binging on random baked goods, sugary treats, and less nutritious foods. It definitely wasn’t be healthiest week of eating since I still find myself craving a lot more sweets and carbohydrate-dense foods. I’m also still struggling to pre-plan my foods which leads to too much random grazing (as evidenced by the difficulty I faced trying to gather photographs of all my meals and snacks for this post!)
Nevertheless, I was encouraged by the scale:
Weight lost: 1 lb