Tag Archives: healthy

Cooking with Chef’d 

food, ,

First up on my food delivery service trials was Chef’d. I chose this for my first one because, unlike the other services, they do not require a subscription. There’s an a la carte option, so this what I chose. Shipping is free on orders $40+, so I picked a meal for 4 to get the free shipping. I figured this was a lot like my usual week’s cooking where I cook once and eat the same thing 4-6 times.

I placed my order on a Sunday, and 3 days later, my box arrived:

I picked Verde Chicken and Calabacitas with Creme and Spinach Garlic Rice. Here’s what was in the box:

The meal was pretty tasty, and I came away from the experience with a recipe and technique for tomatillo salsa. But, it took 90 minutes, twice the 45 promised. They were off on the sizes of pans needed (no way do a dozen tomatillos fit in a medium saucepan). Some of the directions were a little confusing. And, they don’t have as great of promos to start as the others (you get $10 off the first order for registering for email newsletters).

The food was restaurant quality, and I got 5 servings out of it, which dropped it down to $7-9 per meal (with/without promo).

Delivery days: Weds/Thurs/Fri options

Cost: $45 for 4 servings ($35 with my promo); varies based on meals selected. Subscription option available.

Nutrition: not listed

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When things don’t go according to plan…

24 Day Challenge, , ,

I knew my latest 24 Day Challenge was going to be different when, as I was falling asleep at the end of Day 1, I realized I didn’t take the before photos. I did the before measurements, but not the photos. Oops #1.

It would not be the last Oops of this challenge. If you’ve been following my health journey the past year, you know that typically, I lose about 6 pounds over 24 days of eating clean, avoiding processed foods, exercising and taking supplements. You also know that I don’t even take all the supplements suggested by the plan. Since I take synthroid every morning to boost my thyroid gland, I don’t take the thermogenics in the package (in fact, I order my items separately vs. the pre-packaged set)… I don’t need even more tweaking of my gland, thank you very much!

This time around, I lost 3.7 lbs. And I’m pretty darn happy about it.

Why, you ask? (After all, it’s not what I thought I would do!) A few reasons:

  • First, I figure if I wasn’t journaling what I ate during this time, and trying to eat clean for the most part, I likely would have GAINED at least 3 pounds or more.
  • 3.7 lbs loss over 24 days is about a pound a week. It’s well known that anywhere from .5 to 2 lbs a week loss is healthy.
  • I didn’t entirely stick to the plan. There were days I was at an event and allowed myself a glass of wine. There were meals I was served where I didn’t have much choice in the food, so I had to eat white bread or other no-no items for the challenge. And Friday the 13th was just a really stressful day, so there was wine and fried fish that night. And I got right back on track the next day.

I share all this because I know I’ve had other friends do this challenge, or similar challenges, and maybe your results weren’t what you had hoped they would be. But, progress is progress, and I feel learning something through it is the true goal, not the number on the scale. I was reminded journaling keeps me accountable, and going far over the calorie count I’m supposed to attain definitely affects me.

Most importantly, I learned that truly, I should try and stick to this level of eating clean and exercising as much as I can, whether I’m on an official challenge or not. Just like a muscle that weakens without use, nutritional balance can easily go out the window and is trick to get back on course.

So, who’s ready to challenge themselves to a healthier LIFEstyle?

I Was So Afraid of Failing That I Wasn’t Really Living. Here’s How I Took My Sanity Back

I thought a black-and-white mindset was critical to my success, but after years of hyper-regimented living, a debilitating injury kick-started my pursuit of a fuller, more flexible life. Here’s how I learned to embrace thinking “in the gray.”

Great article from a fellow recovering perfectionist (I hope I am not this extreme!) and how an injury forced her to chill out 🙂

I Was So Afraid of Failing That I Wasn’t Really Living. Here’s How I Took My Sanity Back

Getting back on track

wellness, , ,

So my break pretty much went as expected. I ate foods I rarely do (mmm Twizzlers!). I enjoyed my share of adult beverages. I rested and did some light workouts (probably good for my injury). And I gained 5 lbs.

BUT…I enjoyed myself. And I remember why I’ve classified such things as “treats”…if enjoyed regularly, they will get in the way of my healthy lifestyle. Vacations are special occasions, and now I’ve associated these things that way. I’m happy with that 🙂

It also renewed my craving for the structure I’ve created for myself the past 3+ months. So what am I doing to get back on track?

1. Sunday, I started tracking what I eat again. It wasn’t perfect…still a few too many calories as I was still in vacation mindset. But it was a start.

2. I’m making sure I get active again. I did a walk/run Sunday, hit the gym for weights yesterday, and plan to bike tonight. I’m still not 100% on intensity yet since I’m still healing, but getting moving again feels good.

3. Once I started tracking what I was eating again, it was easier on Monday to get back to a more reasonable calorie intake. That means getting active if eating something a little indulgent. And with my Fitbit back online (yeah, another bump…my Fitbit died Saturday. But now I have a pretty new violet one!), I can see how active (or not) I am during the day at work.

4. Next up will be keeping my sleep schedule on track. I fully caught up on any sleep debt on vacation, but I fudged that a little last night with chores and having to be up today for jury duty (meaning, a longer commute). I’ll get my arms back around that tonight.

5. I’m also paying more attention to my hydration. Got 68 oz. of water yesterday! I did a decent job on vacation, but I know this is key to success moving forward (and maybe why I only gained 5 instead of 7 or 10 pounds).

Overall, I’m still glad I took the break. After being so mindful for so long (nearly 100 days straight), I needed a pause. But I wouldn’t recommend doing the same without a plan to get back to it soon after!

I’ll keep you posted as I reboot.