A few weeks ago, I recommitted myself to the #Chewsday Challenge. As discussed, my original plan was perhaps a little too ambitious, so this time around I’ve decided to add in one challenge at a time, with the goal of slowly and realistically building toward overall healthier eating. The challenge for Week 1 was no booze on work nights. Week two, I added in fruits and/or veggies with every meal. Last week, I started only one serving of treat per day.
How is it going?
- No booze on work nights. This is still going fairly well. I did have one beer on Tuesday night, but I thought about it long and hard before making a conscious decision to indulge. It was one single, lonely beer sitting in the fridge, and I put it out of its misery 🙂
- Fruits and/or veggies with every meal. This is also going surprisingly well. Even if I don’t have produce with a particular meal, I usually end up having fruit as a between meals snack, which I feel sort of evens things out. Yes, some days are better than others, but on the whole, I’m eating more fruit and veg, which is a good thing.
- Only one serving of treat per day. This is still sometimes a challenge. Obviously, this weekend was tough because of the wedding and dinner party. I slipped up on Saturday and had some chocolate covered sunflower seeds in the afternoon, and then had the Dacquoise at the dinner party, but on the whole, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m trying to be more conscious of the treats I have and when I have them, and that’s what matters.
This week’s challenge: protein at every meal. I don’t think I eat enough protein during the day–particularly at lunch, which usually leads to excessive snacking and eating way too effing much at dinner. If I eat more protein all throughout the day, I’m hoping that overall, I’ll take in less calories and less junk. Graze has been pretty good getting me yummy snacks, but I plan to also buy some bulk almonds to keep in my desk at work for protein power on days when the runger strikes. AND I’m going to pick up some chocolate covered sunflower seeds so that when I can’t resist the craving for sweets, at least I’m getting some protein too.
I found this awesome protein chart on Pinterest (where else?), so I’m hoping it will be a helpful guide for all of us.
If you’d like to join in on the #Chewsday Challenge, come find me and my accountabilibuddies on Twitter. Tweet us your eats, triumphs, challenges and questions and use the #Chewsday hashtag. I promise, we’re a good time. Especially if you like cupcakes. And Disney.
@RaeisaDarlin (me)
@PrincessRunners (Lisa)
@KellieEbe (Kellie)
@paradeinpink (Nicole)
@Vixen1267 (Kimberly)
What’s your favorite form of protein?
Love this! I need to work on dinner….I eat pretty well for mornings/lunches…its after work and eating dinner–for me is a death sentence….well…and weekends. 🙂
Weekends are the bane of my diet. Seriously, it’s like all rules just go out the window.
I am just opting to plead the 5th for this past weekend in Minneapolis…and just hope that the food baby I carry slowly dissipates throughout the week. It was a deliciously horrible weekend.
My boss brought in munchkins yesterday and I didn’t eat ANY! ALL DAY! I don’t know how I survived that one…now bring on the bacon! ummm, I mean protein!
OMG I never would have been able to resist munchkins! And that reminds me, gotta go pick up some bacon tonight 😉
Careful not to overeat on the almonds! There are ~200 calories in only 20 almonds, so the protein payoff actually isn’t that good. Regardless, I eat them for snack almost every day and they do help me make it to dinnertime. I always pack a snack bag of probably 20-30 of them to bring each morning instead of leaving the whole bag at work, so I know I’m not eating too many.
Also, just curious–what do you usually eat for lunch that leaves you lacking in the protein department? I can’t think of any lunches that are very low in protein. xD
Nice job keeping up with this challenge! I would have failed so hard on the first week. Mmm protein… I do love peanut butter, and edamame. Those might be my favorites. And salmon. I use the “black beans are protein!” excuse every time I succumb to an Anna’s Taqueria craving… that makes the burritos healthy, right? 😉
Beans are protein. Protein is healthy. Burritos are healthy. Especially from Anna’s 🙂
Your logic pleases me 🙂
That is a super helpful info graphic, actually. The only thing that I would add to it (if I could) would be sodium counts. Because yes, you/we are running more/sweating more, but it is still a good idea to be cognizant of it. And to be honest, I like to get the low-sodium versions of things because then you can play with the flavor more! And sea/kosher salt that you add yourself if always FAR better than the briny, added salt flavor that most things come with…
Agreed! I’ve been using a lot less salt overall lately. I like other spices more.
Protein is always a puzzle for me. When I do some investigating (google) on how much I need, I always get vastly different answers from different sources, and don’t know which to go with. In any case, I do usually have protein of some form in every meal, though, so if I am a little off, I don’t think it’s a detrimental amount.
Getting some consistently is probably better than most people. I’m usually pretty good, but lunches are often a miss, and snacks too. Hence the almonds.
I just LOLed at “accountabilibuddies”. You are doing great with this! Definitely much better than I ever would. No booze on weeknights would be my biggest downfall.
It’s pretty hard sometimes. Thankfully we don’t actually have any at the moment, which makes it easier. And I make up for it on the weekends 😉
Yeah, protein is one of those things you generally need MORE than whatever you’re doing. And it is a huge reason people get hungry mid-morning … on Sunday we made muffins and had watermelon for brunch , and by mid-afternoon we were all really hungry because there was almost no protein! I always have greek yogurt and fruit and peanut butter for breakfast so I am just starting to get hungry at lunch, but have a less protein-packed lunch so I have pistachios in my desk … that way I am not too hungry when I get home from work.
And I think you’re doing GREAT … your ‘mindful eating’ mindset is perfect! Because NO ONE is perfect, and if we set ourselves up to only accept perfection or failure … we all fail. So having a treat or beer that you CHOOSE to have … great. The big watchout is ‘mindless’ snacking 🙂
Thanks, Mike! Mindless snacking has always been my black hole. It’s especially bad in social situations, because you just stand there eating and talking and have no concept of how much you’ve actually eaten. I’m getting a lot better, but parties and eating out are still tough for me.