The basic breakdown of the containers goes a little something like this, Red = Protein, Green = Veggies, Purple = Fruits, Yellow = Carbs (good carbs!), Blue = Healthy Fats & Cheeses (who doesn't love cheese), Orange = Seeds & Dressings. You are also allowed a certain number of tsp's of stuff, I don't have the book in front of me at the moment so I can't remember exactly what's on the list but I use my tsp's for Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO thanks to Rachel Ray) and Peanut Butter for a little treat and I know they're on the list, just can't remember what else is on the list. There are different calorie brackets and the book that comes with the program helps you figure out exactly which bracket you should be in and what all can go into each container so it is really simple! Trust me, if I can do it, anybody can do it!
I am in the 1200-1499 calorie bracket, so my containers for the day are 3 Green, 2 Purple, 4 Red, 2 Yellow, 1 Blue, 1 Orange, plus 2 tsp's. So, let me get this straight, this Autumn Calabrese chick says that if I eat the containers that she says I should eat and ONLY the containers her plan says I should eat, no extra snacks or Cokes (this is Coca-Cola, Pop, Soda, etc for you people who aren't familiar with our Southern Slang) and do a 30 minute workout from her dvds for 3 weeks, 21 days, I could see results and start losing weight? Is this for real? Surely weight loss can't be as simple as eating healthy and working out can it??? Say it isn't so!!! *Insert sarcastic emoji here*! That's when reality smacked me in the face, I feel like I need to play Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus right here because that's kind of how I felt when the realization hit me that it WAS as simple as that and that I had simply been too lazy to put in the effort to make it happen. Since she had made this program so simple to follow and literally dumbed it down to my level of cluelessness I realized that if I failed at this the only person I could blame was myself. So, my 21 Day Fix journey began...the first time!
You know most of this stuff already if you've read my previous posts because I basically told y'all my life story but I like to talk, a lot, so get use to it!
Due to life getting in the way I am now having to "reboot" my 21 Day Fix journey and I'm basically starting over since I've had an unfortunate weight gain due to health issues and some other stuff. I say today is my first day "back" on the fix but in reality I never stopped, I just didn't put 100% of my effort into it.
I did all of my meal planning towards the end of last week and bought groceries and meal prepped over the weekend. It is very important that you meal plan, especially if you're using a new program or you're like me and you need to have stuff written down. I've heard it many times, if you fail to plan you plan to fail and that statement is so very true for me. A lot of people can kind of roll with the punches and make things work, I am not one of those people. I am a list person and always have been, my husband makes fun of me when we go on a trip because I make a list for myself and each kid because if I don't, something will be left at home. Meanwhile, he waits until the last minute and just throws stuff in, but somehow nothing gets left! I guess I'm just scatterbrained...oh well! When I first started, I went through the book and wrote down each food that I like or wouldn't mind trying along with what container it goes with and anything special that they noted. I typed it up so I now have a pretty list in a pretty binder that I'll tell you about later. Once I had my list and I knew how many of each container I would need each day I printed out a weekly calendar with 5 spaces and wrote down every single thing that I would eat each day. The 5 spaces were breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. I know some people prefer to break their food into 6 meals a day but I like 5.
I would take the calendar with my meals on it and make my shopping list, go into the pantry, fridge, and freezer to make sure I wasn't buying stuff we already had on hand (keep your budget in mind) then we'd go grocery shopping. Sunday's are usually my prep days and sometimes it does take a long time, but the way I think of it is I'm doing all of the work at once because it'll save us time during the week and I can be spending that time with my family. I also know myself well enough to know that if I don't plan and prep every single thing, I'm going to have a bad week as far as my nutrition is concerned and I'm only going to have myself to blame for it.
I like to keep my meals very simple because if not I get overwhelmed and I don't want to do that. I swear, I think I've literally eaten the same things every day for the last year, at least it feels like it sometimes, but it works for me and that's what matters. My breakfasts are always always always 1 scrambled egg and 2 slices of bacon, it's supposed to be turkey bacon but I haven't been able to make myself try it. Give me a break, 28 years of down home southern cooking (bacon fat included) is hard to break, baby steps people, baby steps! My snacks change up sometimes but they always consist of a fruit of some sort, my favorites & my "go to" are always bananas (the plan allows for 1/2 banana and it counts as a purple container), grapes, and strawberries. Usually in my afternoon snack I throw in 12 whole almonds which is a blue container and I'll sneak in my 2 tsp of peanut butter if I'm feeling it. I also have recently developed a love for Greek Yogurt so I buy the little containers of it at Walmart and 1 of the containers counts as a 1/2 of a red so the 1 egg for breakfast and the yogurt = 1 red. Lunches and Dinners are usually grilled chicken, green salad, broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, brown rice, or some variation of the sort.
Since this is day 1 of the reboot I wanted to share my basic meal plan for this week with you. Like I said, I typically keep everything the same, I do try to mix up the veggies every day so I'm not getting tired of them constantly.
Day 1 Menu
- Breakfast
- 1 egg (1/2)
- 2 slices bacon
- Morning Snack
- 1/2 banana
- Lunch
- Baked Chicken
- Sweet Potato
- Broccoli
- Afternoon Snack
- Greek Yogurt (1/2)
- Grapes
- 12 Whole Almonds
- 2 tsp Peanut Butter
- Dinner
- Baked Chicken
- Mixed Salad
- Steamed Asparagus
Today I think I'll have my yogurt and grapes around 2:30 and since I don't get off until 4:30 I'll probably wait until closer to 4 to have my peanut butter. I'll play dinner by ear since our plans for the evening are dependent on the weather today.
Monday workouts are very important, we have to start the week off with a good workout! If I miss a Monday workout it isn't setting a good pace for the rest of the week. I do tend to follow the 21 DF workout schedule for the most part but there are some exceptions. The typical 21 DF schedule is as follows, Monday is Total Body Cardio Fix, Tuesday is Upper Fix, Wednesday is Lower Fix, Thursday is Pilates Fix, Friday is Cardio Fix, Saturday is Dirty 30 (my absolute fave!) and Sunday is Yoga Fix. The exceptions that I mentioned before are, I don't care for the Yoga Fix, I'm just not a fan and I typically am running ragged on the weekends so I'm not going to lie, the majority of the time I do not workout on Saturday and Sunday but I do try my best to keep my nutrition in check. My typical schedule is the 21 DF schedule Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. Thursday I do typically stay with Pilates as the schedule recommends but I have been known to throw the Dirty 30 in there instead of Pilates Fix because the Dirty 30 is my favorite workout from the 21 Day Fix and Pilates is an active recovery day but sometimes I feel like I need a little something more than Pilates. Friday is another "I usually stick to the plan" kind of day but it depends on my mood. It's the end of the week and sometimes I'm absolutely exhausted so I need a good workout but I also want to still have some energy when I get done. If I am feeling drained and did Dirty 30 instead of Pilates on Thursday, I'll do Pilates on Friday. If I am feeling good and did Pilates on Thursday I'll go ahead & get another round of Cardio Fix in. Saturdays and Sundays there is always something going on, I know this is an excuse, but from the time I get home on Friday nights until it's time to go to sleep on Sunday we are going constantly. So while I do try my best to keep my nutrition in check on those days, work outs are kind of an after thought.
While I'm talking about after thoughts and that sort of thing let me go ahead & talk to you about cheat meals. Every once in a while it's okay to have a cheat meal, it's actually important if you're just getting started on your fitness journey. If you jump in head first and are very strict with yourself at some point you're going to fall off the wagon. Some people can do it, don't get me wrong, but you have to realize how long you've had these bad habits and that it's going to take time to develop new, healthy habits. To make it easier on you schedule cheat meals. Figure out how often you're going to give yourself a break. I like to give myself one cheat meal for every round of the 21 Day Fix, so in any given 3 week timeframe I plan one cheat meal. You might need to schedule 2 cheat meals per every three weeks, but I wouldn't recommend more than that. Also, check out the book for substitutes that can be a little treat here and there. For instance, 3 times a week I can substitute a glass of wine for one of my yellow containers. So you don't have to completely give everything up at once and give yourself a break, we all slip up from time to time.
When you're preparing for your week, don't forget that failing to plan is planning to fail!
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