I Challenge You to Join Me

Fitness and health are of supreme importance in our household… and so are travel and food. Sometimes things get a little off balance in our travels and occasionally I have to hit the reset button and clean up my lifestyle. For this reason I’m doing a 30 day challenge that will start this week and end right before Thanksgiving. I think you will agree Thanksgiving is the Ultimate Cheat Day! Really what better time to hit reset than before the holidays? This way you can meet your goals and focus on maintenance instead of letting things get out of control and casting all your discipline off til the New Year. I asked my dear friend and personal trainer Marie Merritt of Momentum Fitness and Health Studio in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl to give us some encouragement and helpful tips for this 30 day challenge of eating clean and consistent healthy choices. Here is what she had to say.

My personal trainer Marie Merrit gives us her tips on eating clean.

5 tips for clean eating success…

1. Pre plan your meals and your physical activity for the week. This keeps the guess work out of figuring out what to eat last minute and our choices tend to be healthier. No time to plan your meals? This could be the perfect time to try out J William Culinary as reviewed on the A-list.

J William Culinary provides gourmet meals for active people committed to eating healthy.

2. I recommend rotating load and deplete days. When I say “load” I refer to the days you will include more complex carbs. When I say “deplete” I refer to the days you will limit carbs. Don’t over do it on the deplete days. If your body is screaming at you after one of them, it is probably best to do a 1:1 (one day load, one day deplete) ratio. You want to set yourself up for success, not failure. Please listen to your body and remember that you don’t have to torture yourself.

3. Remember, this is carbohydrate depletion, not elimination. Carbohydrates are a macronutrient and are necessary for so many things in our bodies. Choose the best carbohydrate form you can, so your vitamin intake is optimal.

Make sure you are getting plenty of healthy carbs.

Good sources of carbohydrates: All fruits, All Veggies, Quinoa, Beans/Legumes, Sweet potato, Brown rice. Try to keep them in their whole form, so your body has to do the work to break it down.

4. Dont go crazy counting your calories. That can create a hostile mental environment and this is meant to be a healthy transition into cleaner living and eating. This can be a lifestyle and is meant to be easy.

Make the healthy transition into cleaner living and eating.

5. On day 14, CHEAT!!! Give yourself the satisfaction of a cheat day once every two weeks. You can eat whatever you want to. Don’t skip them.

Don’t skip cheat days! Enjoy whatever you want.

Thank you Marie for the extra motivation for this 30 day challenge! For more great tips and recipes check out Marie’s clean eating blog. While you are at it, get inspired on her website.

I’ll be checking on your progress, and keeping you up to speed on mine!

Enjoy the Journey!

xo- Amy West

www.likelovewantneed.com