Countdown to Clean Eating Challenge

I am 2 days away from my clean eating challenge. I will be starting Thirsday because that is when I go to the grocery store, but I would love for you all to join me next time you go to the grocery store! 

Here is my meal plan for the week:

I left Monday open because usually at least once through the week we eat at my mom's house or someone else's house. 

Here is my grocery list for the week:

The items that have red balloons beside them are items I plan to buy at Target and the other items I'll buy at Kroger. The only not so clean things are the cream of mushroom and cream of chicken because I have really been wanting a good casserole, but I'll definitely be buying the most healthy option of those. Everything else I will buy organic if it's the same price or close to the same price as not organic, but if it is double the price or my budget is tight I will buy whatever is cheapest. The cereal will be for my husband and I always get Maddox some frozen organic pancakes because they are quick and the ingredients are good.  I also plan to do some meal prep ahead of time hence the baggies.

I'm also going to make sure I'm getting enough food everyday by using my "diy 21 day fix container system". I'll be using just plain measuring cups instead of their special little containers. If you've never heard of Beach Body's 21 Day Fix basically it gives you a formula to calculate how many calories you should eat a day and then how much of each category (protein, veggies, fruit,etc) you should eat to reach that amount. So you measure out your food each meal to make sure your eating the right proportion. I know very little about meal portioning so I'm hoping this will help me learn how much food I should be eating everyday. 

I am in the very small percent of people who are actually trying to gain weight. Most people don't talk numbers about their weight, but I'm not going to be shy about it because it could help someone else. My ideal weight for my body frame is around 115 lbs to 120 lbs. Right now I weigh 101 lbs. I weighed 135 lbs right before I had both Maddox and Natalie then two days later after birth I weighed 117 lbs. This is usually where I get the "you lucky dog" comments, but what has happened after both of them is I lose weight pretty rapidly in the post partum months. When I became pregnant with Natalie (Maddox was 15 months) I weighed 98 lbs! I felt awful physically and I'm sure I looked as scrawny as I felt. I'm not sure exactly why I was losing so much weight, but I know for sure I wasn't eating enough to keep up with the calories I was burning by breastfeesing and I know I wasn't drinking enough water. Now I'm almost back down to under 100 lbs so that why I am trying to take charge and eat healthy and drink plenty of water. Eating healthy is good if you want to gain weight or lose weight by just adjusting portion sizes, so if you are unfamiliar with meal portioning hopefully we can learn together!

Join me on Instagram (Instagram.com/naturallybeingmommy) using #nbmcleaneating and let's share our clean eating pics and encourage one another to reach our goal of a healthier lifestyle!

-Hannah