What I Ate to Lose 20 lbs

Pin Share Flip Save This post is inspired by the very lovely and beautiful, Running…

This post is inspired by the very lovely and beautiful, Running Rachel  – She  asked me what I ate to lose the 20lbs that I’ve lost this year. Truthfully I didn’t do anything fancy schmancy – no fad diets or anything, instead I made it a personal challenge EVERY day to reach 5 servings of lean protein and 7-8 servings of fruits n veggies. I don’t believe in DENYING myself things, instead I CHALLENGE myself.  I found by doing this it was, dare I say it, fun!

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To illustrate to you the food choices that I made, I’ve gone through my iphone pics and found all of the pics I’ve taken of the meals that I’ve prepared and eaten this year – think of this as a visual SAMPLE of what I ate:

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Breakfast

I start every day I start with a coffee (double cream double sugar), followed by a breakfast high in protein, either a Strawberry/Banana/Spinach Protein Smoothie  that my kids fight to make for me:

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6 yo Sierra proudly displays the smoothie she made for me

 or a bowl of cereal with fruit:

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5g of Fibre, 13g of Protein and 1g of Fat

I then typically have a second coffee while we’re out and about:

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The most coffee at the lowest price.

Lunch

I rarely eat a mid morning snack, but will have a glass of water (or two) mid morning.  For lunch I try to find a meal high in protein, and then have some veggies with it.  Things like a chicken breast and a spinach salad with strawberries, or a can of tuna salad with some cucumber slices and carrots:

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My favourite tuna and salmon salads
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Spanish Tuna Salad with Cucumbers, Spinach Salad and Carrots

I gotta admit, the hardest thing for me to give up was soda (pop, Coke or whatever you want to call it).  I really LOVE the feel of the bubbles on my tongue, so I started drinking flavoured carbonated water:

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Mommy’s “Bubble Water”

Snacks

Lunch to dinner is a LONG time so I carefully plan HEALTHY snacks. Snacks that once again, combine a protein with a fruit or a veggie.  If I didn’t I’d make poor choices (think taking the kids to the store for “treats”).  Some of my favourites are:

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Cottage Cheese & Pineapple
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Raw Crunch Bars (Remind me to order more)
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Carrots, Broccoli and Cheese

Dinner

This is typically my least “healthy” meal of the day.  I generally consume the most calories at dinner because this is the ONE meal where I eat the exact same thing as the kids and hubby.  Because I  make  bribe the kids to eat fruits n veggies all day, this is our “fun” meal of the day.  Tonight we had chicke burgers, baked french fries (gasp!) and steamed broccoli.  Below are some of my other dinner choices:

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Shish Kabobs
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Grilled Veggies
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Butter Chicken
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Spanish Rice Wraps

Bedtime Snack

Usually looks a lot like this:

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Cheers!

Question/Sharing: What are YOU favourite things to eat?

More recipes to enjoy:

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10 Comments

  1. Pingback: The Lazy Mama’s Guide To Fitness » Healthy and Fun Birthday Party Ideas » Sweat365 » Fitness Community
  2. Mmmmm. Love grilled veggies. Are those carrots? How have I never tried grilling carrots?

    1. Dunno – grilled carrots are yummy!

  3. Pingback: The Lazy Mama’s Guide To Fitness » What I Ate to Lose 20 lbs » Sweat365 » Fitness Community
  4. I’m like you, when it comes to drinks I love the bubbles. I’ve found club soda with a small amount of crystal light for flavour is a good substitute – I buy the boxes of individual size crystal light and then use only about 1/3 of the package to add just a bit of flavour. Less of the artificial sweetener that way, too.

    Of course, I just can’t break my diet coke at lunch habit. Oh well….

  5. TammyMcDaniel says:

    Hi… want something you can throw together around noon and have it ready at dinner? I use a slow cooker for this recipe instead of a Dutch Oven and I also add more beans and corn than it asks for… you’re kids will love it. Promise! http://www.theultimatebodychallenge.com/_uploaded_files/taco_soup.pdf

    Plus this is GREAT for breakfast too!

    BTW, thanks for the flavored, sparkling water idea – I am going to use that next time I attempt to quit soda. 🙂

  6. MyFitCoach says:

    This is a great recap. I love the snack and lunch salad ideas. I’ll have to look for those salads.

    1. Janice - Fitness Cheerleader says:

      @MyFitCoach Thanks Jenn! The Ocean’sTuna & Salmon Salads are actually a Canadian product, so I’m not sure if they’re available in the US, but there may be an equivalent product distributed in the US from a US based manufacturer.

  7. Fitness Cheerleader says:

    Thanks Shannon!