I’ve been on a post-summer fitness reset for three weeks now. I purged my pantry, cleaned out my cabinets, refreshed my refrigerator, and got serious again with another session of FIT4MOM DuPage County Body Back.
The program has so many benefits, which you’ve heard me talk about time and time again. But what’s really hitting home for me this session already is the ultimate necessity of clean eating.
Over the summer, I didn’t eat clean. I forgot how to say no to the things that don’t serve my body or my fitness journey. Instead, I said “YES” to every single thing that was offered to me (and then some).
I worked out hard, at least five days a week. But it didn’t matter. The experts tell you that results are 80% what you eat and 20% how you work out. I now know this to be 100% true.
As much as I hate to admit it (picture me ducking my head sheepishly), you have to eat clean – consistently – in order to maintain fitness results. As my instructor reminds us with a quote by Kelsey Byers, “One cheat meal won’t make you fat, just like one clean meal won’t make you lean.”
But on the flip side, three straight months of cheat meals might have you (or me) not fitting into any fall jeans any more.
The Kelsey Byers quote continues: “You’ve got to practice self-discipline to have more ‘on’ days than ‘off.’ The key is to find your healthy moderation, enjoy your life, and meet your goals. You can have both.”
I know that my healthy moderation has to center on clean eating to meet my goals. I will enjoy my life and I will still say “yes” to indulgences on occasion, but I’ve felt better over the past three weeks than I did all summer long. That’s the power of clean eating.
Here’s what happens when I go back to the basics and focus on nourishing my body with real, whole foods instead of snacking mindlessly on packaged snacks and binging on refined sugar:
I drink more water. This isn’t just a result; it’s a survival mechanism. Water aids digestion, which is necessary when eating complex carbs, high-fiber veggies, and protein-rich meals. It also fills me up, helping me to avoid snacking. Drinking tons and tons of water during the day gives me something to do that isn’t eating.
I have more energy. I can feel the change so quickly. It’s easier to get up in the morning. I don’t hit a mid-morning slump where I’m relying on coffee just to keep my eyes open. An evening workout isn’t a chore. I can stay awake after the kids go to sleep to get my own projects done. I’m never more productive than I am when I’m eating clean and focused on myself.
My body is lighter and faster. It takes a good 7 to 10 days, but when I’m fully committed to eating clean, that’s about the amount of time it takes for me to see and feel the sugar bloat start to reduce. Drinking tons of water helps to keep everything moving through my system, and I feel less sluggish. When I run or jump, I have more power in my muscles and I fatigue less quickly.
I work out harder. With this renewed energy and power, I can go harder at a workout, push myself to the next level, increase the intensity of my cardio, up the strength I’m lifting, and maintain my endurance longer.
I burn more calories. My Apple Watch reflects the changes too. Usually, my standard 1-hour HIIT workouts burn about 400 active calories. When I’m focused and clean, those calories creep up to at least 450, if not 500. Last week, I set a new HIIT record on my watch for 572 active calories (665 total calories) burned during a 1-hour class.
I fall asleep quicker. After a hard evening workout, I come home, take a hot shower, and collapse into bed. I don’t need to idle away time on social media. I can just close my eyes and enjoy the stillness of my body. I’m asleep in minutes.
I sleep more soundly. The sleep benefits don’t stop there. Overnight, I’m less restless and I often wake up in the morning in exactly the same position I fell asleep in (ordinarily, I’m all over the place, flipping, twisting, and turning over my pillow). I feel refreshed when I wake up, and I can get out of bed immediately when my kids are calling from their rooms, instead of dragging myself awake slowly and dreading the sound of their little voices.
My mind is clearer. The mental changes can’t be overstated. Eating clean makes me feel in control and empowered. It helps me make better decisions in all aspects of my life: at work and at home. Sugar creates a fog in my mind and body that just hangs over everything, dragging down my energy and productivity. When this fog lifts, I’m more alert, with faster reflexes and more capacity to trust my instincts.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Each of these changes feeds on the next. More energy allows me to work out harder, and working out harder burns more calories. The more intense workout tires me out and I sleep better, waking up to start the whole cycle over again. It’s the exact opposite of a vicious cycle: It’s a nourishing cycle that yields real results.
So what does a day of clean eating look like for me? The simplicity of lean eating works for me because nothing is off-limits per se (within reason, of course). I don’t restrict food groups. I eat carbs. I eat dairy. I eat meat. I eat fruit. I eat veggies galore.
The key is balance. Carbs are whole grain, preferably sprouted-grain. I avoid processed white flours because these processed carbs convert right into sugar, leading to cravings. Quinoa and brown rice are my staples; when I eat pasta, I choose brown-rice pasta, chickpea pasta, or veggie spirals (i.e., zoodles – mixing zoodles with brown-rice pasta is my current favorite).
I choose low-fat dairy and limit my portions to twice a day or less. Because milk doesn’t agree with my body very well, I use almond milk in my cereal, my smoothies, and coffee. This little change has made a big impact on how I feel, and on my daily overall sugar intake. (Milk has a lot of natural sugars.)
I love fruit as a treat but also watch my portions here. If I need something sweet, fruit is a better choice than a cookie, but on the other hand, it’s easy to consume huge amounts of it in the same way that I used to reach for those cookies. Because I know that any kind of sugar feeds my sugar addiction, I try to keep fruit to twice a day in small amounts.
I eat all kinds of lean protein: chicken breast, ground turkey, all kinds of fish and shrimp, chickpeas, nut butters, and eggs. Red meat is eaten sparingly but it’s not out of bounds: I just choose the leanest ground beef for burgers or a lean cut for grilled steak.
I eat all the veggies but I’ve noticed that I gravitate toward the sweetest veggies too: carrots, sugar snap peas, and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and squash. Sugar addiction is real. I alternate these sweeter vegetables with cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, and snow peas to balance.
But what does clean eating look like in practice? Here are the foods I reach for again and again:
BREAKFAST
Hard-boiled egg on avocado toast, Greek yogurt protein smoothies, Cheerios with hemp seeds and walnuts for protein, peanut butter toast, oatmeal (overnight oats or hot oatmeal)
LUNCH
Salads made with whatever strikes me that week. I buy a lot of salad mixes to get a variety of already-chopped veggies and then I improvise from there. Favorite toppings include avocado, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, all varieties of nuts, random chopped veggies, feta cheese, olives…the list goes on. I just make sure there’s ample protein and some healthy fat in each salad so that I’m not hungry 30 minutes after finishing it.
SNACKS
Carrots or cucumbers with hummus, peanut butter toast, cream cheese toast topped with fruit or cucumbers, apple with peanut butter or almond butter, mixed nuts with fresh berries, edamame, cheese stick or Babybel Light cheese round, hard-boiled egg
When you start eating clean, it becomes easier to eat clean. You get creative and experiment with new ingredients and combinations. You find shortcuts that save time and help you sustain your momentum (like buying hard-boiled eggs already done, or vegetables already chopped, or frozen quinoa or brown rice that can be microwaved in 3 minutes).
And you see real results, real quickly. Although I’m still staying off the scale this session, I’m already seeing visual results in the mirror. My fall jeans are a tiny bit less snug. My tummy is a little less squishy (that’s the sugar bloat fading at last).
I’m always looking for delicious new recipes to stay motivated on this clean eating fitness journey. Share your favorite clean eats with #NeverDoneWithFun!
