First Two Weeks of Eating Healthy + Meal Ideas

Hey ladies! So I did something new this past week: I completely went healthy. I know, it’s pretty scary. Why would I put myself through this torture you ask, well it’s quite simple. Remember how I went on vacation earlier this summer to Istanbul? Well, I gained some weight. Do you know how HARD it is to lose weight? I sure do. During my freshman year of college, I lost 25 pounds from exercising and SEMI-eating clean and ever since then I’ve only been working out at least 2-3 times a week in order to keep it off. On top of going on vacation, as you know I currently live in NYC aka the same city that has a million incredible restaurants and gives you no reason to eat at home.

Of course, I didn’t gain a ridiculous amount of weight and it certainty doesn’t seem to show in my blog photos (at least I hope it doesn’t!) but I can definitely feel the difference. Now you’re probably asking to yourself why I haven’t gone to the gym in forever? How about having a knee injury for more than a month now and not even being able to walk around NYC much less, stepping on an elliptical again. Yup, it’s bad. 

But on the bright side, I actually survived my first two weeks of eating 100% healthy and thought I should talk about it on my blog cause hey, lots of people are trying to eat healthy. We can all be miserable together am I right? haha. I started it two weeks ago when I made sure that there was nothing left in my fridge that was unhealthy and that I needed to go to the grocery store badly. I made sure to do tons of research beforehand and had a list of everything that I needed and completely avoided everything that I don’t need. We’re all adults here, we know what’s good for us and what’s not. I also made sure to completely avoid what I like to call my “trigger” foods which is dairy, chips, candy, etc. Lastly, I pinned a bunch of healthy recipes on Pinterest which I was grateful for cause I totally don’t know how to cook.

Here are some super simple meal ideas that you can make yourself at home in case you feel like eating healthy as well:

Breakfast: 

-Plain Quakers instant oatmeal with non-fat milk with a handful of raspberries and blueberries

-Mashed avocado on 2 slices of whole grain wheat bread (toasted) with cayenne pepper sprinkled on top

-Whole wheat toast with almond butter and half a grapefruit

Lunch: 

– 1 hard boiled egg and a spinach, cucumber, tomato, and avocado salad with sea salt, pepper, and a LITTLE bit of olive oil in it

-Wheat wrap that has sliced turkey, spinach, tomatoes, and a small spoonful of honey mustard in it

-Watermelon, feta cheese, and mint salad (recipe)

Dinner: 

-Baked salmon (I eat it plain cause less calories!), small side of brown rice, and small spinach salad with raisins and almonds in it

-Avocado caprese skillet chicken (here’s the recipe!)

-Skinny baked mozzarella sticks (recipe and yes it’s amazing!)

-Honey garlic shrimp (recipe) with a side of steamed green beans and garlic butter roasted carrots (recipe)

As strange as this sounds, the first two weeks are going incredibly well and I think it’s because I had already developed healthy habits from before such as drinking 8 glasses of water a day, avoiding bread, and not having anything sweet unless it’s fruit. I think if you already have those habits down then it’s a great start. I also made sure that I wasn’t feeling hungry and ate foods with tons of fiber in it in order to feel full but not bloated. Usually when I get hungry, that’s when the cravings for sugar begins so I made sure to eat smaller meals more often throughout the day. I think the one thing that I could work on is portion control especially when it comes to meats and controlling my cravings for eating out. In 2 weeks, I ate out twice and considered it my cheat meals but it was so hard to go back to healthy eating after that! 

Overall, not a terribly rough start but let’s see how the upcoming weeks are. I’ve already noticed that I have more energy because of all the iron-rich foods I’m eating and my stomach is NEVER bloated. The best part is that a pair of shorts that I bought a month ago was a little tight on me but now fit perfectly so I defiantly know it’s working. I’m not the type to weigh myself and obsess over it and instead track my weight loss through my clothes which is so much more accurate. Of course, it hasn’t all been easy. I keep craving dairy (and cheeseburgers and Auntie Anne’s pretzels but it’s cool *starts crying*) and haven’t given up on my iced coffee obsession and probably never will but I’ve learned to accept those things as part of the process. Most of all, I don’t deprive myself and I don’t think you should either! Just know when to stop and not go overboard.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you would like to see more posts like this!

-Ruya