Yep, I am sitting at my desk this fine Monday morning feeling a little puffier than usual! I didn’t go into this weekend with any real plans other than a family dinner on Sunday and this was honestly a welcome break from the overly scheduled past few weekends I’ve had.  I was also on a two day break from the workout program I am following but I hit the gym Saturday to get some treadmill time in because my next 5k race is fast approaching!

Other than knocking out a few miles Saturday morning, the rest of the day was dedicated to flea market shopping and furniture hunting.  After hitting a few stores we stumbled upon this great little health foods market and got probably the healthiest meal of the weekend.  I had a hummus and veggie sandwich made in a coconut wrap.  I didn’t even know coconut wraps were a thing but it was a great gluten-free alternative that actually tasted really good!  It also came with a side of cucumber salad (pictured below) which was really tasty and light as well.  I would say that meal was a 10/10 on the health scale!

Saturday night found us venturing out downtown to walk along main street and grab some dinner.  Originally we were planning on having a light seafood meal but we ended up getting caught in a downpour and as luck would have it we were right in front of a Mexican joint when it started to really come down!  Well of course in seeking shelter and waiting for the rain to pass we figured we might as well partake in a few adult beverages, aka. margaritas, while we were waiting.  The rain lasted so long though that we got hungry and ended up munching on a boat load of chips and salsa and some yummy shrimp fajitas.  I am full all over again just thinking about that meal but it was good!

Sunday was another pretty relaxed day that included some grocery shopping for the week and just some laundry, house cleaning, meal-prepping, etc the rest of the day.  Grabbed a quick bite to eat at the sushi place up the street for lunch which is always a nice, light option but skipped the gym/workout altogether on Sunday as I always take one day a week off to let my body rest and recover.  Sunday night was dinner with the family, including mom, dad and brother at my parents house.  Dinner at my parents is a guaranteed face stuffing event as my mom would never let us leave with anything but a full stomach!   Dinner was fairly healthy with the exception of the ten pounds of mac and cheese I couldn’t seem to stop eating.  Other than that, however, the rest of the meal which consisted of salmon, asparagus and a few scoops of my favorite coconut milk ice cream for dessert was light and healthy. See below for a few pics from my adventures with food this weekend:

Needless to say, I enjoyed myself this weekend and what’s even better is I don’t feel guilty about it one bit.  I know I will get right back into my workouts and healthy eating now that’s it’s Monday and I didn’t have to deprive myself or even worse starve myself to stay on track this weekend.  Being fully committed to this healthier way of life means I no longer worry about if a cheat meal or in this case a cheat weekend will derail me or blow all the progress I have made so far.  I know I will get right back on track because this journey is so important to me and really now at this point has become a lifestyle not just a workout kick or crash diet.

Along with not feeling deprived and running the risk of blowing your whole program because you just can’t keep up a super strict meal plan, cheat meals are also actually good for your metabolism!  Yes, you read that right…good for your metabolism! 🙂  I talked about this briefly in one of my earlier posts which dealt with hitting that dreaded fitness plateau.  One of the reasons for this plateau is after a while of following a more calorie conscious diet your body gets used to the deficit and your metabolism in turn slows down.  This can be frustrating because you are still eating healthily and working out but you aren’t losing the pounds like you were in the beginning.  A cheat meal is a great way to jump start your metabolism and get it used to burning those higher calorie amounts again instead of being permanently adjusted to the lower intake.

For me personally, these cheat meals now also just seem to taste better!  There is something about knowing that I worked my butt of most of the week to earn that meal that makes it all that much more enjoyable.  I am now able to eat foods like fajitas and mac and cheese without the guilt I used to have and on top of that I get a nice mental break from being strict with my diet the rest of the week.  The bottom line, like most things in life and especially when it comes to nutrition and fitness it is all about finding a healthy balance.  A good rule of thumb and one that I myself generally follow is the 80/20 rule.  80% of the time I eat healthy and pay attention to my calorie intake and 20% of the time I allow myself to indulge a bit.  This keeps my body and my mind happy and allows me to stay on track and able to keep knocking out my goals!

So cheers to a new week of hard work and reward! Happy Monday y’all!

xoxoxo,

Beth