Pete and I got engaged on November 7, 2015. I knew right away that it would have to be game on for our wedding diet!

My entire life, I have yo-yoed with my weight. I would lose a few pounds, sustain for a bit, but the second I would allow myself to “cheat” I would gain back my weight, and then some.

I was tired of all of the ups and downs.

I knew the wedding “diet” would have to be something more than just an unsustainable fad. It would have to be a lifestyle change.

In the year prior to getting engaged, I ran 5 half marathons, and 1 full marathon. Running kept me on the “slim” side, but I was eating whatever I pleased because I knew I was burning so many calories. I was getting frustrated as to why I wasn’t seeing a bigger change (hmmmm, wonder why?).

Obviously, how I was feeding myself was not working. I needed to start from scratch. I needed to start all over and relearn the basics of portion control, and what foods I should be taking in on a daily basis.

I had seen some people posting about 21 Day Fix (21DF) on Facebook, and after some research on the program, I was sold. I ordered my program and was ready to go! 30 minutes a day of working out was nothing! Shoot, I ran a marathon in 6 hours and 20 minutes; working out for 30 minutes is CAKE!

Beachbody offers free coaches, and since I’m a sucker for anything free, I signed up.

Within a day I was connected with a wonderful coach named Julie.  I immediately joined her Facebook challenge group. A Beachbody Facebook challenge group is designed to help support others while they are completing various Beachbody programs, share success, share defeats, keep each other accountable, and share recipes.

I quickly realized that this wasn’t a diet, but it was a lifestyle change.

In pressing the “restart” button on my eating habits, I turned to Pinterest for some 21DF recipe help. Although I found some recipes, there was not a ton available that incorporated the ingredients and portions I was looking for. I found myself adjusting the recipes to fit what was going to suit my needs best.

I started making a few new recipes incorporating healthy ingredients with the right portion sizes. And, of course, I made sure that these meals would still be crave-worthy.

Not only do the recipes need to be healthy and crave-worthy, they need to be EASY. I’m a working lady, so meals during the week need to have few recipes, which in turn, do not have a lot of expensive ingredients.

So here we are.

While I am on my own journey to stay lean in the kitchen, and improve my physical condition, I hope that this blog will help others get creative with healthy foods and live a lean lifestyle.