1st Clean Eating Update

So, it's been 5 days and I already have an update to give!

I want it to be clear that I did not begin clean eating as a way to lose weight.  Being that I started this out at 120lbs while 5'7", losing weight is not something that I wanted/needed/could really afford.  But my body obviously had some different plans.  Apparently all that junk I was putting into my body was causing me to retain water (which I knew to an extent).

So, 5 days after I've started clean eating and I'm down to 116lbs.  This is the lowest weight I've been my entire adult life.  I don't think I've been 116 since at least high school.  I've been the same height since junior high so I'd venture a guess that I haven't seen 116 since even then.

He's a big clarification though - I don't look super skinny.  I can tell that I've lost water weight, but as far as losing a bunch of inches off my body, I don't really think I have.  I did go down a notch on my belt, but I think that's also from the dropping of water weight - bloating is something I've nearly always dealt with.

I feel a heck of a lot more energized (even with just 1 cup of coffee in the morning and nothing but water throughout the day).  I don't have the strong craving for sugar as I did a week ago.  I even cleaned out my pantry and put a bunch of stuff in a bag to take over to my in-laws (they've made it pretty clear this is not something they really want to do - at least not yet).

I haven't noticed a difference in my skin yet but it's only been 5 days and I'm pretty sure I'm in the throes of PMS anyway so that always throws things for a loop.  At the end of November I'm planning on taking a picture of my face, fresh from the shower, no makeup.  I took one last week and I'm looking forward to seeing the comparison.



Another thing I'm going to try to do is eliminate plastics from our kitchen/pantry.  A lot of our food is stored in plastic containers (sugar, flour, grains, etc) and I want to switch over to glass.  I actually found a pretty good deal on 2 gallon cookie jars.  I told Mike this last night and he got this stunned look on his face like "How the heck are we going to do that?!"  But really, it won't be that giant of a leap.  Mason jars are good for things like grains and beans, big jars for our flours and storing baked goods.  I already use mostly glass Pyrex bowls to store leftovers.  The only time we really use plastic is if we're transporting stuff to my in-law's place.  I think he's more afraid of what it's going to cost.


And speaking of cost!  Another thing I'm going to do throughout all of this is keep all of my receipt for grocery shopping over the next 6 weeks or so.  I had a friend ask me if clean eating was more expensive and I want to give an honest answer to that.  So far what I've found is that it is more expensive at the grocery store but, bear in mind - we're not eating out (or at least, definitely not as much) AND I've had to restock things that normally is purchased maybe once a year (like my chili powder that normally would cost $1 but instead cost me $4 because we switched to organic).  And I'm also buying things that I haven't really bought before (like quinoa) so I don't know if there are places where you can buy these things more in bulk and pay less. (On that note: if you know of a good place to buy grains and other dry goods in bulk at a decent price, I'd love to hear it!  With 2 kids in tow, shopping around looking for the best price on stuff isn't the easiest thing in the world.)