Although this is fourth week of the Hungry Girl diet, I have to admit, I didn’t do a good job of sticking to the plan like I did in week 1. So this week 4 recap might be a little wah wahhh. It was a stressful week at work, and I had a major sweet tooth the entire week (I blame it on “that time of the month”…TMI? My bad!)
The food that I did have from the plan was definitely tasty…here is what I would have for a typical day:
Egg whites with fruit and a Bagel thin
Asian stir fry with chicken over rice (<— which I added to the dish…I felt I needed some carbs apparently)
Fajita Salad (with chicken, peppers, onions, salsa and sour cream). SUPER tasty.
The diet also includes 3 snacks. Typically I grab Fiber One brownies, 100 calories of fruit/veggies, popcorn, nuts or half a Quest bar.
I also rolled my own sushi at book club! (This isn’t on the HG diet, but I wanted to share…still pretty healthy!) Being a former picky eater, I never even considered eating sushi, but I LOVED the teriyaki chicken, cucumber and carrot sushi I made…so proud of myself haha.
So overall, I ended up losing around the 5 pound mark. (I went up a pound this past week–I think my sweet tooth kick this past week, combined with taking more Pure Barre classes has helped me build muscle during half marathon training.) Choosing to do this diet when I was traveling 3 our of 4 weekends wasn’t the best in terms of timing, but if I stuck to it like it did in week 1, I feel like I would have dropped more like what the book claims…)
Moving forward, I definitely plan to continue to try to stick to her plan for the next couple of weeks since I feel there are so many more recipes I can try. The food really is tasty for the most part, portions are HUGE, and about 90% of food/ingredients she uses in the diet are what I consider to be fresh, clean and natural.
They say you develop a habit in 21 days? I feel like I’m definitely getting more use to food prep, especially packing my lunch the night before so I don’t have to be tempted with all the delicious items in the cafeteria at work. I’m learning to add more fruits and veggies to every meal and keep my portions in check. And grocery shopping/menu planning has definitely become easier over the four weeks now that I’m used to what I will need and I don’t have any excess/waste. But the dishes and all the Pyrex storage containers? That heaping pile is still staring at me, begging to be washed. (I hand wash most of my Tupperware/Pyrex.) I swear I just washed everything a day ago and now a pile exists again! It’s totally worth it though…
And to round out this health & fitness related post…this is the week of the half marathon- ahhhh!
My husband and Kim’s husband met us at the trail and practiced action shots…
Workout plan for this week:
Monday- Pure Barre class- done!
Tuesday- 5.3 mile run- done!
Wednesday- Pure Barre class
Thursday- 3 mile run
Friday- rest
Saturday- Half marathon day-13.1!!!!!
Sunday- rest like whoa
Check out my other Hungry Girl Diet recaps: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
Have you done the#HGDiet? What do you think? Share your tips/tricks/struggles encountered!
Hey, 5 pounds is still 5 pounds :) The Hungry Girl Diet sounds less like a “diet” (which I kind of hate since they can be so restrictive) and more like a “foodstyle,” (a word I totally made up to describe my sustainable healthy eating plan) in that it’s good, filling food that you’ll actually want to eat all the time. But don’t forget to carb-load this week! See you Saturday :)
Amen sistah! It really is just a lifestyle/mindset change, although I thought it was like a diet in the respect that I had to cut back my portions, because I usually eat a ton at a meal. Mmmm carbs….how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
See you in a couple days– so excited! Hoping for decent weather and no rain!
5lbs is a very healthy loss! I always worry about the encouragement for anyone to lose more than that because mathmatically to lose that much you really get very few calories – which means it’s easier for your body to put that weight back on when you finish the “diet.” Smaller losses are easier to keep off when you do it slow and steady!
And that’s chicken sushi?! :o I never would have guessed – still looks yummy!
So true…and especially with half marathon training I knew I needed a couple extra snacks to keep me fueled!
And yes, only cooked proteins in my sushi. Baby steps for me ;-)
Those salad always look so delicious! Can it warm up so I can eat them already?! Good luck with your half marathon!
Now that it’s May, I have officially dug out my sandals, salads and the like. Now only if Mother Nature would get with the times! Thanks Laura :-)
I’ve heard amazing things about Hungry Girl’s Diet! I used to watch her show a lot on the Food Network and Cooking Channel, and appreciate how down-to-earth her recipes are. Isn’t homemade sushi the BEST? Food always tastes better when you’ve made it yourself. =)
I wish you a fantastic race this weekend!!! GO GET ‘EM!!! Btw – I chuckled when I read your note about Sunday’s workout plan as “rest like whoa.” Love it!
I enjoyed her show too- I need to see if it’s On Demand so I can catch some re-runs! And OMG- I want more sushi now…so tasty!
Thanks for the encouragement too…I’ll be needing that rest day :-)
Nice job on the weight loss!! I feel like its always easy to look back and think you could have lost more, but in the moment, those sweets sound amazing! Dieting is tough work.
Good luck knbthe half marathon this weekend!! I know you’re going to crush it and can’t wait to hear all about it!
Thank you Emily! Being a self-professed chocoholic, I had to be realistic. I mean…cupcakes!! It really is more of a mental game sometimes! And I’d love to run with you on the trails soon–and have a donut hehe :-)
I think that was a successful diet! Hopefully if you continue this kind of eating then it will be easy to maintain the loss or you will continue to lose weight (if that’s what you want to do)!
I always eat better when I take the time to prepare my food the night before or preparing a bunch of food at the beginning of the week. And then my mornings are less stressful too. But it’s hard to convince myself to get up off the couch and prepare the stuff.
Agreed- now that I “have the hang of it,” I think it will be easier in terms of making grocery lists, Sunday meal prep, etc. It is totally worth the prep time before the craziness of the week starts but sometimes I am so unmotivated!