Between traveling 2 out of the 4 weeks in November, coming down with the flu and walking pneumonia simultaneously (think human viral/bacterial incubator), plus holiday party food consumption (oh you know, cookies, tamales, and more), my diet has seriously suffered.  In turn, my body has too!  I feel sluggish and swollen.  Ugh.  So, I decided that for the next 5 days, I would kick my healthy habits and physical activity into high gear with the “Beat the Bloat 5-day Challenge”.  This challenge is also partially inspired by the fact that I hate feeling swollen and bloated on days when I want to wear cute holiday outfits, so it will be dual-purposed. 🙂  I hope you’ll join along!  Here’s what I have in mind:

Since about August of this year, I’ve managed to do a relatively decent job of maintaining some form of physical activity on a daily basis and also managing to eat somewhat healthy foods.  It all started off with the Whole30 challenge I participated in the month of August, wherein I followed the Whole30 diet for 30 days; in short, no sugar/legumes/grains/alcohol/dairy.  Surprisingly, I did not lose much weight, but I did pick up some new recipes, healthy habits, and I did see some muscle definition.  For this 5-day challenge, I plan to eat similarly, though not as extremely.  For example, I will allow legumes, limited sugar, and some dairy.  Here are some recipes I plan to use this week:

Grilled Chicken with a side of tomato and avocado, seasoned only with lime juice (not from a bottle, but from a real lime) and salt.  YUMMY and super filling.

Grilled Chicken/Steak/Fish salad with yummy ad-on’s (remember, the goal is to eat lighter/healthier, but not exactly like on Whole30).  This salad is from a local restaurant – Urban Cookhouse:

Eating at restaurants can be a challenge, but it’s not impossible to eat healthy while out and about!  Here’s a blackened salmon dish from Ruby Tuesday’s (Photo: duplooyduo.wordpress.com)

I’m big on eating snacks, so here are a couple of my favorites from my time on Whole30:

1) Green apple with almond butter:

and, 2) carrot sticks with Wholly Guacamole!  SO delicious!!

Finally, coffee.  Oh coffee…how I love thee.  After Whole30, I am able to drink coffee black (IF it is good coffee), but otherwise, do love a good soy latte from Starbucks.

Coffee is particularly essential while traveling…

Lately, I have a grande soy latte for breakfast (nothing else – that’s right, no pastries, bagels, nuts, etc.) and then eat lunch around 11-11:30am (see examples above).  I may have 100 calorie snack around 3pm, and then a light dinner (see above).

Now, for the exercise.  As a momma of two, time is limited, so this is how I manage to squeeze in some physical activity during the day:

1) I do 40 pushups, 30 or so squats, and two 1-minute planks a day.  I usually do 20 pushups, a 1-minute plank before I shower and then do 30 squats in the shower.  This *maybe* takes me 3 minutes to do.

Push-up (do “real” push-up’s, not modified ones), plank, and squat positions (more on these and other workouts on my “workout” Pinterest board:

Push-up position

Plank Position

Squat position

2) At least 30 minutes of physical activity.  That can include a walk from building to building for a meeting, taking the stairs, or if you are able, 30 minutes on the treadmill/elliptical.  When I am able to get on the treadmill, I like to run for the first 15 minutes, then I do arm exercises for 10 minutes (e.g. biceps, triceps, etc while walking at a comfortable pace), and then walk at the highest incline for the last 5 minutes.  It’s not a very difficult workout and not super tiring, so a nice one to do if you have to fit it in at 11pm. 🙂

So what do you think?  Not too difficult or physically demanding, right??  I hope you’ll join me!  It’s only 5 days, and hopefully by Friday, you’ll feel a bit less bloated and a bit more toned. Here’s to de-bloating before the holiday break!!  Follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter using the hashtag #chicsbeatthebloatchallenge.  Feel free to comment below if you have any questions or need further clarification.  Looking forward to your updates!

Until next time!  Stay Chic!