This is the final article in a four part series about my experience in the My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge. Be sure to read about the Consultation for the 21 Day Challenge, the Recap from Week One and the Recap from Week Two.
The My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge is over and went by in a blink of an eye. While it started out as test of endurance to not eat out, it ended with me in a solid routine of eating healthy that I look to carry forward. This article will be a little different than the previous ones as I want to provide a summary of my experience and why I did it.
My main goal of embarking on the 21 Day Challenge was to break my habit of eating out. While I am a food blogger and need to go eat out in order to have content to write about, the majority of the time that I ate out was either at a fast food restaurant or at a place in close proximity to work for lunch. Trust me, these meals were not contributing to the content on the blog.
I have more or less eaten out a minimum of one meal a day since I was a sophomore in high school. That was the year that I got to experience off campus lunch, and the temptress known as a Cardiac Corner (a strip of 19th street just east of University Avenue in Lubbock, TX that is chocked full of fast food restaurants) called to me every day.
While I don’t want to get all Jamie Oliver on you, I do believe that junior high and high school are the formative years for what you will eat, and how you will eat, as you grow up. Allowing middle school students the choice to eat pizza and candy in the cafeteria and giving high school students the freedom to go off campus to consume triple cheeseburgers with 32 ounce sodas every day is not conducive to developing good habits.
For half of my life I have been eating out a minimum of five meals a week, and I knew that this would be a difficult habit to break. I view the 21 Day Challenge as a way to develop new habits. Because I was not allowed to eat out for three weeks (other than the one cheat meal a week), I learned that I can survive without a constant stream of cheese enchiladas or hamburgers.
My Fit Foods makes healthy meals that are both tasty and as accessible as picking up a carryout pizza. There is now no excuse for me to eat fast food in excess because I can get a healthy option just as easy.
If you are looking at going on the My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge, here are some things that you may want to know.
- There was an interesting article about My Fit Foods by registered dietitian Claudia Zepata that advises against getting the 30 Day Nutritional Survival Kit which she says is “chock-full of unnecessary supplements and more of the silly health claims.” Claudia was, however, complementary of their food and said that “My Fit Foods does a great job of providing healthy food in a hurry.”
- If you are looking to do the challenge but want to save a little bit of money, don’t have them package your food for you. Instead, drop by the store and look for clearance items (the labels are highlighted with yellow) to save half off the price of the meal. Additionally, you can purchase your Fage yogurt at HEB and save a dollar over the price at My Fit Foods.
- I could not imagine going through the challenge by myself and was fortunate to have my girlfriend participate in the challenge with me. Additionally, one of my good buddies from work who always ate out with me brought a My Fit Foods lunch so we could eat in the break room.
- You will not go hungry while participating in the 21 Day Challenge. The food is filling and spaced out every three hours from when you eat breakfast. I found myself incredibly satisfied throughout the program.
- The cheat meals are salvation. While My Fit Foods does make tasty meals, life is too short to not eat chipotle enchiladas.
- You will have more Tupperwaresque trays than you will know what to do with. I would love to see My Fit Foods start a recycling program to help reuse these trays.
- If you participate in the 21 Day Challenge, My Fit Foods will give you a three week complimentary pass to exercise in any of the Spectrum gyms. While I didn’t use this, my girlfriend did enjoy getting to go work out and the yoga classes without being hounded to purchase a full time membership.
- I noticed that I lost the most weight on the first week of participating in the My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge.
- The My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge cost for a 6’1” guy ended up being $708, the cost for a 5’0” girl ended up being $599.
- How much weight can you lose on the My Fit Foods 21 Day Challenge? Results may vary, but a 6’1” guy starting at 195.4 pounds lost 6.6 pounds and a 5’0” girl starting at 120.2 pounds and lost 3.6 pounds (though she did start eating a lot of the My Fit Foods a week prior and lost 2.8 pounds) with moderate exercise.
The 21 Day Challenge was instrumental in helping me break some of my poor eating habits and I look forward to trying to lead a more balanced lifestyle. I plan on continuing to purchase meals from My Fit Foods along with attempting to prepare some of their dishes on my own. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear a chicken fried steak smothered in cream gravy calling my name.
Stats
Exercise: Thursday ran 3 miles, Saturday ran 3 miles and walked a mile
Caloric Intake: Not taking into consideration of the cheat day, averaged about 1,800 calories a day for a 6’ 1” guy
Weight: 188.8 (lost 2.2 pounds from last weigh in of 191.0 and a total of 6.6 pounds)
Sign up for the SA Flavor Newsletter for all the best of SA without the spam! And be sure to shop the SA Flavor Store for the best Fiesta Medals, stickers, shirts and more!