I am Carla, new to clean eating but I believe this is the lifestyle I am meant to live. I weight train twice a week and run/walk on the other days.

Goal for the next ten days is to go grocery shopping and get some good things in my fridge/pantry!

Hi, I'm Jo. I'm 33 and mama to 3 kids (old enough that I can't call my extra lbs "baby weight" anymore). I highly suspect I have a thyroid issue (others in the family do, have had tests done, but feeling I should do them again). I too feel I have to work twice as hard to lose half as much. It can be SO discouraging. I'd be flamed to a crisp on the main boards for even suggesting this, but it doesn't seem to be as simple as calories in vs calories out for me. I only see success when I eat CLEAN.

Clean for me is mainly about cutting out ALL added sugars and ALL flours. After that, there really isn't much boxed/bagged/canned food to choose from, so my diet is much more natural and from whole foods.

Cooking and exercising are both.....not my favorite things. I really struggle with both. My goals for the next 10 days are to....

- clear the pantry & fridge of my temptations
- figure out a system to prepare food ahead of time
- make a menu (or just a list of easy snacks & meals) and have ingredients ON HAND
- work on reaching my goals for sleep & water intake

After I get some of these goals met I will start a more intense exercise routine (so far, I'm just trying to get 20-30 minutes in on the exercise bike). I'm a little worried because the pain from hallux limitus has been increasing (I have to modify all workouts to avoid lunges, pushups, etc - anything involving dorsiflexion of the big toe).

I'm really looking forward to sharing some recipes and finding new ones!

Hi, I'm Lisa. I’ve been on myfitness for a few years now and lost some weight then stopped tracking and fell back into old habits I never quite got rid of. Now I’m trying again. I have been logging and watching everything I eat consistently again since Jan of this year. Personally I was never a huge fan of fast food but once I met my husband 10 years ago it became more of a staple in my diet then I would have preferred. Although I can now say that I haven’t had ANY fast food since before Christmas and since I cut it out my husband is eating it a lot less as well.
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I love cooking and baking which is also why I started selling pampered chef about 2 years ago. It has always been my go to stress relief. My friends joke when they come over then don’t get a ‘hi’ from me they get ‘here try this’ and some form of my cooking shoved at them. :P Not that they complain. This spring we signed up for a local organic CSA and have been getting lots of tasty fruits and veggies. Besides that I get local grass fed, free range organic beef, pork and chicken as well as farm fresh eggs, raw milk and raw honey. It’s a great thing when you know and can see where your food comes from.

Not only have I cut out fast food we have cut back so much on anything overly processed, that the last time we had a ‘snacky’ night neither of us really enjoyed it. Everything just tasted off which I think is a good thing. I like being able to control what goes into what I’m eating.

I do have a sweet tooth that I can’t seem to lose. So I like to make my own desserts rather than buy them. Everything is ok in moderation and if I’m craving something I don’t try to deny myself it. I found when I do in the end I just end up bingeing on it. So I make my own cookies, brownies, potato chips…you name it. And if I’m making it then you can guarantee it’s never from a box. I’m always on the lookout for a new recipe to try.

I try and get exercise whenever I can squeeze it in. I volunteer a few days a week at a local rescue. Walking the dogs is so much better than paying to join a gym. I have been volunteering with the new York Bully Crew for over 2 years and a few of the dogs there I swear think I belong to them. Recently I also started adding in some strength training.

Hi I am Jo from Alberta, Canada. I will be 40 in October and struggling to lose 12 lbs. I think the key is to eat clean, but to actually commit is the big challenge especially with all the processed food out their. I am not a really good cook yet I have a ton of recipe books for Cleaning Eat and also own all of Tosca Reno's books. I start off good in the morning and usually fall apart when I get home from work as I am starving and need something to snack on.

Anyways looking forward to this group.

Hi, my name is Kathy and I'm from Ontario. I have been overweight most of my life. I recently returned to MFP after falling away from the tracking and exercising and back into the old habits. I have asthma and some COPD and the extra weight makes it difficult to breathe and exercise. I would like to break the sugar and carb cravings and I'm hoping that clean eating will help me on that journey, which in turn will lead to more energy to do what I need to do.

I have never signed into anything like this before in my life, but there's a first time for everything. I'm looking forward to reading suggestions from other members. I am a long way from my goal, but I'm going to take it one step at a time and try not to get discouraged along the way. Any encouragement and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Hello my name is Susie. I started on my journey to a healthier lifestyle change truly about 5 years ago. It was a slow process for the first few years and has become more progressive over the last 2. I have been eating fairly clean for over 2 years now; staying about 90% clean when it comes to food. Whole foods, fresh veggies, and fruit, making a majority of my food from scratch including breads is pretty much my normal habits. I like to not only know what’s in the food I’m putting in my body not to mention being able to pronounce what is in it most of the time.
I am by no means perfect; a French fry now and again is still in the diet. Currently I am finishing up some powdered protein (there are a couple of things in it I can’t pronounce). The decision to change my eating habits, my activity level well basically my life began because I couldn’t stand the way I was feeling anymore. There is way more detail to it that just that but this is an introduction. I love to cook using herbs, fresh produce and I love to create new things from scratch. I hope to learn a few things from others and share some of my own experiences and ideas.

First off, happy belated birthday Rose! And thanks for organizing this, Abby! I can't believe how many members there are. I can hardly keep up with the posts now aha.

I'm Caitlin. I'm 25 and currently in physical therapy. My focus right now is mainly my diet since I am limited with my exercises. I was eating really clean at the beginning of the year but have kind of strayed from it. I started dating someone and although we are trying to be in this together, at times we are both a bad influence on one another.

Anywho, you can read more about me in my bio! I'll try to keep this short.

My goals for the next 10 days are:
- to log every day (I'm on a streak )
- to limit my caffeine intake (decaf and switch to herbal teas)
- to reduce my alcohol consumption

Hi Everyone,

My name is Stacy and I am very new to clean eating - as in so new I'm still reading a book about it!

I guess you could say I eat "dirty" a lot,...lots of diet soft drinks, designer coffees, Wheat Thins, etc. I tried clean eating about a year ago by reading Tosca Reno's books. The recipes I tried were not very flattering to my palate, and especially not to my family's. so I think I lasted maybe 3 days. Also, Tosca's recipes called for ingredients that just aren't available in the rural community I live in. I'm hoping the book I'm reading now will offer tastier recipes with ingredients I can find locally.

My goals for the next 10 days are:
- Finish "The Quick and Clean Diet" book I'm reading
- Wean off diet soft drinks
- Wean off designer coffees

I wish everyone a lot of success in their endeavors to eat clean!

~Stacy