Quantifying Eating Clean for Challenges

[starpuck]

So, I know what I want to aim for, and I know my overall rules for it ... I just can't figure out how to quantify a way to track it.

 

I want to eat cleaner.  I feel better when I eat cleaner.    I think I actually have a pretty loose definition of clean all told too, but still I can't seem to figure out how to track my progress or lack thereof, when it comes to my challenges.

 

Starpuck's Eat Clean Rules - AKA "Not quite Paleo enough."

 

1. Whenever you can, mimic paleo as best as you can.

2. Lean meats, fish, nuts, fruits and veggies are awesome.  Eat 'em up!  (But mind the nut portions.)

3. Whole grains like quinoa and brown rice are okay.    But red potatoes, couscous and 'whole wheat' breads should be occasionals, not staples.

4. Dairy is okay!  Since I'm a skim girl anyway.  And we're going to be okay with yogurst.  OMG NOOSA I LOVE YOU.

5. Boxed stuff is NOT ok.   Lean Cuisines, Smart Ones.   YOU FAKERS!

6. That said, exception to the rule.  Winter sucks, so if you need a last minute hot meal that's not fast food, Kashi Frozens will be tolerated.  They at least "try".

7. Treats.  I refuse to live a life without milkshakes.   But I need to be sensible with this.   This goes for other special occasions to.   They're not off limits.   They're just in a mine field that has to be carefully navigated.

 

So that's pretty much how I go about my thinking of where I want my food rules laid out, and my challenges are typically 'Eat clean at an 80/20 ratio'.    But how do I keep track of what 80/20 is?

 

Hoping that folks who have worked to clean up their diets can share with me how they've quantified their goals for their challenges.   Thanks Rebels.

[Elastigirl]

Looks like a solid plan. I have my own framework, not exactly the same but what works for me. If I feel like have something very loose is working for me, then I keep it that way. Then for the challenges I pick a couple of things I want to focus on that I feel might be hampering my progress and focus on those. Like keeping nuts to one serving a day. Or if I want to add more of something then  I would say make sure I eat 2 servings of green stuff a day. For treats I might say have 5-6 treats total during challenge.

[The Beard]

While I didn't have it as my challenge, when losing weight was my goal I tried to keep it around the 80/20 ratio. What that meant for me was how much of non-paleo things I ate per day. Two staples of my diet were oatmeal and chocolate milk. Together, these made up about 15% of my calories for the day (and therefore the week). In addition to that, I would have one reward meal each week. One meal out of 21 was about 5% of my total for the week. Using these approximations got me to about 20% per week. Granted, I used approximations (and questionable dimensional analysis), but it worked for me.

[Vintage]

That's a tough thing to quantify. More than that, it's a pretty broad goal if you're not already really close. How about you pick 1-2 more specific behaviors that would get you closer to your goal? Depending on your current eating patterns, that might be eating one (or two, if you're already at one) home made, cooked from scratch meal/day (so you made it using whole ingredients that didn't come out of packages). Or look through your diet and find one processed food that you eat frequently and replace it with an unprocessed/homemade version - at one point for me that was salad dressings, mayo, marinades for my meat, and salsa. Meal-prepping was a huge one for me... I think I started with just having my meals planned out every week, and then I went to having 4/5 lunches for the week prepped on Sunday, and so on.

 

A general note.. When I write out goals, I do it with a sort of flow-chart style diagram. In one bubble  I'll have that type of big, overarching aim like "eat clean" or "improve absolute strength" or "reduce procrastination" but then I have a couple of smaller bubbles feeding out of that that are some of the specific behaviors to change to get me closer to the broad goal, and they become the focus of my SMART goal setting and measuring. This allows and encourages me to think long term, ensuring the things I'm choosing to focus on make sense within the bigger context and indulging my desire to have those big, vague and lofty goals, but on a day-to-day basis I can narrow my focus and efforts to the stuff I can do that day.

[I-Jo]

eating clean is 100% relative. I mean it's kind of it's own made up thing.  Most people say "whole foods that aren't processed"- but if you a a veggie- then meat's off the table.... if you are vegan that's a whole other list.

 

So once you deciede what that is for you- go for it.  I mean- paleo is such a cult type thing- I don't really understand why we have to get into 'food shaming' and they are- the paleo police are really extreme. 

 

I tend to eat a slightly whole food approach- but I have no issue with my pizza on Friday night- and my beersies.  I think the closer you get with food for aesthetics-  the more difficult it is to squeeze in the higher calorie food- it's a much more tightly regulated thing- so EVERY calorie counts- when you aren't getting many. So for me on my bulk- whatever it takes to get my calories in is all that matters.  But in a month when I start cutting- I don't have room to put in high calorie "processed" food- so it becomes  much more "clean" but its' only because it's what I need- not because I think cleaner is better.

 

Yes my food is clean- I wash it before I eat it... lol so really all that to say- there is no good answer.  Set your own parameters and just go by that- you don't have to answer to anybody but yourself in that regard!

[sheltiechick]

I don't think there's anything wrong with your rules.  They're YOUR rules.  Nothing wrong with making your diet be a personal decision, having a personal definition for it.  Honestly I feel like people should just be more concerned with their own personal diets rather than being concerned about what somebody else eats (or doesn't eat.)  Nobody likes a vegetarian who gives people side-eye for eating meat, but I don't think it's any better to give a vegetarian side-eye for NOT eating meat.  It all goes both ways.  Don't get caught up in the penis measuring game of "MORE CLEAN THAN YOU" or "MORE PALEO THAN YOU" or anything like that.  Let it be personal.  It's okay, it really is.

 

For the 80/20 thing and quantifying it, I think you just have to pick how you want to quantify it.  Is it a calorie thing, or a frequency?  For me it's a question of frequency - how often do I eat something that falls outside my rules?  If you're really concerned about your calorie level, calories might be the place to focus so you don't "blow it" so to speak by eating a few thousand extra calories and setting your calorie totals on fire.  Or like The Beard said, a combination of the two might be appropriate depending on what your goals are.  I feel like the most important is to just be really honest with yourself, make sure you know what your goals actually are and be truthful about things - like you've got an allowance for the Kashi frozen meal because it's winter, and winter sucks, and dear GOD why isn't winter over yet - but you should be straight up about when that allowance is okay with you and when it's not.  Again, it's a personal definition, it just needs to be a clear one.

[TankGrrl]

A way I have quantified in a past challenge was to count macros e.g carbs and protein.

I was inspired by the primal carb/protein stuff from Marks Daily Apple

 

 

I tracked all my food on MyFitnessPal, tried to stick to a self made framework of paleoish/primal food and aimed to get more than 100g of protein and less than 100g of carbs. If I hit that target 80% of challenge days then I was doing great. That way I could blow it on some days by eating takeout. I learnt a lot about the nutritional benefit of different foods and could really feel the difference when I had been eating heaps of protein.

[Rassidan]

A way I have quantified in a past challenge was to count macros e.g carbs and protein.

I was inspired by the primal carb/protein stuff from Marks Daily Apple

 

 

I tracked all my food on MyFitnessPal, tried to stick to a self made framework of paleoish/primal food and aimed to get more than 100g of protein and less than 100g of carbs. If I hit that target 80% of challenge days then I was doing great. That way I could blow it on some days by eating takeout. I learnt a lot about the nutritional benefit of different foods and could really feel the difference when I had been eating heaps of protein.

     Huh I saw this chart once before but didn't have a chance to really look at it. Seems to make sense to me when it comes to carbs.