Cheating Recovery Meal Plan
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So….I’m going to go out on a limb here and confess that, even as a Trim Healthy Mama, I cheated today. Big time. Although, eating Trim Healthy Mama style it’s more appropriate to say that I went “off-plan.” Whatever you call it, I did it, and I did it in spades. Maybe I’m not alone in this (please, please tell me I’m not alone!), but holidays are some of the hardest days for me.
Maybe today your sweet kids made a special breakfast that was off-plan. Or maybe you decided to treat yourself to a donut at church. Or maybe, like me, you were driving home from church and mysteriously found yourself at Cold Stone (how did that happen?). I'm definitely doing better now that I have one full year of meal plans and shopping lists at my fingertips – that makes it so easy to eat at home more (which also saves money!) and avoid cheating.
Whatever the circumstances (mysterious or not), or whatever the diet or eating plan or healthy lifestyle you are a part of, cheating can throw you seriously off track. But don’t beat yourself up! I think it’s more important to occasionally eat something that’s not necessarily the best for me than to hurt my kids’ feelings when they’ve worked hard on a special meal. Of course, I could easily turn that into an excuse to eat badly all the time, but on a rare occasion it’s not that bad, and it’s easier than you would think to get back on track!
biggest struggle is that one sugary meal or dessert can lead to, “Well, I already ate something bad, I’ll just have one more…” and so on. Worst of all, just a little sugar will often resurrect cravings that I thought I had beaten into submission.
So what’s a girl to do? Binge-eating is NOT the answer. Fortunately, if you follow the Trim Healthy Mama principles you can just wait three hours and start fresh! You can eat your S, E, and FP meals with no guilt! Before I get into what I will be eating tomorrow, here is an EXCELLENT explanation from the Trim Healthy Mama authors on why Deep S is the way to go after you've gotten off course! Trim Healthy Mama Facebook Page. You might have to “like” the THM Facebook page to view, but it's worth it!
Here is the day of meals that I stick to after I’ve “cheated”, or eaten off-plan, to get me back on track. This is my day of “reasonably Deep S”, and I’ll add in an E the following day (please don’t get confused – Trim Healthy Mama is NOT just a low-carb diet! I eat plenty of meals with carbs, too, but this is just my one-day cheat recovery plan. Please read the book to get more details!).
Cheat Recovery Plan: One Day of Gluten-Free Deep S Breakfast:
Prosciutto Egg Cups 
YUM! These are SO good. I’m working on getting a camera so that I can share photos of my recipes and what they look like, but here is a beautiful recipe from Generation Y Foodie for now! The saltiness of the prosciutto combined with the creaminess of the egg is delicious. When my husband went to Italy for a business trip, he said he was served something similar to this and wanted to try it at home. In Italy, he said they would put the prosciutto in the pan, then crack an egg over it and fry it all together. The recipe pictured is similar, but you could also do it the Italian way! If you don’t have prosciutto, you could substitute bacon to make the “cup”, or a piece of deli meat to fry with the egg. Either way, this is a yummy “S” to get you started on your recovery day!
Snack: The Shrinker This is one of my favorites of the Trim Healthy Mama Drinks. I split it into two quarts, one to drink in the morning, and one to drink after lunch. It may require some tweaking to get it to taste the way you like it, but if you like Chai, you’ll probably be a fan! Oolong tea has amazing weight loss properties. As an experiment, I added “The Shrinker” every day after a four-week weight-loss stall. I really believe that the addition of oolong got my metabolism revving again and helped me to lose my last five pounds. Don’t give up on this recipe if you don’t like it the first time! Stick with it, add more or less sweetener/vanilla/cinnamon/or cayenne, and you’ll find something amazing! I find that I really don't like to add any water to it, and only use about 1/2 cup of ice to pour it over.
Lunch: Asian chicken salad (S version, but omit the almonds for Deep S) This is one my favorite salads! You can always skip the “Just Like Brown Sugar” if you don’t like sweet dressings, but the basic principle of a Deep S salad is a great one to use while you’re trying to kick the cravings and get back to a healthy way of eating! Another salad I make sometimes on a “recovery” day is cabbage or lettuce with baked chicken (thighs or breasts), cucumbers, any other yummy veggies I have in the fridge, and a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing. Snack: The second half of the shrinker!
Dinner: This is where I like to keep it super simple: Meat (steak or chicken), with a giant side of veggies and maybe a side salad if I’m really hungry. It’s a full plate and sometimes simplicity translates to insanely delicious! When I’m cooking steak, I cook it the Alton Brown way. I’ve never screwed up a steak making it this way, and it’s steakhouse perfect every time! For the vegetable side, my favorites are zucchini sautéed in butter with salt and pepper or Pioneer Woman’s simple baked asparagus.
Dessert: One piece of skinny chocolate. I LOVE chocolate, but since this is my recovery day, when I’m trying to get myself back to being healthy, I usually limit myself so that I’m not going heavy on the fats. If you're not a huge fan of skinny chocolate, there are some good variations on Pinterest.
See? Easy, yummy, and it doesn’t take too long at all! (Unless, of course, you’re making steaks for a family of twelve. Then it would take awhile). If you’re joining me in getting back to being a Trim Healthy Mama, let me know! Maybe we can encourage each other. 🙂
Linked up at OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday
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Great ideas! I love the idea of having a set “recovery” menu plan.
Thanks! This is what I do every time I fall off of the THM “wagon.” It’s pretty simple but it really helps!
Thank you!!! I need this!!
??? for breakfast… just 3 eggs and meat… no greens???
Thank you so much for this post! I have not figured out the deep S part… I know there is a doc in my computer I will look up!!! TODAY is the day!
You can definitely add greens and keep it a deep S! I just don’t like greens for breakfast! 🙂
You’re a genius! As a thm who lost over 60 pounds last year I seem to be falling off the thm wagon a lot lately and I notice my energy isn’t what it was when strictly thm – I’d love to see a post along the lines of “no special ingredients thm” but developed a bit more . Life got crazy busy here – my blender broke 🙁 no more FSF’s here – boo hoo! I have 10 pounds to lose again and bring in New Zealand it’s now spring so it needs to happen soon – this article is my inspiration!
Diana 🙂
Wow, congrats on the 60 lb loss! That’s incredible! Motivation is always so hard. Everyone I’m tempted to go way off-plan I just remember how great I feel when I eat 100% on plan…it works sometimes! 😉
ok after a day like this one then what I kinda do eat like this everyday and call it the thm way
No, this is just one example of cleaning out after you’ve been cheating! If you read the book Trim Healthy Mama you can learn how to eat well every day without feeling deprived.
Wow! I needed this. I’ve fallen and I’ve fallen hard. I really need something to get me back on. Hoping this will help. Thanks!
Can you please clarify what you said on Shrinker? If you don’t add any water to it and only that little ice, how can you get 2 quarts? What am I missing? I like the spiced tea, but it always is too diluted for me and we don’t drink iced drinks here in Europe unless it’s very hot outside. When I diluted the concentrate to 2 quarts it was basically tasteless 🙁
I’m sorry – I use the whole recipe for one quart in the morning, and then make a second batch for the evening. I don’t like the water taste, either.
I’m confused about the Shrinker being considered a snack. Isn’t it supposed to be a sipper you can drink all day? Shouldn’t our snacks have more substance to them?
They definitely can, but this is what I had at snack time. You can easily have a more substantial snack, but as long as you’re eating every three hours (in my case, I was eating meals every three hours), you don’t need to add snacks if you don’t want to. I didn’t feel like a snack, so I just had the Shrinker.
Thank you for the post to get started back on plan I have been off I can’t seem to stay on yet this was a good boost
I like the shrinker hot, since I’m not a person that likes a lot of ice and I do not dilute it either I like it strong with the caramel in it along with the vanilla and the Cayane I will start making it again.
I like the caramel too! It’s always good for me to see what other people are eating so that I can get some new ideas or remind myself of old favorites. 🙂
Decided to do this to kickstart myself back into a better THM commitment – thank you so much for sharing! (Just a heads up: Pioneer Woman’s asparagus recipe link leads back to Alton Brown’s steak recipe.)
Thanks, I fixed it!
I love your site and your recipes. My only “issue” is the lovely way you set your recipes up with a “filled background” It takes so much ink to print those pages. It would be super if they were simply white backgrounds. Thanks for listening.
I’ll work on changing that; thanks for letting me know!
Great post! & I had to laugh at your ‘unless you’re cooking steaks for 12’ comment. We are a family of 13 (mom, dad & 11 kiddos) that cracked me up!
Ha ha, that is funny! Well, sorry, I guess I was just talking to you there. 😛
This is awesome! I’m going to do the no cheating week starting today. I just started reading the book so all of your ideas help a lot! Thank you
I’m so glad you think it’s helpful! I have other no-cheating and eat-at-home challenges, too, if you need more ideas!
Hi. Thanks for this!
I’m trying a series of fuel cycles to shake up my metabolism. I’m a super slow turtle! I would love to see any ideas you have for fuel pull days.
Thanks and blessings!
Valerie
Hi Valerie! My favorite fuel pulls are the super simple ones – cottage cheese salads, egg white scrambles, green salads, things like that. My Chicken Tacos are FP if you don’t add toppings. I have a post coming up with more FP meal ideas, so hopefully that will help some more! Good luck with your fuel cycle! I always love the way I feel after a fuel cycle.
I hear ya busy mama. I cheated. I went off plan. It was lunch time…. i was hungry salmon would take time too cook my 3 mth old was hungry too.
I had just pulled out a my gang of kids special activity naughty peanutbutter an choc chip brownie treat from oven it smelled divine.
So i found myself stuff ing not 1 but 2 pieces in=( oh dear. Hmmmm i appreciate your grace ur understanding an your encouragement.
I will be tryin ur menu. Keep on keepin on.
I’ve been there! I’ve been trying to buy prepackaged foods when my kids need special treats for sports because it keeps me from cheating. I don’t know if I could have resisted your brownies, either. 🙂 But at least we can jump right back on the wagon!
For the Alton Brown recipe, do you use the canola oil to coat the steak? Or a different oil?
Yes! I use avocado oil, but any mild-tasting on-plan oil will work fine.
Hi! The egg cup recipe doesn’t link anymore. Could you look into that? Thanks for this post!
Jen, Thank you so much for all that you share! You have been a HUGE blessing to me! This post is exactly what I needed today! Thanks for all your resources, encouragement and being so real!
Blessings! ~Karen
Hi Karen! You made my day! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy to hear I’ve been able to help!
Hi Jen! Prosciutto Egg Recipe link seems to be broken. The picture looks awesome so I’m hoping it can be fixed. Thanks for your consideration!
I was looking at your one full year of meal plans and shopping lists. Im just curious if there are many fish recipes? I don’t eat fish at all, and I have had some problems with some other meal plans because of the addition of fish 🙂
Thanks, Jen, for the ideas. Some of us need LOTS of ideas. The fourth paragraph, however, begins in the middle of a sentence: “biggest struggle is that one sugary meal or dessert can lead to, “Well, I already ate something bad, I’ll just have one more…” and so on. Worst of all, just a little sugar will often resurrect cravings that I thought I had beaten into submission.”