Honestly no I didn't eat clean, I had a couple of cheats. I stayed within my calories but there were a couple of days I allowed myself some homemade cookies (Yep I calculated the calories!) and a few snack sized candy bars. I very rarely do this and I still kept myself within my calorie limit for those days. I did end up on the high end of what I like to consume that's all. I'm wondering if that calorie boost was needed to?
I truly think adding vegetables into my diet made the biggest impact. I kept buying eggs and chicken to have some good protein but it suddenly hit me that I didn't have any good vegetables on hand. Of course eating higher protein you have to keep things "moving" so to speak
I love cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, etc. and after a day or two of feeling kind of bloated my body adjusted and I felt great. Very full on less food too.
My coffee consumption was also adding a lot of extra calories. I love lots of cream and splenda in mine, and I honestly didn't realize that I was averaging about an extra 200+ calories each day just in my coffee consumption! I've just been careful to measure out my cream and limit my splenda.
I normally stick to walking for exercise and it will always be my exercise of choice. To shake things up a bit I just started heading over to the 30 minute circuit instead of spending a full 45-60 minutes walking. The circuit is that 30 minute workout that mixes up weights and toning with steps. It's based off of the Biggest Loser and reminds me of the Curves workout. I love that I'm adding some toning exercises to the mix. I definetly lack in muscle tone!
I'm going to try really hard to stay off the scale so much. As long as I'm doing the right things I think I need to focus less on those numbers and more on how I feel.
Good luck in your journey! I'm sure you'll break through soon. Just be patient!