Finals week is slowly creeping up, and studying has been my main concern everyday. The main issue that comes with examination season is forgetting to prepare your food in advance when undergoing a healthy, clean diet meal plan. If you remember from my previous blog posts, I did the 21 day challenge with success. I've lost about a total of 10 pounds with my 21 day challenge, and saw actual physical results. They weren't drastic results, but they were still small changes in my body towards a healthier and stronger me. No matter how slow the results are, if I'm seeing change, that's all that matters. I can say for sure that I am now a lot stronger than I was 21 days ago. That being said, I am a now a big fan of 21 day challenges. So I decided to join another one.

My new 21 day challenge started on March 2nd. I purchased the 21 day fix challenge pack, and I'm currently in Week 1 of my 21 Day Fix, meal plan and workout routine. Since I like challenging myself, I've added the Blogilates March calendar into my workout routine as well. At first, the meal plan that came with the 21 Day Fix package was confusing. I didn't know how to coordinate what I need to eat, and how much of the different color coded containers I had to use. But after trial and error for a few days, I finally got the gist of how to work with these containers. Here's a general breakdown of what color codes for what.

Green - Vegetables
Purple - Fruits
Red - Protein (your meats and meat alternatives)
Yellow - Grains, Rice, Bread
Blue - Nuts (your good fats)
Orange - Dressing or Oils

Based on your weight, there's a formula you could follow to calculate how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. But they emphasize that this is just a guideline, and if you're feeling too hungry, it's good to eat a little more than what they require on your meal plan. The key is to not get hungry. You don't want to get hungry and snack on something unhealthy. The 21 Day Fix package comes with a pamphlet that tells you what foods are allowed in each container. But generally, you can fit a lot more than you think. A lot of veggies go into that small green container than you'd expect. So I usually end up leaving leftovers for lunch because I get too full.

Here's a little recipe I made with the 21 Day Fix containers (Lunch):

 
Ingredients (1 serving):
 
1/2 block of extra firm tofu
1/3 of 1 large red bell pepper
1 small broccoli
1/2 cup - 1 cup of brown rice
few leaves of cilantro for garnish
1 Tbsp of coconut oil
 
Spices:
 
1 Tbsp of chili powder
2 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of coriander
1/2 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of sea salt 
 
*the ratio for the spices, will give you more than you need for one serving
 
Directions:
 
Preparation:
 
1. Wash your brown rice, and cook in a rice cooker. (you can add more than 1/2 - 1 cup of brown rice to keep cooked rice at hand for your next meal throughout the day)
2. Get all your dry ingredients (for your spices), and mix all together in a small bowl.
2. Chop up your tofu, red bell pepper, and broccoli into small bite-size pieces.
 
Cooking:
 
3.  Spread your coconut oil on a frying pan, and turn stove to medium heat.
4. Place your tofu cube once your coconut oil is heated, and cook until golden brown on all sides.
5. Place your red bell peppers and broccoli into the frying pan with your tofu and cook together until the broccoli turns slightly translucent and the red bell pepper starts to turn limp.
6. Pour your spice mix all over your tofu stir fry. Mix it around to make sure it coats all veggies and tofu evenly for about a minute. 
7. Turn off heat, and transfer over to a clean plate. If it tastes too bland, add more of your spice mix.
8. Scoop about 1/2 cup or 1 cup of cooked brown rice and place next to your tofu stir fry.
9. Add a few leaves of cilantro on top of the brown rice as garnish. (you can skip this is you don't like cilantro)
10. Serve.
 
I had this tofu stir fry for lunch, and it was more than enough. I ended up leaving half of it for dinner. Do let me know how it tastes. Let me know if you tweaked the recipe a bit to make it taste better, and how you tweaked it to make it taste better. Let me know how it tasted for you, and feel free to comment on what else you'd like to see more of (i.e. recipes, my workout log, etc.). 
 
Remember, eat healthy to make a healthier lifestyle, not a skinnier you. You are eating for your health, not on how you look. Physical improvements are just bonuses to your healthier diet. ;) Stay healthy, and let's rock this month on our fit journey!