14-Day Healthy Kickstart Challenge Sign Up

Join for two weeks of healthy eating with a focus on high-protein, nutritious meals and regular exercise. Follow simple guidelines to help you kickstart your weight loss, gain more muscle, and stay satiated throughout the day.

This is a free, self-guided plan. Start when you want. I recommend TODAY!

14- Day Healthy Kickstart Challenge

14-Day Challenge Overview

A 14-day Healthy Kickstart is a free nutrition and fitness challenge. It’s very simple and hopefully easy to stick with. You have three goals during the challenge: 

  • Goal 1. Focus on getting enough protein – aim for around 100 grams a day divided between meals/snacks. This is the only thing you should track daily.
  • Goal 2. Nutrient-dense meals – build your meals around nutritious foods and ingredients.
  • Goal 3. Exercise every day – resistance training, cardio and active rest days.

What You Can Expect From This Challenge

  • Enjoy tasty meals with plenty of protein to keep you satiated throughout the day
  • Reduce cravings for sugary snacks and sweets
  • Eat nutrient-dense foods
  • Gain muscle and increase your metabolism
  • Lose weight and/or kick start stalled weight loss
  • Feel fitter and healthier
  • Get back to healthy habits


Let’s Unpack Your Nutrition Goals

Get Enough Protein

Focus on consuming more good-quality protein – animal and/or plant-based – which helps to avoid overeating, keeps you satiated between meals and is essential to maintain and build muscle, which in turn helps to increase your metabolic rate and lead to fat loss. 

You will learn more about protein and how much you need during the challenge but to keep it easy to remember, we’re going to aim for about 100 grams per day, give or take, divided between meals and snacks.

Nutrient-density

Build your meals around foods and ingredients high in nutrients such as good quality meat, fish/seafood, eggs, lots of vegetables and fruit, healthy fats, quinoa, legumes, nuts and seeds. 

This is not an elimination challenge so you don’t have to avoid specific food groups like dairy or grains. However, if you would like to test out a gluten-free approach or you know that you can’t tolerate milk products, then you can tailor the meals based on those needs. I have plenty of recipes that suit both options on the website. 

Note On Carbs & Calories

Be mindful of carbs and calories but don’t fixate on them! This is not a low-carb or keto challenge, nor is it a ‘count-every-macronutrient’ kind of approach. 

You may want to track your meals for the first few days to see if you’re consuming too much or not enough, and to adjust portion sizes or certain ingredients. 

I will provide some recommendations for carbohydrate and calorie intake but I will leave those flexible for you to tailor to your own needs and output levels.

If you would like a low-carb challenge, I have a free one available here.


More Details On Exercise Goals

When I say every day, I mean that your goal is to include movement every day. To get the most benefits from this challenge, I recommend the following format:

  • Resistance training x 3 days 
  • Cardio x 2 days
  • Active rest days – 2 days 

Resistance training 

This refers to workouts, exercises or sports that work your muscles. It could be a simple home workout using bodyweight exercises using Youtube, Instagram or TikTok, a gym workout using weights, pilates, yoga, climbing and so on. 

Cardio

Two sessions of 30 minutes or more of cardio where you elevate your heart rate and get that sweat on. This can be brisk walking, jogging, uphill hiking, spin class, swimming, rowing, cycling, dancing and so on. 

Active rest days

Think of more leisurely activities like taking a long walk, gardening, house work, mobility exercises, stretching, gentle swimming, easy hiking, playing frisbee or ball in the park. 


Do I Have To Follow A Meal Plan?

There is no set meal plan and no set shopping list. I will, however, provide you with some recommended macronutrient guidelines for building your own meal plan. 

I have put together collections of meal ideas and recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that come with information on calories, protein and carbohydrates per serving. You can use them or find your own meals to build your weekly menus. 

How Do I Track Protein?

You can use a nutritional tracking tool like MyFitnessPal to input your whole meals or to track specific protein-high foods included in your dishes. You don’t need to be super accurate as long as you’re close to your goal number. 

It could be as simple as Googling ‘grams of protein in XX amount of XX food’ and logging it in a notebook. 

I recommend looking up ‘high-protein recipes’ and meal plans and see what’s available online. Most recipes come with nutritional breakdown, so you will be able to see which dishes suit your needs. Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest are also good sources of inspiration and ideas. 

Lastly, refer to your Top Protein Foods list in the reading material. 


About The Author

Irena Macri

My name is Irena Macri and I created the 14-Day Healthy Kickstart challenge. I am the founder of Cookedandloved.com, creating and sharing delicious and mostly healthy recipes. I am also a qualified nutrition coach with an Advanced Diploma in Nutrition & Weight Management certified by the Association of Nutrition in the UK though I live in Australia.

I have created multiple programs and challenges over the years for individuals and groups who want to get healthier, lose or gain weight, or optimize their fitness training through appropriate nutrition tactics.


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