Meal Planning!

Meal Planning!

 

If you are not meal planning you need to start!
I have said it before and its the truth

Being prepared IS the battle!

Here is an example of my weekly mean plan.
I focus one having my breakfast, lunch and dinner planned out and an idea of what I'm going to do for my snacks. This way when I'm packing my lunch I know what I need to pack the night before or get ready in the morning. This is where your weekly meal prep comes in handy.

This week I am preping chicken, sweet potatos, roasted veggies and egg cups (Recipe below)

I will use the chicken for my Monday,Tuesday and Thursday lunch. Also to top my salad on Monday for dinner and for my pita pizza for Wednesdays dinner. I cooked and chopped it once and getting 5 meal out of it!

The sweet potato and roasted veggies will also be used a side for my meals and the roasted veggies will be used on the pita pizzas as well.

Egg cups will give my husband and myself breakfast for 2 days each.

Also on Tuesday I will put a Roast beef in the slow cooker and use the left overs for my Wedsnesday and Friday lunches.

I always 1 evening at the end of the week as a left over night that way we make sure and use up all the food we have cooked so we are not thowing food away and another night without having to spend time cooking! If your as busy as I am the last thing I want to do is spend and hour or so in the kitchen cooking and cleaning.

Egg cups

8 large eggs

Sea salt and ground black pepper
1 bag (10 oz.) baby spinach, finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely sliced
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Add spinach, pepper, and onions to egg mixture; mix well.
3. Lightly coat a twelve cup muffin tin with spray.
4. Evenly pour egg mixture into muffin cups.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cups comes out clean.

Snacks...

Snacking!! 

My weakness!! 

 

I find when I'm not prepared this is my biggest weakness.

Simple thing like having the veggies washed, cut ready to go helps a ton! I buy pre packaged hummus to use as an easy dip for veggies. Stocking the fridge with fresh fruits and veggies allows for easy access for the whole family.

Strawberrie & Blackberries (1 Cup) pumpkin seeds (2 tbsp)

8 wheat thins

2 cups veggies with hummus

Starwberries, blackberries, grapes (1 1/2 cup) Cottage cheese

8 Wheat thins 

Cucumbers and tomatoes (2 cups) with hummus

Fruit salad (2 cups)

Chicken!!

Let's talk Chicken...

This is one of the quickest and easiest proteins to have around your house.

I will batch cook chicken breast or a whole chicken in the over or slow cooker then chop them up so they are ready to go. You can add them to a salad, top your pita pizza with it, make a chicken sandwich or pita… the ideas are endless for chicken and you only had to cook ONCE!

Plus having the chicken cut up in the fridge when you are looking for something to snack on it’s so easy to throw some on a plate with hot sauce and go rather then going for the bag of chips or other unhealthy foods.

Pita Pizza! 

This meal is so quick and easy and very filling! 

I start by taking a whole wheat pita and putting a thin layer of sauce or I love to use salsa for a little extra kick. 

Then top with your favorite veggies (1 cup) and chicken (3/4 cup) and I love to add pineapple & top with cheese (1/3 cup)

 Then bake at 350 for about 15 mins or until the cheese is melted. 

Taco Salad!! 

Very quick and easy! 

I use ground chicken or turkey with a no salt added taco seasoning. 

Then layer lettuce (2 cups), veggies (1 cups), chicken (3/4 cup), salsa, and top with cheese (1/3 cup)

Tacos!!! 

Lettuce (1 cup), chicken (3/4 cup), cheese & salsa

Meal prep!!!

Being prepared IS the battle!

Meal prep sets you up for success. 

Pick a day of the week that works best for you to do ALL you prep. I like Sundays after I have gone to the grocery store that way I come home and as I put things away I prep it for the week. 

Egg Cups

Quick and easy breakfast for when your on the go. 

Crack 6 eggs and whip together and pour into muffin tin about 1/2 full then add your veggies I like spinach with peppers. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 mins.

Roasted Veggies!

Super easy and quick to do. Chop up whatever veggies you like and roast them in the oven. Here I used zucchinis, peppers, onion, broccoli and some mushrooms. Tossed in a little extra virgin olive oil with Mrs.Dash seasoning. Having veggies ready to go make planning lunches for work quick and easy.

Roasted sweet potato and mini potatoes

Another easy one for a busy week. Quick and easy for lunches and a great side to any dinner dish. 

The ulgy truth..

Here I am on day 1 of my life style change at my heaviest weight and on day 56 20 pounds down!!

One thing you will not find is a lot of photos of me. I was always the one taking them or left the room whenever I would see it was photo time. I have been over weight ever since I can remember. I hated looking at myself, I hated being out in public because I always felt judged. I could be in a room full of friends and family and I still felt alone because my weight was holding me back. 

The ugly truth came when we took our daughters to a local fair and I wasn't able to go on rides with my daughter because of the max weigh. Nothing worse then seeing not only is my weight was holding me back and now its holding my daughter back from enjoying things she loves. One of the hardest part of this journey has been having to be real and deal with past issues. I had to deal with social anxiety because of my weight I was afraid to go to new places like restaurants because I was afraid I wouldn't fit in the booths. 

One of my very first happy moments in my weight loss was I was able to move my car seat closer and my stomach didn't touch the steering wheel any more.

Anything is possible with a lot of hard work!

My year...

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to my journey blog! This is going to be about me, health,food,fitness and a new life style! I'm a full time working mom of 2 very active girl and have been married for 5 years. I turned the big 30 in November and went through a very rough time at Christmas when I lost my baby Amari at 14 weeks. Through this loss I made the choice that starting in January I was going to make 2015 ALL ABOUT ME! I was going to focus on my health and start losing weight and this time NOTHING was going to stop me. I took a couple weeks to heal from my loss and deal with my depression. Once I refocused my energy on my next steps everything fell into place. I ordered the 21 day fix and signed up for the gym. I have been very lucky to have an amazing support team around me who are encouraging me every step of the way. 

First I want to say I am NOT a coach on with beachbodies I'm just following the program. So as we go you may see food labled as colors this is a 21 day fix thing but here is the break down of the serving sizes. 

GREEN 1 CUP
PURPLE 1 CUP
RED 3/4 CUP
YELLOW 1/2 CUP
BLUE 1/3 CUP
ORANGE 2 TBSP

I'm going to be very honest with this blog. Weight loss is not an easy journey but it took me 30 years to get here and its not going to change over night. I have had many people asking for help with weekly meal planning and meal ideas so I'm going to post some of our family's go to meals along with my weekly meal planning. If you have any question please ask! 

So here we go!!!