On my way

This week has proven to be a tough one for me. I havent felt the best so the idea of cooking just wasn't something I wanted to do. Luckily I had already prepped my lunch/snacks so I only had to deal with dinners. So for the most part I stayed on track but did have a few cheat meals....Pasta being one of them. But how could I not eat it when my awesome, thoughtful friend showed up at my door with my dinner prepped for me? Her version of Chicken noodle soup...and it was delish! (I did refrain from any cake, cookies or brownies for the week though, which is a WIN!!)

I've had two weeks now of successful food prepping and Shakeology and I feel much better than I have in quite a while. The first week was by far the worst but it's getting easier as it goes especially since I'm starting to see results. I'm not feeling nearly as bloated, my clothes are starting to fit better and I don't feel as sluggish. It never ceases to amaze me what a difference it makes to eat a cleaner diet. So, with that being said, for week three,  I'm keeping it simple: Rotisserie Chicken, fresh green beans and left over brown rice and sweet potato from previous dinners, which I just weighed, bagged and threw  in the freezer to use this week.

I didn't even try to cook a chicken. My last experience was not a pleasant one.....lol. How does one actually cook a chicken upside down and not know it?!? Well, I did and the answer is...I just am not cut out to be a cook, I guess. Ha! So I just bought a cooked Rotisserie chicken, measured it out into

4 oz. portions &  pan seared my fresh green beans so they were slightly less than done so they wouldn't be squishy when I warmed them up and put them in the containers to grab and go! The Rotisserie and package of green beans was enough for four servings total. I'll make a few salads later in the week and maybe some fish for the rest of my meals.

 

I'll be weighing in tomorrow and hope to see my hard work paying off. Wish me luck!

 

 

I want cookies!!

So, I'm 10 days in to my clean(er) eating plan and today I'm just not feeling it! I don't feel well which means I don't want to cook either. Normally I would order in something that probably wouldnt be healthy but I'm making myself cook. Meatloaf. Not the best. Not the worst. Plus, It only takes a minute to throw together and then I can just throw it in the oven and be done with it.

So, now the issue is, I would really like a cookie. I LOVE cookies!! Alot. But, like my trainer Maria Carlone says "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". So instead, I'm making a coffee with a little bit of white chocolate mocha creamer to soothe my sweet toothe. That notmally does the trick. 

I guess the moral of this story is this: We all have moments of weakness. We are only human. Sometimes you cave in, sometimes you don't. Regardless of weather you eat the cookie or not you have to make a concious decision. How bad do you want it? Is the short term satisfaction worth the sacrifice of your long term goals? My answer is no. So I'm going to suck it up and continue eating my spinach salads and plain tasteless food because I really want this! 

Weigh in and more food prep

Tomorrow officially begins The Biggest Loser Challenge. While I'm not looking forward to the weigh in and having to admit how much I've let myself gain over the past 6 months, I am happy to be getting back on track. Last week was my "pre-game" week so to speak. I stayed on track for about 75% of the time as far as my diet but nailed it on my workouts. It really helped giving myself a little time to adjust back to a cleaner/healthier eating plan as opposed to trying to cur everything out all at once.

So, as per my weekly ritual, today I took a few hours and prepped my upcoming weeks worth of food (lunch & snack) as well as planned our dinners. This weeks menu consists of: lean ground beef, grilled chicken, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, hard boiled eggs & spinach salad. I always start with the raw foods so I started with our salads this week. Last week we did more of a traditional salad so to change it up I decided a simple salad with spinach, red onion and bacon. 

This is probably one of my favorite salads! YUMM! Anyway.....next I was on to cooking. Since sweet potatoes take the longest I just threw them in the oven while I prepped and cooked the other stuff.

Sooo...If you know me, chances are you know that I'm not the best cook, nor do I do it that often. So I'm very thankful for Youtube! I had absolutely no idea of what to do with a brussel sprout...lol! Turns out they are also pretty simple to make so I trimmed them up and threw them in the oven with the sweet potatoes.

All I had left after was boiling the eggs and cooking the hamburger patties. I already had pre packaged patties (enough to feed the neighborhood from the last 1/4 beef we purchased) and a George Foreman grill so that took about 5 minutes of my time.For me, I weighed out 4oz beef, 3oz sweet potato and just threw a portion of the brussel sprouts in the container....I'm really not sure how much is a serving so I just wung it! 👍😉 I now have enough food/snacks to get me through the week. This is starting to be easier already so with any luck I'll stay strong.
Tomorrow I'll be weighing in and getting measured so I'll let you know how that goes 😬

I Workout!

Ha! I feel like I'm officially back on the exercise train. This week I've had 2 days of Brickhouse (Mon & Wed) AND I even ran (on the treadmill) 2 days! I got about 6.5 miles in...👍🏃

I have to thank my husband for giving me inspiration to want to run. It was his wonderful Valentines Day gift that made me want to go run some more. Wireless ear buds. They are AMAZING, by the way!

I cant wait to run again. Even if it does have to be on the treadmill for the time being. Next week I'm aiming for Mon, Wed, Fri at Brickhouse, train with Maria Tue or Thursday and run 2x. Monday is weigh in day for the Biggest Loser and I've got some pretty heavy competition so I need to stay on my game. Thank you Shakeology for fueling me through these workouts!

The food prep

The week before...

In preparation for the upcoming challenge I've decided to start by prepping all my food, as well as my husbands, for the week. So first, I started with the easiest (for me anyway) and do all my snacks..i.e hard boiled eggs, fruits, salads, etc..

mix of strawberries & blackberries for snack

 basic salads that I can add to as needed

I started by cutting up all the fruit and dividing into containers. I have to have a quick go-to snack! Then I moved onto vegetables for salad. When prepping salads, I normally just keep to the basics and add in other toppings on a daily basis. So if I want to add meat, egg or cheese to switch it up I do it real quick the night before so it doesn't get soggy.  After I have all the raw fruits and vegetables done I move onto cooking. 

I almost always have asparagus on my weekly menu. Its not my favorite but its extremely easy to make and easily reheated. I generally bag 5 pieces for one portion. I can then use it for a quick snack or use it in a meal. This week I'll use frozen peas for my second vegetable so I wont have to pre cook it. I'll just measure out 1/3 cup portions. I've already cooked my protein (lean ground turkey) and brown rice and put the portioned bags in the freezer so now all I have to do is grab and go! So my menu is going to look something like this for the week:

Breakfast: Shakeology

Snack: asparagus or hardboiled egg

Lunch: Ground turkey, peas & brown rice

Snack: cottage cheese/string cheese/fruit

Dinner: cooked at home 

Snack: salad

 

My focus is not going to be on calories as much as a cleaner eating plan and sticking to 6 small meals a day. This method normally works better for me than focusing on calories. I've found that if I focus on calories I tend to justify eating bad things still. I will allow myself one cheat meal a week. Drinking Shakeology daily also helps with my horrible carb cravings so it makes it much easier to resist the temptations of all the yummy junk I normally eat.

 

So, here's to getting back on track and lots of PR's both in my diet and fitness!

 

 

pre-game

This year we are doing the Biggest Loser weight loss challenge at Super Fitness! I'm beyond excited for this and I really, really need the motivation to get back on track. So since I'm an employee and can't technically win we are doing a staff challenge for accountability and motivation.

 The official weigh in isn't until next Monday, February 17th but I'm getting my "game face" on this week. Tomorrow will be my first day of taking Shakeology and clean eating. So Let the food prep begin!

I will be posting my results as I go along and hope to lose 1-2lbs a week. Wish me luck!!