4: TGIF

Breakfast: Grande Iced Coffee & a banana
Lunch: Leftover Spinach Pesto Linguine w/Chicken
Snack: Cinnamon Pretzel Crisps (yum!)
Dinner: Chipotle bowl with brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, steak, salsa and lettuce

I was very ready for the weekend! Unfortunately my husband has the opposite schedule so he started his work week today. In any case, it was a slow day at work and I was ready to come home! Despite the slow day, I still forgot to take pictures of all my food.

I convinced myself today to grab my gym clothes and head directly to the gym after work. It felt so good to check back in at the gym for the first time in a few months. I threw on my Nike shorts and an old shirt and tied up my shoes and was on my way! I hit the treadmill first, but my ankle started to bother me so I stopped after one mile. I didn’t want to overdo it so I hit the bike for a little while longer. I only exercised about 45 minutes, but that’s 45 minutes more than yesterday!

After I got showered up and changed at the gym, I met my coworker for some dinner, shopping, and a movie at her place. It was a fun, relaxing evening and I’m so glad I hit the gym!

Anyway, I was so excited to learn that Chipotle’s bowls are reasonable in points! It’s great when you find out food you love to eat isn’t terrible for you. It was no burrito, but the bowl was still delicious and very filling! The Weight Watchers app on my phone even had all the Points+ totals I needed and I was nice enough to grab dinner for my hubby!

Reflection for tomorrow: I need to prep some more meals that can be frozen then popped in the oven! I also need to find a few more easy lunches that I can whip up. Lastly, I have to remember pictures, pictures, pictures of all my food!

3: Feel Good Food

 

Breakfast: Overnight Oats and Grande Iced Coffee
Snack: Sugar Snap Peas & String Cheesea
Lunch: Homemade Chinese Chicken Salad w/ diet root beer
Snack: Banana and Pretzel Crisps
Dinner: WW BBQ meatloaf sandwich w/ light caesar salad

Today was day two of making all my meals at home. It feels so good to do things right and follow a plan. We really have to retrain ourselves when it comes to meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking.  It seems so brainless, but when you fall deep into bad habits they are difficult to change. My goal would be to buy all the groceries for the week and go to the farmer’s market on Sundays. In a perfect world this would help save money and avoid spending the time at the store after a long day at work.

One of those most noticeable things today was that I felt like I got to eat a lot of food. I really enjoyed all of the snacks and recipes I tried. I didn’t have to compromise and still stayed within my point range. I can’t stress how important it is to me to have the support of the people around me in order to stay motivated. I’m lucky enough to have enjoyed lunch and dinner with my husband today.

Breakfast is still weird for me – I don’t really eat breakfast because I drink coffee and am not hungry. Today I managed to eat about 1/2 cup of oatmeal with fruit.  Once I get in an exercise rhythm, I really need to make breakfast a permanent staple in my diet. At lunch, hubby grilled up some chicken thighs while I diced up veggies for a Chinese Chicken Salad. It was a low points/calorie recipe and it was delicious! We really liked the sesame ginger dressing made by Open Nature for only 35 calories per 2 tablespoons. I also had a few yummy snacks today like snap peas, string cheese and cinnamon pretzel crips! Then, for dinner we made a BBQ Turkey Meatloaf and it was excellent! I turned mine into a sandwich with a low-cal wheat roll and we had light caesar salad on the side. Yum!

Recipes we used today: BBQ Meatloaf: http://www.skinnykitchen.com/recipes/barbeque-turkey-meatloaf/

Reflection for tomorrow: I need to stay on top of planning the meals and taking pictures of my food. When I have to post pictures of my food and look at them later, it really makes me aware of what I’m putting into my system. It feels good to look back and see pictures of good tasting/healthy food! As far as planning, I need to be 3-4 days out on all meal plans. For example, hubby goes back to work tomorrow and I’m not sure what I’m having for lunch and dinner. It’s easier to plan meals for 2 people, so I tend to struggle in that regard. Since he won’t be home tomorrow for lunch, I will pack us both healthy lunches to take with us. Tomorrow on my lunch break I plan to write out the meals for the next 3-4 days so I can stay on track for the weekend.

2: Adjustments

Breakfast – (if you could call it that) Coconut Iced Coffee @Starbucks
Lunch – Caesar wrap with blackened chicken, fruit salad
Snack – Garlic bagel chips
Dinner – Spinach Pesto Linguine with chicken
Snack – snap peas, grapes
Dessert – WW Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Today was about adjustments. Looking back at the day, they were all relatively easy adjustments. The adjustments were mostly in tracking my food/points, making all my meals, and making sure we still stayed within a reasonable budget for food. In the past, I wouldn’t track my food in any way, I would probably eat one meal out, and because of those things the grocery bill seemed low. In reality, we realized that’s because we were spending tons of money to eat out which lowered the grocery bill but ultimately upped our food budget for the month.

I really want to make it a point to journal my food – regardless of how repetitive this may seem. The more regular this becomes, this more it feels like a routine. By week three or four, I should be able to convince myself that this is a regular, every day task. I hope in a few weeks I will really enjoying photographing my food, tracking it and blogging it. Today was a good food day and both recipes were a hit!

I managed to stay within my points and have a few meals I really enjoyed. One of my favorite parts of sticking to a designated diet plan is looking for recipes and then shopping for and cooking them with my husband. Lucky for me, he was nice enough to take care of the grocery shopping today. It’s really nice to have an activity to participate in together when sometimes it feels like we rarely see each other. Making this journey happen together means a lot to me.

Reflection for tomorrow:

I know my biggest weaknesses are skipping breakfast and gorging on dinner – this has to change. Tonight we bought individual Tupperware to make overnight oats in a jar. We made it with oats, vanilla soy milk, blueberries and bananas. I have the feeling if I have something yummy, healthy, filling and easy then breakfast could be my new favorite meal! In any case, I’m giving this a try! I will be eating a real breakfast tomorrow! I found the recipe over at one of my favorite food blogs: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/06/skinny-overnight-oats-in-jar.html

Recipes we used today:

Lunch: Trader Joes Caesar Salad Kit + whole wheat wraps + http://www.food.com/recipe/blackened-chicken-113835

Dinner: WW Recipe: http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=340891&sc=11

1: Changes

We constantly pick away at ourselves trying to figure out what we need to change. We rarely praise ourselves, recognize our strengths and give ourselves credit for the things we do. Lately life has been go, go, go so I really haven’t been able to stop and reflect on what I need to change, nor have I given myself the praise.

I’m very proud of myself and my accomplishments the last few months. I am finally getting settled into my marriage and into my first career-type position. I have survived my first busy season at work and am ready for things to calm down for a bit. With that being said, I want to refocus on my personal life.

My personal life is really lacking one major element: structure. I need to restructure my personal life in a way that will benefit my emotional and physical health. The most significant of those being my health, ie. my weight.

I’m ready to change my weight for the rest of my life. I have struggled for 22 years, 8 months and 27 days and it has to stop. I want this for myself, my husband, my happiness, my career and my future children. I am now married and responsible for 50% of a household. It’s really time for me to grow up and feel like the amazing woman that I am.

Today I joined Weight Watchers online, tomorrow I will track all my points online. In the next few days I will start going to the gym again and on Sunday we will be going to our first Weight Watchers meeting. Collectively we plan to lose 80+ pounds. I plan to blog meals, snacks and every day activity. My husband will join me and together WE CAN DO IT.

I love you honey and I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together! Go team Ratajczak – Fit Wifey & Fit Hubby!