Meal Planning

Mr. Logical and I have really been trying to eat better, and to save money.  In an effort to accomplish this, I sat down this evening and made a meal plan for the week.  This week is a little weird, because Mr. Logical will be going to a wedding and my mom will be visiting, but I still made one that I think will work.  Now I just have to go to the grocery store and get everything to make dinner this week.  I'm also trying out a few new recipes from allrecipes and Pinterest, which is a good thing.  

Here is what I have planned for this week:

Grilled turkey with spinach

Turkey lettuce wraps and cucumber salad

Chicken with mushroom gravy, egg noodles, and peas (crockpot)

Grilled fish tacos and black beans

Corn, tomato, and cheddar pie

Cottage cheese salad in tomato cups

This is way more heavy on tomatoes than a normal week would be, since Mr. Logical will be gone (tomato-hater) and my mom will be here (tomato-lover).  And I budgeted one night for leftovers or going out.  I also tried to find things that would be easy to make when I get home from work, since that is hard for me.  Wish me luck!  Hopefully I can keep this up through the summer.

Fitness

Ok, it is time for me to get really serious about getting fit.  I am at the very highest end of what is healthy for my height, and I really don't like it.  I also have a ton of smaller sized clothes that have hardly been worn and I can't wear at the moment.

So today I joined My Fitness Pal, and am going to make an attempt to log all the food I eat.  I am also starting the Couch to 5K running plan, and probably will bust out my 30 Day Shred DVD.  You can see my Fitness Pal ticker at the bottom of my blog.  I need to lose a total of 25 pounds to reach my goal.

Smoothie time

My new blender arrived this afternoon, and I wasted no time in making myself a smoothie for a late lunch.  I've been pinning different smoothie recipes on my recipe Pinterest board, but I made my first one up on my own.

• 5 ice cubes
• 1 small banana
• 8 blackberries
• 5 strawberries
• 1 handful of spinach
• 1 scoop of protein powder
• 3/4 of a cup of milk

I just blended it all up, and it tasted great.  A little heavy on the banana, which was surprising because it was a pretty small banana.  Can't wait to make some different variations.

Healthy eating

When I graduated high school, I was 5'11" and weigh 123 pounds.  I didn't diet or exercise.  My mom is the queen of portion control, so while I thought I was eating whatever I wanted, I was actually eating small portions of whatever I wanted.  I had oatmeal for breakfast and yogurt for lunch every day.  And then I went to college.  I ate whatever I wanted, but didn't know how to control my portions, and I was eating out a lot more.  By the time I graduated from grad school, five years later, I was 204 pounds.

Through Weight Watchers, and later moving back in with my parents (yay for Mom's portion control), I was able to lose 40 pounds in two years.  Since moving out, twenty pounds have slowly crept back, and I have been working on getting to the weight I felt happiest at, which was around 150 pounds.  I still really struggle with portion control and motivation to exercise.  On January 3, I started the South Beach diet, and have lost about eight pounds in the last two weeks.  I'm really looking forward to start introducing smoothies and protein shakes into my diet this week.  I've really struggled with giving up sugar, as I have the world's biggest sweet tooth, but I think it has really helped my migraine problem.  Hopefully reintroducing fruit doesn't mess that up.

I don't have any before pictures, but look out for the after pics soon. 

Cooking Dinner

Mr. Logical and I are both trying to lose some weight.  We have had success with the South Beach diet before, so we're trying it again, paired with exercise.  The first two weeks of this diet are very strict, no sugars or carbs.  Breakfast and lunch are somewhat easy for me: eggs, cheese sticks, deli meat, celery, nuts...  But dinner proves to be more of a challenge for me.

I am not a planner by nature, so thinking ahead to dinner is tricky for me.  Luckily, neither Mr. Logical or I are picky eaters, so I always eventually find something, but maybe not the best things.  Last night, on my way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up plenty of things for breakfast and lunch, but totally forgot dinner.  Now, I am here and hungry, with not many choices for dinner.

So, I am off to search for low carb ideas for dinner tomorrow and Friday.  We'll have to live off of canned soup tonight.