Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Most likely you've seen one of my many posts on #mealprep day. I can see how it would be annoying, quite redundant really, to someone who isn't constantly trying to lose a pound, or fifty, on the regular. However, for me it's a must. If I don't prepare my menu and ensure that I have grab-and-go snacks available I will inevitably fail at some point during the week. If anything is left up in the air I will ALWAYS veer off track - I go for easy and painless. I am weak in that way, thus the rolls upon rolls of blubber currently residing on my body. My palate is unique and it takes effort. I cannot eat plain ground turkey and vegetables. I cannot eat sticks of celery with heads of lettuce and sprouts and trees. Here me when I say: I.Will.Hate.My.Life and I will fail. I need savory and different - I need to feel like I'm not missing out on everything. That's why I turn to Pinterest for recipes all day long. If you currently do not have an account or you do not use your account I truly urge you to go there right now and give yourself some time to look around. If you're anything like me you'll get lost in there and make yourself 127 boards real quick. I don't always follow recipes exactly - sometimes I tweak a few things to meet our dietary needs or just our likes vs. dislikes in general. But I love having all those ideas right there at my fingertips and I mean it when I say about 90% of my meal plan ideas come from right there. Pinterest is everything. Heck, jump on there now and send me some recipes you love! I'll be your Pinterest buddy 😃.

When I first began this meal plan madness I attempted to actually MAKE breakfast, lunch and snacks for both of us... that was a hot mess of the cranky kitchen blues. By Sunday evening I hated everything... my feet ached, my hands were dry and cracking from soapy water and my back was giving me a fit. It was something I started to dread each week. Now, I've allowed myself to let go a bit and not have to make every little crumb from scratch. Basically, I cheat. Yep - I eat protein bars and protein shakes and mega-easy things like hard boiled eggs or chunks of cheese as a snack. My workplace is "peanut free"... yes, I could die. Peanut/Nut Butter is life and if I could eat it as a snack all day long I would do just that. Alas... I cannot. Therefore I must get creative with my snacks. Right now Luna Bars are my jam... mostly because I'm just starting out again and they taste like heaven. It's probably not the healthiest thing in the world to eat a Luna Bar a day BUT... it keeps me in check and right now it's my healthy. My snack is portion controlled, keeps me full and makes me smile - what more could you want. This week I'll be eating Chocolate Cupcake Lunas - Whoa!! 😋 Yep, it's true. Last week I had Lemon Zest and I tore those suckers UP. Last week was rough. It was my first week in and I was angry at the world. The sugar/carb/soda withdrawals were epic. I just kept reminding myself what was on the other side of that week... which ended up being 5 pounds of weight loss. We persisted and were rewarded. It won't always be so big - that's first week weight loss, BUT it will always feel good. My body will always move a little easier, my clothes will always fit a little better and I will always have a bit more spring in my step. Every week that the scales moves down will be epic for this girl.

If you know me at all you know I often refer to "that time I lost all that weight" or "when I lost all my weight"... I daydream about those days more than you know. It was special. I lost 77 pounds ... like FAST. It wasn't unhealthy, I didn't have surgery, I didn't take a special "diet pill"... I changed the way I ate and the way I thought about eating. I did use Advocare's 24 Day Challenge and then continued to eat a generally clean diet. I blogged about the whole thing - right here on this very blog... you can go back and read through my journey if you have about 900 hours free and can deal with my personality for that long. My story won me 6 months of free personal training at a gym in Fuquay-Varina. I was brave and I went, even though every nerve in my body screamed NOOOOOOO. I was by no means "skinny" and still very self-conscious about the way I looked. But I went. It changed my life. I worked out. In front of other people. For real. I ran... not fast, not hard, not for long, but I actually ran. I did multiple push-ups. I did box jumps. I did squats... sooooo many squats. I was told I was strong. I believed them. My legs felt like jelly afterwards and I was pushed to my limit every single time but I LOVED it. That girl... that's who I will be again. I have to keep her in the forefront of my mind and power through the rest of the crap weighing me down. Because nothing is worth me feeling like this dumpy blah girl who sank back into herself. I'm not brave anymore and there's no spring in my step. My legs aren't sexy and I don't feel strong. I haven't stepped on the scale in MONTHS... I literally closed my eyes at the doctor's office the other day because I just didn't want those big ugly numbers in my face... I wasn't ready. I'm ready now. You wanna jump in with me?

__________________________________________________________________________________
And if you're just here for the recipes and are finally glad to be through with all that blah-blah-blah here you go ...

Our Menu this week

Breakfasts: Scrambled eggs + sausage or Yogurt Parfaits (Greek Yogurt + Granola + Fresh berries)

Lunches: Salad or Shakeology

Snacks: luna bars, Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins, raw fruits/veggies, hard boiled eggs

Dinners: Veggie Pesto Pasta, Bacon Cheeseburger Crustless Quiche, Mexican Pizzas (we use tostadas and fat free refried beans), Chicken in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce with Baked Vegetables and Cauliflower Crust Pizza

We do have our little Renn around so I try to make enough things that he will eat that are still "healthy" and FEEL like a bit of a cheat to us, such as the Bacon Cheeseburger Crustless Quiche, Mexican Pizzas and the Cauliflower Crust Pizza.