Make Ahead Meal Plan and Exercise Schedule {May 4, 2015}

WHAT. A. WEEKEND! I think these last couple days can easily go down as some of the busiest yet most exciting days ever. My oldest is on the pre-dance team and this weekend was her first competition. It was so much fun. She has been dancing since 2 ½ years old and it was amazing to see her shine the way she did. We are so proud!

As any dance mom knows these competitions – while fun – can also be exhausting and anxiety provoking. With so many costume changes there is a real potential to screw things up if not prepared and organized. Trust me, I know! To keep this weekend a fun experience I made sure to have my act together. I wanted my daughter to relax and not worry about anything so I worked hard to labeled and organized all her costumes and accessories. This is my dance team costume set up!

The only thing I screwed up was remembering to sew elastic onto her one hat. But… I had a sewing kit with me!! I was so proud. Looking at me – and the other dance moms – one would think we are crazy and OCD. However, I can assure you without this organization dance competitions would be a nightmare. So organization just makes life better.

I also made sure to plan for food. We were at the competition from 8:30am to about 3:30pm with very little time to worry about finding or purchasing snacks. So I packed a cooler with fruit, yogurt parfaits, cheese and crackers, pretzels, and even some cheez its! I know cheez it’s are not good but the kids love them and so do I. And after a long day it was comforting too munch on some cheesy salty snacks.

Emma and the rest of the girls did amazing. They placed 1^st with a few of their dances and overall did great! Seeing their faces light up makes all the hard work worth it.

Anyway, when we got home we passed out. The next day I woke up to 6 loads of laundry that needed to be folded and a home that was begging to be cleaned. So…instead of doing my usual meal prep I spent the ENTIRE day folding laundry and cleaning. By 6pm I was useless. But my house is clean so I can function normally today. Life is good.

Since I didn’t get to food prep yesterday I am going to try and do a little today and tomorrow. Ideally, I prefer to start my week with lunches and some other food ready to go but as we all know life happens and sometimes you just have to go with it.

I am going to give myself another “free pass” this week with my weigh in. Next week it will be posted with some pictures – no matter what! If I don’t then please call me out! Sometimes I need all of you to hold me accountable. To often I let the excuse of “being busy” take over.

Lets talk exercise.

I love my exercise ball!

Last week I got in 3 days of exercise. That is my minimum each week; I would like to strive for 5 days. I know I can do it I just need to well…do it!

Here is my schedule.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday

Treadmill – 45 minutes (10 warm up, 20 run, 10 walk uphill, 5 cool down)

25 squats a day, except Sunday

25 modified pushups a day, except Sunday

Abdominal exercises

1 (30 –second) plank a day, except Sunday

To keep me on track I entered all these exercises into my calendar. This way I can get reminders.

Looking at this in my calendar it might seem like it will take longer than an hour but it doesn’t. I only have an hour to spare so that is the amount of time I give myself to exercise. So tomorrow I will exercise from about 9 -10am.

Okay, onto to my meal plan.

Breakfast

Detox Green Smoothie

Make ahead Breakfast burritos (for kids)

Make ahead tips

• I am working on some new detox smoothie recipes this week.

Lunch

Barbecue Ranch Chicken Mason Jar Salads

Dinner

Cajun Chicken Quinoa Bake – new recipe

Healthy Alfredo

Slow Cooker Italian Beef 

Bruschetta Baked Chicken

BLT with Avocado 

Make Ahead Tips

• I am working on the cajun chicken and alfredo tomorrow. My plan is to make and freeze the leftovers into homemade lean cuisines.
• The rest of the dinners will be made the day we eat.