Make-ahead Meal Plan & Weekly Food Prep {October 31st, 2016}

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post on creating discipline in your life, it’s become one of my favorite posts. Discipline is so important as you work to accomplish goals. It’s about training your mind to make decisions that benefit the long term vision instead of an impulse decision that feeds a short term urge. I had a disciplined moment yesterday. Now this might not be ground-breaking but it’s a pretty big deal in my eyes. Wanna know what it is? I didn’t eat one bite of Halloween candy yesterday. That’s right. Not one Reese Peanut Butter Cup, Snickers, Almond Joy, Butterfinger, or any other delicious piece of wrapped chocolate. This is big for me because, as you probably know, I’m borderline obsessed with chocolate and peanut butter.

Here’s the thing… I wanted to be intentional and disciplined. In the last year or so I haven’t been as disciplined as I know I can be. In fact, truth be told, I’ve been a slacker in the tracking department. Yes I prep my food every week and yes I prepare healthy meals but at the end of the day I’ve been consuming more than I’m burning. I’m not tracking as diligently as I should and it’s been showing on the scale. I’m hovering around 152 – 154. I get so annoyed when I see that number because I haven’t been that weight since 2012. But I have nobody to blame but me and instead of being frustrated and/or feeling sorry for myself I need to do what I know works. Track my food, water, and exercise. It’s the ONLY way to stay intentional and prevent mindless eating.

Anyway, over the last few days I’ve been militant with tracking and once again I’m shocked with how quickly calories are consumed. It’s the total truth that every bite, lick, and sip do add up.

Back to the Halloween candy. Sure one piece of chocolate isn’t a big deal but it wasn’t about the chocolate it was about proving to myself that I can make a better choice. I can stay disciplined in the face of Halloween. And I did. This morning when I woke up I felt great and ready to keep moving forward on disciplined intentional choices.

Okay, let’s get to my meal plan. I’m keeping my calories to 1350 – 1500 a day. This not a huge amount of food so I’m making sure the meals I make have protein and fiber to keep me full. I stop eating at 7:00pm and this helps tremendously with night-time snacking. This is one of my favorite weight loss tips and it has served me well over the years. I wrote about it here if you want to learn more.

Breakfast

3 egg white omelette with 1 slice of cheese

Mango Berry Green Smoothie

Make-ahead tips

• omelette and smoothies will be made the morning I eat/drink them.

Lunch

Greek Quinoa Salad

Tex Mex Turkey “no Bread” roll-ups – new recipe

Make-ahead tips

• I made the quinoa salad on Sunday. Roll-ups will be made the day I eat them.

Dinner

Quinoa and Broccoli Cheddar Bake

Turkey Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Slow Cooker Sausage and Peppers

Honey Mustard Chicken and Mushrooms – new recipe

Easy Pita Pizzas with a side a balsamic roasted brussel sprouts

Make-ahead tips

• The bake and meatloaf were made on Sunday.
• I have the sausage and peppers in the freezer.
• Chicken, brussel sprouts, and naan pizzas will be made the night we eat them.

Snacks

Hard-boiled eggs

Almonds

carrots and hummus

Make-ahead tips

• eggs were made on Sunday.
• Almonds and carrots were portioned out yesterday.

Here’s a glimpse at my food prep for this week.