Meal Planning for Successful Weight loss

Happy Sunday! Sundays are may days to meal plan, grocery shop, and meal prep. I truly believe that you can own every fitness program on the market, have a personal trainer, fancy gym membership and gym equipment, but if you don't have proper nutrition then you are doing yourself a disservice. You haven't already heard: 80% to 90% of your results come from your nutrition and the other 10% to 20% comes from fitness.

You can give me every excuse in the book, like my kids kept me up last night, I ran out of time, or I don't have money to buy healthy food. Well, it costs a whole lot more to take care of a sick person versus a healthy person. You have so much more energy to play with your kids and do the things that you want when you are healthy and vibrant. When you get regular physical activity and proper nutrition you can live your life to the fullest. One of the way that I make sure to keep myself and my family on track is through sitting down each Sunday, making a meal plan, grocery shopping and then taking the time to prep my snacks for the week.

It takes me less than 30 minutes to make a meal plan and compile a grocery list. I have a template on my computer that I pull up and update each week with my 5-6 meals a day. Then, I check the pantry as I develop my game plan and write down anything that I need to pick up.

Here is my meal plan!

This is something I share with my customer and challenge groups each week. A big part of my program is planning. You cannot be successful until you have a focus. This plan gives you a starting point. When you know what you are making and eating each night it removes the last minute guess work and stress. You know that you have something in mind already and there is no room for the common excuse "I don't know what to make so lets just order in."

After my meal plan and list are ready we headed out to the grocery store. Usually, I head to Giant or Wegmans. We've really learned that meal planning is a great tool for our budget too.

We always buy our fruit and meat in bulk. Since we go through so much ground turkey, chicken and eggs it makes sense to do it this way. We load up our cart with the basics.

On my grocery list this week was:
Eggs
Greek Yogurt (plain)
Cottage cheese
Chicken
Apples

Clementines
Strawberries
Bananas for my Shakeology
Frozen Blueberries for my oatmeal
Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Avocados
Green Beans
Broccoli
Zucchini
Raw Almonds
Almond Butter
Strawberries
UnsweetenedAlmond Milk
Quinoa

Now it's back home to do some prepping for the week!
I spend some time cooking some hard boiled eggs for quick grab and eat protein. You can also put the eggs on your salad if you aren't a fan of chicken.



Snacks:
I have apples and 2 tbsp all natural peanut butter as a snack. Clementines and unsalted almonds (14) and veggies and hummus.
I also have some grilled chicken salads and individual servings of dressing ready to go!
My Shakeology for my lunch or afternoon snack is always with me. The blender bottle is genius. If you don't have a small blender this has a wire ball inside that you add your water and packet of Shakeology to. Then you literally shake the living daylights out of it and you are good to go!

Now when I wake up this am, I just open the fridge, grab my snacks, lunch and put it in my tote and out the door I go. Or in my case, to my home office is!

Do you want to learn more about meal planning and preparing food? Do you want to know how you can change your lifestyle, lose weight, have more energy and fuel your body for energy and not just for comfort? Join my 30 day fitness and accountability online support group. In this exclusive group I will teach you one on one my tools and tricks of the trade. How to grocery shop, plan your meals and be successful. Everything from eating out, traveling, surviving parties and more!

It all starts with you and a choice to make the change! Join me son the best journey of your entire life!! A healthy one!

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Slow Cooker Everything Chicken

I originally found this recipe on the Skinny Ms. website, but I adapted it and added a few ingredients to customize it to my family's tastes.

Simple, easy to prepare, I make this recipe almost every Sunday in the winter to have the chicken all week long. Think about what you could do with a batch of prepared, shredded, delicious white meat chicken on hand!
I can add it to almost any recipe: tacos, pot pie, over pasta or noodles, over rice with stir fried veggies, it's versatile and adaptable!

Let me know if you try it.

INGREDIENTS
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1- 2 TBSP chopped garlic

2 TBSP each chopped fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary, or any herbs you like
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
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Place chicken in slow cooker. Drizzle with olive oil being sure to coat all sides. Add garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Pour broth around the outside of the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

When the chicken is tender and cooked through, remove it from the slow cooker and slice or shred with a fork. Serve in tacos, soup or chili, with your favorite gravy & mashed potatoes, cook it into a chicken casserole, or top it with teriyaki sauce and serve it over brown rice for a Asian twist. Enjoy!

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Busy woman's guide to Sunday food prep

It's 5:00 p.m., you're leaving work and haven't thought about what to make for dinner.
Or, you get home from work, open the fridge and wonder what the heck am I going to eat? What am I going to make for my family?
Then you cave and order take-out!

I get it. I've been there.  It negatively affected my waistline, and every night m
y anxiety would increase over what I could prepare quickly for dinner.  This was not how I wanted to live! I needed a change, and discovered with a little bit of planning, I could make my dinners with only slightly more work as ordering delivery pizza, but with less anxiety and healthier ingredients!

Prepping food can set you up for a week of healthy eating. Prep on Sunday in less time that it takes to watch the latest episode of your favorite show and you'll have a week of totally delicious and healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner options.  This works to keep your health goals on track and keep your sanity with a busy schedule. AND you'll save money and time in the kitchen, and have healthy food on hand to power through your workouts and your work week.

Before you prep, write out a quick meal plan. Start with dinners, then go from there, trying to use dinner components or left-overs for lunch the next day.

Quinoa, Brown Rice, Sweet Potatoes
Choose two of these and make enough for the week.  One cup quinoa or brown rice to two cups water.  If you make quinoa, make sure to rinse it before cooking.
Bake 3 sweet potatoes in the oven, or even quicker, put them in the microwave.

• Quinoa 
• Make it the base of breakfast and add fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and a splash of almond milk.
• Add a bunch of chopped veggies, some beans or chicken, and serve over fresh greens.
• Chop parsley, cucumber, and tomatoes, add olive oil and lemon juice and serve as a side to grilled chicken, or fish.

•  Brown Rice
• Add half a cup to a lunch salad
• Make it the base for a rice bowl, adding spinach, a scrambled egg, a
•  1/4 cup of avocado, chopped tomatoes, and cooked ground turkey.

• Sweet Potatoes
  
• Chop and add to salads
• Make it a side to any protein and veggie
• Add sauteed spinach and onions, a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and a bit of crumbled turkey bacon for a stuffed baked potato
• Chop and add with chopped veggies to a frittata

Cook Spaghetti Squash or Zoodles
Spaghetti squash or zoodles (zucchini noodles) deliver the same noodle like texture and comfort-food fix for almost 100 less calories per cup. It's a great replacement for pasta, and while my family doesn't eat it, I make pasta for them, and zoodles for me, and we eat the same sauce or toppings.
For spaghetti squash, cut it in half, and roast it (425 degrees for about half and hour), then scoop out seeds.  Or even quicker, pierce it wit a fork several times and cook whole in the microwave for 10-12 minutes.
Zoodles: buy them premade or buy a vegetable spiralizer.  I spiralize them, and sautee with a little olive or coconut oil and garlic, and have them for the week.

• Sauces
• Tomato
• Pesto
• Parmesan Cheese

•  Meals
• Make it into Pad Thai
• Mexican style, adding beans, chili powder, cumin, chopped tomatoes, and corn
• Top with any sauce and a protein

Prep Veggies

Chop peppers, celery, cucumbers, onions, carrots (or just get baby carrots), broccoli, de-stem kale (or buy baby kale), snap the ends of green beans, and prep any veggies you like that you and your family will snack on, or you will use for cooking. Have them ready to eat or cook.
Wash salad greens. Store in airtight container with a paper towel.

• Place veggies for snacks in single portion containers or baggies, to make packing lunches a cinch!
• Add chopped veggies to salads, quinoa, brown rice, frittatas, or anything else you can think of!
•  Roast with garlic and olive oil and have it as a quick dinner side any night.

Fruit
If I don't wash and destem the strawberries, they will sit in the refrigerator drawer until they rot, and then I throw them in the garbage.
Wash and destem strawberries, wash any other berries (I wash all produce with a one part vinegar/three parts water solution in a spray bottle to make sure I remove all bacteria and pesticides, even washing organic produce).
Cut up melons or any other fruit to take on the go.
Freeze bananas and grapes for quick healthy desserts.
Place furit in portioned containers. Ready to grab and go, to back for lunches, or when the kids are looking in the fridge for a quick snack.

Protein

• Chicken
  
• Grill, bake, roast, or sautee enough chicken breast for  the week to add to salads,  zoodles or spaghetti squash, shred and use for tacos, chop into stir-fries, or make a no-fry chicken parm.
• Make it the main course for Sunday dinner(like Mediterranean Chicken), but make enough for the week.

• Ground turkey or ground meat
• Make into turkey burgers or turkey muffins, and use them as dinner one night.
• Crumble into salads, pasta sauces, tacos.
• Slice in half and put on paninis with cheese and tomatoes.

•  Beans
• If dried, cook and store in a container in the fridge, ready to add to recipes
• If canned, add them straight from the can to recipes. 

• Meat
• I'm not a big meat eater, but sometimes my husband likes a steak on the grill. On Sunday, I'll place it in a ziplock with marinade ingredients.
• Cook to your liking and chop to add to recipes.

 Oatmeal
Cook steel cut oats in water: one cup oats to two cups water.

• Use in oatmeal bowls for the week, adding prepped fruit, cinnamon and protein powder.
• Don't cook, and portion in individual containers with almond milk and favorite fruit, nut butter, cinnamon, nutmeg or other faves to make no-cook refrigerator oatmeal. Grab and go in the morning.
• Make baked oatmeal muffin cups, and have one per day per family member.

Eggs

• Hard boil a dozen eggs, and peel them for quick protein.
• Make baked egg cups.

I hope this helps make your week run more smoothly.  Would love to hear if any of these tips helped you and please post if you have any additional tips!

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