Meal Planning 101

It's almost Friday!  Thank the good lord above because I am ready for a few days off of work.  I feel like I need a stay-cation to get my head in a good spot but that whole "no vacation time right now" thing is kinda biting me in the butt!  Oh well just part of being an adult :-)

So today I want to talk about a HUGE step that my husband and I took to not only eat better but to save a ton of money. What was that??  Save money.  Yeah I know that caught your attention because (if you are anything like us) we need to pinch pennies any way we can.  Let me tell you guys meal planning is where it is!

First things first I bought a dry erase monthly calendar that I turned into a magnet and hung on the fridge.  This is my go to because I don't use a planner and as much as I try to use my phone calendar I'm terrible at setting it for stuff.  I fill out all of our monthly plans (that are already in place) and then we start talking about meals.  My husband gets paid the 15th and the 31st and I get paid every 2 weeks so we like to plan around certain paychecks for when we go to the grocery.  That's when I jump onto Pinterest and get to browsing!

I like variety.  I hate eating the same thing all the time and I constantly tell my hubs he needs to "expand his horizons" and try new foods.  The man could honestly eat chicken or Hamburger Helper every night.  We go through posts on Pinterest with different recipes and I always check out Weight Watchers and Paleo posts for healthy recipes.  Then we start planning our meals.  This is our calendar for this month (well part of it based on how our pay checks fall).

As we chose recipes we write down the ingredients of these meals on our grocery list.  Once I have all my recipes planned I go through my grocery list and figure up how many of certain ingredients we need.  For example this month we picked a lot of chicken recipes so I knew I needed to buy multiple bags of chicken breasts to make everything.  Once I look at everything I add in stuff that may not have been in the recipes but its stuff we need for breakfast, lunches, and sides for the dinners (things like fruits, veggies, yogurt).

Now its time to hit the store.  Two rules...1. NEVER GO TO THE GROCERY HUNGRY and 2. Stick to your list...that's all you need to know.  I have started organizing my grocery list by my walk around the store so I know exactly what item I need to get in the aisle I'm in.  This helps me from browsing and throwing additional stuff in the cart.  Always remember the healthier stuff is on the perimeters of the grocery store.  When all else fails shop the outside aisles!  Once you have everything on your list get out of the store as fast as you can!

So down to the nitty gritty.  Before we started this my husband and I were spending $250-$300 a trip to the grocery (mind you it is just me and him in the house).  On top of this I would constantly be tired from work so we would have a ton of food and I would say, "Lets go get something because I don't feel like cooking." I never knew what I wanted for dinner and we would try to figure it out spur of the moment and we would make unhealthy choices.  Now since starting this plan we have cut our grocery bill down to $150-$175 a trip!    We only eat out on Saturdays and we are making much better food choices because we have preplanned our dinners and know the calories of every meal we are making.  I also know what I need to take out to thaw in the mornings so I have NO excuse to not feel like cooking when I get home.  This works guys, I am not kidding!  If we can do it you can too!

I hope this gives you a little insight into meal planning.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask.  I mean you can save money and you can eat better, what more do you need to peak your interests??

Happy planning!

Mornings....

Mornings.....ugh.  That's how I feel every morning.  I really wish I was an early riser and a go getter before 10:00 am.  I have to be at work at 8:30 every day and you would think after years and years I would be used to it.  If my husband and I have to get up at the same time we mainly just grunt like cave people at each other until we have both showered and are ready to walk out the door.

I've never been a huge breakfast person.  I'm never really hungry early and I'm frankly pushing myself out the door so I don't have time to make anything.  I also do not drink coffee.  I've never liked the taste of it and it doesn't matter how much "mocha vanilla caramel white chocolate frappe" junk you put in it I still think it tastes like plain coffee and it grosses me out.  Well since I'm not a morning person, I don't eat breakfast, and I don't drink coffee, how in the hell am I supposed to wake up? 

I have found my morning meal substitute that actually wakes me up (mainly because of the noise from my Magic Bullet), gives me energy, and helps me avoid Hangry Liz coming around at work around 11:00.

Here it is!  All these ingredients go together to make a yummy chocolate shake/smoothie that is full of good stuff!  My BFF turned me on to this Lean Shake and she swears by it so you know you have to trust your bestie!  This GNC Lean Shake I bought at Rite Aid for $35.  You can use this stuff as directed (2 scoops with milk or water in a shaker) or you can add ingredients and ice to it to make a smoothie.  I like to bulk it up to keep me full longer and to give some extra vitamins.  I put one scoop of Lean Shake, about a 1/2 cup of almond milk, 1/2 cup milk, and then whatever fruit and veggies I want to add in to my Magic Bullet cup and blend.  Once that is all mixed together I add about 5 ice cubes and blend again to break up all the ice and make it smoothie texture. 

I like to mix up my flavors so todays choice was 2 strawberries and 1/2 of a banana.  I try to throw in a handful of spinach when I have it available (no taste and chocked full of vitamins!) but right now I'm out.  Yesterday I did 1/2 a banana and a scoop of PB2.  If you don't know what PB2 is you are missing out!  PB2 is a powdered peanut butter.  You add water to it and it makes a yummy peanut butter with like half the calories as the regular stuff.  I bought mine at Kroger on sale for $3. I'm not a huge peanut butter person but I like the fact that I have an alternative that has less calories.

So there you have it! This is my morning go to!  I have started cutting up my strawberries and bagging them so in the morning I just grab a bag and dump them in my Magic Bullet.  The easier things are in the morning the more likely my cranky self is going to actually do them.

Here is a link for the GNC Lean Shake on Amazon. 

http://www.amazon.com/GNC-Total-Shake-Chocolate-Pound/dp/B00C9F81OQ

There are a bunch of flavors available so I'm anxious to try a few more.  Rite Aid has chocolate and vanilla but the GNC stores tend to have more flavors available in house.

And just for fun here is a link to PB2 if you aren't familiar with it!

http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-PB2-Powdered-Premium-Chocolate/dp/B0098WV8F2/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1424921956&sr=1-1&keywords=PB2

Like I said I like to change things up so I'm sure I will come back to this topic with different reviews and recipes for these shakes.  If you have any suggestions or have something you like using in your smoothies please feel free to leave a comment!

We Got A First Timer!

Hi guys! Welcome to my little outlet for my weight loss journey. On February 1st, 2015 I decided that it was time to stop acting like a slug and get motivated to lose some weight! On this blog I will discuss different things I'm doing/trying, workouts, recipes, you know just a hodge podge of nonsense in regards to this trip I'm on.

First things first let me say that I have struggled with my weight all my life. I've never been "skinny" and not to sound like a Negative Nancy I doubt I ever will be. My body size is thick or big boned whatever you want to call it. My main goal is to tone up and feel good about myself.  I've done the crash diets and the fad workouts and all the nonsense in between but nothing has ever worked. I'm hoping this blog appeals to the ladies like me, and I know you guys exist!

So just a little about me....
I'm 30 years old...I still don't know how I got to this age but yeah it happened. I've been married to the love of my life for almost three years and we have two fur babies. I live in Louisville, KY and am a die hard University of Louisville athletic supporter! I'm a smidge of a social butterfly too so I love to go out on the weekends with the hubs and my friends. I love my city. Louisville has some amazing nightlife, restaurants, and there is always something to do around here. If you haven't been here you need to plan a visit ASAP! It's got all the southern charm you can imagine with a crazy uptown vibe. I can't see myself ever living anywhere else.

Since this is my basic introduction post I will keep this short and sweet. I hope to post daily to keep myself motivated. Please stick with me as I figure out how to upload pics, videos, and whatever snazzy stuff I can put on here. I hope this will be a place for support for people who just need that extra boost to get started down the road to getting healthy.

As of Feb 1st I am down 10lbs just from dieting and exercise. If you want to know what I'm doing check back!!!