As I mentioned yesterday, Self magazine’s Self Challenge program just started and it has re-inspired me to pay closer attention to my diet and workout habits.
The Challenge has me back in the habit of planning out my (and sometimes Mr. Man’s) meals for the week.
Planning all of your meals and snacks ahead of time is essential if you really want to stick to a new meal plan.
Allow for some flexibility but not so much that you’ll stray. For example, my snacks have to be either a fruit or a vegetable (dips are a must in my book), and my treat is wine. I can give up chocolate, I can give up cookies and I can give up cake, but I cannot give up alcohol. So I’m keeping wine in my diet because it has some health benefits, especially red wine.
I only plan Monday through Friday because those are the most hectic days. Saturdays and Sundays are usually low-key enough that I have more time to pick and make whatever looks good from the website. (My meal plan pulls some of the meals designed for the challenge as well as some other recipes from the website.) Here’s my blueprint meal plan for this week:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| Breakfast | zucchini spice bran muffin, apple slices, and milk | waffle with peanut butter, light syrup, pomegranate, milk | zucchini spice bran muffin, apple slices, and milk | yogurt parfait, toast and orange juice | waffle with peanut butter, light syrup, pomegranate, milk |
| Lunch | turkey and cheese sandwich with an orange | omelet with toast and berries | salad and pomegranate and boiled potatoes | turkey and cheese sandwich and an orange | freebie lunch |
| Dinner | baked tilapia, boiled baby potatoes and cheesy broccoli | chicken parmigiana with broccoli over pasta | chickpea pasta | flank steak with black beans and brown rice | pizza and salad |
| Treat or Snack | fruit, veggie or wine | fruit, veggie or wine | fruit, veggie or wine | fruit, veggie or wine | fruit, veggie or wine |
(I know my table is pretty weak, but it’s pathetic how long it took me just to make this. Besides, you get what’s important. Feel free to let me know how to improve it.)
So, today, I am proud to say that I stuck to my meal plan, except instead of having wine as my treat, I had a Ghirardelli chocolate square. I also had a second helping of the tilapia, but I went to the weightlifting class tonight and upped my weight, so I like to hope it all evens out.
Goals Update:
I accomplished two of my three most important things for today:
- I made the meal plan.
- I went to the weightlifting class.
- I did not work on my Cat Fancy freelance article. So that will now be my No. 1 most important thing for tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s 3 Most Important Things
- Work on my Cat Fancy freelance article.
- Call the a contact about wedding ceremony musicians.
- Go on a short run.
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It’s good you’re planning it out, always smart, it’s what I do when I’m a hardcore Veggi trip.
Only thing I could say is maybe add yogurt of something light to your snakcs pool or you might get bored of it and give into some other kinda craving (I.E. Donuts)
I know I do haha
That’s a good point. There are some other options on the Challenge meal plan, so I’ll try to use those too. Plus, this is just kind of a rough outline. Already today I had to improvise: We’re out of eggs so I couldn’t do the omelet, so I ate leftovers from last night.
It’s so hard to plan everything out with sucha hectic schedule — I work so much that I’m often not home for 16 hours at a time. I wish there was more cheap healthy food you could buy at quick stops and stuff.
Usually there are healthy foods at quick stops, it’s just a matter of looking for them. Even the salads at fast food joints aren’t too bad for you. It’s just a matter of having the willpower to get the healthy choices. Generally, when we’re stressed and hungry, we almost always go for the more enjoyable/less healthy choices because at least those will provide us with a little bit of happiness, even if it’s temporary.