Sunday, August 26, 2012

4 Hours of Work= 1 Week of Deliciousness

LA couple of weeks I was inspired by my friend and gym buddy Jen to "kick things up a notch" and follow her example of spending one day a week making food for the upcoming week.  She has been doing this for a little while now and told me how much it helps her out during the week... plus, she has lost some weight by doing so, and I thought.. why shouldn't I give it a try as well.... so I did.  The last two Sundays I spent about 3-4 hours fixing meals for the week...all my meals for the week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.. impressive right?  Yeah, sometimes I even impress myself with the stuff I can do when I put my mind to it LOL.  I will admit, the first week it took a lot, and I mean a lot of planning and prep work, first you have to make a menu, then put together a shopping list, go shopping, then come home and prepare everything.. and then there is the worst part of it... the clean up... but I can honestly tell you that it has been so worth it!  It has been so wonderful to come home every night and already have something delicious ready to eat, with little or no prep... and very, very, little clean up!  What has been even more exciting is preparing my lunch for the next day.. it takes like 2 minutes because again, everything has already been prepared, I just have to throw it into my lunch box and I am ready to go.  It was such a success last week that I decided to do it again this Sunday...whew.. so yesterday I did all my shopping and today, all the cooking.. and now look at my fridge... I feel like it could be pinterest worthy it's so organized.. LOL
   
I will post some of the recipes of the things I made... everything turned out delicious.. and healthy, but until then, here are a few pictures of my creations....

Roasted Corn and Tomato Soup
Chicken Skewers with Garlic Roasted Green Beans
Mini Egg Cups with Ham

Other things I made were berry cups, Charred Corn, Brown Rice & Black Bean salad, and chicken salad sandwiches.  There are a couple of tricks I have learned from doing this two weeks in a row...

1.  Go to the farmers market... so much fresh delicious produce at really reasonable prices (I go ever Saturday during the summer... it's like a tradition for me) and plan your menu around what's in season

2.  Buy stackable (if you don't have it already), reusable Tupperware so it will easily fit in the fridge and you don't have a bunch of random sized containers that you try and shove in there

3.  Cut up vegetables and bag them in individual servings so you can just "grab and go"

4.  Costco is your friend... even if you are only cooking for one... seriously, they have a lot of yummy "pre-cooked" meats that will save you a ton of time, like pre cooked bacon and chicken

5.  Line your baking sheets with tin-foil when roasting anything... saves sooo much time on the clean-up

6.  Be creative.. who would have thought to cook scrambled eggs in muffin tins... not me, luckily there is Pinterest...

Well ... I think that is all for now folks... thanks again for following.  I would love to hear from you all on any ideas that you have for plan ahead meals... and/or your tips and tricks! 

I survived week 1 of NO eating out!

So... I did it!  I survived 1 whole week without eating out!  Yay!  Now to survive week two.  I got on the scale today and I am down 3 pounds... and I am pretty sure that not eating out, and pre planning and cooking all my meals for the week is the reason why.  I have had to get really creative on getting my social fix, since eating out has always been a big part of it.. but so far so good.  On Saturday instead of eating out with my good friend Cheree, we made lunch at her house and were able to just hang out and talk... oh, and plan her upcoming wedding..and you all know how much I love to party plan... so good day!  I will admit that I have really been craving a hamburger.. and I don't really eat hamburgers all that much, but of course you always seem to crave the things that you can't have... or at least I do.  Now the trick for me is going to be to incorporate eating out... but on a limited basis and learning to make healthy choices when eating out and not using it as an excuse to "go crazy" and eat whatever I want.  So wish me luck on week two!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

My name is Camille, and I am a social eater...

Yes, I am going to admit it... I am a social eater.  I have never been one to "eat my feelings", I rarely have anything in my house that would be considered "junk food".. I don't keep ice cream, chips, cookies or even chocolate in my house (never have), I really don't love fast food other than an occasional Jr. pastrami burger from Crown Burger..and a sandwich from Subway, but that is really it... but I LOVE, Love, love good food and being with friends, so I find myself eating out a lot... and way more than I should. 

Eating out with 2 of my besties... I hope they don't mind I used the pic LOL
When you love food, food becomes more of an activity than just away to feed your body.  Most people would consider me a "foodie" I could watch the Food Network 24/7, and I love trying new restaurants, I love local places, fun eateries, pizzerias and just darn good food.  I also love being with my friends... so over the years I have learned to combine my love of food with my love of friends and I end up eating out a lot, which means I spend a lot of money of food.  I also have been blessed to know a lot of really great people from different work/social circles that I have become really close with over the years, along with my core group of amazing life long friends that I have known for many years... so I have a lot of people to eat out with.  I am also a "yellow" personality I love to be social so... again, eating out for me became the easiest (and yummiest) way to spend time being with great people.   I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but this week alone (which was a typical week for me) I went out to dinner/lunch with different friends 5 times (Zupa's twice, Kneader, Texas Roadhouse, and Green Papaya)... and of course, it was fun, and delicious... but very hard to track let alone stay within my weight watchers points...  I hope none of this comes off as conceited... it sounds a little egocentric, but I am not meaning it to be.. just trying to explain why it is that I eat out a lot.

All this eating out does reflect a lot on the scales... and no matter how much I exercise.. if I don't stop all of this social eating.. I am never going to lose the weight I need to.  I have decided to offer myself a challenge... for the next 2 weeks... I will NOT eat out at all.  Yep, you heard it... I am abstaining from eating out for 2 whole weeks.  This one is going to be tough for me... really, really, really tough, and I am going to need all the support I can get from you all...and your words of encouragement.. it is going to be an interesting 2 weeks, and I will definitely keep you posted! 




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Sweating the small stuff...

I know, I know, isn't it "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"... yes, it is, but I have changed it to "Do Sweat the small stuff... why you ask...well, let me tell you.

The other night I started to have a mini pity party for myself over this boy that I had recently briefly dated.  We met online, the relationship came on pretty fast and furious...I got kind of overwhelmed that everything seemed to be happening so fast.. and I found myself really wanting to go to the gym to work off some of the stress I was feeling.  Then, several weeks later, just as fast as the relationship started, it ended.. or I think it ended... not sure, he just seemed to disappear.. and once again I found myself stressed about things (yes friends.. relationships STRESS me out) and had a desire to go to the gym to "feel better".  One night last week when I was feeling particularly bummed out about things (okay so I was having a pity party for one)... I decided to get out of the house and go to the gym instead of staying at home and wallowing in self doubt and pity.  At the gym I worked out hard, probably harder than I have in the past couple of months... I had my music blasting, and I kicked butt on that elliptical and ARC machines... when I was done, I felt AWESOME!  I felt strong, proud, and in control, I guess I would say that I felt empowered.  I walked away with a new perspective on things and feeling happy (I also spent 15 minutes in the massage chairs...which might have helped as well).  So instead of turning to food for comfort, I turned to the gym.  Go me!  Yay!  When I got home I went to fill out my exercise log that I have been keeping and noticed that I had made it to the gym 4 times per week for the past 7 weeks!  I have formed a habit!  So instead of spending the night feeling rejected, sad, lonely, and angry... I spent an hour at the gym and and the rest of the night feeling empowered, strong, in control and accomplished... a way better option that a pity party for one.  In essence, I literally "sweated" over some small stuff in my life... and felt great.. so, my new motto is "Do Sweat out the small stuff". 


I think I might have actually made going to the gym a habit, and a priority, and in doing that I have been able to maintain my weight loss over the past couple of weeks even with a road trip, the beginning and end of a new relationship, craziness at work, and two weeks of my sister and her family being in town which included a lot of potlucks and access to sweets and chips...  during all of that, I still made it to the gym, and as a result, stayed the EXACT same weight.  Maybe the gym is becoming my new "comfort food"...  woot woot!  I guess this means that I am progressing on the "real changes" I need to be more healthy and lose the weight.. and I need to start a new exericse log! 

Anyway, thanks for your support everyone and for letting me ramble on!  Love you all!