Meal Prep Week #2! (March 22 - 27)

Hi!
So the last few days of Meal Prep Week one were not that successful at all. But I am not going to be deterred as I start my second week. Though I do not have any snacks like the fruit and trail mix that I had during the first week. But perhaps that is a good thing in the long run. Reason for me not having these items this week is that I live in a small town and our local store is, not up to standards of other stores. Our healthy food selection is pretty much non-existent. During the first week I was lucky enough to be able to shop in a store that had a much better selection. Unfortunately I was not able to go shopping there this week so I made due with what I had.

I still plan on drinking water for every meal as well as in-between meals as well. I do also plan to eat three meals a day so even though I am without healthy snacks at the moment I will not let that deter me.

I am also planning on adding light exercise to my daily routine this week, though it is not really a part of meal prepping, I know that I need to get out and walk. So I'm going to make an effort to walk at least 20 minutes a day if not more.

The meals I'm having are very simple but I know that these meals will fill me up.

For breakfast: 1 pack of Instant Oatmeal (Maple & Brown Sugar), an Everything Bagel w/ Strawberry Creme Cheese.

For lunch and dinner: Grilled Chicken Strips, Steamed White Rice w/ Furikaki (Japanese Rice Seasoning) and Whole Kernel Sweet Corn.

I decided to forgo the Lo Mein this week as it seemed to not really fill me up. But when it came to the grilled chicken that I had for dinner during the first week, it seemed to fill me up longer.

Now as I said, I do not measure how much chicken I put into each container but I do measure the rice and the corn. I put a little more than half a cup of rice into each container and about a fourth of a cup, or more, of corn into each container. I know that some people measure the ounces of the chicken but I do not have a scale nor the means to purchase one so I divide them as evenly as I can and that works pretty good for me.

I am still struggling with cravings, especially late at night, which makes me annoyed more than anything because I do not know what is causing it. I feel like I'm eating enough during each meal and that I only get cravings just to get them and that I'm not really hungry. I'm trying to find something to help curve my cravings so again if anyone has any tips please feel free to leave a comment.

Well until next week!

Mid-Week Update!

Hi!
So I decided that today would be a good day to give a mid-week update on how I'm doing with the Meal Prep.

First off, I do still get late night cravings and for the life of me I do not know why. Its a bit aggravating to say the least and more so disappointing cause I don't even realize that I'm eating junk food until I'm halfway through with it. If anyone has any tips then please let me know cause it is very frustrating.

My water intake is going good. I'm drinking a 16.9 oz bottle of water with every meal and also drinking at least 20-30 oz of water in between meals. So the water intake is going good.

The meals themselves are delicious and they do their job in filling me up completely.

However I did have to make a change with breakfast, instead of eating just one pack of instant grits, I increased it to two because I was still feeling hungry after. But tomorrow I'm going to have oatmeal and I'm hoping that that will fill me up better than the grits did.

I've also been making green juices to go with my lunch and dinner meals. I make these green smoothies by using Kale, Spinach, Chard, 1 cut up Strawberry, 2 Tbsp of Vanilla Yogurt, 1/2 Cup of Peach Juice and one scoop of protein powder. I actually enjoy the smoothies more than the meals.

The fruit and the homemade trail mix I made, are another one of my favorite things to snack on. I'm just hoping that I can get the fruit to last throughout the week cause the are just so good. Also I'm wanting to try different fruits so if anyone has any ideas please let me know!

All in all its going pretty good and I'm happy that I am enjoying it as well as I am. But like I said the only thing I'm disappointed in is that I still get cravings, especially late at night. If anyone has any tips then please leave a comment as to how I can stop these late night cravings. I do suffer from Insomnia most nights as well if that helps anyone.

Until the next post!
Thank you for reading and again feel free to comment!

Meal Prep Week #1 Begins!

HI!
I am so excited to finally start my meal prep for the week! Me and my friend went shopping all day yesterday to stock up and we spent nearly all morning/afternoon getting everything ready and I am finally finished! I feel so accomplished and excited to start this and I know that I can keep up with it no problem.

I also would like it to be known that I am new to meal prep so I am going to be learning about it for a while but that's not to say that I don't want to share what I made and what I'm going to be eating for the next week starting tomorrow morning.

So I'm going to be listing what all meals I'll be having for the next week along with snacks. Pictures can be found at the end of this blog and I do encourage anyone that if they have any suggestions that they leave me a comment. I love hearing suggestions, especially if I can benefit from them.

And now onto the list!

Breakfast:
- 1 Pack of Instant Oatmeal/Grits
- 1 Bagel (Everything) with a light spreading of Strawberry Creme Cheese

Lunch:
- Stir Fry Steak Strips
- Homemade Lo Mein (Recipe will be linked at the bottom of the page. I highly recommend the recipe as it is really simple and delicious!)
- Green Juice (Mixture of 1 Strawberry, Kale, Spinach, Chard, 2 tsp of Vanilla Yogurt, 1/4 cup of Peach Juice)

Dinner:
- Grilled Chicken
- Steamed White Rice with 1/2 Tsp of Furikaki on top (Japanese Rice Seasoning)
- Whole Kernal Sweet Corn

Snacks:
- Homemade Trail Mix - Honey-Roasted Peanuts (1 tsp.), Sunflower Seeds (1 tsp) and Special K Granola Mix (2 tsp)
- Fresh Fruit - Strawberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries and Grapes. 

And of course for every meal I will be drinking a bottle of 16.9 oz water as well as throughout the day I'm going to be constantly drinking water as well. But the 16.9 bottle of water will be drunk for every meal without fail. I am swearing off all other kinds of drinks except for the Peach Juice that will only be used in my green juices. This is really easy for me to do since I become quite ill whenever I drink a carbonated drink. Though I do have MIO water enhancer if the taste of water becomes to plain for me in order to keep my interest in the water. 

Oh also I wanted to let anyone who was curious that I was lucky enough to find all of my Tupperware containers from the Dollar Tree. I lucked up and found a bunch of Betty Crocker Tupperware that came in a pack of 2 for just $1. The bowls that are pictured below that hold the fruit are 8 ounce bowls and each one cost $1. So just wanted to let you guys know that you don't have to spend a bunch of money in order to find good Tupperware for meal prep. And the Tupperware is freezer and microwavable safe, which are great if you are meal prepping!

And now I come to a end with this blog post. I will try and post another by the middle of the week in order to tell of my progress and if I like it or not. Which with how excited and happy I am that I know I can succeed with meal prep!

Until Next Time!

Easy Lo Mein Recipe: http://damndelicious.net/2014/10/03/easy-lo-mein/

Pictures: (Sorry for the quality, my camera isn't really any good)

SO MUCH DELICIOUS FRUIT! YUMMY!

YUMMY!

Weight Loss Journey - Week #6 (Mar. 1 - 7, 2015)

Hi!
So this update is gonna be a bit different because I'm changing up my way of dieting starting the 14th of this month. And I really feel like that this new plan is gonna help me more and help me on my way to achieving my weight loss goal.
Me and one of my closest friends are going to start doing weekly Meal Prep. We've both been thinking about it for a while and now we feel like we can completely commit to it. Now not to say that for me its going to be easy because I do live with two other people, who are very set in their ways of eating that will not be doing meal prep with me. So for them I will be cooking and such everyday for them. But that really doesn't bother me at all and I know that if I can succeed in keeping to my meal prep meals and snacks that I will be a stronger person for it. :-)

Now not to say that I have it all figured out but that is what this week is for. Me and my friend are planning a big shopping day next Saturday (Mar.14th) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips that they would be willing to share. The main tip I'm looking for is that what are some good Tupperware containers that are good for freezing and microwaving but ones that are also inexpensive.

I should also mention that I have no plans to count calories at all. The main reason I'm doing this is because I want to be able to chose a healthy food option instead of making a sandwich and whatnot.

I'm also looking for different fruits and veggies to eat along with my prep meals. I'm good with starches cause I love steamed rice and I never get tired of it. Meat is pretty simple too cause I can never get tired of chicken and steak. Again if anyone has any tips that they are willing to share then please let me know. I really will appreciate any help/advice/tips that can be given! :-)

Until Next Week!