Simple Fitness for Busy Moms: Week 1, good luck!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Week 1, good luck!

So every Sunday I write out a menu, my grocery bill has been lower & my pantry & fridge are cleaner because I buy only what I need. I buy mostly the same stuff every week, so it's simplified my life in that way alone. Grocery shopping for a family of six used to take the whole day visiting several stores, now I hit 3-4 stores & am in and out in 30 min or less.

I prepared all food on Monday & refrigerated so I could have it ready to pull out of fridge at just the right time. See basic meal plan in side bar to see where to plug in food!

Here was my menu last Sunday.

Monday & Tuesday--meal 4, chicken tacos. I buy mission corn & whole wheat blend tortillas. Note that corn tortillas are best, try staying away from whole wheat as much as possible.
--Meal 5, turkey meatballs with brn rice pasta & 2tbls maranara sauce & veggie

Wednesdays-- meal 4, chicken sausage with brn rice & veggie
--meal 5,2 2 oz turkey meatballs wih 1/4 cup brown rice pasta ( buy in gluten free section at Walmart or pasta aisle at sprouts. I over cook what the package says & stir frequently while cooking). 2tbls maranara sauce & veggie

Thursday & Friday--meal 4chicken stir fry, 1/2 cup brn rice & sautéed bell peppers
--Meal 5 chicken sausage wih 1/4 brn rice

Over weekend I'll with make chicken in crockpot or bake really quick or just make more of what I've eaten that week.

Recipe. Chicken tacos I cook 6 chicken breasts (I cook for myself & my husband & make a bit extra for my kids. You can scale recipe for what you'd need. Single person might need 2-3), 1/4 cup of salsa of choice & 1/4 cup taco seasoning in crockpot on low for 7-8 hrs. Shred chicken. I refrigerate chicken then make individual tacos on day of. Add spinach, tomatoes, and any fresh veggies. Keep sodium intake low, so I don't do a lot of canned.

Turkey meatballs--1 lb of grnd turkey
1/2 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 tbls Italian seasoning

Mix ingredients in bowl, form meatballs onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 35 min.
Freeze leftovers for another week! Yay!

Chicken sausage I just buy already cooked at Costco & fry. Try finding one with lower sodium.

Chicken stir fry--I find liquid amino acids at sprouts. It is a soy sauce substitute & is low in sodium. Very yummy. Satisfies my salt craving. I sautée chicken in this sauce (if you'll eat this two days, 8 oz) cut in chunks in that for 15 min, then add 3 chopped bell peppers (again cooking for 1 person you might need to scale amount). Sautée bell peppers with chicken for last 5 minutes. Can add salt free peanuts.

I'm not good with recipes, when I cook I throw stuff in. Feel free to ask questions in comments.

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Meal Prep

I want to say, you will not be successful if you do not meal prep. It's too much food, too much cooking, and too many times you will want to talk yourself out of doing it. I personally don't like leftovers. I have to eat it & remind myself food is fuel!! I make all my meals for Monday-Friday on Monday & then I might cook a little over weekends. Now that my metabolism is better I cheat more over the weekends, so I don't like to waste food by meal prepping. I wouldn't recommend cheating for the first two weeks of this diet so your metabolism will stabilize.

Carb Cycling

I hit a plateau about 6 months into my fitness regiment & noticed messing around with my carbs helped get me to my ultimate goal of 18 percent body fat (I stopped looking at the scale, I'm about ten lbs heavier than I was before kids, but in a smaller pants size,,,the scale lies!). I don't recommend necessarily starting with carb cycling, start simple, one step at a time, but I want to explain it, as that is what I do & I will talk about it a lot in my meal plans. Everyone has a different take & There are a million ways to implement it, so I will just tell my version & you can research it If you want further info.

Healthy carbs that you'll want to eat are brn rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and brn rice pasta. For my snacks I have fruit, eat your fruit early in the day because it is a complex carb. I have popcorn with no butter & light light light salt sometimes. If you pick a protein bar or shake, pick one with low carbs. Quest bars are high in carbs, so I eat them in the mornings or closer to my workouts.

So if you notice I eat 1/3 cup of oats in the am, 1/2 cup carbs for meal 4, then 1/4 cup carbs at meal 5. On a low carb day I might lower this or keep it the same. On a high carb day I will eat more carbs. Most of the time I add healthy carbs to snacks, I eat a full 1/2 cup with my meal at night. I still leave out carbs of meal 6.

My carb cycle is simple, when I've had a intense workout, especially when I've worked my legs or back I eat high carbs, most other days I keep them lower.

Hopefully as I blog this will make more sense!

Basic Meal Plan

Meal 1--1 scoop protein shake. (Check your label, muscle milk, for instance is high in calories & carbs, try muscle milk light. My fave is protein 7) an apple or banana, 11 almonds or teaspoon of peanut butter. (I love flavored peanut butters from trader joes & sprouts.)

Meal 2--4 egg whites & 1/3 cup cooked oatmeal add an ounce of cheese to eggs or avacado & tomato. I buy egg whites in a carton. So much easier than cracking eggs.

Meal 3--snack, could be same as meal 1 or try protein bar ( read your labels! I love quest bars)

Meal 4--4oz chicken breast, grnd turkey, or 5-6oz talapia, veggies, 1/2 cup of rice, sweet potatoes, or rice pasta, and a fat, 1/4 avacado, 1 oz of cheese, or a teaspoon of Peanut butter.

Meal 5--same as meal 6, except remove carbs or only have 1/4 cup.

Meal 6--1 scoop protein shake.

*you can rearrange meals & snacks to your own schedule, for instance, I workout at 5 am, so I eat a fruit & pb before I go & have my protein shake right after. That's my meal 1. If you'd rather eat eggs right when you wake up & eat the snack later go for it. Just make sure you get all your meals in!

*this diet is formulated for a woman, men get double the amount of food. So for men, 8 egg whites in stead of 4 & 8oz meat instead of 4 oz, 1 cup brn rice instead of 1/2, and so forth. No fair!