I decided to make up two different meals to switch between dinners and lunches for the week. I got weirdly overwhelmed about the thought of cooking just for me each night, and figured this was the easiest way to solve that problem. And it really was! However, I wasn't crazy about one of the dishes (by no fault of the recipe, I went off script and it just wasn't as good as it could have been, so next time I'll know better!), and ended up tossing it (ie feeding it to the dog) mid week. But the other dish was fantastic! I ate both of these on a bed of spinach and also on some Cauliflower rice. I ended up roasting some chicken and brussels sprouts mid week, and that was when I realized how much I had been over thinking this whole meal prep thing. It's crazy easy! This week I'm thinking about it less, and experimenting more.
One thing I did realize is that I need to be eating a big breakfast and lunch, and a much smaller dinner. I teach dance and music all day to 3-11 year olds and after the first day I was starving by the time I got home. I've now upped my meal to something like this for lunch: Chicken and veggies on spinach, a handful of berries, and an apple with almond butter and coconut (seriously amazing y'all). This is a perfect lunch to keep me going until about 6 or 7 when I have dinner. Breakfasts are a little more tricky though. Mostly because I am incredibly lazy in the mornings. I've never been a huge breakfast maker (Don't get me wrong, breakfast food is like my favourite food in the world, but I also like to sleep in...), so week one I made these mini quiches. They are super delish, and I made enough for two each morning. These are great because I can literally heat them for 30 seconds and fly out the door, but I think next time I'm going to make them in muffin pans so it's a little bit more of a substantial breakfast. I'm also going to up the amount of meat I put in them. This week I'm doing omlettes, which so far seem to be a bit more filling.
One thing I really learned is that I'm totally good at keeping this up all week long, but once my weekend hits, ooo, it's bad. This weekend there were pies and ice cream and bagels (ugg, I love bread) and I cheated quite a lot. However right away I noticed a difference in how I felt. I ate a bagel and holy cow you guys, I felt like there was a thick sludge in my stomach. It was awful. What's interesting is that my brain keeps thinking it wants the hot cocoa, but as soon as I have some, I'm like, oh no, I don't want this. Small victories! So I need to be hyper vigilant about making sure I have meals prepped for the weekends (part of the problem is I had planned on making Friday my meal prep day because I'm off work, but I ended up spending all day re arranging my room). Another issue is going out. Saturday my sisters and I took a spontaneous trip up to go play in the snow. We brought some approved snack foods with up, and even stopped at a local farm's market on the way up, but after five hours of snow play Bri and I were in desperate need of something other than fruit and veggies! We did find an okay as far as ingredients goes sausage in a candy shop, and we ate the whole thing, but it wasn't that good. We just need to have some actual meal items prepped for days when we head out on adventures.
A friend of mine was curious about the sugar withdrawals, and man, they were pretty brutal for me. I'm sure after my slip ups this weekend I'm in for it again, but last week was pretty bad. By Wednesday I was ready to quite everything in life. Seriously! I noticed the headaches didn't really start until mid afternoon for me, which is also when I teach my most difficult group of students. I was seriously near tears after my class Wednesday. Partially due to the kids, partially due to my brain thinking it desperately needed a peppermint mocha (which up until last week I always stop and get one before this class as a reward for showing up and preparing for battle (I'm not kidding about this class being incredibly difficult. My class with special needs students is easier!)). I think my biggest bit of advice as far as the sugar withdrawals goes is make sure you are drinking a TON of water. I flavour mine with citrus and berries and even coconut for a natural sweetness. Also make sure you're getting enough sleep. I honestly did so much better on the days when I was in bed no later than 10:30pm. My goal for this week is to be in bed by 9:30 every night.
But on the plus side, despite mini failures, and slight set backs I've already lost weight! I bought a pair of jeans the week before I started and they're hard to keep up now! That's encouraging! A skirt I have that's been just a bit tight is comfortable again, and that's a super nice benefit. I think so often on diets I've tried I've been frustrated by the lack of immediate changes, yet with a simple diet change I'm seeing them less than a week in! Cool! I'm also way more alert, less sleepy, and don't have that nasty brain fog. I was also having some weird minor back pains the last few weeks and that's suddenly gone completely. So despite the headache, I'm definitely seeing huge benefits. Onward!
My goals for this week are to prepare a little better, and do a little better. Simple, but that's okay. Baby steps right?
These are the offending jeans by the way. They're skinny jeans and I was wearing leggings under them. Also I wanted a before photo, but forgot to get one last Monday, so this one from Saturday will have to do!
And totally unrelated, SNOW! We have so much, and we're getting more, and yay yay yay!
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