Healthy Meals for Losing Weight
It would appear that I'm not very good with menu planning. Well, I guess I'm great at the planning; it's the execution that falls apart. My husband hates my attempts. He cooks a lot of the time, and he's a cook-on-the-whim type. Or we'll have a stressful day and decide on a quick meal instead of whatever's planned. But I'm dedicated to making this work, both for my budget and my health. So here is another try.
Tomorrow, I embark on a new fitness project. I have a wonderful group of friends on facebook who are supporting me and joining me on my new journey towards better health. I've joined Sparkpeople.com and have been logging my food intake and looking through all of their healthy recipes. I'll be 6 weeks postpartum tomorrow, and I return to work Thursday, and I am bound and determined to lose all of this baby weight more quickly this time! Plus I need to just get a better handle on my health anyway, having had some scary blood pressure issues after having the baby. From logging my food over the weekend, I've learned that I'm well over double the amount of calories, fat, carbs, and sodium than recommended! So I've recruited friends and family (mostly my kids, with husband being pulled along by default), and I'm going to take better control of my health. I'm still looking for healthy sweet snack alternatives, so that we can begin to phase out our little debbie & chocolate addictions, but this is a good start. I've primarily used Sparkpeople's menu planner this first week, since they provide all the nutritional info, but I'm working at exploring new recipes - and hopefully finding a few that even my picky husband will enjoy.
My work schedule comes out on Fridays, so this first "week" is only Monday - Friday. Breakfasts are usually individual helpings of cereal, pop tarts, or waffles as the family wakes up. I almost always skip breakfast, but I'll see if I can't work on that. Many of the lunches listed will just be for me, as the rest of the fams sneers at them and will have whatever sandwich they decide to substitute. I'll win them over eventually. Babysteps.
Week 1: 10/10-10/14
Monday
L: Poached Eggs & Pasta I'll admit, this sounds iffy. The reviews are all very good though, so I'm going to give it a try - mostly out of morbid curiosity.
D: Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry
Tuesday
L: Tuna casserole (already had in the freezer & set down last night to thaw. Macaroni noodles, tuna, peas, corn, cream of celery, cream of mushroom, topped with potato sticks. I'll try to stay away from the potato sticks, but I can't make any promises. Mainly depends on if they're stale yet or not. :P)
D: Eat out - my girls have dance class. We usually hit Burger King's dollar menu. Not the healthiest. I'll see if I can wait til we get home & have leftovers, but I do have a french fry weakness.
Wednesday
L: Penne Rapini Only I can't find rapini around here, so I'll use plain broccoli
D: Stuffed Acorn Squash
Thursday (Work 8am-12pm)
L: Daddy's choice. Mom: Curried Carrot Soup
D: Linguine with spicy shrimp sauce
Friday (Work 8am-4pm)
L: Daddy's choice. Mom: Cajun Chicken Ceasar Salad
D: Daddy's choice.
Tomorrow, I embark on a new fitness project. I have a wonderful group of friends on facebook who are supporting me and joining me on my new journey towards better health. I've joined Sparkpeople.com and have been logging my food intake and looking through all of their healthy recipes. I'll be 6 weeks postpartum tomorrow, and I return to work Thursday, and I am bound and determined to lose all of this baby weight more quickly this time! Plus I need to just get a better handle on my health anyway, having had some scary blood pressure issues after having the baby. From logging my food over the weekend, I've learned that I'm well over double the amount of calories, fat, carbs, and sodium than recommended! So I've recruited friends and family (mostly my kids, with husband being pulled along by default), and I'm going to take better control of my health. I'm still looking for healthy sweet snack alternatives, so that we can begin to phase out our little debbie & chocolate addictions, but this is a good start. I've primarily used Sparkpeople's menu planner this first week, since they provide all the nutritional info, but I'm working at exploring new recipes - and hopefully finding a few that even my picky husband will enjoy.
My work schedule comes out on Fridays, so this first "week" is only Monday - Friday. Breakfasts are usually individual helpings of cereal, pop tarts, or waffles as the family wakes up. I almost always skip breakfast, but I'll see if I can't work on that. Many of the lunches listed will just be for me, as the rest of the fams sneers at them and will have whatever sandwich they decide to substitute. I'll win them over eventually. Babysteps.
Week 1: 10/10-10/14
Monday
L: Poached Eggs & Pasta I'll admit, this sounds iffy. The reviews are all very good though, so I'm going to give it a try - mostly out of morbid curiosity.
D: Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry
Tuesday
L: Tuna casserole (already had in the freezer & set down last night to thaw. Macaroni noodles, tuna, peas, corn, cream of celery, cream of mushroom, topped with potato sticks. I'll try to stay away from the potato sticks, but I can't make any promises. Mainly depends on if they're stale yet or not. :P)
D: Eat out - my girls have dance class. We usually hit Burger King's dollar menu. Not the healthiest. I'll see if I can wait til we get home & have leftovers, but I do have a french fry weakness.
Wednesday
L: Penne Rapini Only I can't find rapini around here, so I'll use plain broccoli
D: Stuffed Acorn Squash
Thursday (Work 8am-12pm)
L: Daddy's choice. Mom: Curried Carrot Soup
D: Linguine with spicy shrimp sauce
Friday (Work 8am-4pm)
L: Daddy's choice. Mom: Cajun Chicken Ceasar Salad
D: Daddy's choice.