Meal Planning Monday

Here we are again!! This weeks meal plan and goals!

Monday – Vegetable Stir Fry

Tuesday – Pasta with tuna and vegetables (my own made up recipe!)

Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognese – this was on the list last week but we didn’t have it, so have added it again as it is Molly’s favourite!

Thursday – Salmon with sweet potato mash and green beans (A Thinking Slimmer recipe)

Friday – Potato Wedges, sausages and salad (Haloumi cheese for me!)

If you have a meal plan why not link up over with Mrs M too!

My goals 

As you can see from my previous post about being positive and focussed, things are so far going really well!  I remembered to weigh myself last week and when I stepped onto the scales on Friday morning I had lost a whopping 8.5lbs in 6 days! I got on and off the scales so many times thinking they must have been wrong – but they were correct! This has totally given me another major boost!

So as far as my goals go for this week, I am going to be taking a different approach, I am not going to be weighing myself weekly from now on, Sandra from Thinking Slimmer has advised ‘I throw the scales away.’  So there will be no weekly weigh in from now on, I am going to concentrate on how my clothes feel and fit as my guide to my weight loss.

So goal number 1 is to not weigh myself which seems a bit strange coming from someone trying to loose weight  and I think it will be harder than i think to not obsess over the lbs, but I am going to give it a go!

Goal number 2 is to hunt out some new healthy recipes to include in my meal plan, I struggle with meals that can cater for us all, I am a vegetarian and the kids and my husband are all meat eaters, so it can be tough finding a balance that suits us all.

Goal number 3 is to up my running to 2 minutes at a time in the gym by the end of this week. Now I never expected running to be easy, but I really thought I would manage longer than a minute. It wasn’t to be though, so at the moment, I am up to 1 minute 30 seconds, then walking for a minute then back to running.  By the end of the week I aim to be running for 2 minutes walking for 1 minute.  I hope this makes sense, I know what I mean but writing in a way that makes sense doesn’t seem to be happening very easily!

So there it is, my meal plan and goals for this week! Have a great week everyone!

Positive, Motivated and Focussed

I blogged last year about weight loss.  I started listening to Thinking Slimmer, so far it has been a stop start journey for me.  I don’t know why but I seem to have been giving up as soon as I was getting anywhere.  Recently I feel I have turned a corner.   For so long now, I have been trapped in such a negative cycle, this spirals into all parts of life, home, work, kids.  I get up, usually feeling shattered and yuck after not much sleep, I have some breakfast with the kids, get dressed, choosing from the only three outfits that actually still fit.  I don’t even bother to open the wardrobe anymore because it is too depressing.  I then spend the day working and running around after the kids whilst desperately trying to keep on top of the housework and washing (I never actually manage this very well).  All the time I feel awful, fat and frumpy and I feel like all I do is moan about it, but when it comes to doing anything about it, I always fail and then feel even worse about myself.

I recently joined my local gym and I am enjoying exercising for the first time in my life.  This morning I have been to have my fitness programme set up, the last few weeks I have been doing my own thing to get used to going, but as of now I have a proper fitness programme, to help me not only loose weight, but to train for the Race for Life.  I am under no illusion that I probably won’t be able to run the whole 5 k race….BUT I am going to try.

Today I worked, I worked hard, and boy I know I am going to be so stiff tomorrow.  But I feel great.  For the first time in a long time, I feel just a little bit like me.  Yes I am over weight and I don’t feel one bit attractive right now, but I am doing something about it. I am setting myself weekly goals with my Meal Planning Monday posts and aiming to be in the gym a minimum of three times a week. When I joined I was so embarrassed, convinced that people were laughing at me for being in there.  The more I go the more confident I am getting, the instructor today was impressed with how much running I was able to do so soon after joining the gym and even commented on how motivated, determined and focussed I was on what I want to achieve – her words not mine!

This is not just about weight loss for me, it is about making positive changes in my life and getting my confidence back.  Since listening to my Slimpod I am noticing changes in what I am eating, I am generally eating much healthier than I have been in a long time but more importantly, I stop when I am full, I can’t remember the last time I felt uncomfortable after eating a meal, I feel full and satisfied not stuffed and uncomfortable.  My motivation to exercise has quite simply come out of nowhere, I can’t explain it but I am loving my time in the gym. The fact I am going is amazing but to actually be enjoying it is complete and utter madness!

For a long time I felt like the Slimpod wasn’t working, but I was spending so much time obsessing about how much weight I  hadn’t lost and focussing on what I felt I wasn’t achieving that I was not giving it a chance to work for me.  This in itself was making me feel worse and keeping me in my negative cycle.  Having a positive mindset is key, and listening to my Slimpod is helping me to achieve this, looking every day for the positive changes you notice in yourself is such a boost that you can’t help but feel good. I am sure that I am going to have times when I am not feeling so positive, loosing weight is not easy, but I am motivated, and focussed – even the fitness instructor said it, so it must be true!! I can and will do this, I want to feel like me again, I know I am in there somewhere, I just need to find me!

Meal Planning Monday

Wow that week went quickly!! Can’t believe we are here again already!! As far as my goals went, I had a great week.  Went to the gym 4 times which was more than planned, signed up for the Race for Life.  I set myself a goal to lose 2lbs, however, I didn’t actually weigh myself last week to now know if I have or not!! So today I have weighed myself and can from now on see if I am actually loosing any weight.  I would like to think that 4 times to the gym on top of running around after my little monkeys would mean I lost 2lbs but I can’t say for sure…….

So this weeks meal plan is as follows  -

Monday – we had dinner at my Mums!!

Tuesday – Fish Pie

Wednesday – Vegetable Risotto

Thursday – Bean Chilli

Friday – Spaghetti Bolognese

For other meal plans head over to Mrs M’s and take a look, some great inspiration and ideas there for some yummy scrummy recipes to try out!

My goals for this week are – to measure myself (weird goal I know BUT it does have to be done to allow me to see the changes following all my hard work in the gym and I have been avoiding doing it because I know I won’t like what I see), to loose 2 lbs and my third goal is to keep feeling positive about the fact I am making changes. I have felt great this past week, having that time in the gym has given me such a positive mindset and I have had so much more energy and I want that to stay!

I am still listening to my Thinking Slimmer every night which is really helping and there have been some great posts over on their blog this week about exercise including a great home exercise plan which is great for Mums who don’t always have a lot of time to get out to the gym,  I would recommend taking a look over there for some great ideas and tips!

Have a great week everyone, and if you have your own meal plans don’t forget to link up with Mrs M’s.