My Husband is a Rockstar

Oh man, one blog post a week just isn't going to cut it.  Last week was CRAZY here!  The big kids started school, and they are both having such a great experience.  Reese started third grade, and this is the first year in a while that she has started with friends in her class.  She was super stoked to start school, and, we're four days in and she hasn't cried about waking up once.  She hates mornings like you wouldn't believe, so no tears is amazing.  Camden started kindergarten, and he's doing well.  At least that's what they're telling me (insert winking emoji).  After school on the first day I go to pick him up, and we find out there was a minor 'crossing of streams' incident, and he ended up peeing on a friend.  Yikes.  But, we haven't heard of any other problems, so we are just going to call that a case of first day jitters and hope that our first full week goes smoothly.  

I also went with a few friends to see the Rascal Flatts concert, and it was such a great time!  Almost as good as the people behind us.  Ha!  Let me tell you, if you're going to whisper dirty things in the hot girls ear you should first be sure of two things. 

1.  You should be sure that you're the guy she's going to go home with, and not your good buddy.

2.  You should be sure that you are, in fact, whispering.

It was so crazy!  Every time I turned around it was like couple swap.  The first time it was plaid shirt guy and sleeveless vest guy dirty dancing.  The second time it was sleeveless vest guy and black dress girl basically needing a room.  The third time it was plaid shirt guy and black dress girl all over each other.  I'm curious as to who went home with who that night.  If I could redo the night I would definitely have worked my way into the friend group just to get the gossip.

 In other news, I am having some major pre surgery anxiety.  I feel like a walking, talking basket case.  It's not even the surgery itself that scares me, it's the recovery.  It's a big recovery process, and it requires me basically handing over my entire job to Mark.  You know, my husband who also has a full time job.  I'm nervous for him.  I do a lot of stuff during the day/evening, and he has to take it all on, and it's basically the equivalent of a full time job.  So I guess for the next few weeks he will have two full time jobs.  The past week he has been such a rockstar.  Every time I feel myself getting nervous he's there, he's totally done every project that needs to be finished, and is overall being so supportive, and it really is giving me the confidence to feel like these next few weeks are going to be great, and that he will be able to handle it.  I am so lucky to have someone so supportive in my life.

Onto meal prep.  Blah.  Here's my plan.  I need healthy lunches for the next two days.  Wednesday and most likely Thursday I will be in the hospital, and Friday I can figure out something (you know, like sending Mark out to get me Thai food).  So, for lunch I will make ground turkey with steamed broccoli and squash, in Rotel.  It kind of looks like vomit, but tastes so good.

For dinner I have tonight worked out, tomorrow is a mystery, Wednesday I will be in the hospital, and Thursday and Friday will come from my freezer, for sure.  Tonight is so good, and so simple!  Do you guys ever eat chicken sausage?  I love the Alfresco brand, and they have tons of different types.  So, tonight is going to be crazy busy, and I am going to have to make dinner late, and it needs to be quick.  I sauté up the chicken sausage with peppers and onions, and serve it over noodles with parmesan for the kids, and just plain for Mark and I.  I usually eat two links because the protein is kind of low on only one,  and it's still super low in calories and carbs.

This is getting long, I'll wrap it up.  Mondays are the best because it's a fresh start.  Screw how badly you did this weekend, celebrate your wins and keep going on that high.  

All About the Alcohol.

As I previously mentioned, I decided to drink this month, which means that I didn't meet my one month goal.  I have a really immature relationship with alcohol, and doing no drinking challenges really contribute to that type of relationship.

When it comes to alcohol I have a very 'feast or famine' mentality, where I can either completely abstain, or I drink like a college kid.  For very short periods of time I can find that happy medium of having one or two small drinks and then being done, but then something happens, a party, a friends break up, bad days, and I start heavy drinking.  It's always the same, I never drink alone, but one drink completely lowers my inhibitions, and I forget that today I'm only going to have that one drink, and someone offers me another one, and I take it, and then the shots come out, and then another drink, and before I know it I'm completely wasted.  Even though I was only going to have one drink.

I realized that this was becoming a problem, so I cut back to only drinking on weekends.  I'm a social drinker, drinking is a big part of my social network, and the majority of my close friends live(d) on my street.  The weekend turned into Fun Friday, Saturday BBQ's, Sunday dinner with the family, Monday Bachelor night and suddenly I was only weekend drinking from Thursday-Tuesday.  Taking Wednesday's off seemed totally legit.  And for me, drinking was always around food, so binge drinking turned into binge eating.  I would literally undo every stitch of progress I had made every Friday-Sunday.  Five days of hard work completely ruined.

In May I decided that I wanted to get serious about my health and weight loss, and I worked closely with a few amazing people from my gym, and I cut out all alcohol and completely changed my eating habits for 9 weeks.  I came out of those nine weeks on Fourth of July, and was ready to binge drink.

Drinking a margarita at a 9am 4th of July parade.

Until I started drinking.  And then I realized that I didn't like feeling that way.  I really feel like I came out of those 9 weeks with a much healthier relationship with alcohol.  I had two or three more opportunities to drink in July, and I kept myself at a 1 to 2 drink limit, and I didn't even feel tempted to drink more.  That was a huge win for me, and I felt my relationship with alcohol changing.

So, when my sister and a few other people wanted to take 30 days off of alcohol I volunteered to do it with them.  After all, I had just made it 9 weeks, and had barely had anything to drink during the month of July, so it wouldn't be super hard.  And the thing was, it wasn't super hard.  But I felt like all of the hard work that I had put in those 9 weeks were slipping away, and I was getting back to the 'feast or famine' mentality.

I was walking through Target one day, and I saw the wine aisle and I thought that one glass of wine sounded really nice.  Just one, with my husband over dinner.  A totally grown up, mature way to enjoy alcohol.  But I was on the challenge, so I told myself no, that I could have my one glass (and many more) in September.  And then another similar thing happened, I even poured myself my one glass of wine, but I felt too guilty to drink it.  I promised myself that I could have that one glass (and many more) in September.  And that was the light bulb moment for me.  I was denying myself healthy amounts of alcohol with the promise of binge drinking later.  And that was when I quit the 30 days no drinking challenge.  I was undoing everything that I had worked so hard for, and going back to that immature relationship.

My goal has never been to completely give up alcohol, but to grow up and drink like an adult.  I don't want to crave binge days.  I want to be able to have one glass of wine, or one cocktail and be done for the night.  And I felt like I was on the right track in July, but that the denying myself the ability to make healthy choices, and promise of poor choices later that came with the August challenge was a turning point for me.  And so, I quit, had my cocktail and felt fine.  I didn't want to keep going.  I wanted to be done drinking, and so I was.  I know that this was the right choice for me, and that I am committed to continuing my healthy lifestyle.  Moderation is key, and I'm tired being caught in the feast or famine cycle.

Monday Funday!

I feel like five days is too long to go without blogging.  All of these things happen, and I want to share them, and then I'm like "meh, I'll just verbally unload in one post." And then it turns out to be 3 pages long.  Ha!

Anyways, this weekend went so great!  I stayed on the ball all three days.  I had my cheat meal, I meal prepped for everything else, and overall I was just spot on.  It is so nice coming out of the weekend feeling like 'I rocked that!' instead of thinking 'today's a fresh start,' you know?  And let me tell you, our weekend was jam packed.  Cheer, BMX, family parties, all kinds of stuff.  I think what led me to success was owning what I wanted, and being in control of what went into my body.

All this to say, I did have trials this weekend.  I am PMSing something fierce, and want to inhale all things chocolate.  My trainer told me that when you feel like that to eat things high in goo defats to kill the cravings.  So, I ate a tbsp. of good quality peanut butter and it totally worked!  Anyways, it doesn't cut down on the mood swings, but I'm not sure that's PMS related, or children related.  Oh Camden.  Friday afternoon one of my good friends calls me, we talk about this and that, and as we are ending the conversation she tells me "I just wanted to let you know, when the girls were face timing this morning Camden mooned them."  Argh!  That boy!  So, I go and ask him why he mooned them, and he tells me "Ava wanted me to show her my butt."  Um, no.  No one wants to see that.  (She didn't, he's just rotten).  Keep your pants on.  I have a feeling that's a sentence I'll be saying a lot over the next 13 years.  I got my new drivers license in the mail!  Let me tell you, aside from losing weight in my face, I've aged quite a bit in the last five years.  I'm telling myself that it's all coincidental and has nothing to do with my five year old, but...

left is new; right is old

I made the yummiest, most simple dinner last night!  Seriously.  It was a little bit spicy, a lot bit yummy, great crunch, all of it!  I served it along side salad, and Mark and I were two happy campers.

Shredded Buffalo Chicken

In all honesty, I found this on pinterest.  I can not remember where, so I'll share the recipe that I wrote down, and know that this did not come from my own imagination.  Making this is crazy easy, and you could totally pre make it and throw it in a crock pot to keep it warm and serve it for game day.  Or, pre make it before heading out on a crazy weekend and stuff it in celery to enjoy as you watch your 18th children's sport of the day.

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts

2 tbsps butter

1/2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup wing sauce

celery

blue cheese crumbles

lettuce

Boil the chicken until it's easily shredded.  I always overcook my chicken to be safe.  Remove the chicken from the pan and melt the butter, and then add the oil and wing sauce.  Mix it well and then toss in the shredded chicken.  Top with blue cheese crumbles and celery, serve in lettuce boats and voila!  The yummiest dinner ever is served.  

Oooh, I bet it would taste awesome over a sweet potato.  But I've been on a never ending diet for a long time, so don't take my word for that.

What is for dinner this week?  I've got tonight and tomorrow mapped out, so I'm going to wing this a bit, and plan as I type.  

Monday: Party

Tuesday: Orchiette, sausage and brussels tossed in pesto.

Wednesday: (first day of school!)  Breakfast for dinner.  It's a favorite around here.

Thursday: Crockpot balsamic chicken.

Friday: Pizza

I'm on the fence about Thursday's dinner.  I've never made it in the crockpot before, so it'll be a real experience.  I wonder if it'll turn to mush?  Ugh, that would be the pits.  I'm already talking myself out of that meal.   Alright, I'm off to the gym (first time since rehurting my hip!), where I will undoubtedly completely change Thursday's dinner.  I'm going to try a spicy apricot chicken, probably.

Ooh, btw, I decided to have a drink this weekend.  Which kind of means that I failed my goal of no drinking for a month, but I have a whole post written up on my relationship with alcohol, and why this was actually a win that I plan on sharing tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic start to their week, happy Monday!

Wednesday Weigh In!

.....you know, the kind without the scale.  Oh man, I am dragging this morning.  This basically sums up my feelings of the day.

Last night I was craving Thai food.  I mean, I would have given one of my children away to get it.  But, I'm committed, so no cravings were going to derail me.  I came home and whipped up a quick stir fry that was ah-mazing.  It totally satisfied the craving, had almost no oil in it, and was way lower in carbs and calories than real Thai food!  It was so good that I'm adding it to the freezer cooking rotation, so I'll take pics and post the recipe tomorrow. 

Onto our main event.  I don't know how I feel about these pictures.  I know I cheated all weekend, and I know I have to pay the price, but I hate it.  One thing is for sure, it's crazy motivating.  I was really tempted to weigh myself this morning, but I know that I can go from eating healthy to full blown disordered eating in two small pounds, so I think it's best for me to stay off the scale.  Anyways, my diet has been perfect these last few days, and all of last M-F, so hopefully I'm able to stay on track this time!

(holy bloat, Batman)

Hopefully in the next two weeks things start moving in the right direction.  Speaking of things in the next two weeks, I'm focusing on surgery prep & my post op needs. 

Post Op Needs:

• sweats (light weight & loose fitting)
• clean out the office so I can put a bed in it
• figure out where Everett is going to sleep
• word on the street is that I need a toilet extender.  I'm sure I'm old enough to buy that.
• order pads for crutches
• freezer cook

Day before surgery:

• mani/pedi
• wax my legs, because I won't be able to bend and do that for 4-6 weeks

My surgery is the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, so I'm contemplating sending my kids on a trip with my parents for the long weekend.  Cam is so, so touchy and always on top of me, so I feel like it might be safer.  Then again, I wonder if it will stress me out more having them gone.  Augh, so many decisions to be made, and I have virtually no control over anything about to happen in my life.  You'd think I'd be dropping stress weight like crazy.

Wait, what kind of surgery are you having again?

Last October (2013) I was out for a four mile run when I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my right hip.  I pushed through, and finished my run.  Over the next few months I couldn't run without the pain, and the farther I got the worse it felt.  At one point I described part of my pain as 'feeling like bone was rubbing on bone.'  Still, I opted out of going to the doctor and pushed through the pain and continued to run and train for my half marathon.  In February of 2014 I completed my first ever half marathon, and was in the worst pain of my life.

That was the very last time I've been able to run.  Through out the half marathon training process I worked with a chiropractor to keep me as mobile as possible, but the day after the HM I made an appointment to see my doctor.  At first I was diagnosed with bursitis, an inflammation of the bursa sacs around my hip, and told to do these special stretches and that I should be better within a week.  Beezy pleazy, I had just spent almost 5 months in daily pain, there is no set of magic stretches that are going to fix everything in a week.  I continued to work with my chiropractor who pushed really hard for me to have an MRI, and so in March of 2014 I went for it.

The MRI showed that I had a torn tendon, tendonitis, a possible labral tear and an impingement cyst in my hip joint, and recommended that I have another MRI, this one with contrast.  I remember the night my MRI results came in my doctor called me to give them to me and was going to send me to physical therapy when all of the sudden she was like "Well, do you like running?" Um, yes, obviously, because I had just run 13.1 miles.  And so with those results she decided to send me to an orthopedic doctor, after ordering the MRI with contrast.  The MRI with contrast showed a labral tear, and 3 other cysts forming in my hip joint.

Fast forward through a set on x-rays, a 3D CT scan and an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, and onto where we now know that I have several tears in my labrum, cysts forming in some of the tears, both a cam and a pincer type FAI, and something fancy called a protrusio.  All of this to say, my hip is jacked up and we are past the point of physical therapy and into the scary land of surgery.  Even though my surgery is already scheduled for August 27 we aren't sure exactly what kind of surgery I'm going to have.

There are two types of surgery to treat this, open FAI surgery and arthroscopic FAI surgery.  The best case scenario will be arthroscopic, but because of the protrusio I may have to have the open surgery.  Focusing on the best case, if I have to have the arthroscopic surgery they will make 4-6 small incisions around the top of my thigh to insert a camera and all of the surgical equipment through, shave down the bone on the top of my femur (ball part of the socket) and the bone on the actual socket to keep it from rubbing together and creating more labral tearing, repair the labrum and anything else that needs fixed.  Overall it should take 4 hours (normal people only take 2, but because of the protrusio there is significantly more bone to shave), and recovery will be 4-6 weeks on crutches, and 6 months until I'm back to normal.

Worst case scenario, they make the tiny incisions, insert the camera and realize 'Woah, this is way too much bone.' Then they pull out, close me up, and reset another surgery date to complete the open FAI repair.  To do that they will have to cut a piece of my femur off, rotate the hip and will have a 100% open view and access to the entire thing.  They will then shave the bones, repair the labrum and anything else that needs fixing, screw the bone back together and close me up.  Recovery this way is a bit steeper, with 6-8 weeks being on crutches, and the same 6 month overall recovery.

So, needless to say I am super scared.  Four weeks on crutches, not being able to bend more than 90 degrees, and raising three small children just doesn't seem possible.  But, I've opted to do the surgery, instead of waiting to see if it will heal on its own, because here we are, just shy of 11 months later, and I'm still in pain.  And not just a little bit of pain, but 'modify everything in my life' kind of pain.  I can't lay on my right side, clearly there is no running, no lunging, no squatting, no deadlifting, no a lot of things.  I can't practice soccer with  my kid because it hurts too bad.  I'm tired of everything hurting, and I can't wait to be able to lay in bed at night, on my right side and watch a TV show.  Or go for a jog.  Oh, how heavenly that sounds.  There are some things that I will probably never be able to do again (like squats), but I can't do those things now, so it seems like a small price to pay.

So, now I'm spending my energy focusing on going into the surgery at my goal weight (132 lbs), able to do a strict pull up, and a hand stand push up, and what I'll need to get or do to make the recovery process easier.  I've read a lot of blogs, and am trying to take this one thing at a time.  Hopefully I'm able to stay positive and accomplish everything that I need to before August 27!

Everything in Moderation....Even Panic

So this weekend it kind of dawned on me that we are in the teens for number of days before my surgery, and I freaked out.  Not in a 'let's clean every surface that we can find' kind of way, more like a 'cry and eat all the food that I see' kind of way.  Obviously that isn't conducive to my weight loss goals, so I need to let go of what happened this weekend and really just move on to tackling things that I can get sorted out now, and focusing on the positive.

Back to this weekend.  We were crazy busy, as we always are, and I was so unprepared with food.  Friday morning the nerves started creeping in, but I kept it together, ate healthy, and allowed myself a cheat of pie and ice cream for dessert.  I figured that would be enough to keep me happy through the weekend.  Ha!  What a fool I was.  Saturday Reese officially started cheer, and we spent all day out at a football field in a town over an hour away.  What I should have done was spend Friday evening prepping chicken, turkey and salad and packed myself a really healthy day.  What I actually did was have two coffees, skip eating and then go over to friends house for a BBQ and eat all of the chips and salsa that I could get my hands on.  Obviously, that went terribly for me.  On the upside, Reese might be the cutest cheerleader ever.  Here's a picture of her squad, clearly I make children that don't grow.

(Yes, that is her in the center.)

Sunday was no less chaotic.  Cam had BMX all morning, and then we had to head to the grocery store so that we could do little things, like eat this week.  I started my day off with a coffee, skipped breakfast and then went to Panera for lunch.  I don't need to go into the details about how dinner was also a diet flop.  

One huge thing that happened on Sunday night was a drinking opportunity.  I took August off of booze with my sister and a few girlfriends, and almost everyone hasn't made it.  I mean, we're 11 days in and I'm pretty sure only two of us have abstained from having a drink.  So, my nerves are frayed, I've been busy all weekend, and Sunday night I get to my mother in law's house and find one of my favorite bottles of wine in her fridge.  I decide to just go for it.  One glass, and I'll be done.  I open it up, pour my sister in law and brother in law's girlfriend a glass, and one for myself.  I sit there and look at it, and in that moment I decided that it wasn't worth it.  I made a commitment to friends, and most importantly, to myself that I was going to take this month and have no booze all of the way through.  It felt like such a huge win.

And this brings us to today, I'm letting go of all of the fails this weekend and I'm getting back on track.  Yesterday I bought a bunch of good stuff, meal prepped and set myself up for success this week.  

Ground turkey might be the key to everything.  Cook it up, season it well and eat it on everything.  It has TONS of lean protein, no carbs and low fat.  I could go on and on, but we will just leave it at that for now. 

This week for dinner we are keeping it super simple.  I need to start freezer cooking so that I can have some sort of a meal plan for after surgery, so I want to try out a few recipes for taste this week, and then if they're good freeze them over the weekend.

Monday: Honey Apricot Chicken. (This one is a freezer cooking test)

Tuesday: Chicken Tacos.

Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Pizza.  So unique, I know.

This much chicken makes me wish that I liked fish. 

Oh my gosh.  The funniest Camden conversation happened with Camden this weekend.  He is such a sassy little thing!  He asked for an apple, and we gave it to him, and he ate a few bites and wanted to switch to chips.  Well, this homie don't play that way, and we do not waste food.  You take it, you eat it.  Obviously I refused to let him switch snacks, which then led to this conversation:

Camden: "Well I'm gonna call 991 and tell them that I don't even have any parents."

Me: "Well then the police will put you in jail for lying to them."

Camden: "Well then I would be freaking scared!"

I was CRACKING UP after that conversation.  Oh, and before you wonder, yes, we talked about how freaking scared is not an appropriate thing for a five year old to say.  He then told me that it was because it's how he would feel.  Sassy I tell you.  

p.s. I totally forgot to mention this, but I am rocking getting dressed every day!  AND, I'm still not pregnant! #winning 

p.s.s. The pregnant thing is a joke, because if you watched Desperate Housewives, Lynette got pregnant. 

A Little of This and A Lot of That

Things are about to get crazy around here.  Fall sports are starting, which means we literally have something to do every...single....night for the next three months.  Oh, and I'm having hip surgery at the end of the month and will be on crutches for most of September.  No big deal, I can totally get three kids in three different directions for a month, all while not being able to drive.  Ha!  What doesn't kill us, right?  Actually, how I'm really going to get through this is my amazing village.  Everyone is offering to help in any way that they can, and I am totally taking them up on their offers. I swear, I have some of the best friends.  Oh, and I also have Everett's hernia repair surgery the second week in September.  Poor planning on my part, to put it mildly!

Cam started soccer last night, and it may have been the cutest thing that I've ever seen.  He is totally loving it, AND, he's actually paying attention and following the rules!  If this is any insight as to how kindergarten is going to go I feel like I can take a huge sigh of relief.

I mean, look at how sweet that smile is.  Clearly he's the next pint sized David Beckham.

Reese is in cheer, and tumbling, and flyers class and every other thing that seems to come with cheer, but I've never seen her like a sport as much as she likes cheer.  We tried everything first, and she just doesn't have that competitive spirit that seem to be required for the other sports.  Sometimes (most times) I think that she has a heart of gold.  She is so quick to point out the positive, and is fiercely loyal to her friends, and I love that with cheer the group of girls she started with will be the same group that she cheers with through high school.  Anyways, I don't have any pictures of her because my phone broke (errr....got dropped), and I can't use the right side of the screen to do fun things like take pictures, or make calls.

So I previously mentioned losing 15 lbs, and how proud I am of myself for it!  I worked my butt off for those pounds, and I am so happy with the results.  Coming out of the challenge I was so nervous about rebounding and gaining all of the weight back.  I'm still not at my goal weight, and now isn't the time for me to worry about getting there, but it also isn't the time for me to pity eat a bag of Cheetos every night either, ya know?  I've been taking the diet more in moderation, not tracking calories or macros, just eating as clean as I could while still enjoying life.  I've been so nervous that I've gained weight that I haven't stepped on the scale since the 4th of July.  But, surgery is coming, and my goal is to go into it weighing 132 pounds.  I was 138.6 on the 4th, and I have no idea where I am now, but all of my clothes are fitting the same, so I'm hopeful that I've maintained.  With only three weeks until surgery now is definitely the time to buckle down if I want to accomplish that goal.  So, I'm back on the MyFitnessPal app, consistently weighing and tracking my food, and back in the gym 4-6 days a week.  Oh, I'm also back off of the booze train.  It just sucks all of your weight loss away from you.  Life can be such a bitch like that.  

I need to keep track, and since I'm not going to step on the scale until surgery morning I need to keep track somehow.  I've decided that I'm going with weekly photos.  This is really putting it all out there, and taking a huge chunk of courage, but part of this journey is building my self confidence, so here goes nothing.  This is what I looked like on the morning of 4th of July:

And here is where we are at this morning:

(remember when I said I broke my phone?  no fancy apps to fit everything into one pic anymore)

I wish I would have done the same pose for the original and then this week.  Next week I for sure will!  Hopefully over the next three weeks there will be a noticeable difference.  And then, hopefully there are abs there next summer. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Meal Prep Monday....The Tuesday Edition

So, I'm feeling rather frumpy these days.  I lost 15lbs in 9 weeks, and literally nothing that I own fits me.  All of my favorite shirts hang weird, and honestly, I bought them when I didn't feel that awesome about myself, so they make me look like I'm part bag lady, part 500lbs.  I need to fix this, like yesterday.  I've been watching for good deals on jeans (size 28/29 HOLLA!) and scooping those up when I can, but it has still left me totally empty handed for shirts.  I was online shopping yesterday like "Ooooh!  I need that, and that, and that AND THAT!" But, I plan on this being a temporary size, and I need cute clothes that don't hide all of my hard work, but that I also don't drop a grip load on.  I grabbed a few online that should come in within the next week, which will hopefully help me get through the slump, and then I'll just keep my eye out for good deals at The Rack.  Also, I found the cutest shirt there the other day, but the kids were being crazy and I was just done shopping, so I totally skipped it and I've been kicking myself ever since!  Don't you hate that?  Ugh, such a drag.

One other thing that I really need to kick into high gear is getting dressed every day.  I mean, I don't wear my pajamas all day, but I do rock yoga pants at least 99% of the time.  Did you ever watch that episode of Desperate Housewives where Lynette and her husband had sex for 30 straight days to fall back in love?  That's how I feel with clothes.  Maybe if I put jeans on for 30 straight days I won't hate putting jeans on at the end of it.  I mean, as long as I don't end up pregnant it's a real win either way.

Back to the matter at hand.  I swear, yesterday came and went, and I feel like I blinked and I missed it!  It was our first 'at home' day in almost a week and a half, and aside from grocery shopping and cheer we really did just stay home. The kids were so happy, and it went so well we went ahead and decided to spend the rest of the week doing as close to nothing as possible.  I'm a real giver like that.  Anyways, lets talk about meal prep Monday, the Tuesday edition.  Along with being gone all week last week I also ate out all week last week.  I feel like a slug from putting all of that garbage into my body and my face has broken out!  So these next few weeks before surgery I am focusing hardcore on diet and water.  I feel so much better when I put good food into my body, and my skin glows so hard it basically rivals the sun when I get my gallon of water in a day.

My girlfriend is AMAZING and brought me all of these squash and cucumbers!  It was a serious score.  So, everything that I prepped this week includes either or both of those ingredients.

(such a blurry picture, I was basically shaking with excitement!)

I decided to go simple this week, because that's the goal around these parts, and just sautéed a bunch of squash, added it to seasoned ground turkey and called that the start of lunch!  Breakfast will always be egg whites.  I hate the taste of eggs, so the whites usually just absorb whatever flavor is around them.  Otherwise, the rest of my meals will be even easy-peasier.  Fiber One for my morning snack (hide your jealousy, I dare you), ground turkey over a sweet potato for lunch, a granola bar of some sort afternoon snack and then my previously posted meal plan for dinner.  Geeze, if I keep all of my weeks this simple I might as well change the title of this blog to The Real Mrs. Cleaver!  I'm totally in the market for a homemade, protein packed, granola bar.  If you've got any amazing ones pass them my way, please.  

Sunday Funday

....or what used to be Sunday Funday, now it's all about meal planning.  Do you ever feel like you're drowning in kids activities, constantly shuffling one kid to one side of town while the other kid has to be on the complete opposite side of town, at the exact same time?  I swear, at the end of some days I look back and think, 'how did I survive today?'  Well, let's be honest and say that some days I don't.  Some days we wind up in the Chik Fil A drive thru, and it's just a part of life.  Plus, their diet lemonade and Asian Salad is amazing, so it's almost totally fine.  But, on those days when I do have myself together it's because I meal planned, prepped and got dinner 95% done by 10 am, so that that night I just had to pop it on the BBQ or stove, or in the oven.  So, what's going on your plate this week?  Here's my meal plan, filled with lean proteins & veggies.  All grains are for the kids & Mark's enjoyment, because I just don't love going to bed weighed down with carbs.  I've included the calorie & nutrition breakdown for each main dish, but all of the sides are on you ;).  Before I jump to the list, add these macros in to your calorie counting app at the start of your day, and then plan your meal around it!  It makes eating through out the day a lot easier, and then you don't get to dinner and realize that you only have 100 calories, or 5g carbs & 10g protein left for the day.

Monday: Honey Lime Chicken Skewers.  I swear, if you've never tried these they need to be on your menu tonight!  I've used Sprite instead of lime, been out of cilantro, used half the honey, really, I've made every variation of these depending on what ingredients I had on hand, and every time it's turned out fantastic.  The *only* thing that I do differently is to skewer breast tenders instead of cubing the chicken, simply because it saves me time.

I mean, right?  If you can believe it, they taste even better than they look!

Tuesday: Cobb salad for Mark & I, and grilled cheese with fresh fruit and broccoli for the kiddos.  Go simple on your salad, you don't have to over complicate it by adding 17 ingredients, and skip out on dressing when you can.  I promise there is romaine lettuce under all of that deliciousness.  I didn't have the chicken on in this picture, but chicken marinated like this tastes AMAZING on top of this salad.  

(This breakdown DOES NOT include the chicken)

Wednesday: Tilapia & salad.  Yuck.  Mark & Reese love fish, and I'm sitting in the corner like "anyone wanna go to Chik Fil A?"  Anyways, I want Reese (and the other kids) to love fish, and all kinds of food, so even though I absolutely hate it, I go out of my way to buy frozen fish for them to enjoy.  I buy it frozen and pre seasoned, so all that I have to do is throw it on the grill (outside, obvi, so it doesn't stink up my entire house), whip up a quick salad an voila, dinner is done!  Which is awesome because on Wednesday nights, because Cam has soccer practice & BMX, and Reese has cheer practice, so I am quite literally, all over town.

Thursday:  Pork chops, Taylor Farms kale & brussels sprouts salad and baked sweet potatoes.  Mark is dying for them, and I've been slacking on them.  A little salt, pepper & BBQ sauce goes a long way with these, so they're super simple for me to make.  Have you guys tried this salad from Taylor Farms?!  Seriously.  It is delicious.  Even Mark, who absolutely hates kale AND brussels sprouts will eat this salad.  

I'm not adding the pork chop macro breakdown, because well, it's a pork chop.  Remember to weigh it, and measure how much BBQ sauce you smother on it.  BBQ sauce is high in carbs, so 

ADD IT AT THE START OF YOUR DAY!

Here is the macro breakdown for the salad sent straight from heaven (includes everything in the bag):

Friday: Pizza for the family, salad for me.  Friday's are my happy place.  No kids have any sports, the week is winding down, and for the first time in four days I feel like I can just breathe.  I have no interest in wasting one single second cooking, so I use some pre prepped chicken for me, and pick up a Little Caesars for the kids, and then spend the rest of the night watching a movie or playing a game.  

Hopefully your meal plan is as yummy as mine, and that your week is far less hectic!