Work out of the day 3-13-13

I intended to run six miles but my daughter was being a little diva with my mom and I ended up cutting it short.

Meal Prepping Tips

For most of December and all of January I have been consistent with my weekly meal plan.  If you are on instagram I would highly recommend that you search for the user @mealprepmondays.  They have a ton of ideas where real life people prep on any given day (I do it on Sundays) and pictures of the food they prep.  Or you can follow yours truly at @run_ratha_run because I take pictures of almost everything food related.  My girlfriends and co workers have been asking me for some tips and tricks to meal prepping.  Now, I just want to preface this with the statement that this works for ME and everyone does it differently. 

 

Step 1:

Look at your fridge/pantry.  What do you currently have?  What do you need?  What’s on sale?  Since I’m on a budget, after all, I’m a poor working lady with 3 kids, husband and a furry child 😉

I also keep a pretty stocked pantry of staples – salt, sugar, chicken stock, canned tuna, spices, etc. 

 

Step 2:

Plan a menu around what is on sale.  This is my menu for the week:

 

 

A sample of my shopping list for this week is this:

 

• Protein powder
• Chicken breasts
• Ground turkey
• Carrots
• Collard greens
• Persian cucumbers
• Bok choy
• Eggplant
• Eggs
• Squash
• Red bell peppers
• Kale
• Mustard greens
• Chinese broccoli
• Coconut water (love!)
• Cocnut milk
• Ginger
• Cilantro
• Whole wheat English muffins
• Avocados

 

 

This week Safeway has chicken breast on sale for $1.69lb, which is way cheaper than the $1.99 that Costco normally has them on sale for.  There is a 6lb limit so I went on 3 different trips and bout 6lb packages each time.  I froze the 2 of the 6lb bundles.  Ground turkey is also on sale for $3.99lb.  I stocked up on that as well. 

 

For veggies, I usually buy ALL of my veggies from the Asian market because it’s cheaper and fresher.  I don’t live near a farmer’s market. I’d have to drive all the way out to Snohomish and or go to Seattle, which with my asinine work schedule, I don’t have the time.  Occasionally, it’s Safeway and a lot of the times it also includes a trip to Costco. 

Step 3:

Time to cook!  I am sort of methodical when I cook.  I know I’m going to have at least 4 oz of grilled lean meat per each meal I cook it all at once.  Anything that needs to be cooked in the oven goes in all at once. 

 

Example: I grilled the chicken breasts on the George Foreman grill while the sweet potatoes & asparagus was cooked in the oven. 

 

After the chicken breast, I grilled my turkey patties.  While those were cooking away, I chopped up veggies, made my salads, measured out the almonds, stir fried my veggies.  Once all the food is done, I measured.  This is UBER important.  A food scale is the best purchase I made this year.  There is no mistake for portion sizes if everything is measured out.  I love that thing!

 

Picture time from yesterday.  Feel free to ask me whatever question you want. 

 

 

 

Sunday Meal Prep

As part of my quest to eat better and be healthier I have started to cook all my breakfast, snacks and lunches for the entire week.  It takes a lot of time but this is my 3rd week of doing this and so far it’s keeping me on target and keeps me from being hungry and going to buy bad for me snacks/foods in the cafeteria.  One thing you will probably notice is my love to take lots of pictures, particularly the food I eat!

My menu for the next week is as follows:

Breakfast

• 1/2 cup Oatmeal w/ 1 scoop of ON 100% Gold Whey protein powder
• 5 Egg white omelet with turkey bacon and assorted veggies
• 1 cup blueberries or raspberry

Snacks

• 4 oz sweet potato fries
• 2 turkey muffins (will post recipe soon)
• 2 Hard boiled egg whites
• Apple
• Banana
• Tangerine

Lunch

• Salads w/roma tomato, red bell peppers, onions, capers, cucumbers, gorbanzo beans, almonds  topped with 6 oz of grilled chicken
• 2 cups of Chicken stir fry – garlic and ginger tossed with chicken with red bell peppers, onions, broccoli, baby corn, chestnuts w/ a bit of low sodium soy sauce, fish sauce and honey
• 1/3 cup of organic brown rice

Dinner

• 2 cups of Chicken stir fry – garlic and ginger tossed with chicken with red bell peppers, onions, broccoli, baby corn, chestnuts w/ a bit of low sodium soy sauce, fish sauce and honey
• 1/3 cup of organic brown rice
• Roasted chicken with lots of greens (green beans, collard greens, brussell sprouts, broccoli)
• Grilled tilapia w/ steamed veggies and mango salsa
• Homemade Turkey burgers with whole wheat sandwich thins, cucumbers, bell peppers and spinach

I’m limiting my alcohol intake down to basically nothing.  Just loads of water and also loads of green tea.  My one vice remains my daily latte fix, however, I do make it myself at home so I can control how much stuff I put in there.
Pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Turkey Muffins

Salad Station

Sweet potato fries, raspberry and blue berries for snacks

Best investment I have made thus far is that scale right there.  Costco sells it for $19.99, on sale for about $15.99 right now.  Also, that protein powder is awesome!

This is putting it all together:

An Introduction

Hi! I decided to start this blog so I can keep myself accountable with respect to working out and eating healthy.  My dad has a history of heart disease and my mom has a history of stroke and diabetes.  They both have high blood pressure and since I know it’s genetic, I need to be more diligent about my health and take better care of myself.  As for me, I work in a very stressful job and will often times forget to eat.  I work out sporadically due to my work schedule.  I share the same doctor as my parents.  I just saw her this past week and although my numbers were okay, she was worried that I may eventually have high blood pressure since I was so stressed out at work that I barely work out.  So, I’m making some life style changes.  My goals for the year is to lose 25 lbs, lower my blood pressure, work out regularly and eat clean.

I hope you stick around during my journey 😉