Weekly meal prep

The last while my anxiety levels have been through the roof. Everything seems to be out of control: I just can't seem to stay on top of the house work, there are toys lying EVERYWHERE, my kids seem to be moany and nagging all the time...the list goes on and on. And the fact that winter has set in doesn't help that bluesy feeling. The control freak / neat freak in me is FREAKING OUT which leads to emotional eating. So, in an attempt to gain control over the entire situation, I have decided to do a bit of meal planning and weekly meal prepping. I have done it in the past and it works brilliantly!

Sunday would probably be the best day of the week to do this, but for us Sundays are usually quite busy with family gatherings, church etc. My plan is to do all our meal prep on a Saturday. 

Being the Pinterest addict that I am, I headed over and searched for a bit of inspiration. Initially I only intended to prep our main meals but one seems to able to prep ALL your meals in advance. Below is a pin from www.peanutbutterandfitness.blogspot.com where she has prepped even her breakfasts in advance! How organised is that!?! 

The benefits of doing a weekly meal prep are:

Helps keep you within your budget.

You eat more fresh, whole foods and less processed rubbish. 

Minimizes food wastage.

Ensures correct portion control.

Limits temptation to head to the drive through on busy/lazy days.

Some foods that are easy to prepare in advance:

Snacking veggies / fruit

Hummus 

Salad greens

Lean proteins like chicken, fish (I would eat the fish meals first though, just to be on the safe side) and turkey

Grains such as brown rice, quinoa etc

Roasted veg

Hard boiled eggs

Overnight oats 

You'll need to invest in some good Tupperware (YAY! A trip to Plastics for Africa!) and set aside a day to do all the prep work and cooking. 

Make a menu plan of what you would like to eat each day - breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Have a look at which of these meals can be made in advance and either frozen or stored in the fridge. Write your grocery list and then put on your most comfy pair of shoes and hit the shops. Remember not to shop on an empty stomach to avoid being tempted to buy things that are not on your shopping list! 

Now, once the shopping is done, the chopping, baking, grilling and boiling can start. Portion your meals into each bowl. I have found it handy to label what is in each bowl and the date it was made. 

It takes almost the whole day from start to finish but the effort is totally worthwhile.

I recently read a quote that said: if you have good food in the fridge, you will eat good food.

 

So, on that note, I'm off to do some meal prepping and ensure I have only good food in my fridge. I'll post pics and more details of what I made on my next blog post.

Until next time, 

XX-L

Winter motivation

It's been a while since you've heard from me. At the beginning I was pumped up and ready to tackle the long road ahead.

After leading a sedentary lifestyle up to that point I saw quick results once I started exercising and eating right. As summer came to an end, the motivation to get up in the cold, dark and now wet mornings to exercise started to wane. The fact that I also didn't HAVE to get up because there was no one waiting at the beach for me to go walking also affected the motivation. It became easy to just kill the 4:30am alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. The chillier weather has also made it so much harder to eat correctly and drink enough water. I naturally gravitate towards the comfort foods when I'm cold. Who wants to drink water when you can have a nice cup of coffee and a rusk, right?

When I started, I promised myself I would not make excuses. I would own my mistakes and that only I could change my destructive lifestyle for the good. So I have decided to nip the winter wallow in the bud....NOW, before I am back where I started! 

I asked a few of my friends how they stay motivated to train in winter. 

My good friend, Lisa (who is an avid Adventure Bootcamper and fellow parkrun-addict) suggested putting out my gym clothes the night before or even sleeping in my gym clothes so that I can just get up and go in the mornings and keep warm. I have implemented this tip the last few days...and it works! So, thanks Lisa.

I also asked my trainer, Suzy. And this is what she had to say:

TRAINING DURING WINTER

                                                        

Biggest thing about training during winter is that it is emotionally A LOT harder than physically… Your main motivation should be the reasons WHY you NEED to train during the winter and colder months…

You’ve already put so much time and effort into training the last couple of months and to give it all up now because it is darker, colder and harder to get out of bed….the question is – IS IT WORTH IT??? The answer is without a doubt – NO WAYS!!!!

If you think about it:

• It is cooler so you can train twice as hard before you feel like you are over heating
• Your body uses more energy when you feel cold so you can burn more calories
• If you train during winter you will be fitter when summer start so you can achieve so much more in the summer to maintain your healthier, leaner body!!!

Unfortunately we automatically eat more during the winter to feel warmer, drink less water and more coffee/tea so we will have to do that little bit extra to keep the extra calories to turn into fat.

Comfort food looks a lot more appealing than a salad so we have to make sure we think HEALTHY and make the correct choices.

So in order to stay motivated during winter you have to focus on your end results – WHY did you start training in the first place????

Was it to loose weight, get fitter, feeling healthier, do more with your children, shape and tone or even all of them????

Now, ask yourself are you going to get closer or further from your goal by slacking during the winter???  Are you willing to start all over again in the spring??

 Surely you are not going to give up now….all the hard work, getting up early in the morning, watching your food intake the last few months, getting better and better at each walk/run you doing, getting stronger and healthier, being able to do more with your kids without feeling out of breath immediately, feeling better about yourself, fitting into a smaller pair of pants, old clothes feeling looser on your body!!!!  Was that all for nothing??? Definitely NOT, I am sure this is more than enough motivation to keep you going instead of starting ALL OVER AGAIN?!?!?!?!?

So the biggest motivation during winter should be – WHY DID YOU START?????

I am very grateful to have Suzy on my team this winter...motivating me and holding me accountable by waiting for me at 5am twice a week (in the cold, dark and wet weather).

 

As the old saying goes: "Summer bodies are made in winter". 

My winter training strategy:

• Never skip a day
• Drink enough water, no matter how cold it is!
• Research and implement healthy, hearty winter food
• Join the gym so that I can join my walking buddies again (have tried to avoid this one, but I think the time has come to cave on the resistance)
• Stay accountable by updating my blog more often
• "Invest" in winter training clothes/gear....I LOVE all the gadgets, the apps...all the things that give you feedback, stats etc.

 

Until next time,

XX-L

The week that was

WOW! Another week is gone...I cannot believe that we are almost into May.

This year is speeding by, which made me look at how far i have come since starting this journey in January. I know my weight hasn't changed much in the last few weeks (keeping in mind I'm on a scale detox, so I'm not really sure what my weight is doing) but I am a lot fitter than I was 4 months ago and I am trying hard every day to make the healthier food choice. I have dropped a pants size since I have started and I'm giving myself a few more weeks before I hit the shops for a bit of winter retail therapy, as most of my winter clothes are too big for me already.

This past week has been a rather challenging one. My mom landed up in hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning with atrial fibrillation. This was the third time she has had such an episode and each time is just as scary, if not more, than the first. I lost my dad 14 years ago this month and I cannot imagine losing my mom too! Thankfully, the capable doctors at Vergelegen Mediclinic did a cardio version and mom was admitted for a few days for more observation and an angiogram, which thankfully showed no irregularities. With all the "excitement" and driving up and down of the past week, I missed a session with Suzy and relied heavily on the convenience of Woolies for dinnertime meals. By Friday I felt rundown, exhausted and my cold was still lurking, so when my alarm went off at 4:30am, the mind was willing but the body was weak...and I decided to have a sleep-in instead of going walking.

The hubby had a fishing competition to attend on Saturday, so I had decided that not to do parkrun this week. After missing my walk on Friday morning, I felt quite guilty and almost like something special was missing out of my day. So when a close friend sent me a message on Friday evening asking whether she could join me for her first parkrun on Saturday, I thought "Why not?". It would be a bit of a challenge, as I would have to take little Miss E along in her pram, which is not really suited for trail running, but I was up for the challenge.Master J was thrilled when I told him we were in fact going to do parkrun.

Saturday arrived and we were up bright and early and off to Root 44 we went to help celebrate their 100th event - what a perfect day for it, albeit a bit chilly to start with. We had a lovely walk through the vinyards and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Even though we went at a snails pace, we finished the race and my arms got an extra workout from trying to keep the pram on course. But more importantly, I showed my children that we can have fun together while being healthy. And I now know that my pram can survive a trail run, so no more excuses of having to watch the kids when dad can't. 

After our walk I treated the kids to a pancake and indulged in a delicious coffee at the market. It felt so good being outside in the fresh air and sunshine and having catch up session with a special friend. What a great way to destress after a rather hectic week!

Here's to a happier, less stressful week of healthy food choices and lots of exercise!

Until next time, 

XX-L

Where have I been?

Life goes by so fast! Days melt together into one big blur and before you know it a whole week has disappeared. Sometimes you just need to slow down a bit and smell the roses. That is what I did this school holiday with my kiddies. We enjoyed some much needed quality time together.

Our holiday didn't start off great. The ghastly gastro bug made its way through the whole family, leaving us all a bit weak and open to other bugs....namely the cold and flu virus. So we have sniffed our way through the Easter holidays. But we did not let this put a dampener on our mood!

Admittedly, Easter was TOUGH and by Sunday a serious case of Easter egg regret had set in. On Easter Monday we decided to make the most of the lovely weather and (very) early wake up (thanks to the littlies) and headed down to the beach for a walk. Master J has been wanting to do parkrun with me since he volunteered with me a few weeks ago. I was a bit hesitant to start with because 5km is a looooong way for little legs. I thought that our walk on the beach would be a good indicator as to whether he would be able to manage. Well, I was impressed. He RAN the full 4.5km beach walk! So, last weekend he went to do his first parkrun with me. I can proudly say he finished his first parkrun in a better time than my personal best and beating me by a whole 4 minutes!!!! And I am sure it would have been an even bigger gap had I not insisted he stay within my sights (up to the last km). One proud mamma here! Now I have one running obsessed little boy on my hands...and another parkrun convert. So operation "Fit Family Smit" is well underway. 😁

I have decided to take a bit of a break from my scale for 6 weeks. My next weigh in will be the first week of June...which will also coincide with hubby and my 8th wedding anniversary. The reason for my "scale detox" is simple: I was becoming slightly obsessed and started weighing myself every time I was in the bathroom. So until June I will be relying only on the measuring tape and my clothes to tell me whether all my hard work and healthy food choices is working.

Speaking of the measuring tape, it was time to measure with Suzy last week. Even though I could feel on my clothes that I had lost centimeters, I was feeling very nervous. So here is how my body has changed between the beginning of March and the beginning of April: 

 

So for the month of March I lost a total of 22.5cm. Somehow we forgot to measure my hips at the beginning of March, so it could have been more, but I am happy with my results so far.

After watching the Two Oceans Marathon, some of my walking partners have decided to start the 8 week couch to 5k running program. I would love to start jogging, but at this stage I am still too heavy and my hips and knees just would not cope. So, when they jog I power walk. But, I have added a half marathon (maybe the Two Oceans?) to my "2016/17 to do list". What an achievement that would be! 

School started today again which means life can go back to normal. Back to early nights to bed (well, as early as I can manage - I'm aiming for 10pm) and super early morning workouts. I need to focus on eating cleaning, prepping my food in advance and drinking more water. I have also started reading "Sugar Free" by  Karen Thomson and Kerry Hammerton. I'll write more about this book in a future blog, but for now I'll tell you that it's made me look at my relationship with food in a different light.

 

Until next time,

XX-L

What a week!

Jeepers! Creepers! Our household is a busy one. We are always on our way to one activity or another, but this past week we have also had a birthday boy, a teething tot and a ghastly gastro bug thrown into the mix!

On Thursday evening I had the absolute privilege to attend the Michael Buble concert at Cape Town Stadium. Those of you who know me, will know that I am besotted with him. So you can imagine my excitement about going to see him live for the fourth time. My excitement was doubled when I was getting dressed for the concert and put on my jeans for the first time in weeks, only to realise that they were too big! WOOHOO!!! So I am now one step closer to one of my goals of wearing a size 22 pant by spring.

The concert was amazing and MB was a fabulous entertainer, as always. However, my Buble high was short lived when hubby phoned me to say that Miss E was running a fever. Not exactly how I had imagined the start to Master J's birthday weekend. So I had a double challenge on my hands: no emotional eating due to lack of sleep and stress over a sick baby; and not to indulge in any party treats that filled my cupboards before the party on Monday. You would think it would be quite a challenge, right? Wrong! Easy peasy when a gastro bug is involved.

I finally got a chance to return to my beloved parkrun on Saturday morning. It really is such a wonderful event. This week I got to see for the first time what goes on "behind the scenes" as a volunteer. It takes 15 volunteers to make a parkrun run smoothly. My job this week was to be on token support. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning and watching all the runners and walkers coming in - some cheerful and chatty while others were serious and meant business. Close to the end of proceedings, my tummy gave a flip and I knew that something was brewing.

Turns out I had caught the dreaded gastro that has been doing the rounds in Somerset West....and this with a party to prep for on Monday!!! STRESS!!!! At least it meant that I was not tempted to cheat on any party things at all.

With all our activities and "cooties", I have been unable to walk with my girls or train with Suzy since Friday and I have really missed it. I am not a natural athlete and have never been crazy about doing sport, but I can honestly tell you that I cannot wait to get back to my walking girls and Suzy. I have missed the glow after a workout, missed the feeling of accomplishment (and dare I say, I have missed the comfort of my tights and tekkies). I know I have been sick, but my body feels sluggish and heavy in the mornings when i get up and by the late afternoon I could do with a nap. I need my endorphin fix again!

One positive is that a gastro bug always helps the scale to move. This week I shifted 1.8kgs (most of which was probably water). So now I tip the scales at 128.2kg. That brings my total weight loss since January to 7.5kgs. It's almost the end of the month, which means that I will measure again. I will admit that I am quite excited to see how many centimeters I have lost, as I can definitely feel it on my clothes.

With everything that's happened in the last few days, I feel exhausted! This made me think about my diet and how to get back into the swing of things, after living off flat Coke for 5 days, and also about my training. I intend to eat very carefully until I know for sure that my tummy has settled, but after that I want to eat clean - loads of fresh fruit and veg, packed with vitamins to give my body a bit of a boost and water to rehydrate. I also want to introduce some stretching or yoga into my workout routine to aid relaxation and manage my stress levels. I have downloaded the Yoga Studio App which includes various yoga routines at different difficulty levels. In the coming week I would like to try doing two or three routines. How do you cope with stress or relax?

Here's to a healthier week!

Until next time,
XX-L

Food Diary & Sports Day Shinanigans

My son is a very picky eater while my daughter will eat practically anything, including the dog's pellets! Up until now, I have been ordering special home made baby food for little miss E. However, we decided that because she was so "easy" when it comes to eating that we should try letting her eat whatever we are having for dinner. This made me even more aware of what WE eat.

So this past week I hauled out good old Annabel Karmel's cookbook. My reasoning is that if it is suitable and nutritious for a baby/toddler to eat her food, then surely it can't be too bad for adults? AK includes plenty of fresh vegetables, herbs and spices in her recipes. We will see whether the scale agrees with my reasoning!

(This is the AK cookbook that I use.)

I tried to eat my main meal at lunch time and then just have a snack at dinner time. Admittedly, I struggled with this! I managed to eat the leftovers from the previous night at lunch time, but once I smelled dinner, all resistance crumbled and I had a plate of cooked food at night too. So the lesson I have learned this week is that I need to work on my self discipline (no surprises there!)

My food diary for the past week looks like this:

Monday: 

Breakfast - smoothie made with yogurt mango, pineapple and banana (I celebrated a very good friend's 40th birthday at Vergelegen Wine Estate and this was the most legal option on the menu).

Lunch - Ham and cheese sarmie

Snack- Vienna

Dinner- Yogurt with mixed seeds and strawberries

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: 1 toast with 2 boiled eggs

Lunch - 2 bobotie bites

Snack - Vienna and banana

Dinner - Chicken with summer veg and rice

Wednesday: 

Breakfast - toast with 2 boiled eggs

Lunch - Chicken with summer veg and rice 

Dinner - Savoury mince and rice

Today I didn't have snacks so by dinner time I was ravenous!

Thursday:

Breakfast - 1 toast with honey 

Lunch - Savoury mince and rice

Snack - Yogurt with mixed seeds and 10 grapes

Dinner - Stewed lamb, broccoli, butternut (We had our weekly family dinner at my inlaws with my MIL's scrummy food...at least I didn't have rice or potatoes!)

Friday: 

Breakfast - toast with honey

Lunch - Hotdog

Dinner - Kfc burger and ice cream

(My weekend weakness!!!😢)

Saturday:

No breakfast (was in a rush to get to master J's sports day)

Snack - Half a boerewors roll (the half master J didn't want)

Lunch - McDonalds Mcfeast meal with chips

Dinner - nothing as I was still full from lunch 

( BAD DAY!)

Sunday: 

Breakfast - muesli, fruit and yogurt (courtesy of Woolies Cafe)

Lunch - homemade hamburger with bacon, cheese and mushroom sauce 😳

Dinner - Tuna tagliatelle (which I actually made for the kiddos for dinner tonight and for myself and hubby for lunch tomorrow)

Even though my eating habits have changed significantly since starting this journey, there is still a lot of room for improvement. I am still adamant that I do not want to follow a diet, but rather change my lifestyle and in this way "shed my load". In the week ahead, I will try to eat my main meal at lunchtime and just a light snack for dinner. I will also try to have my light dinner a bit earlier than usual. We usually only eat dinner after we have put the kids to bed. Neither of them have afternoon naps any more so I give them their dinner by 5pm and then hubby and I have dinner around 7pm.

On Saturday it was master J's sports day at school. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was to run in the mom and son race with him. Last year I was terribly embarrassed as I hobbled along, so I was determined to put on a better "show" this year. Boy, oh boy did I put on a show! About half way into the race I could feel how my body was waaaay ahead of my feet and both the little man and I crashed over the finish line, ploughing into the dry grass, dress flying over my head (thank goodness for tights to save my dignity). I got up almost as soon as I hit the ground, wishing it would rather swallow me up. I wanted to die of embarrassment! The only thing worse than being the "fat mom" is being the "fat mom who falls infront of everyone"!!! Not only did I feel embarrassed for myself but also for my poor boy who so desparately wanted to win the race. I tried my best to laugh it off but couldn't hold back the tears when my darling said to me in the car on the way home, "Mommy, we were going so fast that we crashed!". The heart of a child is so pure and innocent. Bless him!

With the exception of the grazed arm, stiff knee and bruised ego I came out of the situation unscathed and with more determination than ever to become leaner, fitter and stronger.

(Image: Pinterest)

Until next time,

XX-L

Training wheels

For the past month i have been walking 3 times a week with some wonderful ladies. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning we all get up while the rest of our families are still sleeping soundly, put on our tights and tekkies and make our way down to the beach. There is something about knowing that there is someone waiting for you to walk with them that makes getting up at 4:30am a tad (and i mean only a tad) easier. We walk no matter the weather. The camaraderie is awesome and i really appreciate these ladies efforts to encourage and support me.

However, over the past month, my muscle mass has decreased and my body fat % has increased. After doing a bit of research and talking to a few people in the know, i decided that it was time to take this fitness regime to the next level. One of my walking buddies does group training with a personal trainer, Suzy, and they were kind enough to invite me to join their group. Group training is great as you get the individual attention of the trainer but you also have the other ladies there "suffering" with you.

So i started my strength training with Suzy on Tuesday this week. It's safe to say that on Wednesday i could feel muscles in places i didn't know i had any. 

What does a training session consist of, you ask? During my first session we did 3 sets of various body weight exercises. These included push ups, various types of sit ups, planking, steps, squats, lunges etc.  After the first set i thought to myself that this wasn't so bad....but halfway through the second set i started to struggle and only just made it through the last set. Every time i felt like throwing in the towel because my muscles were burning, i had to remind myself that i cannot give up. I had to push through because that burn meant it was working. I also thought about the example i was setting for my children. I want them to see that through hard work and perseverance, great things can be accomplished.

 I really enjoyed my first week of strength training! I actually loved that stiff and sore feeling in my muscles the day after because it told me that i worked hard and reminded me to eat clean so as not to undo my hard work. I look forward to another week of early morning training and walking sessions.

I was unable to do Parkrun this weekend and i really missed it! I will also not be able to do it this coming weekend as it is my son's sports day at school and i'll be cheering him on and taking part in the mother and son race. Last year i was so embarrassed when i ran / hobbled along infront of all the other parents. Hopefully this year will be better and i trust that by next year i will be at my goal weight and sprinting along.

In the week ahead i will be keeping a food diary, which i will force myself to publish as a way of keeping myself accountable. So you will see the good, the bad (hopefully not much of that) and the ugly.

Until next time,

XX-L

(Ps. I do NOT look like that while planking...yet!)