Tuesday, July 3, 2012

It's All Relevant

Over on my other blog, I mentioned how when things were out of control, it affects everything, not just diet, but my whole household.

In regards to diet and exercise, I like to base it on meal planning.  For awhile, I was doing a biweekly meal plan.  It allowed me to buy the appropriate groceries, plan and prep the night ahead if necessary and most of all, not bring home take out for dinner.

Well, not unlike I have said before, I am pretty flighty!  I was gung-ho with the meal planning, jumped right on that bandwagon! 

And it worked!  It really did!  We ate home cooked meals every night, except for a night I may have planned take out!

Then, I just stopped doing it.  Part of it is, it’s boring to always think up what is for dinner.  My husband doesn’t care, so input from him is not relevant.  Then you start feeling like you plan the same meals all the time.

This then spiraled into a week like last week, where I think out of 7 days, I cooked maybe 3.  With that much crap in your body, it starts to wear on you.  I start feeling tired and just plain icky!  I don’t want to exercise, etc. 

It trickles on down from there into every other aspect of life.  The house isn’t as tidy, laundry isn’t put away.  Do you ever feel like that?  Like everything in life is overwhelming?  Makes we want to curl up in bed with a good book and a cheesecake all to myself!  A little counter-productive don’t ya say!

How do you cope?  Are you a super organized person?  Or can you understand the relation from one thing to the next? Do they affect you too?

I am setting myself a goal, my next grocery shop (July 12th) will be meal planned again and I will post the menu on the blog for you to check out.  Anyone want to do the challenge with me?  It will be for a 2 week time period!

Until next time,

Amy

5 comments:

  1. You tempt me... I was just thinking the same thing! Your time frame may not work for me though...How about in the beginning of August?! This will be your practice run :) It's funny how my man is similiar to your man (or is that all men?!)

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  2. I know when I had a full family at home I did meal planning - had to run the house very organized as we had 6 kids living at home plus my husband and I at the time ranging from 1 - 15 years old.

    One way I made sure it didn't get boring is by starting my meal planning with a basic outline

    Sundays - Was our Big Meal of Week - Family Style Meal - Roast, Potatoes, Veggies Etc.

    Mondays - Pasta Night/ Meatless Monday

    Tuesdays - Chicken

    Wednesday - Beef/Pork

    Thursday - Slow Cooker

    Friday - We called 'fend for yourself Friday' and it was always simple things

    Saturdays - Usually Lean Ground Beef, Turkey, etc.

    Then I would go and figure out what to make for each of these nights - I tried many different recipes so that we seldom ate the same thing from week to week - as a family we decided if a certain recipe was a keeper or not - if it was it was filed for another month to use again. There are so many sites out there just specific for say chicken. www.sparkpeople.com is filled with healthy recipes.

    Just a thought that I thought I would share with you as it worked for me for many years and the family always looked forward to wondering what 'concoction' I would come up with for certain days/meals- now I live alone so I just eat whenever/whatever strikes my fancy at the time but definitely miss knowing what I am going to eat!

    If you do give it a try - let me know if it works for you!

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  3. Teri, you are on for August meal planning.

    Rhonda...such a great idea! I never thought of planning in regards to certain type of food on a particular day of the week. That certainly will make things simpler. If I know Monday's is pasta, then I just have to decide what type!

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  4. I am constantly looking for new recipes to try. However, you must keep in mind, my food pallet is very limited so I have to look for recipes to spice up chicken or hamburger meat. Rhonda has a good idea of having a certain food type a different part of the week. A friend of mine does the same thing and it helps her immensely! I also am finding if you have room to spare, try and grow a garden this way there is no excuse to go out to eat if you have fresh vegetables right at your fingertips to use!

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  5. I don't plan as stringently as some others are suggesting but I do find new recipes in my health magazines and try them often. If the family hates them, I throw them out.

    When the house is disorganized and all is chaos, I find that the first thing I do is exercise - it clears my head. Then I can battle everything else knowing I did something for myself first and foremost. It sounds selfish but it really works!

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