Week One of 21 Day Fix Results!

Week one of the 21 Day Fix is officially in the books!

I am down a fantastic 3.6 lbs and Nicholas is down 5.6 lbs (or so we think... he cannot remember what he weighed on day one). Either way, we are both down in weight and feeling ecstatic about our results. I remember from last round that week one was the hardest and believe me, it has not changed!

Couple pointers for those starting or thinking about starting the program:

1. Plan Your Meals! - Sit down sometime during the week and plan your meals for the week. Make a list and go grocery shopping. Set yourself up for success! Make sure if you are supposed to be having a delicious salad with cauliflower and hot peppers - make sure you have cauliflower and hot peppers! I am not the type of person who can just look in my fridge and whip up a healthy lunch on the fly. Plan, plan, plan!

2. Prep Some Foods - I do not prep everything for the week but lots of things can be made in advance. Two big items for Nick and I were eggs and chicken. Hard boiled eggs can be made on day one and last all week. We actually ran out this first week so today I am headed to the store to get three dozen eggs and going to boil away! This allows us to get a quick serving of protein at our finger tips. Chicken is another item that can be made and portioned for the week. Bake six, eight, ten chicken breasts, let them cool, chop up, and place in sandwich bags. That way you can toss them with pasta, lettuce, wrap in a tortilla, or just grab and munch. And cut that fruit! A big bowl of watermelon is easy and delicious to eat on a daily basis! 

I let a cantaloupe sit on my counter too long and it went bad. Never again! Cut it up!

3. Use Those Containers! - Obviously you want to use the containers to measure all of your food but a little thing I noticed was how wonderful cheese is. You get one blue container each day. Use it! Unless you are a cheese hater, it is a delicious food. And it makes healthy food even better! Cheese on my salad, cheese on my pasta, cheese on my vegetable. It is not cheating but it sure does feel like it. Healthy food does not have to be sad food. Also make sure to try the seasoning mixes that Autumn recipes for in the start up book. They are 'all you can eat' and even have a little salt! We did a pot roast last week with the Mediterranean Seasoning and it was great. We demolished that dish. I plan to use the Smoke Southwestern Seasoning for Chili this week. 

One last thing I have to say is that I hate Shakeology. 

Gasp!

I know that we are supposed to drink one a day but I have to plug my nose and chug it just to get it down. Yuck. I rather just eat another protein in place of it. 

I decided to try a different routine with the Chocolate Shakeology and make some Peanut Butter Brownie Bites. They were ok. I would not say that they were good but adding peanut butter on top makes anything edible. 

Shakeology Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

2 Scoops Chocolate Shakeology

Water

1 Tsp Peanut Butter

Add 2 scoops of Shakeology to bowl. Add water till the texture of brownie mix (approximately 2 TBSP). Mix well. Drop small scoops onto foil, topping with small amount of peanut butter. Freeze for one to two hours (or more if needed). Eat!

I am going to test them out on Nicholas when he gets home. 

Ok now my meal plan for this week!

Little Nicholas is getting baptized on Sunday so there is a big opening there. Family and friends are coming over to celebrate so it is hard to say exactly what is going to be eaten and when. It might just be breakfast and dinner that day!

Ok, here is to week two! Good luck!

21 Day Fix - Round 2

With the encouragement from some wonderful work friends, I have started the 21 Day Fix - Round 2. 

For those that read my first 21 Day Fix post, you already know that it is a meal portion and workout package that allows you to lose up to 15 lbs in 21 days. I roped in my husband and started my meal planning last week. I don't remember it being this difficult... although he throws in an extra curve ball. I have to plan for the both of us and make sure the foods are similar. A hungry husband is an unhappy husband. So my meal planner for this week has a lot of the usual foods we would normally eat (the 21 Day Fix makes it easy to modify as needed!), as well as spaces for his extra containers. He is in the next up calorie bracket so gets an extra green. purple, and yellow container. 

I am hoping to try some different recipes and post as I go. Stuffed peppers and 21 Day Fix Chili are at the top of my list! For now here is my planner for this week:

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Is it really only the 16th of May?

Longest month ever!

Or maybe just the busiest?

First let's talk Marlee. She finally has a tooth! And took three steps! Three! Nick and I were both there to witness it and I was so in awe over the monumental milestone. She also is starting to say a couple words. She hasn't really learned how to use them but 'thank you', 'uh oh', and 'duck' have all been heard from her mouth. She even said 'no' at the grocery store but she sang it beautifully. Instead of a terrible 'no', she turned it into a 'no, no, no, no, no, nooo'. Pretty sure she can make anything sound cute. 

Mother's Day was last Sunday and it was amazing! My first time as a mother and it just felt right. I was exhausted and possibly a little grouchy from lack of sleep BUT it was great. I loved all the family time and being able to celebrate with all the wonderful mothers in my life. 

I did a little crafting for the grandmothers too which looked like this:

Last post I talked a little about food planning and trying to make a budget. The budget went wonderfully and knowing exactly what I was going to make each day was a lifesaver. My husband didn't have to ask 14,000 times 'What's for dinner?' which helped with my sanity also. 

The actual cooking part didn't exactly go as planned...

Let me just say that I love to cook. Even though I love to cook, does not mean that I am necessarily good at it. Pizza - check. Pasta and meatballs - check. Chocolate chip cookies - check. Anything outside of that, I like my recipes. I also love my crockpot. Top ten invention ever. Ever!

With that being said, here are a couple examples from my dinner list that did not go quite as planned. 

Day two was chicken tetrazzini and while the recipe was a bit more involved then what I like (Have you ever tried to whisk flour and milk continuously while your 9 month old rips through the kitchen? Accident waiting to happen.), it was delicious and my family ate it up. So of course I took pictures to show everyone.

Mmmm cheesy goodness.

What this pictures doesn't show you is that I still had the top burner on. 

So while I situated Marlee in her highchair and set the table and of course took some pictures, my dinner was burning. The whole left side of the casserole was black. 

Black. Black. Black. 

Fml. 

On Friday, we had steak carnitas. It was fantastic. Absolutely recommend and will be trying them again. Unfortunately, my crockpot is apparently super-duper and while I thought they would be ready to go after the baseball game, my meat was a little over cooked. Ok a lot overcooked. Isaac wanted to know why we were having beef jerky for dinner. 

He literally said this people. 

Still ate it. 

And my final fail for the week can only be explained via picture.

That would be my crockpot. After the overcooked steak carnitas incident, I need to do a little extra soaking. Well the next day, I did some scrubbing and it slipped out of my hands. 

Dead. 

RIP Crockpot. 

Ok so I know I am not winning MasterChef anytime soon but my family is fed. Grilled cheese will always be a staple of a our family meals. 

Besides the Mother's Day crafting, I also made a shirt for Marlee to wear. Have you ever done iron on letters? That shit is hard. We had to re-iron half way through the day!

I was going to see if anyone actually reads the shirt but this proved to be ineffective - by both of my families. Lead to some pretty funny responses though :)

Yes, Marlee will be a big sister in January. 

Marlee and Me will soon become Marlee and Us.