Frosty and I have been trying to eat healthier lately - weight loss for him, general health for me, and in order to save money for the both of us. It's also a bit difficult when the price of healthy eating turns out more expensive than take-away.. and there's always the risk of not actually LIKING one or 2 of the new healthy recipes, thus basically wasting the money you just spent on buying the ingredients for (that you wouldn't normally have!)
It's a double-edged sword. And take-away is just sooo yummy... BUT, it's a habit we are really trying to break!
Burgers, fish & chips, creamy curries with mountains of rice and na'an bread, pizzas... oh god... then there's the sweets.. junk food binge from Coles, or a 2am servo run for overpriced chocolate..
We will continue to eat sweets, whether I make it or we buy it, but it will now be an occasional treat. Yes we've become "Swappers" - swapping 'Often for Occasional' - if that makes sense. We want and need to get out of debt, so we can't keep buying shit.
Due to my foot fucked to buggery, I am still unable to go to the gym to do my cardio (Sorry Mr Cardiologist who gave me strict orders to go!) So I cancelled my membership last month, and basically since November 2011, I have been sitting on my butt (School holidays from TAFE!). TAFE resumes next week so I'll be getting that little form of excersise from walking the block (10 minute) from home to class etc. To the best of my walking ability anyway! Ankle brace and just a whole lot of taking it easy really. But since I don't really have kilos to shed, the whole "watching my ass grow" hasn't really phased me.
Frosty is still signed up to the gym, but has been doing home exercises lately instead. And walking more at work (See, swapped Sitting for Walking!) AND actually eating breakfasts! It's surprising how much weight can be lost just by eating a decent brekky each day.
I devised a rough meal plan the other evening, I thought I'd post it here as well since I've had a few friends and family asking for a copy. It's not much, I'm still likely to add to it, change it around a bit. I grabbed a few recipes from
The Biggest Loser Australia site and since I'm not one to stick to recipes (Unless it's baking) - I will be changing ingredients around to suit our tastes (While keeping it healthy!)
So here it is.. I've tried to add variety in there so it's not the same each day etc. Sometimes a lunch will become dinner, all depending on how I feel at the time. As I said, it's a rough plan, and will be changing here and there, tweaking it. I know most don't bother with meal plans, but we're budget conscious, so everything in the plan has to fit within our grocery budget. And just remember, go to butchers to get your meats, fishmongers to get your fresh seafood and fruit & veg barns/markets for fresh fruit and veg, and other fresh produce (eggs and whatnot.), it's really a lot cheaper than the supermarket.
To avoid confusion, the following is a SELECTION of what to have, not a "Have all 5 items for breakfast etc). You pick one food item for the meal.
Breakfast - Yes I'll have to get up a bit earlier to cook it, but it's what a good wifey does, right? Since the hubby goes to work and all...
- Wholemeal toast with light peanut butter
- Wholemeal toast with egg
- Omelet filled with shallots, tomato and spinach (Oh boy, Iron helps us play!)
- Weetbix
Lunches -
- Wholemeal wrap with turkey and salads
- Wholemeal wrap with roast chicken and salads
- Ham, broccoli and sweet potato frittata
- Homemade pizza scrolls
Dinners -
- Brown fried rice
- Baked fish parcels with steamed vegies and some form of non-buttery lemon sauce
- Roast chicken breast and vegies (chicken can be marinaded in something, herbs, spices etc)
- Prawn glass noodle with lime and coriander dressing
- Chicken, spinach and low fat ricotta cannelloni
- Sweet potato will be replacing all forms of normal potato (baked chips, mash, roasted etc)
- Crispy skin salmon and vegies
- Baked chicken burgers with wholemeal rolls and salads
- Syrian chicken with cous cous or brown rice
- Spanish seafood paella
- Wholemeal spaghetti with prawns, chili, asparagus, lemon juice and garlic
- Marinaded chicken or beef skewers, baked, with vegies
Snacks (for throughout his work/uni day and my general lazy days in class) well.. he says he's happy with an apple. I give him a week before he starts bringing those apples back home!! As for MY snacks, well I eat just about anything, corn thins, crackerbreads, tinned tuna and whatnot. As long as it's healthy and minimal carbs.
Keeping in mind that if you drink plenty of water with your meals, you will actually feel fuller. It's just a matter of retraining the brain.