Meal Plan Attack 2012

So I said I’d post the general meal plan… and here it is:

Mon:

• Breakfast – Spinach, Onion, & Bacon Omelet w/provolone
• Lunch – Wendy’s Ultimate Grilled Chicken (w/ Hot sauce) w/ Garden salad (w/light Ranch) & Ice Tea
• Dinner – Roasted Chicken w/ veggie
• Snack – Pickles, Pre-cut Cheese, & Popcorn

Tue:

• Breakfast – Spinach & Onion Sauce w/ 2 eggs & provolone
• Lunch – (Left Over) Roasted Chicken w/ veg
• Dinner – Beef dish w/veggie
• Snack  – Pickles, Pre-cut Cheese, & Popcorn

Wed:

• Breakfast – egg Sandwich w/bacon
• Lunch – (LO) Beef dish w/veggies
• Dinner – Chicken Dish w/Veggies
• Snack  – Pickles, Pre-cut Cheese, & Popcorn

Thur:

• Breakfast – Spinach, Onion, & Bacon Omelet w/provolone
• Lunch – (LO) Chicken Dish w/Veggies
• Dinner – Wendy’s Ultimate Grilled Chicken (w/ Hot sauce) w/ Garden salad (w/light Ranch) & Ice Tea
• Snack  – Pickles, Pre-cut Cheese, & Popcorn

Fri:

• Breakfast – Spinach & Onion Sauce w/ 2 eggs & provolone
• Lunch – Chicken Lunch / Frozen / Eat out (McDonald’s – grilled chicken, Panerra – Sand & Soup)
• Dinner – Chicken Dinner / Veggie Dinner
• Snack  – Pickles, Pre-cut Cheese, & Popcorn

Sat & Sun: my cheat days

So that’s the basic idea.  It has some place holders to keep flexible as well as some prep work that make eating things simpler.  For instance:

• Digital scale – Take the guesswork out of calories.  Find how much calories are in something by the weight and you can have it all down without having to guess how much you put in.  Use a scale with a “tare” function and it will zero out for you.  Just keep adding ingredients.
• Breakfast – I sauté 8 cups (1 bag) of spinach with 1 cup (1 med onion) and 2 TB of butter and separate that into 4 containers.  I then dice 2 pieces of bacon and add half to 2 of those bowls.  Add 1/4 cup of sauce to the other 2 bowls, and i have the pre work for 4 of my 5 breakfasts done.  Just add eggs and heat in the microwave.  I have an omelet cooker thing that i can do it all in at work.  Plus the eggs help fill me up and kick-start my body in the mornings so I’m not nearly so hungry at lunch.  (Also helps to drink black coffee – no cream or sugar…. those are huge calorie wasters).
• Lunches – The prep here falls into 2 categories: Eat out and Left Overs.  It’s just as simple to create an extra plate for lunch when making dinner as it is not to.  Plus you already know exactly how much the calories are since you have it figured out for lunch (i’m not bringing a scale to work).  For fast foods, plan what you are eating before hand and you won’t be tempted once you get there. (and of course again easy to know the calorie count).
• Chicken Dinners – I cook a whole chicken with just some basic seasonings on Monday.  That gets me a great low cal monday dinner, as well as chicken I can use for the rest of the week.  Since it’s lightly flavored with just S&P, I can add whatever spices I might use later that week.
• Beef Dinners – There are tons of low cal beef dinners out there.  Designating one a week keeps the complexity low and gives variety.
• Veggie / Frozen / Eating out option– Same goes for these two.  If I’ve used too much chicken in the week (which is auto portioned since I only have 1 whole chicken) I have a veggie meal on Friday Nights.  Eating out gives me a break, as well as some wiggle room if I just don’t have time to cook during the weeknights.  Prepped Frozen lunches are also good ways of having a fast easy to go meal, that you know how many calories you’re getting.  By place this toward the end of the week i can adjust if I need to.
• Snacks – Pre measure is key.  I buy smoked mozzarella 8oz… and 1 oz is a serving.  So I cut it up ahead of time. Pickles come premeasured just by their existence.  Popcorn is also a very low cal snack for how filling it is.  air pop it and bag it for a snack through the week.  Add to that Ice Tea to help keep my hydrated and fill me up throughout the day.  I drink 1-2L a day.
• Breaks – In my opinion this is critical.  You need a break A) to keep yourself from going crazy.  If you want to eat something that’s too high calorie, make a list.  Eat it instead on the weekend/Cheat day(s). You’ll be rewarding yourself for being good and chances are you’ll be out partying anyway on those days so calories would be very difficult to pay attention to anyway.  the second reason B) is you want to keep your body from getting sued tot he lower calorie intake.   Your body will adjust to your lower cal diet and not burn as much.  So by having days were your body gets the calories you are used to, it won’t start thinking you are trying to starve it.  Yes… by doing this the weight will go up following day.  I’m not going to worry.  It’s not permanent.  This is for the long haul, the idea is to keep my body in check, as well as my spirits high enough to not feel like I’m cutting myself off from all the foods and events I want to do.

So that’s my plan of attack.  So far so good.  Last week I kept a record of my weight and averaged it all to get a solid starting point.  Already down about 6 lbs.  With some prep and planning it’s fairly simple to keep things in check.  I’m also using myfittnesspal app to keep track of things in addition to a spread sheet.  I weigh myself in the morning and night to get two good baselines as to how I’m doing.  Plus doing so allows me to, ahem, “control” any external weight that might affect the scale.  If interested I might post some of the recipes I’m using over on my main blog.  And of course any questions feel free to inquire below in the comments.

So, that time again. But want your help this time.

Every so often you look down and realize your weight is creeping up on you.  So time for me to go on a 3 month diet/experiment/thing…  But I want your help.  I tend to get rather bored of food over time, but i know that ease of cooking is key.  Otherwise you get off track and start eating a lot of food that ends up not being good for you.  But first, let me get to my plan before asking for help: