Love Week - Menu Plan Monday

Happy Valentine's Week!

This will be the first year since we've had kids that I've worked on Valentines Day! It's always been a bona fide holiday around here. As a result, I don't have any big food plans for our day, but I will be making "snack plate" lunches and I am sure some things will be heart shaped!

My favorite this week is the snack plate. I found a cute and fun way to make them portable and I am so pleased that they worked out just as I envisioned.

Valentine's Day Dinner will be a quick shrimp salad because we plan to continue our tradition of Valentine's Bowling after I finally get home from work. I'm sure it will be a beautiful Love Day nonetheless and we have healthy plans for the whole week:

Breakfasts

Steel Cut Oats

Cinnamon WW Pancakes, baked apples

Cheesy Eggs, tortillas

Cereal day

French toast and bacon

Lunches  

I purchased these camping egg cartons to make finger-food snack boxes. They are so cute and the Littles love, love, LOVE them. I have a row each of starches, vegetables, protein and fruit. Not that it matters but this one is oyster crackers, pretzels, and whole grain cheezits; grape tomatoes, carrot flowers and broccoli; white cheddar, pepperoni, and cheddar: blackberries, grapes and blueberries.  Some future ones will contain goldfish, edamame, peas, baby pickle slices, ham or turkey cubes, tamagayoki, and raisins; the possibilities are endless!

Lemony hummus goat cheese pitas, Napa cabbage slaw, apple slices

Egg crate snack plate

Leftovers Day

Egg Salad with greens, bread slices and orange slices

Soboro Bento with turkey, carrots, egg and green beans (Our favorite bento)

Dinners

Roast Turkey Breast, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Peas (Sunday dinner)

Black beans with vegetables and ricotta, over rice and baby spinach

Cheese grits, blindfolded eggs, zucchini ribbons or zoodles, fresh fruit.

Pasta Thursday - spaghetti with meat sauce, broccoli, fruit for dessert 

Shrimp salad, toast and Mamaw's homemade jam

Weight Watchers Homemade Mac-n-Cheese (6), sliced tomato salad

Slow Cooker Brisket, (9)  coleslaw, whole wheat buns, homemade barbecue sauce

Linking up to OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday; check out all the great menus!  The "real food" low-fat menus are hard to come by but I get tons of inspiration from what other people eat.

After what shall henceforth be known as "The Valentine Vomiting," I got very off-track.  But first a little history.  The first 10 years after I realized I was fat, I denied I was an emotional eater.  I am not sure why I denied it, but I'm guessing it was shame.  Somehow, intelligent people should not be emotional eaters, right?  Oh pride, how you've ensnared me!

Fast forward about 3 years and I know I'm an emotional eater.  All it takes is a little dis-regulation and I'm snacking.  I don't happen to be someone who purges and even when I go "out of the box," I am saved by the fact that we don't have a lot of my trigger food in the house.  (If you ever see me eating a sandwich, however, please put your arm around my shoulders and say, "What's going on, sweetie?"  Nonetheless, I also have a very efficient metabolism which will come in really handy if I'm ever in a survival situation.  For now, though, it just means I don't lose weight if I don't stick to my plan.

So . . after The Valentine's Vomiting, it took me several days to get back on track.  I gained 3.5 pounds in the several days it took me to re-regulate.  And I realized it wasn't only the Love Day incident that set me on a path of self-destruction.  It happened to coincide with a nasty sinus infection that temporarily rendered me unable to exercise.  I too sick to exercise and do the essential care of my family.  I have learned through all this that when I am not getting to the gym, my motivation to stay "in the box" just goes right down the tube. 

A couple of conversations with my support partners and I am "in the box again."  This time with a little extra motivation and a few coping mechanisms:

• I am going to go to the gym on my regular days even if I can't work at my usual level and just walk gently on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Turns out just getting there is as important as what I actually do!
• I am going to start looking for those outfits I've "pinned" so that when I go down one more size, I can buy them at a good price
• I have set short term goals for April 1 and May 1
• I'm increasing my 3 cardio days to hour-long sessions
• I'm going to talk to a trainer about my circuit routine
• I am going to stick with my current "box"  until April 1, then re-evaluate
• Maintain my "text accountability" program
• When I find myself in front of the pantry with an intention of "snacking," I am going to set a timer for 10 minutes, go to my room, sit in my comfy chair and look at what is really going on!

Will I do all this perfectly?  Probably not.  Yet having a plan means I have a base to come back to if I do get off track.  That said, it's my intention to do it.  This is not only about losing weight to me, in fact, in some ways, that's the by-product.  It is really about me mattering enough to me to treat my body with respect.  And that's motivation.  Have a great weekend.