So this is Christmas...

I've always been an avid believer and user of the flu shot.  Growing up in a household with a father who was perpetually on immunosuppressant drugs, getting a respiratory virus like the flu posed a very real threat to his well being.  Believe what you will about the flu shot and its effectiveness (I really do think it's become a pretty heated debate, and in those I always like to take the neutral stance of "Do whatever you think is right"), but when your own health poses a risk to one of your loved ones, you'll do whatever it takes to stay well.  So, basically, since then I've always gotten my flu shot and in my line of work, I'm usually able to get them for free - including this year.  So, imagine my surprise when last week I fell ill with the flu.  According to the doctor the flu shot isn't necessarily 100% effective and this year it appears there is a strain that is pretty resistant to the shot.  (By the way, for me, finding this out was akin to Ross finding out that condoms weren't 100% effective.)

All that to say, I wrote up a meal plan on December 1 and didn't even have time to eat the first meal on the menu before I was stuck in bed for the next three days.  (In truth, it's been a week and I'm still not feeling 100%.)  What I'm sharing with you here is what we ENDED UP doing.  Good thing meal planning is all about flexibility because otherwise we would have either gone hungry and I'd have a fridge full of groceries we never used.

This month was also bit difficult to plan for because we still haven't completely set in stone some of our plans for this month.  I went ahead and put meals down for nights where we may not actually eat at home - just a leg up for January if we end up going out!

So, anyway - here it is...

{December 2013}

December 1, 2013 - Homemade Pizza; Salad (Thank God my husband is our pizza chef because I could barely hold my head up to eat this.  It was the last real meal I ate over the next few days.)

December 2, 2013 - I am pretty sure my husband and The Incredible Hulk ate leftover pizza or breakfast for dinner.  I literally didn't get out of bed to find out.

December 3, 2013 - I ate some soup on this day.  It came from a box mix.  It was delicious.

December 4, 2013 - Chicken Bruschetta Bake; Salad (I subbed whole wheat stuffing mix for the first time - I wouldn't recommend this because the whole thing was a bit dried out.  But, given that it was my first real meal in several days, it still didn't taste that bad.)

December 5, 2013 - Beef Dip Sandwiches (Crock Pot); Chips; Steamed Broccoli (My husband has proclaimed this one of his favorite meals.  It is ridiculously simple.  We always finish our sandwiches with provolone and stick them under the broiler to melt the cheese.  Perfection.)

December 6, 2013 - Homemade Chipotle Bowls (This was my 30th birthday dinner.  Normally we might have tried to go out to dinner or made something a little more glamorous, but NONE of us were feeling up to it.  It's a favorite at-home meal and we went out for ice cream afterwards.  Good enough for me.)

December 7, 2013 - We totally planned to eat dinner at home on this day, but TIH was invited to two different birthday parties (quite the social calendar for a three year old) and we were served meals at both parties.  By the time we got home, no one was even thinking about any more food.

December 8, 2013 - Chicken Pot Pie; Arugula & Spinach Salad with Honey Lemon Dressing (One of my favorite combinations is the richness of pot pie with a nice, crisp green salad.  The dressing was a bit on the sweet side so next time I would probably cut the honey from 3 tablespoons to 2 - it still went perfectly with the salad.)

December 9, 2013 - Orzo Salad with Spinach, Tomato, & Feta (will add Rotisserie Chicken)

December 10, 2013 - Lemon Parmesan Chicken Skillet*; Italian Chopped Salad

December 11, 2013 - Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff*; Egg Noodles; Steamed Broccoli

December 12, 2013 - Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups*; Alfredo Pasta; Roasted Zucchini

December 13, 2013 - No meal plan (Going to a Christmas party!)

December 14, 2013 - Cilantro Lime Pasta Salad

December 15, 2013 - Chili!

December 16, 2013 - One Pot Pasta; Salad

December 17, 2013 - Shrimp & Guacamole Tostadas; Cilantro Lime Rice

December 18, 2013 - Crock Pot "Fried" Rice; Salad

December 19, 2013 - No meal plan (My company Christmas party)

December 20, 2013 - Order Pizza

December 21, 2013 - Grilled Marinated Chicken with Corn Barley Salad (Didn't get to this one last month and it is a great recipe, so we definitely had to put it back on there.)



December 22, 2013 - Chipotle Grilled Steak with Lime Butter*; Baked Potato; Asparagus (As promised, I am going to attempt this one this month since we didn't get to it in November.)

December 23, 2013 - Chicken Caesar Sandwiches; Chips

December 24, 2013 - Christmas Eve! (We're still trying to decide on our plans.  We have a special meal that we've always had on Christmas Eve, but we might be spending it with family and friends instead.)
December 25, 2013 - Christmas Day!

December 26, 2013 - No meal plan

December 27, 2013 - No meal plan

December 28, 2013 - No meal plan

December 29, 2013 - Beef Vegetable Soup; Bread (We made my husband's mother's recipe for the first time a few months ago and it was a SLAM DUNK.  We talked about how delicious it was for days after.  I love trying new recipes, but it is so refreshing that these tried and true recipes are just as amazing.)

December 30, 2013 - Greek Marinated Chicken; Greek Cous Cous

December 31, 2013 - World's Best Chicken; Smashed Potatoes*; Roasted Brussel Sprouts  (This has been on the menu for about 4 months and we've never gotten to it.  And I'm putting it on New Years Eve which I'm not sure we have plans for yet...so it may get bumped to January.  Poor dinner.)

(* = A new recipe I'm trying.  Check back because I'll review the recipes here on the blog!)

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Hope you all have had a delicious start to your December.  Make sure you check back later on this week as I will be sharing a really cool product with you that will not only make meal planning even easier, but will also give you a way to save money while doing so.  Intrigued? I thought so.  See you soon :)

Food, glorious food...

Prepare yourselves for my most requested post and a recurring one, at that.

MY MEAL PLANS.

When we moved here, I started planning out a monthly menu for our dinners.  Everyone who has ever attempted to do this knows that it must be done with a modicum of flexibility as you never know when you won't feel like cooking, or you'll forget a vital ingredient, or when you'll be invited over for dinner instead.  But, having a plan helps.

You can look on Pinterest for lots of ideas for meal plans and budget friendly ideas.  For me, having a plan to begin with can (and will) shrink your grocery bill and help you utilize the items sitting around in your cabinet more than ever.

I'll be sharing my meal plans starting in September, take what you need from it.  Leave the rest.  Your family not big on pork?  Don't eat it.  Need to make something low carb, gluten free, or vegetarian?  Go for it. (Unfortunately, you can't ask my advice on any of that - I like my meat mostly wrapped in carbs and gluten.) Have an even better recipe that you want to swap in there?  Please do...and share!  Happy to hear your meal and recipe ideas.

Here's what I do.

1.  I always start with a list of meals that we enjoy or haven't had in awhile.  I call this our "On Deck" list and it sits in a central place on the counter for anyone to add to as necessary.

2.  When I'm ready to make my initial plan, I grab a sheet of paper and write out all of the days that we will need dinners for the month.  Given travel schedules, social engagements, and get togethers we are invited to, I usually don't have to plan dinner for every single night of the month.  When I share my meal plans, you'll notice some holes.  That's because we aren't eating dinner at home.  (We also plan on eating out at least once a month - we are trying to eat at a different restaurant in town every time so that we get to know our favorite local spots - but I don't always list a specific night that this will happen.)

3.  I also take note of the specific day of the week some meals are being planned.  On Wednesdays, I try to do something in the crock pot because I have choir practice.  On Fridays, we try to make meals with little to no clean up in the kitchen so we can enjoy our night.  (This is a popular take out night for us.  I'm still learning what exactly constitutes a "Friday Night Meal" - I'm sure I'll get it.)  Sundays we eat a bit of a heavier meal because we usually have more time for cooking and clean up - so a meal with more components is always possible.

4.  Once I have a good list of meals, I just start filling in the blanks.  I try to make one day a week meat free.  This is new to us so a lot of times we do end up having fish instead of being totally vegetarian.  I don't really have any reason for doing this other than that it makes me think of new meals, come up with creative ideas to balance our nutrition, and increase our produce intake.  We're Catholic so this is a practice that isn't necessarily new to us.  Take it or leave it.

5.  I put all of this on a dry erase calendar (ultimate flexibility!) and try plan things in such a way that we end up with a nice variety.  Not too many Italian meals at once or too much red meat in one week.  I also try to spread out meals cooked in the slow cooker so that I have time to let it soak after we use it.  (Anyone else HATE cleaning their crock pot?  I need to invest in those liners!)

6.  I make my grocery lists one week at a time and usually do all of my shopping on Saturday mornings.  If I need some meat from the butcher or fresh produce, I will sometimes purchase things on my way home from work to cook them the evening of the meal.  Otherwise it is always my goal to not have to go back to the store more than once.  (Every time I enter the grocery store, you can almost always guarantee I will buy more than what is on my list.  Better to keep it to just one day.)

7.  I also make my grocery list while looking at all of the things I have in my pantry/refrigerator/spice cabinet.  Eventually I'd also love to plan stuff around what we have in a produce delivery, what we find at the farmer's market, or what we grow in our own garden.  (This will likely happen next year when I actually have time to plan a garden.)  All of this helps keep me under budget so I don't overbuy things.

8.  We all eat lunches on our own.  TIH eats at school and both my husband and I eat at work.  I can usually be counted on for bringing some sort of leftovers at least once a week, but for the most part I basically brown bag it.  I do not plan those meals.

9.  The same goes for breakfast.  Sometimes on weekends, my husband will cook up a big breakfast and we'll talk about that ahead of time so that I can get the necessary accouterments, otherwise we are all pretty content with bowls of cereal, breakfast smoothies, or oatmeal.  And coffee.  Of course, coffee.

10.  I do not coupon.  When I tried to do it, I spent way more money than I ever saved by buying things we didn't need, didn't use, or already had.  (The exception is for toiletries.  I don't have to worry about those going bad before we need them.)  If you have the patience for couponing - go you.  This will make meal planning a little bit less flexible, but will work all the same.   In case you were wondering, I say "koo-pon" rather than "q-pon."  Both pronunciations are listed in the dictionary - so we all win.  If you're good at looking for meat/produce sales at your local grocer that will work wonders for you as well.  Fortunately, everyone says "sale" the same way.



Finally, be flexible.  I planned a full meal around some stuff I saw in the store only to find they discontinued one of the key components.  Because I wasn't flexible, I literally stood in the store for 15 minutes until I finally picked up a frozen pizza.  Have a back up plan or two in place.  You can also move meals around in the month if necessary.  When we have to cancel a meal because we get invited out last minute, I'll use those ingredients for a similar meal later in the week or in place of another meal. More flexibility.  Stay tuned in September when I share our meal plan as well as some new recipes I plan to try.  I promise to come back with full reviews on how they worked out for us.  I'd love to hear what you're all doing for your meals and meal planning.  I would love to recipe swap!

Bigger than my body...

This post, like many recently, has very little to do with being a New Mom as far as parenting goes, but has a whole lot to do with something that many New Moms struggle with - in fact it's something that I've been dealing with since long before I found out I was pregnant, but definitely had to come to terms with it in the two years following my son's birth.

I'm talking about weight loss.

I've written about my struggles with weight here a lot.  Often with a humorous, que sera, sera attitude.  However, it was in my most popular post to date in which I finally divulged my battle with losing baby weight (plus the extra weight I've carried pretty much since my senior year of high school.)  I'm really excited to reveal something I've been working pretty hard on for a little over a year.

These pants were the first pair of pants I bought where "my size" had completely stopped fitting and I needed to go up to the next size - one I had never worn before.  Though I don't know my weight at the time, I am sure it was the heaviest I had ever been.

That's the after.  I don't have a whole lot of "Before" photos.  That's mostly because I was (wisely) avoiding cameras for a good portion of time.  However, here's a smattering of pictures I am not proud to say are pretty accurate representations of what I looked like before.  I've even seen some pictures which were taken around the beginning of my attempt to lose weight and those photos are pretty shameful as well.

Top row: April 2011 & June 2011
Bottom row: October 2011 & Easter 2012 (40 days after I started trying to lose weight)

In February of 2012, I stood on my scale and saw a number I thought had to be a mistake.  It was actually only 24 pounds less than what I weighed the day I gave birth to TIH (and I gained 50 pounds with that pregnancy and got pregnant when I was already 15-20 pounds overweight.)

Today, I stood on the scale and have lost 50 pounds since that day in February.
I am happier than I have ever been in my life with how I look and actually am wearing sizes in clothes I'm not even positive I fit in when I was in high school.

At the beginning of this year, I joined a group of women for a Biggest Loser competition organized by a good friend on Facebook.  I knew I couldn't win the competition because I didn't have much to lose.  However, this competition was largely part of the reason I finally reached my goal.  Those women kept me motivated, had some great ideas, encouraged me when I had set backs and...well, I'll let the results speak for themselves:

I lost 11 pounds during this competition which I was actually a little disappointed by.  However, after seeing these pictures I realized what a difference that little bit of weight made.

Whenever I tell people about my weight loss, they inevitably want to know every detail of how I was able to lose weight and keep it off.  I wish that was an easy answer.  Unfortunately, I can't say for certain why it worked this time. Plus, I'm not a doctor, dietician, or personal trainer so it's pretty much any advice I'd give you based on my experience has no real backing other than pure dumb luck.  I would love to open up this blog to people (especially mothers) out there that are struggling with losing some extra pounds and let you know how or why I've been successful, but frankly I haven't the faintest idea where to begin.  If you have questions for me, please feel free to leave comments or send me an email, but I'll try to start somewhere.

So,  here's my top 5 pieces of advice for weight loss:

1.  Download the Lose It! App for your smartphone. It's free.  Free is the first thing I needed for weight loss this time around because I started this journey while we were trying to sell our house and had no idea what kind of financial situation it would leave for us to deal with.  On the app, you can track calories, nutrients, and exercise.  You can even connect with your friends or a trainer if you need someone to help keep you accountable.  I know for some people having a financial investment in it helps to keep them accountable, but for me that wasn't really an option.  You have to weigh yourself every day so sometimes you see numbers that are really discouraging, but at the end of your journey, you'll get to see this lovely downward-trending line on a graph that will make your heart explode with happiness.  (Also, Lose It! isn't paying me for this blog, but it sure would be nice if they did.  I need new clothes.  Seriously.)

2.  Instead of counting your calories, make your calories count.  I've realized I like to spend my calories the same way I like to spend my money.  Sure, I'm thrifty and I know a great way to make a dollar stretch.  You'll always find me checking out the clearance racks at any store.  However, I'd much rather spend the extra dough on a pair of pants that will last me through a few seasons over a pair that's not going to last through one wash cycle.  The same goes for my diet.  In years past, I was an avid user of the 100-calorie snack packs and a glutton for any sort of diet food.  And yet, 30 minutes after I'd indulged in those things, I'd feel ravenous again. Remember that a calorie is a unit for measuring ENERGY which means you have to choose foods packed with the sort of calories that won't allow you to burn all of that energy too quickly.  This time around I learned to snack on foods that would last me until the next meal.  Even if it meant an extra 30-50 calories in my snacks.   It's also a really great way to teach yourself portion control. There were days where I went over my recommended daily calorie intake by a little bit.  And I noticed that if I did that by consuming foods that were actually nutritious, I usually noticed my weight going down, not up.

3.  Avoid artificial sweeteners.  I know.  You want to punch me.  And trust me when I say my Diet Coke-loving self couldn't agree with you more.  Two years ago, I gave up artificial sweeteners for Lent.  And on Ash Wednesday, I saw the cold hard reality of how much I had been consuming.  It was in practically EVERYTHING I was eating and yet, I was still carrying AT LEAST an extra 20 pounds of weight.  Since this time last year, I've gone from having drinking Diet Coke at least once a day to having it 2 times a week (or less.)  I've also stopped buying the diet yogurts, diet ice cream, and anything else that has an artificial sweeteners.  And you know what?  This time, by avoiding the "diet foods," my "diet"actually worked.  Interesting, no?  (Also, I feel better than I've ever felt in my life.  I know not carrying around the extra weight has something to do with that, but I also know that I was slowly poisoning myself with that stuff.)  And before you totally want to smack me, please know that I used to think the only way I would give up Diet Coke was for someone to wrestle it out of my hands.  I still indulge myself every once in awhile.  I just drink it less often now.

4.  Exercise.  I will admit it.  I am not there yet.  I did most of this without a whole lot of physical activity.  (Unless you count chasing around a toddler - I do.)  Fluctuations in the weather do a lot to my respiratory system and as someone whose vocal health is pretty much her liveliness, I have to play it really safe.  This means there's only about a 4-month period where I can run outside without getting sick.  And, due to the aforementioned financial strain, I couldn't really afford a gym membership.  However, if you have the means, please please please exercise.  I sure hope I'm not introducing anyone to a new concept when I tell you that exercise has more benefits than just weight loss.  So you should do it.  And while you're at it, eat foods that nourish your body enough to energize you for a work out.  The Lose It! app will help keep you on target with that.

5.  Be realistic.  This is BY FAR my most important piece of advice.  Start by setting a realistic goal for weight loss.  If you reach it and decide you still could stand to lose more, you can always do that, but setting smaller goals will make for less opportunities for discouragement if you realize you're still 30 pounds away from where you want to be even after losing a significant amount of weight.  Also, realize that weight loss does and SHOULD take time.  Run screaming away from any diet that promises that you will lose weight fast.  It took me over a year to achieve my goal.  It was a long uphill battle, but that also means I won't be putting it all back on overnight either.  I know a lot of New Moms set their sights on losing extra baby weight within the first year of their baby's life.  I know now that setting those standards for myself was extremely unrealistic.  Additionally, I think you've always got to give yourself a break.  If you don't allow yourself a little bit of "cheating" here and there what is the freaking point?  You should still get to enjoy the things you love even if it's a smaller portion or enjoyed less often.  I allowed myself a little bit of wiggle room every. single. day. and that helped not only to keep me motivated, but also for me to keep the weight off.  I wouldn't recommend ANY sort of diet that cuts out any food group or genre in its entirety in order to lose weight.  That just means that reintroducing those foods into your diet (ever) is a surefire way to gain everything back.  I think the best diets are the ones that allow you to walk into any restaurant and still be able to find something that you can eat that won't totally set  you back.  Anything else is not sustainable.  Because eventually you're going to get invited out for pizza and what is life without pizza?


My final piece of advice actually comes from this video.  Weight loss can be done in a healthy way and can lead to a more healthy lifestyle for you.  However, part of being successful at anything in life requires you to respect and love yourself just the way (or, "weigh") you are.  We have got to stop evaluating ourselves and others based solely on appearance. We need to redefine the healthy ideal.  It is time to love you for you and to realize that every person's weight loss journey is very individualized and personal.  I think my biggest pet peeve is the word "healthy" and our understanding of what it means.  In truth, the word "healthy" can mean a lot of different things, and so very few of them have anything to do with the numbers on a scale.  In my wildest dreams I can't and won't fit into a size 2.  I find there to be nothing wrong with that at all.  This body gave me a beautiful child and I'm always going to have a little extra weight around to show it.  And that?  Is fine by me.