Meal Planning

Meal planning has been essential to my successful weight loss. It also SUCKS. I'm not the best at planning ahead, but I've forced myself to do a better job. If I don't, my healthy eating suffers.

First, I take an inventory of my kitchen to determine what I'm out of. If I don't do this, I will end up with 17 jars of PB2. And who wants that? So first up, inventory what you have.

Based on what I know I need to use up, then I write out what meals I want to make for the week ahead. I use a copy of my meal planning template for this.

Next up - I make a grocery list on my iPhone - I use the notes section. I ALWAYS have my iPhone with me. Therefore, I'll never forget my shopping list.

And finally, over the weekend I shop! I try to stick to my shopping list. I delete items as I put them in my cart. I spend the majority of my time shopping the outer perimeter of the grocery section - proteins, veggies, fruits. All the processed stuff is in the middle, and I'm to the point where it just feels wrong to be shopping there.

And finally, food prep Sunday. It's amazing how much easier my life is when I pre-wash my fruits and veggies. I also like to pre-cook the foods I know I'll need a lot of - boiled eggs, chicken breast, ground beef, etc. Food prep ensures there's no chance of failure!

It's super important to me that I keep a food log - I print a second copy of my meal planning template, and write down what I have eaten. I keep it at my desk, and I write it down as I go along through the day. It helps keep me focused on my goals, and I'm much more successful when I do this.

I'm posting my meal planning template on the blog today for everyone to download. I couldn't find a template that I liked, so I made one! I'm happy to share it with you. Here's another meal planning template version that I made too.

Hope you have a successful meal planning weekend for great results next week!

Dear Amber

I had a crazy weird idea that I've never tried before to write a note from my fat self to my skinny self. I don't want to simply choose not to remember how being overweight makes me FEEL. It's so easy to be on the "goal weight high" that you simply block those bad feelings out of your mind. I don't want that to happen again. So I wrote a letter to myself, to read (and re-read) once I reach my goal weight. Do you have any ideas that will keep you from repeating the same cycle?

January 24, 2014

If you're reading this letter, that means you've reached your ultimate dream goal weight! Congratulations! It takes a tremendous amount of dedication, will power and control to lose weight. Way to go!

Before you start celebrating too much, I want you to pause and remember a few things about yourself. Reaching your goal weight is NOT anywhere close to the same thing as reaching a finish line. If you're starting to think of it that way, STOP. You did it! You lost the weight! Congratulations! Huge accomplishment. But you are nowhere near "done" with healthy eating and nutrition. It's a lifestyle. It's a balance. It's not a race. 

We've done this many times before. But this time, as you sit there feeling all awesome in your favorite clothes, I want you to read this letter. Post it somewhere. Reflect on it often. Remember what you felt like as you started this journey. Defeated. Fat. Tired. Frumpy. Remember that? No? The high of the new numbers on the scales sort of dulls those feelings, huh. Or do you just choose NOT to remember how it was back then? That's what I thought. See, I know exactly what you're feeling. And I know how remarkably easy it is to switch that "healthy eating" button OFF and then start to fall back into old habits. So READ THIS. Read it often. Etch it into your mind. And if you start to forget, come back and read this again.

You will not stay at your goal weight if you start eating anything and everything you want to eat. Now I know what you're thinking. You want to reward yourself. You want to taste everything you've restricted from your eating plan for the last 8 months. I get it. I do. But you CANNOT stay at your goal weight, if you eat peanut butter, bread and spaghetti every day. You just can't! 

Let's talk a little more about what it's like to be FAT. Yes, when you wrote this letter, you were FAT. You weighed in at 212 pounds at your heaviest. And back then you preferred to wear elastic pants. You called them yoga pants, to try to make yourself accept the situation you were in, but still the fact remains that you couldn't even fit into most of your clothes. And when you did try on your jeans, you realized they were ginormous mom jeans, and you hated the way you looked. The back pockets stretched across your rear end in the most unflattering way imaginable.

You wore a lot of black.

Many of your coats and jackets became too small. Remember the men's yellow one you always wore? Remember why? Most of your own jackets were too small. You put on your red one and it would barely reach around you!

Remember sitting in the car, or in the truck? You noticed at the very beginning of your journey to lose weight that you had to move a little sideways to get to the seatbelt buckle and snap it together. When you sat down in the bathtub your hips and thighs came right to the sides of the tub. When you looked down at your lap, all you could see was your huge gut. There's no chance it would be flat. Ever. No matter how much sucking in you did.

Do you remember that when you bent down to pick something up or to put on your socks and shoes, that your knees actually widened so that you could bend down easier?

When you looked in the mirror at the beauty shop, you hardly recognized your own fat face. Your chin was rounded. Your neck was flabby. Your shoulders were way broader than they should have been.

Remember avoiding all those holiday pictures last year? Your family didn't take any group holiday pictures in 2013, and you made sure that you didn't try to change that - you didn't want to be in any pictures. But, remember those shots that your sister took of you testing out the drums? FAT. HUGE. DISGUSTING. You kept those pictures. Go look at them now. Remember.

You preached a lot about loving yourself and how people are beautiful at every size, but you haven't felt beautiful in a long time. Back then, you usually didn't wear any makeup. Your hair would often be pulled back in a ponytail. And there were many days that you'd dread putting on your undergarments - they were tight. They didn't fit right. And you were miserable. You didn't feel pretty. You didn't feel confident. You didn't feel sexy. Not even close.

Last night your son left half of a chocolate cupcake on his plate - you bought two giant, beautiful cupcakes - for the 3 people at your house. You did NOT buy one for yourself, because your willpower was strong back then. You had just found your focus AGAIN and changed your mindset over from "eat whatever you want" to "this has to stop." As you were cleaning up in the kitchen, you paused for a minute and looked at the chocolate cupcake on the plate. It was just a brief moment, but you had a very clear realization. It reminded you that you had to write all of this down. You had to warn your "goal weight" self. You were afraid you'd fail again this time around. And you knew that you'd forget what it felt like to be fat and miserable. And then you tossed it right in the trashcan. I bet if that happens again you won't instantly remember what it was like to have that kind of willpower. But please, try. Please read this letter and remember your former fat self. Don't come back here. Evolve to fit. Practice healthy eating habits and moderation. Don't repeat this cycle again. Take care of this one body that you have. Live a healthy, active, fun life! It's not a finish line. It's your life. Live it to the fullest.

I love you.

Amber

21 Day Fix Preview!

I can't WAIT for celebrity trainer Autumn Calabrese's new program 21-Day Fix. It's a program that focuses equally on what you eat and how much to eat, AND exercise. And it's for all fitness levels. It even comes with 7 portion controlled containers. You just fill the color-coded containers - and eat. No measuring, counting carbs or calories, etc. And the program is 21 days long. I have serious commitment issues - when programs last for 10 weeks I feel like total failure when I skip days. And I usually end up flaking out or only finishing certain parts of a program. I can do anything for 21 days! And I won't feel like a total loser for not finishing. This program also has 30-minute workouts that you complete along with it. In the test groups, people lost 10-15 pounds during the 3 weeks! And many participants completed multiple rounds of it, and lost up to 100 pounds! This program launches in February, and I'm happy to give you all the details if you think you might want to try it with me. My February challenge groups will be focusing on this program. If this sounds like the program for you, send me a note or sign up for my fitness team for FREE, and I'll let you know the release date the second I find out. I think it's set for February 3! A challenge pack will be $140 (this includes a month of Shakeology and saves you $60) and the base pack for the program is $59.85!

Making Friends with the Scale

We all know that we're more than the numbers on a scale. We know it. But it feels so awful to see a number you dread pop up on the darn thing. Those stupid digital digits. I've been feeling angry lately because I keep seeing the same numbers - up 2, down 1, up 3, down 0.5. The process of losing weight in a nutritionally sound way is HARD. It's long. It's frustrating at times. And it's easier when you know you're going through it with other people. It's also easier when you have an accountability partner - someone who checks on you and talks with you about the things you're going through. I'm NOT happy with the numbers on my scale. But I can tell you I'm down 2 pounds from the last time I stepped on it. You didn't gain the weight overnight, and you won't lose it overnight either. But if you stick to healthy, whole, nutritious foods - with ingredients you can pronounce or with no labels on them at all - you'll get there. And I'm on the journey with you.