How to get back on track

We've all done it.
You're on a roll. You haven't cheated in weeks! You've been getting your workouts in. You're already judging all those people at lunch drinking soda or eating those cheesy burgers. You have made it. You're one of the healthy people now.

And then you crash.
HARD.

Maybe it was poor timing. You just couldn't get up that early. So you sleep in and then when you're choosing lunch you realize you've lost a bit of your power you get from nailing your workout, and you choose the burger. It looks good, damn-it, and you deserve it. But then you miss it the next day. Your husband wants cupcakes after dinner and you want quality time with him so you can't possibly say no. So you eat it.

It can spiral easily. It's not like you woke up and decided "Screw this healthy eating good choices thing, I'm going back to my old ways!" You actually just made small choices without thinking about your goals first. It's possible your goals seemed tiny and insignificant compared to the major emotional problems that were blaring in your face in that moment. I get it, and I've been there.

That was my last week ^^^^^^^

It's not like I wasn't loving my program. I was in the rest week of Phase 2 of P90x3 and I was really happy. I just had some things come up that I should have handled differently. I was stressed out, tired, and overwhelmed. I chose cupcakes and apple crisp instead of my future body. I picked emotional binge eating to fix my problems.

This isn't about cheat meals. I am 100% for cheat meals and I don't think you can truly make this a lifestyle without them. My ovaries would quit life if I deprived them of the occasional Oreo or 2. The problem I had with accessing this past week is that it wasn't healthy. I was making bad choices because I didn't want to really deal with anything that was going on.

Sometimes it's easier. I get that. There will be times where you just can't eat one more piece of chicken and work sucks and you just need an Oreo (geez I can't get them off the brain today!). It's going to happen. Part of life is choosing to die to who you WERE and choosing to become who you really ARE.

So this week is new. It's Monday morning and I'm hitting the reset button on life. I've spent time with myself and reorganized my emotions. I've put my foot down and stopped the cycle here. It will not creep into this week; don't let it, friend. We can do this together. Today starts the journey to our better selves again. We just tripped and fell. I know it felt like a tsunami hit us and we'll never find the path again, but it's just not true. Step back and see that you just fell and it's not the end.

How do we reset? Simple:

1. Take a breath and step back. Analyze exactly where you decided against your goals. There was a deciding moment, find it and discover your emotions and the context of the situation. Part of this journey is learning the new you. You need to know how you USED to react to situations so you can learn how the new you will react to them in the future!

2. Plan a cheat meal. Girls night coming up? Dinner out with friends? Date night? Plan it. Having something to look forward to gives you resolve plus it makes it taste SO much better knowing you earned it all week.

3. Forget about it. That was last week. Move on. Today is new. This week is new. Today has no idea what you did yesterday, so don't give it another thought. Rock out your Monday like you've been fit your whole life.

I'm going to keep pushing forward. I started today with my Shakeology to reset my sugar cravings and I'm about to go tackle my meal plan for the week ahead.

What are you going to do to hit the reset button?



Join me in my journey of craziness and pushing towards a healthy lifestyle!!!!


xoxo,


Summer

Family Meal Plan PLUS bonus Toddler Meal Plan

It's Monday and in the Johnston household that means a lot of food prep and cooking! Mondays are my day off for the week (instead of Saturdays) so this is when I get things done to make the rest of my week work.
It all begins on Sunday afternoon. Bubby goes down for a nap and the meal planning begins. Now let me just insert a fun fact for a second: I HATE MEAL PLANNING. I will cook anything you ask of me, as long as you decide what we're cooking. It's insanely stressful for me. It wasn't until we started looking at our budget that I realized we were spending way too much money on food. Not just going out but throwing things into the cart without rhyme or reason. I had produce going bad, fruit flies everywhere, and always the wrong meat in my freezer! I realized I really needed to start thinking about what we were going to cook before we even bought the groceries. So enter Sundays. I sat down and thought of 3 meals. That's it: 3 meals. We usually have leftovers for 2 of the nights, we eat out 1 night a week and Tuesdays are special: I work late and Hubby is super awesome about coming up with anything to eat. Usually it's more leftovers or sandwiches or simple pasta dishes. Not because he can't cook (good lord he's amazing) but because it's usually crazy when it's only one parent at home with Bubby.
This is how I break it down and write a meal plan in about >30 min.

Start by writing out 3 different breakfast options:
Breakfast: 
Shakeology (healthiest meal of the day!! and easiest)
Eggs with potatoes and leftover broccoli (see dinners)
Oatmeal w/ banana and PB

Then think of snacks. Since I eat "clean" one of the rules is to eat frequently throughout the day, every 2-3 hours. Snacks are really important. Balanced snacks will pair a complex carb (such as fruit, veggies or I even count cheese) with a protein.

Snacks:

Cheese sticks (2) with almonds (12)
Cottage cheese and fruit (peaches)
Veggies (peppers, cucumbers, carrots) with greek yogurt
Fruit (grapes) with cashews

Lunch is the easiest for me to plan. I'm super boring, my Hubby eats carrots and a banana for lunch (I'm not even joking he is that easy to plan for) and Bubby has her own meal plan for lunches.

Lunch:
Salads with Chicken, feta, pecans
Frozen stir fry and chicken
Salad with Tuna Salad (made with greek yogurt and mustard)

Dinner is the trickiest because you're feeding the whole family at once and it has to get made between getting home at 5 or 6pm and Bubby going to bed at 8pm. I'm also trying to limit the amount of meat we consume (to save money and because I really value a plant-based diet).

Dinner: 
Whole Roasted Chicken, roasted broccoli, and sweet potatoes
-now there is no way my family is going to eat a whole chicken, but I can get chicken broth plus shredded chicken for either soup or bbq chicken sandwiches at a later date! Way better than just buying 3 chicken breasts for almost the same price! I buy a whole, unfrozen, natural chicken and just boil it in water with salt and pepper. Use the leftover broccoli in your eggs the next day!
Tomato Soup and Grilled Turkey cheese Sandwiches
-I do NOT buy canned tomato soup since I can't find a brand that doesn't put sugar in it. I found a great recipe on this site that I am using. I do buy fresh shaved deli meat turkey that I know some people would have a problem with but I don't.
Red Beans and Rice- SO excited to try this tonight!!! I've linked the recipe I'll be kind of using. I'm not adding any sausage and Hubby vetoed the creole seasoning so I'm going to make that part up as I go. This should give me leftovers for one of the other nights this week.


Then I just made a list of what I needed to get that I didn't already have, which was mostly produce and the beans. I only spent $59 at the store! Really excited about that! It's fun when you're trying and it literally pays off!

Below is the promised bonus Toddler Meal Plan with 2 specific recipes: one of my own creation and one I found on Pinterest. Here's a preview pic of what I have planned for my Bubby for the week

Toddler Menu 


I hope this helped you in some way. I'd love to hear how YOU meal plan! I'll take all the ideas I can get!!!


xoxo,

Summer

30 Day Results and Review

I can't believe I'm writing this: 30 days in the bag. Actually I'm a week behind in writing this so I'm a week into the new schedule BUT I'm crazy busy so you're hearing about it now. I just have to say that it seemed to go by fast! Which just really hammers in that quote I saw the other day "The time is going to pass anyways, you might as well DO something with it." Love it. My life is crazy busy with a baby, work, husband, coaching, and life in general. It's going to go by fast so I might as well get fit while it's happening. It's 30 minutes and I can make time for that. Even earlier this week I had slept in, put in a full day at work, made dinner, put Bubby to bed, and had settled down to hang out with the Hubby to watch a documentary on Unions (yeah, we're weird like that). All of the sudden I realized I hadn't worked out that day. The whole day had just flew by me and I'd completely forgot. I also remembered it was YogaX. Old me: oops, well try again tomorrow... plus it's yoga which is basically not working out anyways, right? (not that I would know because I always skipped the yoga dvds anyways). Not anymore!!! New me: Crap! I forgot to workout! Sorry, babe, I'm going to go push play and I'll be back in 30 min. Oh, it's Yoga? Sweet, I could use some balance after a day like today. THAT is what we call Life Transformation. I'm changing the way my mind reacts towards fitness which will eventually change my body. It's amazing.

So here's a gander at my before and after picture for just the 30 days. Explanation: 1st picture my husband was available to take it. 2nd picture he was still sleeping and the only full length mirror in the house oddly enough is in Bubby's nursery. So it's not as clear but you have a great view of her adorable room. 

Sweet, huh?? I wasn't sure there was much change before I took the photo. I knew one of my pants seemed a little bit bigger but not that much. The picture really shows it. 

Then I took my measurements. I lost 5lbs, 1" off my waist, and 2" off my hips. 

Holy Inches!!!! That is incredible! I'm so excited. I went from being able to do 5 normal pushups before switching to knee-style, to now I can do about 12 before switching!!!! My core is stronger, I can hold poses longer, and I can actually do more poses which means I'm getting more flexible! I still hate cardio but I don't think that will ever change. HA

So that's my 30 days in results! I still have 60 to go which is mind blowing what those results will be!! I'm so jacked to see my 90 day picture! 

What are your goals? Where do you want to be in 30, 60, even 90 days!?! 

Hit me up at www.facebook.com/Summerfitnesslife   or email me at summerfitness12@gmail.com

I'd love to help or get you plugged into one of my Challenges!