One of the biggest obstacles I think is standing in my way (besides myself - get it? lolol) has been this feeling of frustration with dieting in general.
Stay with me for a moment. I know that sounds obvious.
I have been struggling with my weight since the fifth grade and probably before that. Eleven is kind of the age that sticks out in my mind. Maybe I really had chunked up or perhaps I was just becoming more self aware.
In any event, that means that I have been trying to diet, lose weight, watch what I eat, whatever-you-want-to-call-it for nearly two decades now. Because of that, I know a lot about dieting. Like seriously, I'm somewhat of a dieting expert.
First I tried cutting out sugar. Next, I started counting calories. In high school, I joined Weight Watchers. And then again in college. And then again before I got pregnant with Katelyn. And then again after she was born. (There should be some sort of Frequent Fatty discount for people like me.) During my teenage years I tried the Atkins Diet for a while. Then I read The South Beach Diet and totally revised my method of thinking on weight loss. I drank Slimfast by the gallon my freshman year at BYU (not all at once, of course - that would defeat the purpose) Once I tried eating only Lean Cuisines. It was expensive and gross. For a while, I went on Nutrisystem and had all of my food delivered to my house in a giant cardboard box. It was more expensive and more gross. I tried counting and measuring everything I have eaten. I downloaded a handy little calorie counting app on my phone that I never once opened (because nobody wants to record the calories that came from eating an entire container of Blue Bell ice cream). I've just about tried it all.
I guess there are two points I am trying to make here.
One is that I am not fat for a lack of trying.
The second is that I am burned out of everything.
And here's the kicker. They all work. They really do. Every single one of those diets I've just described is pretty much effective. Here's the key though. You have stick to it. Which I'll admit I haven't done. I'm not trying to give myself and easy out and be all like, "Yeah, I just can't lose any weight because no diet will work for me. So..." I'd venture to say that EVERY diet will work for me if I could just stick to it.
Why can't I stick to it?
Well, that's a post for another day.
Anyway, this time around I'm trying the lazy poor person diet. What's that, you ask? Well, I invented it. The lazy poor person diet is when you are too lazy to cook nutritious meals for yourself during the week but you are too poor to buy prepackaged diet foods. I will admit that it takes some effort but not much.
Yesterday I spent about a half an hour planning my meals for the week. I wrote everything down. (!!! I love making lists!!! Your mileage may vary but, besides eating, this is the best part of the diet.) I made a list of our family meals and a list of the groceries needed. I even made another list to organize the items needed by grocery store department. It was truly blissful.
Next, Dave and Katelyn and I drove to the store and braved HEB on a Saturday afternoon. In retrospect, this would have ideally been done during the week in the morning but I was really excited to get started. I got everything we needed and triple checked the list to make sure nothing was missed. Being lazy means that you will choose going off your diet rather than making a separate trip to the store. Just being honest.
So tonight was where the effort came into play. Starting at about seven, I cooked and prepared nearly everything for the week. I sauteed, chopped up, washed and rinsed, mixed, stirred and packed away about 75% of the food we will be eating this week. I just finished so that means I spent a total of about three hours in the kitchen which, really, is not too bad for a week's worth of food.
I made breakfast casserole muffins (which are AMAZING) to go with our smoothies in the morning.
For lunch, we have fancy mason jar salad. (Mason jars make me feel like a hipster imposter.) All we need to do is shake them and enjoy.
And lastly, I whipped up some baked ziti with sausage and a delicious chicken casserole (not pictured) for dinner. So that's at least two nights taken care of. But also there's no way we could even think about eating all that pasta so leftovers! Holla! Also, this will look WAY better once it has been baked. That's kind of the point of baked ziti, I guess.
The lazy poor person diet might not have a good name but it will save you money and I think it's shaping up to be quite the healthy plan.
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