Cliche?

Failure to plan is to plan for failure.

Ok, how many of you want to smack me in the face right now? Your initial reaction may be a defensive one "No, I can still succeed in making wise choices even if I do not "plan" for them." Now, take a deep breath and ask yourself if that statement is 100% accurate.

Honestly, I think that the old cliche is definitely onto something but I do not think it is always 100% true. I think that we CAN still make wise food choices, at times, even if we have not planned ahead. I do however, know that planning ahead can REALLY REALLY help us stick to our healthy lifestyle!!!!!

As I mentioned earlier this week. I did not "plan" for the days when I had training last week. So, I ate out more than I would have liked. What is my weapon for this week? I PLANNED out meals for dinner. I then went to the grocery store with a LIST for those meals and anything else that we NEED for the next two weeks. I stocked up on lots of fruits and veggies. You know what? It feels SO SO SO SO SO good to have a plan!!!! There may be a few days here and there that the plan does not play out exactly how it is written on my calendar. I have to realize that I will survive and that it is OK!!!!

The point is that I am setting myself up to succeed!!!! Most likely, if you buy food for a specific meal you will try to use it up instead of letting it go to waste. We know that letting food go in the trash is not only wasting food but wasting money as well. Neither of which we would actually want to do.

Planning for two weeks worth of meals may seem quite overwhelming. Let me assure you, I do NOT cook a "real meal" every night of the week. I take a look at our schedule and figure out who has to be where which nights or what the activities look like during the day. I then plan accordingly. I know that if I have MOPS and three other activities in one day (Lord I hope I never have that much going on in one day ;) He he he), then the dinner for that night needs to be quick and simple. That may mean that we have a frozen pizza that night. You may be thinking "Wait, did she just say FROZEN PIZZA? I thought this girl was blogging about eating healthy!!!" You see, writing it on my calendar that we will have frozen pizza on Wed. night will help me to plan to eat more strategically for the rest of the day leading up to pizza time. Make sense? I will also plan on NOT eating 5 pieces of said pizza!!!!

Let me encourage you to start some kind of planning of your own. It may be for two weeks, it may just be for two days. It really depends on what you think you can handle at the moment. There have been weeks where I was SO overwhelmed at the thought of planning dinners for two weeks that I could only bring myself to plan for one week. TOTALLY fine!!! What have I been telling you this whole time? You CAN make wise choices!!! You CAN change the way that you eat and live!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Let's do it together!! You are NOT alone!!!!

New train of thought-

Pregnancy. Yes, that is something still on my mind. Makes sense, considering I am pregnant and all that ;) I figured I would just give you a little update on how things are going. I am 16 weeks along. We heard the heartbeat on Valentine's day :) SO excited :) Up until this point I have gained 13lbs. This is a hard thing to think about. I KNOW that I have to gain while pregnant, it just takes some time getting used to watching the numbers on the scale go up ;) However, my husband did tell me the other day that I am a "hot" pregnant chick this time around ;) I'll take it!!!!

There are some possible changes coming up concerning my prenatal and delivery care. During this pregnancy I have been less than thrilled with the treatment I have been getting from the medical staff at my OB's office. It is kind of hard to put my finger on exactly what it is. Things have just changed over the years since I first started there. Lots of new employees is part of it. Also, I just end up feeling like a number. I do NOT like feeling like a number!!!! I want to feel like my Dr. and the staff actually CARE about me and my baby. I know this is hard with so many patients but I think it is still something to strive for.

Also, I am planning on trying to do this labor and delivery thing without any drugs!!!! I have had an epidural with the first three but now I think I want to end my pregnancy years by going all out to try and do it free of pain meds!!!! One day I just said to myself "Let's do this!!!". With everything at my OB's office along with my desire to have a natural birth, I am looking into going to see a midwife. I found a lady who accepts my insurance and everything :) My next step is to meet with her and decided from there. We shall see ;)

On that note, I think I better scoot. Little guy will be waking up from his nap very soon and then I need to go get the big guy from school :) Check back in later tonight as I will have my food log from yesterday and today posted!!!!