I shared in my first blog post that I try to follow a mostly clean eating meal plan. And that’s true, I do TRY to eat clean 80% of the time and live a healthy lifestyle. Well, lately I have been failing miserably at that. I have not been working out regularly and instead of following an 80/20 approach, I have been closer to 20/80. With everything going on with Chris’ health (read about it here), I have been so mentally exhausted I’ve had no motivation to get up early and get my workout in or watch what I’m eating. Carbs are my comfort food and I have been eating my body weight in pasta, bread, popcorn, and sweets. Ok that may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.
Two years ago I started a weight loss journey. My clothes were getting too small and weren’t fitting right and I was feeling pretty down about myself. I started an at-home workout program and I worked out 6 days a week. I also learned about clean eating and started following a meal plan. Through a lot of hard work, self control, and dedication I lost 20 pounds. I felt the most confident I had felt in years. I maintained that weight for the most part until last year when Chris was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy. All of a sudden our world was turned upside down and I was definitely unprepared. I became so focused on taking care of Chris, our dogs, and the house that I had no motivation left to take care of myself. I have gained back about 10 pounds of the 20 that I lost. Now I’m back in the familiar place of my clothes getting too small and not feeling confident at all when I look in the mirror.
So I’ve decided to prioritize myself more. I am planning to start my home workouts again and my goal is to work out 4-5 days a week. I am also determined to go back to my 80/20 clean eating approach. A big part of sticking to the meal plan is setting myself up for success, which means meal prepping will be super important. I shared some meal prep tips a few weeks ago and today I am sharing a meal plan that I prepped over the weekend. I prepared my breakfasts, lunches, and snacks for the week week to set myself up for success.
Menu
- Breakfast: Greek yogurt with granola and fruit. Side of hard boiled eggs.
- Lunch: “Chipotle” burrito bowl
- Snacks: Apple slices, and roasted butternut squash
Ingredients
- Greek yogurt
- Granola
- Fruit (I chose strawberries)
- Eggs
- Rice (I used white rice because that’s what I had on hand)
- 2 Bell Peppers, 1 Onion
- 1 Can of Black Beans
- Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
- Taco Seasoning
- Butternut squash
- Cranberries/Craisins (Depending on if cranberries are in season)
- Apples (Or store bought apple slices)
To Prepare
The first thing I did was bake my hard boiled eggs. Yes, you heard that right. I prepare my eggs by baking them in the oven. It’s so easy and it saves so much time since you don’t have to babysit them. I detailed the instructions here in my original meal prep tips post. While the eggs baked, I washed and cut up the strawberries so they were prepped for the week. I also portioned out my Greek yogurt and granola so it will be easy (and quick) to combine when I am ready for breakfast.
After that I portioned out apple slices for a snack at work. You can buy whole apples and eat those throughout the week also, that’s another option. Within 30 minutes, my breakfasts and a snack for the week were done.
Next I got the butternut squash roasting. Butternut squash is technically a vegetable and I followed THIS recipe which gives the squash a nice sweetness. It’s a good way to sneak some vegetables into my clean eating plan cause I have a hard time eating all my veggies.
While the squash roasted, I started on my “Chipotle burrito bowls”. I have to say that I LOVE Chipotle. I have been super bored with my lunches lately and nothing has sounded really appetizing. Except one thing… Chipotle. I could eat it for lunch every day of the week. The only reason I don’t is because that would get expensive. Chris and I have put a lot of focus on our budget this year and it’s been so helpful! (If you’re interested in a post on what we are doing, leave a comment and let me know!) Sadly, daily lunches at Chipotle are not in our budget, so I chose to make my own version of a burrito bowl at home to take for lunch this week.
To make my burrito bowls, I boiled rice, sauteed peppers and onions, and made taco meat. I used ground beef and taco seasoning, but there are so many ways you can make the meat for your bowls. You could use chicken, steak, pork, or leave out the meat all together and make this vegetarian. Lots of options. I also drained and rinsed a can of black beans to add to my bowls as well. Once everything was ready to go, it was time to assemble.
I am a sucker for the Chipotle salad dressing. It is so good and I always add it to my burrito bowls. Is that weird? I found a recipe online so I could make the dressing at home (recipe here). It delicious and it will be perfect on top of my burrito bowls! I am also going to add cheese and lettuce, but you can top your bowl with whatever you want. A few options are sour cream, salsa, olives, jalapenos. The possibilities are endless, you can totally make this your own.
By the time the butternut squash was done roasting, I had finished assembling my burrito bowls for the week. So in about an hour or slightly more, I meal prepped all of the food I am going to take to work for the week. I’m setting myself up for success and that is so important when you are on a weight loss journey.
Tim Jacobs
Hey Amanda, great article! I’ve also started incorporating more of the meal-prep strategy into my life too! I did it for multiple reasons, 1 was health/fitness to coincide with my gym schedule, and 2 was because it was so expensive eating out even 1-2 times a week! Good luck and keep it up!
AMorgan16
Hi Tim! Thank you so much, I am so glad you found this post helpful!