Monday, September 26, 2011

Weekly Meals and Exercise Thoughts

As I mentioned in my meal planning post last week, fall is always busy for us, and I try to be more organized and efficient when it comes to our meals. Thank you everyone for your great comments and suggestions on last week’s post! One recurring suggestion was to make better use of the freezer, and I’m determined to double more recipes and freeze several meals each week.

Over the weekend, I took a good look at our freezer and realized that several items needed to be used up. I also wanted to make more space, so many meals this week will come from the freezer, which is nice and will give me some much needed time.

Weekly Meals

Meal 1: Bean and beef chili (Last week, I made chili for my brother-in-law who babysat for us one night. I froze the leftovers, and we’ll eat them this week. I very loosely followed Tami’s recipe, and it turned out great! I’ll always make chili in the slow cooker from now on!)
Meal 2: Veggie and bean soup (I made a huge pot a few weeks ago and froze the leftovers.)
Meal 3: Veggie soup with dumplings (I have some homemade frozen dumplings in the freezer that need to be used up. I’ll make a simple veggie soup with onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.)
Meal 4: Salmon cakes and a salad.
Meal 5: Quesadillas with Greek yogurt, salsa, and avocado and a salad.

Here is a photo of the chili I made for my brother-in-law last week. I served it with a little Greek yogurt, cheese, and green onions over a baked sweet potato.


Weekly Workouts and Some Exercise Thoughts

Last year I had some issues with exercise guilt when I didn’t work out every day. I soon realized the hard way that some rest days are necessary as I got sick a lot and also sustained some injuries. I also didn’t like the useless feelings of guilt when I took a day off.

A few months ago, I started a “new system.” I now plan workouts for 5 days out of the week, and if I don’t do one or part of one workout, I make it up during the weekend. Most weekends I have some workouts to make up, but if I don’t have anything to make up, I just get to do what I want (without guilt!), be it doing nothing, going on a hike, or anything else. So far, it works great, and I’m happy that I have a healthier relationship with exercise.

Here are my workouts for this week:

Monday: Barre workout.
Tuesday: Weight circuits.
Wednesday: Barre workout.
Thursday: Weight circuits and HIIT.
Friday: Long(er) cardio workout.

Questions: What’s on your menu this week? Do you ever cook extra and freeze meals? What workouts do you have planned for this week? Do you ever experience "exercise guilt?" If so, how do you deal with it?
 
Be well,
Andrea