The No-Excuses Jump-Start Meal Plan

Here she is. Go get 'em.
Links go to actual recipes and a * means there'll be a rough guide down the bottom of the post.
PS. If you're curious about the actual calorie content of the meals, let me know and I can email you the full calorie breakdown of each day/meal/recipe.


Monday


Breakfast
     Apple Pie Porridge 
Snack
     23 almonds
Lunch
     Rice Paper Rolls
Snack
     1 cup air popped popcorn
Dinner
     Char-Grilled Vegetable Stack


Tuesday


Breakfast
     Avo Toast (Two slices of wholegrain toast with 1/2 small avocado, mashed, salt and pepper)
Snack
     ½ an apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter
Lunch
     Epic Salad (2 cups mixed leaves, ¼ cup carrot, grated, 1 tomato, sliced, 3 inches of cucumber, sliced, ¼ cup roasted red pepper, sliced, 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, ¼ cup canned chickpeas, ¼ avocado, diced)
Snack
     100 calories worth of your favourite yoghurt
Dinner
     Bangers and Mash


Wednesday


Breakfast
     Cereal (1 cup puffed rice, ½ cup multi-grain cheerios, 1 cup puffed wheat, ½ small banana, 1 cup light soy milk)
Snack
     20 large grapes
Lunch
     Hearty Sandwich (2 slices wholegrain bread, 2 tbsp hummus, ¼ cup shredded carrot, 1 handful baby spinach, 5 sun dried tomato halves, thinly sliced, 4-5 rings of red onion)
Snack
     100 calories worth of your favourite yoghurt 
Dinner
     Taco Salad


Thursday


Breakfast
     Smoothie (1 banana, frozen, 1 cup soy milk, ½ cup strawberries, plenty of ice, ½ tbsp honey)
Snack
     23 almonds
Lunch
     Soup with roll (Vegetable Soup, tinned/homemade/bought, max 200 calories, with a small wholegrain roll)
Snack
     1 cup air popped popcorn
Dinner
     Two-mato Pasta Salad


Friday


Breakfast
     Avo Toast (Two slices of wholegrain toast with 1/2 small avocado, mashed, salt and pepper)
Snack
     2 5in stalks of celery with 1 tbsp of peanut butter each
Lunch
     Chunky Vegetable Pasta
Snack
     1 small apple, sliced, sprinkled with cinnamon
Dinner
     Vegetable and White Bean Stew


Saturday


Breakfast
     Simple Pancakes with Strawberry-Almost-Compote
Snack
     1 large orange 
Lunch 
     Brown Rice and Vegetable Salad
Snack
     Cucumber-hummus bites (1/2 cucumber, sliced into coins, dipped into 3 tbsp hummus)
Dinner
     Super Simple Stir-fry


Sunday


Breakfast
     Coconut-Banana French Toast
Snack
     100 calories worth of your favourite yogurt
Lunch
     Baked beans on toast (2 slices wholegrain bread, toasted, topped with 3/4 cup baked beans)
Snack
     1 apple
Dinner
     Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

So


What do you think?

Stay happy!

Love, 

Me.

xo

Productivity and Positivity

I love making lists. Groceries, things to do, things to buy, movies I want to watch, anything really. This, however, concerns ‘To-Do’ lists.

The best way to make a to-do list, oddly enough, is to make it really long. As long as possible, actually. Confused? Let me explain. Take one job you have to do, and split it up into as many small jobs as you can think of. Then, as you do each mini-job, mark it as done or check it off. 

DO NOT ERASE IT! 

This way you can see how much you’ve already done, instead of just how much you have left to do.

I’ll use house work as an example- this is a bad list.

• Clean house

Bad! You have one huge job to do. This is a MASSIVE de-motivator. Just looking at one huge job like this makes me want to sit on my butt in front of the TV and zone out the mess.

This is a slightly better list.

• Clean bedroom
• Clean kitchen
• Clean bathrooms
• Clean living area

See? Even though it’s the same amount of work, you have a longer list and thus more items to check off. Going by room isn’t a bad way to go, either. But we can do better, get really detailed. I’ll just use a few rooms as an example.

• Wash dishes
•  Put away dishes
• Wipe down benches
• Sweep floor
• Take out rubbish
• Organise pantry
• Wash clothes
• Put clothes in dryer
• Fold clothes
• Put clothes away
• Iron

Now that’s hardly two rooms’ worth, but its super long already. My lists, honestly, get ridiculous and you might think I'm silly for turning one job into ten. Or twenty. Or more. But with each 2-10 minute job, you get to cross another item off the list, keeping you motivated!

Stay happy!

Love, 

Me.

xo