Week 5 weight loss update

We received the official “construction has started” email on our new house! If the weather holds, we’ll progress from a gravel pit to a poured concrete slab by Wednesday. I haven’t shared much about this, but we’re building a townhome about ten minutes from our current location. We’ll be just across the state line in South Carolina and will be on the same street as some good friends, which will be awesome.

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve come to realize that preparing my lunches in advance goes a long way toward staying on track with my nutritional goals. I’ve typically just opened the refrigerator around noon to see what’s on hand and thrown something together. I don’t think I usually eat bad food when this happens, but it’s usually done without regard for calorie counts or a balanced diet. I’ve frequently made a sandwich and cooked some skillet mac ‘n’ cheese – which is fine until you need to track those calories. All that delicious, cheesy goodness is delicious, cheesy comfort, though.

But I decided it wouldn’t hurt to invest in some meal prep resources, so I stopped by the Barnes & Noble near my house and picked up a few meal prep cookbooks (along with a book of exercises I found in the book annex for $10. Doesn’t hurt to have it, right?). I don’t mind finding recipes online, but it’s so easy to get lost online for several hours scrolling through cooking blogs only to realize you’ve not found something that fits your needs.

So I bought new cookbooks for lunch ideas… and ignored them in favor of a super basic lunch prep this week. For lunch this week, I’m eating one Johnsonville sweet Italian sausage, 1/2 cup quinoa with toasted pine nuts and basil, and mixed vegetables (totaling 448 calories in total). I did, however, plan out some yummy dinners for the week from these cookbooks. We’re having paprika-rubbed pork tenderloin with shallot pan sauce tomorrow evening and Greek sheet pan chicken Wednesday night. I’m allergic to shellfish and often leery of seafood in general, but I’m even venturing outside my comfort zone with pan-seared cod in romesco sauce.

As of my weigh-in this morning, I’m down 12.6 lbs!

I think I’m learning to find balance and managing to keep snacking and overeating under control. I wasn’t as active as I should have been last week, and I did consume more empty calories than I should have by wandering out to the bars one night, but I still lost a little over one pound. All in all, I’ll consider it a successful week!