6 Month Postpartum Progress

How is my baby already 6 months old?! That's not ok. I keep on thinking if I hug him tight enough it will stop him from growing up… I wish!

One thing I will always say about myself is that I'm an open book. A bit too honest maybe? When I started this blog I wanted to be one hundred percent honest. I wanted to show the ups and the downs of my weight-loss journey. You'd think that other people who had started a weight-loss blog may fib a little bit and say they've been working out hours on end but the weight hasn't come off. Mmmm nope. Not here. Honestly this past month I have only been putting in maybe two days of work outs a week. Not going to lie!

I lost 2 lbs this past month... Which isn't ideal but I'm happy with any loss. Heck I'm happy as long as I'm not gaining! One thing that has surprised me is that I didn't gain any weight back from the juice fast the other month; that was surprising to me! I was sure that weight-loss was a bunch of water weight, but I guess not!

I think the reason I've lost some motivation to work out is because I'm feeling dang good in my clothes ;). But really! It's almost like I need to feel chubby to keep up the motivation. I just need to realize that to continue feeling good in my clothes I need to continue working out. Just like I've always said, eating healthy and living an active lifestyle isn't a destination, it's a journey! I just need to keep it a habit.

Meal Prep

That being said, I still am continuing to eat clean. Eating clean is actually something I've really excelled at this past month. What I've been doing is prepping my meals ahead of time. I usually will just cook a bunch of chicken, broccoli and brown rice all at once, then divide it up into tubberware containers and stick it in the freezer until I'm ready to eat it.

Chicken

I get a big bag of frozen chicken breasts from Costco (It's about $22 for 18 chicken breasts… which is the best deal I've found) and then I put them in the crockpot with a little seasoning. For seasoning I will usually use one or two of those zesty italian seasoning packets, salad dressing, or terriyaki sauce... get creative! I don't feel guilty about cooking it in the sauce because the chicken hardly absorbs any of the sauce, rather it just gives it a nice kick! I will put 8-10 chicken breasts in the crockpot and cook it on low for 4 to 5 hours (just until it's no longer pink in the middle).

Brown Rice

To cook the brown rice I get a bag of Target's market pantry brown rice from target (it's 89 cents for one whole bag, what a steal!) and put it in the rice cooker with some seasoning and a tablespoon of olive oil. You can make your own seasoning or you can just pour in one of the italian seasoning packets. I usually put 5 cups of water in with my brown rice, but I like my rice to be pretty saturated. I've found that it freezes better when it's cooked with a little more water than usual.

Broccoli

I get a big bag of cut broccoli florets from Costco. It's usually about $5 give or take for a great big bag. I count on putting in a handful or two of broccoli for each meal and just steam it on the stove top. I have a great big pot for steaming so it makes it easy, I bring the water to a boil and then stick in the broccoli for about 10 minutes.  I wait to start the brown rice and broccoli until the chicken is nearing the end of it's cooking time. 

Once they are all done I divide up the meals, stick it in some tupperware, and go on my way! Seriously, an hour of meal prep for like 10 meals? Doesn't get better than that! I've also calculated just how much it costs per meal to eat clean like this… and it's only like $1.65. Pretty sure my husband and I save money when we eat like this… And you may find that one whole chicken breast is too much for one meal. If you just do half a chicken breast you'd be under $1.00 per meal! And trust me, you 'aint gonna get real food like this off the dollar menu.

I will thaw however many meals I need the next day in my fridge overnight, and when I'm ready to eat them I just stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Added bonus? Cooked chicken stays good in the freezer for up to 6 months! Love this little chart below if I ever have any questions.

Because I have only lost 2 pounds the past month I won't be posting any progress pictures this month… rather I'll be waiting until next month. October 22… here I come!