week 1 (sun, jan 12, 2014)

Either you run the day, or the day runs you. 

– Jim Rohn

Note that there is a daily regimen on top of what is listed below - Start Here.

Each blog post will consist of this week's:

• Weekly plan
• Recipes
• Grocery List
• Exercise Regimen

Weekly Plan

Sunday is my starting day because this is the day I like to grocery shop.  Feel free to modify the start day to fit to your schedule.  Be sure to plan out your food schedule so you do not end up having chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Here is my menu plan for this week using the meals listed in this blog post:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Breakfast	Egg White Omelet	Breakfast Quinoa	Cottage Cheese	Breakfast Quinoa	Egg White Omelet	Cottage Cheese	Egg White Omelet
Lunch	Quinoa Pizza Bites	FREE	Quinoa Pizza Bites	Chicken Pita Pocket	Quinoa Pizza Bites	FREE	Chicken Pita Pockets
Dinner	Salmon	Pita Pizza	Chicken Bruschetta	Salmon	Chicken Bruschetta	Pita Pizza	FREE
Snack	Greek Yogurt with fruit	1/2 cup grapes with 1 cheddar cheese stick	Greek Yogurt with fruit	Hard Boiled Egg & Almonds	1/2 cup grapes with 1 cheddar cheese stick	Greek Yogurt with fruit	Hard Boiled Egg & Almonds

Recipes

Breakfast

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese topped with half cup of grapes
• Egg white omelet (1/4 cup egg whites, handful of spinach, dash of onion powder, 1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese).  The great thing about omelets is that you can switch up the veggies you put in them.  So if you run out of spinach, just add another veggie you have lying around in the fridge.
• Breakfast Quinoa (click here for recipe). Note that this recipe yields 2 cups.  Split this into 3 equal servings to have 3 times throughout the week.  A great make ahead meal!

Lunch

• Quinoa Pizza Bites (click here for recipe).  This recipe makes 24 mini muffin bites or 12 normal muffin sized bites.  I would divide this in 3 equal parts to last you through the week.
• Chicken Pita Pockets - buying marinated chicken breasts helps provide flavor and saves you time.  I like to buy the pre-marinated chicken breast/tenders at Trader Joe's.  Bake the chicken off at the beginning of each week to help save time when preparing lunch throughout the week.  Bake your chicken breasts at 350 degrees for 20 min.  Stuff 1 pita pocket with chicken, spinach, mushrooms or any other veggie of choice.
• FREE - integrate 2 lunch outings with friends or co-workers.  There are plenty of tips to follow when eating out, try to integrate this tip when you eat out this week:
• Eat slowly. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to get the message from your stomach that you are no longer hungry. Fast eaters often are overeaters, while slow eaters tend to eat less and are still satisfied.

Dinner

• Chicken Bruschetta - bake 1 chicken breast (season with salt/pepper and a drizzle of olive oil) at 350 degrees for 20 min. Top chicken with mozzarella, then spinach and halved tomatoes and pop back in the oven for 2-3 min. Accompany this with a side of vegetables (1/2 cup).
• Pita Pizza - using the pita bread as your crust, place the pizza sauce on the pita, then top with mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and veggies of choice.  Bake the pita(s) off at 350 degrees for 20 min.  Veggies you should have on hand are mushrooms, onions, spinach, and cherry tomatoes, but of course use whatever you have and want to have on the pizza.  If you are using the pocket sized pizza, 2 pocket pizzas would be a good dinner serving.
• Salmon (season with 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper and any other seasoning of choice; bake at 450 degrees for 12-14 min).  Accompany this with a side of vegetables.
• FREE - integrate 1 night out to eat with friends or family.  There are plenty of tips to follow when eating out, try to integrate this tip when you eat out this week:
• Start your meal with a salad packed with veggies with dressing served on the side.  This will help control hunger and feel satisfied sooner.

Snack

• 1/2 cup grapes with 1 cheddar cheese sticks (I believe most grocery stores have cheddar cheese sticks, but I purchase mine at Trader Joe's, great buy!)
• Greek Yogurt with 1 small apple (sliced)
• 1 Hard Boiled Egg with 1/4 cup almonds - boil your eggs all at one time.  Boiled eggs should keep for 1 week if refrigerated within 2 hours after boiling with their shells on.

Grocery List

I've tried to organize the list as best I can to cut down on grocery shopping time:

Fruits & Vegetables

• 2 onions
• 1 garlic bulb (will last for more than a week)
• Basil
• 1 bag spinach
• Small carton cherry tomatoes
• 8 oz mushrooms (any kind)
• 5 lemons
• 1 bag grapes
• 3 apples
• 1 carton blueberries

Protein

• 16 oz chicken breast (pre-marinated if possible)
• 2 4-oz salmon filets

Eggs & Dairy

• 8 oz mozzarella cheese (skim)
• 16 oz cottage cheese (skim or fat-free)
• 1 quart milk (skim or fat-free)
• 4 eggs
• 1 small carton egg whites
• 1 bag individually wrapped low-fat cheddar cheese sticks (or string cheese of choice)
• 3 single servings of Greek yogurt (flavor of your choice)

Other

• Pizza Sauce
• 2 cups Quinoa
• 1 pack roasted (non-salted) almonds - should last you more than a week depending on how much you purchase
• 6-8 whole wheat pita pockets
• 1 bag frozen vegetable (I prefer Steamers, just pop in the microwave and they're done) - this should be good for 3 to 4 servings

Assumed to have on hand

• onion powder
• cinnamon
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• paprika
• oregano
• light brown sugar

Exercise Regimen

Choose 1 exercise to do each day.  Plan it out to see what exercise fits for which day.  If you have activities that you do already, definitely count that towards your exercise for the day.  I play indoor soccer, so I definitely consider that a substantial cardio workout.  Remember to reserve 1 day for rest each week.  Here is my workout for this week:

Sunday: Snowboarding (3-4 hours) or 60 min Stretch & Conditioning 

Monday: 50 min of indoor soccer

Tuesday: 75 min Beginner's Vinyasa class at a local Yoga studio (I'm starting to get back into Yoga and found a studio with a first time student rate of $30 for the first month.  Be sure to check out local Yoga studios for a similar rate to see if this is the type of exercise for you). 

Wednesday: 50 min of indoor soccer

Thursday: 75 min Beginner's Vinyasa class at a local Yoga studio

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 60 min Stretch & Conditioning class at a local Yoga studio

Exercise Options

• Run for 45 minutes
• Alternate sprinting and walking for 60-90 seconds for 30 minutes
• 1 hour of yoga, kickboxing or Pilates
• Try this total body work out [click here]
• 45 minutes of spin
• 2 sets of Lauren's Arm Workout + 30 squats, 30 lunges, 30 leg lifts for each leg
• 30 minutes of cardio (running, kickboxing, elliptical, swimming, step aerobics etc.)
• Circuit: 100 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 20 squats, 10 push ups, 25 bench dips (you can do this using a chair), 60 second wall sit, 60 second plank (repeat two times)
• Semi-Quickie: 15 minute jog, 20 squats, 20 sit-ups
• Quickie: 20 lunges, 50 jumping jacks (or swap out jumping jacks for jumping rope for 2 minutes)
• 1 hour hike with steady incline

Resource: laurenconrad.com
Resource: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-tips/tips-for-eating-out.html
Resource: http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=5671