Weekend Grillin’and Meal Prep

I made it through the weekend!!!  For anyone who has ever been on a journey to lose some serious weight, you know how important that statement is.  Weekends are just hard, but they don't have to be.  When I reset how I feel about food and losing weight, it is amazing how much freedom I have and how that freedom does not mean a binge, but rather eating when I am hungry, not eating when I am not, and enjoying a treat or two if I want one...….or two.  I will lay out for you what I did.  I realize that my methods will not work for everyone, and especially anyone with a medical issue who has to eat at certain times of the day because of medicines, or sugar issues, which is why this is not a "do as I do" kind of blog.  I certainly don't have the answers, or I wouldn't be a hundred pounds overweight.  We all have our methods and know what works and doesn't work for our own bodies, which is why I get angry when everyone declares that their way of eating will work for all people.  Yes, you will lost weight on Keto, but is it sustainable for every person?  Yes, you will lose weight following WW, but it is something that will work for someone who cannot bring themselves to count points?  Yes, you will lose weight being vegetarian, but will it be sustainable for those who want an occasional steak?  And yes, you will lose weight if you have weight loss surgery, but is it a cure all?  I am the best at manipulating my body to do what it naturally doesn't want to do, and I know that I could definitely reverse anything medically done to prevent me from eating to meet my desire to binge.  I mean, I don't have a gall bladder and know what eating certain foods will do to me, but I eat them anyway and suffer the consequences later.  Imagine how I would be after weight loss surgery.

Without further ado (such an odd saying), here is how my weekend went:

I got up on Saturday morning, and basically drank water, and a La Croix and did not eat breakfast.  I may have eaten a couple of watermelon spears that I got the night before at Aldi.  If you have not already done so, you really need to do some of your shopping at Aldi.  I will discuss this more in a later post, but those were the best watermelon spears I have ever eaten.  After Anthony went to work for awhile, we decided that he would grill some burgers, hotdogs, kielbasa, and chicken breasts, while I roasted some veggies in the oven, and caramelized some peppers and onions on the stove.  The only veggies I had on hand were frozen, but I did not allow that to keep me from roasting them.  I ran some water over them, and spun them in the salad spinner to get excess water off, and then did my thing with the olive oil, salt and pepper.  They were softer than they would have been had they been fresh, but they were still good.  Also, the frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mixture that Jolly Green Giant puts out, is largely carrots.  Just throwing that out there.  Anthony is a grill master, and after I seasoned all the meat, I let him do his thing as well.  Here is the end result:

Look at all that grilled goodness!!  

I ate the burger with the bun, because it was a fresh bun, and I love the whole burger.  Years of on again, off again low carb eating would see me eating my little patty with cheese, while everyone else ate their bun.  No more of that!  I did not eat a hotdog, and ate the kielbasa instead with the grilled peppers and onions, plus the roasted veggies, and one of the best chicken breasts I have ever eaten, topped with Gibson's White Sauce.  That chicken breast was so good!!  Those peppers came from a friend's garden and were delicious!!  We ate around midday, but that plate filled me up for the rest of the day.  I may have eaten a few more spears of watermelon, and Anthony got us mini blizzards from DQ, which turned out to be mini melted milkshakes because it was so hot, and his SUV doesn't have AC, but they were still good.  

Sunday, we had leftovers, and then I did some meal prep for the coming week.  I said in another post that meal prepping doesn't always work for me, because I end up wasting food, but when you prep food you actually love, it becomes much easier, and I love everything I prepped.  Aside from all of the above food, I prepped some breakfast oatmeal cups, and a delicious beef stew. Yes, I said that I wanted to eat more vegetarian meals, and here I am showing you all this meat.  This is why being flexitarian is going to be my thing.  This week, I will have more meat than I plan to normally have, or that I had last week, but I will also have plenty of veggies, and next week, I may eat mostly vegetarian.  There are no rules here.

Finally, in the comments of my last post, my cousin said this about what I am aiming to do, and she could not have been more spot on.

your game plan sounds familiar. Johnny's trim sister and her very fit husband (he's French, a professional chef and owns a restaurant near St. Pete FL) have always said the "secret" to maintaining a healthy weight is eat quality food that tastes great, don't eat when you're not hungry, don't deny yourself foods you love, and save indulgences for special occasions. Does that sound close?

Bingo!!!  So far, this is working for me.  I am not the least bit regretful of any food I put in my mouth over the weekend, and I feel great!!