Crazy Christi....My Life, My Antics: Plan a budget....yikes.

Okay, it’s no secret that I enjoy my workouts. I’m addicted. They make me feel great! I have hit this huge plateau that is driving me crazy. I bust my ass everyday (well almost every day) and burn INSANE amounts of calories. I’ve got that down. From crazy cardio, to weight lifting to Shaun T’s Insanity. I burn them and I burn them properly. Now, that being said I struggle every single day with food. The clean eating bit should be simple, right? For me, I could list off a gazillion reasons why I fail at it. What it boils down to is improper planning.

So, I’m an accountant. There are stereotyped accountants and then there is me. I have horrible personal planning skills. In fact, I hate to plan ahead. It comes from a very messed up past but in my mind I somehow have put it in this category of if I plan ahead, I am setting myself up for disappointment. Yes, I’m sure I can get some sort of counseling to fix that but that is definitely the number one reason I’m a piss poor planner. I plan for something that I feel should be very successful or exciting, and when the event comes up; it doesn’t turn out as my control freak self thinks it should, and I get majorly bummed out. To avoid the bumming, I fly by the seat of my pants on most things. In trying to be a responsible adult, this mentality doesn’t work too well. Anyhow, where I’m going with the entire planning bit is BUDGET. I suck at food calorie budgets, store budgets and personal budgets for my home. I know I suck at it, and I know how to change it. The problem is that entire planning ahead thing bites me in the ass every time.

Clean eating. To be successful at clean eating, you have to plan ahead and budget your daily calories. I was able to do it for about 3 months while I got in shape and did Shaun T’s Insanity by Beach Body. So, knowing I conquered it before just means simply repeating that behavior weekly for the rest of my life. UGH! Plan out your meals and be accountable for them. If you pack your lunch and snacks for the day, you don’t binge eat. Look at your calories and plan accordingly. I like protein shakes and I like fresh veggies. That should make some of this easier on me. The entire planning a weeks worth of dinners part sucks. It’s just like preplanning your outfit the night before. I can pick out something to wear, but when I get up…..me not being the shining star in the morning…..may not feel like wearing what I picked out because I just don’t feel like it. That is kind of the same thing with my taste buds. How do I know what I will be in the mood to eat 5 days from now?? Well I have some financial woes to back up this damn preplanning bit. When you go to store every 2-3 days to buy dinner, you don’t just buy dinner products. You buy more cereal or milk and fruit and this and that because you are getting low. In the past, I haven’t had a grocery budget per say because groceries is a must have. That being said, my grocery bill has gotten out of control, to where it interferes with other monetary areas of our lives. The only way I can reel this monster back in is to plan out meals and go to the store with a list and stick to the list (and leave the kids at home). This shouldn’t be rocket science, but it isn’t easy either for me. I’ve came up with a fun idea for this next week of planning out my menu and incorporating clean eating. I’m going use my handy dandy Fitness and Self magazines and Pinterest to make my meals at night more entertaining. I will plan out my menu and make my meals per recipes I find and share them with you all and give you a dollar amount. This should make it more entertaining for me, the only person that can disappointment me in this genius plan is ME. J

Okay enough of this serious stuff. I set a goal of making it to the gym every morning this week and so far so good. I am a better person for getting my ass out of bed and doing this. Shaun T has been calling my name but I have been ignoring him. He’s an exceptionally crazy man, but I love him. Reading through Pinterest fitness section only leads me back to Insanity. All the exercises in that program are fat blasting miracle body transforming (which a lot of the exercises are pinned in one way or another just not altogether like Insanity) and I just need to suck it up and get back to the program. I’ve managed to stick to Les Mills Pump and I absolutely LOVE it. My arms are toning up nicely. In fact, I have a picture of me holding a baby and I can see muscle tone where flabby cellulite use to wave hello every moment of the day. What I love about this weight lifting program is it’s to music, it works different muscle groups and you feel the burn but it’s not so overpowering that you fall to the floor exhausted. It can be completed at lunch which is a huge bonus for my busy life. No I don't sell Beach Body products but I endorse the hell out of them because I have tested them and they work!

The chest/upper body part of Les Mills, anyone can do this from home. No excuses.

A typical lunch workout for me. Beginning of a squat following Les Mills Pump dvd

I made this wonderful Halibut Olympia last night. I actually ate two pieces of it, and wonder why I’m not losing on the scale. J This halibut had butter, sour cream, mayo, red hot, Monterey jack cheese, and cheddar cheeses. I made this recipe up all by myself. Comfort food for the fall in July weather we are experiencing in the Banks. I could post my recipe, but if you really want it email me because I'm not going to promote eating this way haha. I did pair it with a wonderful tossed salad but the second piece was not necessary. Moderation, moderation, moderation…..work in progress or WIP as us accountants say.