Yesterday was casual Friday at our school. To cheer on KU, I sported one of my favorite t-shirts. It was a little snug, but I managed to layer a navy blue fleece to hide my love chub. My teaching style is very interactive with a lot of music, movement, and other adaptive materials such as yoga balls, t-chairs, and tube socks filled with rice to accommodate for the sensory needs of my little first and second graders. During my interactive reading instruction, I sat on a large yoga ball and had two other students sitting on t-chairs on my right and left side. We had just finished practicing sight words which included dancing. I was a little hot and had removed my fleece not thinking about my little bit of love chub around my belly. While I was pointing at a book for another student in front of me, I suddenly felt a wiggly little finger poke at my said love chub. I laughed out loud and said to the student, "Did you just poke my love chub?" He gave me a giggly reply, "Yes! My dad has that too."
Not to ever go into a self-destructive body image pattern, I laughed it off. But, I have decided one thing; the belly has got to go people! Since turning 30, I have been trying to shed a pesky 10 pounds that has unfortunately put me in the "overweight" category according to my BMI. I eat very healthy, am somewhat active (see above teaching style:)), but know I could be doing more now that my 20 something metabolism has come to a screeching halt. This week, I got my monthly Self magazine in the mail. Per their usual yearly format, they have the Drop 10 challenge with meal plans, exercises, and a tracking sheet. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that most of the recipes included in the meal plan are gluten-free and include a ton of super foods which as research suggests help ignite metabolism. I have decided to take on the challenge as an experiment and will track my progress through the online tracking system. My plan is to adapt some of the meals with some additional herbs, spices, and veggies as they look like they need a boost in the flavor department. This week's menu and grocery list includes:
Sunday 3/25 Cuban Stuffed Chicken Breast with Baked Sweet Potatoes & Asparagus
Monday 3/26 Left-overs
Tuesday 3/27 Chicken Sausage Skillet with Mixed Greens Salad
Wednesday 3/28 Left-overs
Thursday 3/29 Tossed Quinoa Salad with Kiwi & Strawberries
Friday 3/30 or Baked Taquitos with Black Bean & Avocado Salad
Saturday 3/31
Groceries you will need:
Avocado
Apples
Bananas
Kiwi
Strawberries
Grapes
2 Limes
2-3 bags baby spinach
2 bags mixed greens
Cucumber
Asparagus
1 head garlic
1 package stoplight peppers (red, green, yellow)
1 bunch cilantro
1 bag red potatoes
Mushrooms
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Chicken sausage
Deli sliced honey ham
1 bag quinoa
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can or jar of beets
1 bag lentils
1 can chickpeas
1 can black beans
1 jar all natural peanut butter
Goat cheese
1 tub plain, non-fat Greek yogurt
Almond milk
Stevia
Pantry items you will need if you do not have them:
Non-stick cooking spray
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (you can buy these in a can in your grocery's Hispanic food isle and freeze the rest in a plastic bag for future use)
Dried parsley
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Hebes de Provence
Crushed red pepper flakes
Taco seasoning (I use Penzy's)
I prepare all of my lunches for the week and store them accordingly so they are ready to grab and go. I plan on drinking my daily Green Monster for breakfast in the morning and too include a morning snack of apples with peanut butter dip and yogurt and berries sweetened with stevia for my afternoon snack. If you were wondering what the lentils, beets, and goat cheese are for it will be in my salad I plan to take to work this week. The super foods included in the challenge are apples, quinoa, lentils, olive oil, yogurt, sweet potatoes, and kiwi. The plan suggests adding healthy fats, proteins, fiber, essential amino acids, vitamins, and resistant starch to help boost metabolism. If you would like to learn more about the challenge, check out http://www.self.com/drop10 . I look forward to sharing my posts with you this week! Have a great weekend!
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