Weekly Meal Plan, Exercise Routine, and Food Prep {10/26/2020}

In my weekly meal plan posts, I share my meal plan, food prep pictures & tips, exercise routine, along with the progress (or not) I’ve made on my weight loss journey.  My goal with these posts is to give a little glimpse into my lifestyle and for you to see I’m human and have good and bad weeks just like everyone else.

It’s that time again for my weekly meal plan. I really don’t know where these weeks go!

Before we jump to my exercise routine and meal plan I want to do a quick rundown of October goals. Next week I’ll list out my November goals.

October 2020 goals.

• Exercise 4-5 times a week. Did I accomplish this goal? Yes! And I’m so proud of myself for this because there were MANY days I didn’t feel like exercising at all. But I pushed myself. This is what I learned…I never regretted a workout no matter how tired or sore I was. You can expect to see this exercise goal continue into next month.
• Keep sugar out of my coffee. At the beginning of the month, I was really focused on this goal but have slacked a little in the last week. I was keeping sugary creamer to the weekends but slipped up a couple of times during the week. Overall, I’m much better than I was before the summer but I don’t want to let sugar creamers get the best of me so I need to stay focused on keeping it to the weekends or not at all.
• Drink a green smoothie 4-5 times a week. I’m happy to say that I accomplished this goal! Drinking green smoothies helps me feel my absolute best so you can plan to see this goal in November too. If you want to learn more about green smoothies then check out the how-to make green smoothies tutorial I put together.
• Work on my night routine. This is another goal I stuck to this month. Mostly, I focused on getting my kitchen cleaned before bed. Even if I was tired I still took the time to empty and fill the dishwasher and wipe down the counters. Once, I timed how long this took me and it was only 15 minutes. So, now I know that an extra 15 minutes at night saves me so much time in the morning.
• Do a freezer stock. This is the one goal that I didn’t accomplish this month. I got some leftover foods in the freezer like chili and soups but I didn’t do a dedicated freezer cooking day. I’m still going to try to do this at the beginning of November.
• “No Candy” Halloween challenge. Halloween is this weekend so I plan to accomplish this goal then. I’ll let you know next week. 

Progress this week

• I feel stronger. On the days that I worked out, I felt strong. I ran harder and was able to add in extra reps. I loved that feeling. 
• I feel healthier. Or maybe I should say I enjoy to feel healthier. I like drinking smoothies, eating mason jar salads, exercising, and just overall making healthier choices. Of course, every week won’t be like this, I’m sure there will be weeks I want nothing but Doritos and ice cream but this week it occurred to me that I actually enjoyed doing the things that made me feel healthier.
• I’m comfortable in clothes. I mentioned this in last weeks meal plan but I wanted to say it again. I love the feeling when my clothes fit comfortably.

This past weekend Mike and I went to a friend’s Halloween party. I wore my wedding dressing and went as a trophy wife. Hahaha…it was a last-minute costume decision. Anyway, I felt better in my dress this weekend than I did over a year ago! Yes, those are my slippers I brought with me!

Other happenings

Last week I put in my Butcher Box meat order and a big Thrive Market order. I do this every 4-6 weeks depending on where we’re at with meals and foods. 

My Butcher Box order came in on Friday and Thrive Market goods should be here any day. FYI, Butcherbox is offering a free Thanksgiving Turkey to new subscribers. Get the deal here.

I create a meal plan around the meat I order and then do a big shopping day at Bj’s Wholesale and then order as much as I can from Thrive Market. This limits my time in the grocery stores and saves me money in the long run.

You can read more about my online shopping strategies and how fit Butcher Box organic meats and Thrive Market into our grocery budget in these two blog posts:

Is Butcher Box Worth It?

Is Thrive Market Worth It?

Check out my reviews to learn even more:

Butcher Box Review

Thrive Market Review

In future blog posts, I’m going to share more ways I make clean eating affordable.

Exercise Routine

My goal is to burn between 500-600 calories per workout. When I can get in a good sweaty run on the treadmill that’s not difficult to do.

Tuesday

45 minutes on the treadmill.  I do a mix of walking, power-walking (on an incline), and running. 

Core –

•  2 (30-second) planks
• 50 crunches
• 50 side crunches
• 2 (30-second) russian twists

Arms –  I do 3 sets of each:

• 8-10 bicep curls
• 8-10 tricep extensions
• 8-10 front lateral raises
• 8-10 side lateral raises
• 8-10 dumb-bell kickback

Wednesday

Cardio – 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I do a mix of walking, power-walking (on an incline), and running. My goal is to burn between 350 – 400 calories.

Core –

•  2 (30-second) planks
• 50 crunches
• 50 side crunches
• 2 (30-second) russian twists

Legs and Butt –  do 3 sets of these

• 12 – 15 plie squats
• 12 – 15 squats
• 12 – 15 lounges on each leg

Thursday

Cardio – 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I do a mix of walking, power-walking (on an incline), and running. My goal is to burn between 350 – 400 calories.

Core –

•  2 (30-second) planks
• 50 crunches
• 50 side crunches
• 2 (30-second) russian twists

Arms –  I do 3 sets of each:

• 8-10 bicep curls
• 8-10 tricep extensions
• 8-10 front lateral raises
• 8-10 side lateral raises
• 8-10 dumb-bell kickback

Friday

Cardio – 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I do a mix of walking, power-walking (on an incline), and running. My goal is to burn between 350 – 400 calories.

Core –

•  2 (30-second) planks
• 50 crunches
• 50 side crunches
• 2 (30-second) russian twists

Legs and Butt –  do 3 sets of these

• 12 – 15 plie squats
• 12 – 15 squats
• 12 – 15 lounges on each leg

Saturday

Cardio – 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I do a mix of walking, power-walking (on an incline), and running. My goal is to burn between 350 – 400 calories.

Core –

•  2 (30-second) planks
• 50 crunches
• 50 side crunches
• 2 (30-second) russian twists

Arms –  I do 3 sets of each:

• 8-10 bicep curls
• 8-10 tricep extensions
• 8-10 front lateral raises
• 8-10 side lateral raises
• 8-10 dumb-bell kickback

Weekly Meal Plan

Breakfast

Detox smoothie

Meal prep tips

• I put together 6 frozen smoothie kits for the week. 

A quick shopping tip: Larges bags of organic frozen fruit can be purchased at Bj’s Wholesale for a great price. I get 3lbs for $11

Lunch

Protein Power Mason Jar Salad

Meal Prep tips

• I put together 4 salads for the week. I also made my husbands salads for the week too.

Dinner

Slow-Cooker Classic Beef Chili

Easy Beef Enchiladas using Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Beef

Fish Tacos

Chicken and Rice One Pot Dinner

Meal prep tips

• I assembled the ingredients for the chili the night before I made it. Then in the morning, I got it started.
• The Mexican beef I made last week and on Monday I assembled the enchiladas to cook on Wednesday.
• Fish taco and chicken and rice will be made on the night we eat them.

Meal prep supplies I used this week

32-ounce Wide Mouth Mason Jars – I used these to prepare my mason jar salads for the week.

Ello Rectangle 3.4 cup rectangle containers – I use these to store my husband’s salads. These containers fit perfectly into his Stanley lunchbox.

Pyrex Simply Store containers – I love these glass meal prep containers and use them to store just about everything. This week I used them to store rice and leftovers from dinners.

If you’re looking for meal planning guidance then check out my free healthy meal planning guide.

Other meal planning and prep resources

Green Chef – This organic meal kit company is my favorite for Keto and Low-carb meal kit options. Their balanced living menu also works well for families. To learn more, read my Green Chef Review.

Sun Basket – Sun Basket is a full-service meal kit company offering just about everything to help you sustain a healthy lifestyle. You can get meal kits, prepared meals, along with refrigerated and pantry items. See my Sun Basket Review for all of their latest offerings. 

Hello Fresh – The best meal kit to feed the whole family. See my updated Hello Fresh Review.

Daily Harvest – If you’re looking to stock the freezer with delicious vegan grab n go meals and smoothies then Daily Harvest is a great option in a cup. See my Daily Harvest review for more information.