Giant Eagle This Week!!!

Woohoo! Had an awesome money saving week! Giant Eagle has some awesome deals!

Since this blog is primarily about my weight loss efforts, you may be wondering, why the money saving post? What does that have to do with losing weight? It actually has a lot to do with it. I really believe that all my personal goals are interrelated. Plus, to really be successful and have my life in balance, I need to do well in more than just one area. Here’s how I think my financial goals are related to my weight loss goals:

• First, achieving goals in any area give me confidence in all areas. It’s really helpful to have that extra boost of confidence in an area that you do fairly well at to help you with the areas that you struggle most with. And our current goal is to pay off my student loan, and we’re getting awfully close!
• Second, I have struggled with balance by focusing so intensely on one area (and I do think intense focus is good) to the neglect of other areas. I think it’s fine and good to focus and prioritize my weight loss a little more than paying off my debt, but I still need to be able to keep all areas under control.
• Third, hey, some of this food is pretty healthy, like the Dannon yogurts.And the lunchanbles are 220 calories (or 4 pts) each. Not bad.
• Now, for the pizzas. This is mine and my husband’s personal approach. He eats the pizza, which are super cheap, freeing up some money for me to eat higher priced fresh produce and things like that. Luckily pizza isn’t a trigger food for me, so I’m fine cooking it for him, and then eating a grilled chicken salad for me. (He has absolutely no weight struggles – couldn’t gain an ounce if he tried.) And he’s never jealous of my salad when he’s eating pizza!! One thing I do need to work on is actually using that extra money for healthy items, instead of saving it to put on the debt.

All this plus a lunchable not pictured that I already ate for $3.87!!!!! ($7.87 out of pocket, plus a $4 catalina to be used on anything in the store)

That’s 20 Dannon yogurts, 7 lunchables, 4 – 4 packs of Fiber One yogurt, 4 packets of Taco Seasoning, and rice cakes.

Then it get’s even better! 18 Tombstone pizzas for 25 cents each! So 18 pizzas for $4.50. (Net of $4.50, there are catalinas involved.) Here they are in the freezer (minus two that we already ate!):

Menu Plan for April 27-May 2

Here’s my menu for this week complete with a 5-minute backup plan. Instead of getting derailed when unexpected things come up or when I’m in a hurry, I’ve come up with a plan for that. I can almost always spare 5 minutes, so I’ve got a plan for a back-up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I should need it.

Breakfast:
5-minute Backup: Egg muffins (new recipe I just made)
Mon: Cheese Omelet with pepper
Tues:Cheese Omelet with peppers
Wed: Cheese Omelet with peppers
Thurs: Cheese Omelet with Peppers
Fri: Cheese Omelet with peppers
Sat: Probably nothing for breakfast, since I start out my morning with a workout and then eat lunch
Sun: Cheese Omelet with peppers

Lunch:
5-min Backup: Turkey and Cheddar Lunchable
Mon: Southwest Turkey burger
Tues: Salad w/ boiled egg and freshly grated cheddar cheese
Wed: Southwest turkey burger
Thurs: Southwest turkey burger
Fri: Southwest turkey burger
Sat: Stuffed chicken
Sun: None (I eat more like brunch on Sunday)

Dinner
5-min Back-up: Kashi frozen dinner (250 cals)
Mon: Meatloaf made w/ lean turkey
Tues: Spinach/artichoke stuffed chicken breast and green beans
Wed: Salad w/ boiled egg and freshly grated cheddar cheese
Thurs: Spinach/artichoke stuffed chicken breast and green beans
Fri: Not sure, probably cooking dinner for some ppl
Sat: ?
Sun: ?

Snacks:
Apples w/ caramel dip
Oranges
Frozen berry cups

Check out Menu Planning Monday for more meal planning ideas.

Menu Plan (and a back-up plan) for April 21-27

In line with what I just posted about creating a better plan, here’s my menu for this week complete with a 5-minute backup plan. Instead of getting derailed when unexpected things come up or when I’m in a hurry, I’ve come up with a plan for that. I can almost always spare 5 minutes, so I’ve got a plan for a back-up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I should need it.

Breakfast:
5-minute Backup: Kashi Lean Pocket (250 cals)
Tues: Kashi Garlic Chicken Pizza
Wed: Cheese Omelet with peppers
Thurs: Cheese Omelet with Peppers
Fri: Cheese Omelet with pepprs
Sat: Probably nothing for breakfast, since I start out my morning with a workout and then eat lunch
Sun: Cheese Omelet with peppers
Mon: Cheese Omelet with peppers

Lunch:
5-min Backup: Turkey and Cheddar Lunchable (350 cals)
Tues: Salad w/ boiled egg and freshly grated cheddar cheese
Wed: Southwest turkey burger
Thurs: Southwest turkey burger
Fri: Southwest turkey burger
Sat: Probably a new recipe -I’m going to try making my own stuffed chicken breast and freezing them
Sun: None (I eat more like brunch on Sunday)
Mon: Southwest Turkey burger

Dinner
5-min Back-up: Kashi frozen dinner (250 cals)
Tues: Spinach/artichoke stuffed chicken breast and green beans
Wed: Salad w/ boiled egg and freshly grated cheddar cheese
Thurs: Spinach/artichoke stuffed chicken breast and green beans
Fri: Three-cheese jalapeno stuffed chicken breast and green beans
Sat: ?
Sun: ?
Mon: Cheese omelet and frozen vegetables

Snacks:
Apples w/ caramel dip
Oranges

Check out Menu Planning Monday for more meal planning ideas.

Think again!

So just when you thought “diet” food had to be dull, bland, tiny, unsavory, and unsatisfying, check out my perfectly on plan dinner. Parmesan crusted tilapia with green beans (obviously). I know it looks like chicken, but it’s tilapia. 4 oz of tilapia has less than 100 calories. Anyway, this whole meal has 380 calories, 25 g carbs, 43g protein.

Low calorie, low-ish carb, high-ish protein dinner!