Gooood morning!

Good morning my lovelies! I hope your Tuesday is off to a great start! I'm here at work, trying to make myself enjoy this oatmeal concoction I made this morning as I hurried out the door.. no dice. You see, I didn't get a chance to do my grocery shopping yet (but I will tonight!), and I finished up my supply of food yesterday. So this morning, the only thing I had available was some Quaker Quick Oats, cinnamon, & some stevia... In theory it sounded tastey as I was heading out the door, but it really isn't. But it's the only thing I had to make this morning, so I need to find some way to actually eat this disaster. Yuck.

Sooooo, as I sit here giving my oatmeal creation the evil eye, it just reminds me how much I NEED to make time for this lifestyle change. You see, instead of sucking it up and going grocery shopping Saturday, I opted to sleep in. I then watched the Blackhawks game with my mom, and then instead of going after that, I got ready for a night out on the town with my girls. I did have a blast with them, but it basically left me foodless until I go to the store tonight... Not my best idea, but I definitely learned my lesson. It's all about PRIORITIES. Being that getting healthy and losing weight is my priority now, I need to make sure I keep up with what I'm supposed to be doing. So come 5pm, I will be on my way to the store to get my food!

Priorities can be any number of things when it comes to weight loss and getting healthy. It could mean scheduling your work outs and sticking with them, grocery shopping, or food preparation for the week. For me it's all of the above. My last go-around I had a lot of trouble doing my work outs. It wasn't because I was physically unable to do them, I just didn't make them a priority. Instead of blacking out that 45 minute to an hour timeframe from my schedule, if anyone came calling I would gladly skip the workout and excuse it with "I just don't have the time." Well, I see where that got me... and I won't be making that mistake again. So sorry friends, my work out times are set in stone (barring any work issues or emergencies), and I'll have to work around them, even if it means me working out by myself or missing something for awhile.

As for food shopping... I need to try and do this weekly. I get paid every two weeks and have a budget of $120 for two weeks ($240/month). This will thankfully be changing once I get my car paid off in February. I'll have more money to invest in my groceries. Often times I will buy all of my groceries in one trip, but since I like to purchase as much fresh produce as I can, this creates a problem because not all of my produce will stay good for two weeks. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've had things go bad.. which is just money down the drain. Since I'm on a budget, I can't afford to keep doing that. SO, I need to make it a point to at least make it to the store once a week to get the fresh produce I need for that week. I need to remind myself that my shopping is VITAL to my success. I currently rent a place with my mom & dad, so it's not like I'll ever go hungry, it's just that they shop VERY differently than I do. In a pinch, I am able to make okay choices with the food in the house if I ever have an issue and I can't get to the store, but it's still not the best options for me, so I NEED to make time to get to the store like I'm supposed to. Afterall, I'm the one who ends up losing in the end if I don't get the foods I need to succeed.

Food preparation is another big one for me. Right now I am on a second shift/first shift hybrid. I currently work Sunday and Monday 3pm to midnight, and then Tuesday & Wednesday 8am to 5pm. I've always had an issue with being on a normal schedule the days I work 2nd (3pm to midnight). When I get off work at midnight, I'm usually not ready for bed. I'm amped and wired up from the day, so that usually means I'm awake til an ungodly hour. That usually translates to me basically going to bed SUPER late, sleeping, then getting up and getting ready for work. I sadly don't leave much time to do much before work. Tuesdays are usually the hardest day though because I get off work at midnight the night before, and have to be back at work at 8am. So usually I'm rolling into work at 8am with on a few hours of sleep. Due to that, it's usually easier for me to prepare my meals for the week on a Saturday night, or Sunday night after I get off work.

I eat a lot of chicken because there is so much you can do with it, so I'll usually buy boneless/skinless chicken breast. I know a lot of people don't like chicken for whatever reason, but it's pretty versatile (at least to me, haha), and I happen to like it. A good portion of the time I end up wrapping each chicken breast in foil with some extra virgin olive oil, a little salt & pepper, seal the foil, and then bake them. They come out nice and tender. I like flavor, so I will use spices. Sometimes I'll use chili powder, or roasted red pepper flakes for some heat, or I'll throw in some oregano. And if you want a little more flavor, you can always use your favorite salad dressing instead of extra virgin olive oil. I've been known to use a little ranch dressing or even Italian dressing when making my chicken. Just remember, a little goes a long way with the olive oil and salad dressings. It's basically being used to make sure the chicken breast comes out tender/moist, and has some flavor. I like to do different things to each chicken breast so I have a little something different for each meal. Pair them up with steamed veggies, or even slice it up and put it on a salad, and you have a meal! After I've made my chicken for the week I put them into little baggies and place them in the fridge, taking them out as needed. It makes life SO much easier when I can just grab and go.

Anyways, I like how my post went off on some random tangents. I shouldn't really be surprised becasue well, that's pretty much who I am. One random tangent after another. I have so much more I want to dive into in this blog, one of the topics being about who I am, where I came from, and what is driving me to change my life. So I will get there and should have that post sometime this week. As always, if there is anything you would like to know, just ask in the comments. :)

Hope you all are well! Have a great day & thanks for reading!!