Meal Planning is HARD

Hey Everyone! Just hanging out in the library between supervision and class. Thought I would do something useful other than reading Cosmo, so I am working on my first week's meal plan. I think it is finally DONE! But gosh, it's exhausting. I will probably get tired of all this food by day 3, but hopefully I will feel better since there are really no "bad" foods. Since I have my tentative meal plan created, I also am working on my grocery list. Nothing on it is too extravagant (other than a blender) so hopefully mom agrees to help me out. I told her that she could easily follow this meal plan as well, so we'll see!

A lot of my meals are pretty simple since I am on campus Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. I think that is one reason why planning has been so difficult because I am still figuring out my school and clinic schedule. One thing that I am really worried about is work. As some of you may know, I work at Kim's Katered Affair in Warren. While I absolutely LOVE all of Kim's food and sweet treats, they are NOT included in my 21 day fix since I won't have total control over making them. I am hoping that once I complete the fix for the first time, subsequent attempts will allow for greater flexibility (eating out or eating food prepared by others). Portion control is really the biggest thing I need to focus on so I think once I have that ingrained in my head I'll be more brave to try eating food prepared by others. 

The 21 Day Fix wants you to drink mostly water. It is recommended to drink your weight divided by 2 in ounces per day. Example: If someone weighs 140 pounds, they need to drink 70 ounces of water per day. That's between 4 and 5 standard water bottles. I will struggle with drinking the amount of water I need because I do not like it. But I can add fruit or mint to make it more tasty! I believe tea and coffee are allowed, but I don't drink them much anyway. Juice, milk and wine can be substituted up to 3x a week for a yellow container but that also is the limit for sweet treats. I have to think about what I'm going to want most..... SWEETS duh! There are recipes in my 21 Day Fix with approved things to bake. I don't have my book with me on campus, so I am unable to add those ingredients to the grocery list. 

Some things I'm most excited to try are my substitutes for peanut butter and ranch dips. I am using recipes that use cottage cheese and Greek yogurt so these indulgences actually count as red containers (protein). I am also going to attempt to make banana ice cream as 2 fruit servings (just freeze and blend bananas). I found all 3 of these recipes on Pinterest. I just started a 21 day fix board if anyone is interested in following me. My username is eirick1. If you have any suggestions or recipes you think would be helpful, let me know! I would also appreciate any feedback on what type of blender to buy! It's mostly for breaking down frozen fruit or pureeing spices with cottage cheese (I don't like the texture). 

Meticulously checking and rechecking my plan to make sure it's perfect!