A Lazy Girl's Guide to Meal Planning - Part 1: Costco Wholesale (the Mothership)

January 1st is now two days away and coming with it a swirl of resolutions, hope, and diets galore!  In preparation for this new year/chapter of my life, I have begun cleaning out my fridge and cabinets for all the healthy, delicious food that I hope to fill them with.  I will also be starting my second Fit Girl's Guide challenge on January 5th - the Fitkini Body Challenge!

For me, the key to staying on track is not only through meal planning, but also through "emergency" back-up plans (i.e. what the heck will I eat when I'm too busy/lazy to prep and cook!?!)  Therefore, I thought a proper Costco trip was in order, to see what goodies I could pick up.  I have yet to visit Costco since I began my first Fit Girl's Guide challenge on December 1st, so I was interested to go in with my Fit Girl mindset!  I have dieted in the past, but something about the Fit Girl's Guide has made it easier and more realistic for me to create healthy meals!  (For one, the fact that they didn't completely drop carbs was one of the biggest selling points!)  Anyways, back to the crowded aisles of Costco, where I stood with the eyes of a hawk, scanning for any potential Fit Girl Finds!

The goodies:

Skinny Pop Popcorn:  My boyfriend actually hunted this down at Costco because he loves the stuff!  How can you not for 39 calories per cup?!  This giant bag costs $5.29 and is worth every penny!  Snack away without the guilt!

Kirkland Premium Chunk Chicken Breast:  6 - 12.5 oz. cans for only $11.59!  That is $2 per can!  I felt like I was robbing Costco!  Get the chicken, make a delicious chicken salad and you will not be disappointed (reminder: post my easy-peasy chicken salad recipe asap!)

Minsley 100% Organic Brown Rice (Microwaveable):  90 seconds for delicious brown rice plus no dirty pan?  Sign me up!  6 bowls costs $6.99, not the cheapest, but I will gladly pay $1 for an easy, filling side!

Good Grains Organic Quinoa & Kale Blend (with citrus & black pepper seasoning):  Found this in the freezer section and the package includes 4 steamable bags.  1 cup is only 100 calories!  Contains approximately 11 - 1 cup servings for $9.99.  Oh the glorious recipes I will prepare with this!

Trident Alaskan Salmon Burgers: Best part is that they are made from wild salmon!  Each patty is 170 calories and I cannot wait to enjoy these on a salad, in a pita, or protein-style!  No fillers in these either, the main ingredient is the salmon and the rest of the ingredients (mainly seasonings) make up less than 2% of the burgers. Great price as well, only $13.99 for 12 burgers!

Kirkland Tilapia Loins:  These are another great backup plan for a quick and easy protein.  Found in the freezer section, they are only 110 calories for 4 oz. of tilapia.  Planning on some fish tacos and ceviche with these bad boys!  $14.99 buys you a 40 oz. bag (~10 - 4 oz. portions!)

Sabra Hummus Singles:   I love having these around when I am in a rush to get out the door for school or work.  Each package contains 1/4 cup of hummus, which is more than you technically need for a snack if you are watching calories, but can be great to have half for snacktime and save some for lunch!  (Still better than grabbing a bag of chips from the vending machine!)  Each package is 150 calories and the box of 16 singles is $5.99.

Kirkland Creamy Almond Butter:   I normally don't consume a lot of peanut butter or any nut butter for that matter, however, the Fit Girl's Guide has really gotten me into almond butter.  I bought a small jar from my grocery store (for $7, yikes!) and it is almost gone!  When I stumbled across this 26 oz. jar at Costco I was pretty stoked because it only cost $10.99!  Also, there is only one ingredient: roasted almonds.  Ah the simplicity, I love it.  (Forgot to add this to my group photo above, so it earned itself a premium solo photo).

So those are my Fit Girl finds at Costco!  This bounty cost me under $100 and will provide supplemental recipe material for many of my meals (I'm actually getting excited just thinking about all the different possibilities!)  Next week I'm planning on tackling Trader Joe's... it might be a VERY long post!  Well this is fit girl Shelby signing out -- stay fit and stay happy!

Turkey Sausage Egg FitFuffin!

Good morning Fit World!

Woke up today to find out that I was one of the winners for the Fit Girl's Guide December #WinterWonderlandChallenge !  Feeling pretty motivated for my second challenge now!  Thought I would share one of my favorite breakfasts from the past month of the #28DayJumpstart by Fit Girl's Guide.  They called it an Egg McFitfun, but for some reason I couldn't remember the name and kept calling it an Egg FitFuffin!  My boyfriend really got a kick out of that (also he loved these healthy little breakfast sandwiches!)

Some of my favorite things about the challenge include the fact that the food is "boyfriend-approved" (as I like to call it).  I would also say it's kid friendly as well, which is great because often through our fit journey's we don't just cook and eat by ourselves!  We usually have significant others, family, and children that have to come along for the ride too.  As a busy grad student, I can only imagine how busy mothers are when trying to eat clean and live a healthy life, so when a program comes along that is great for the whole family, well HOORAY!

Another great part of the Fit Girl's Guide is the fact that the recipes are so easy!  They even outline your grocery list for the whole week and when to prep which items to keep your time in the kitchen to the minimal!  So with that being said, here is my version of their delicious Egg McFitfun (watch out McDonald's!)

Turkey Sausage Egg FitFuffin!

• Thomas' Light Multi-grain English Muffin (Only 100 calories & delicious!) - Simply put it in the toaster

• 1 Fried egg - Just use a little olive oil cooking spray & sprinkle with salt & pepper

• 1 Jones Farm Turkey sausage patty (see picture below!  These are so tasty for only 60 calories!) - I cooked in the pan next to the egg!

• 1/2 slice of provolone cheese (~35 calories) - I have learned to control my burning desire to eat as much cheese as possible at every meal!  One of my hardest habits to break!

• Tomato slice - This can even be heated up slightly in the pan as well!

• Small handful of spinach & raw mushrooms - Toss in the pan after the egg and patty have cooked and use the remaining grease/oil left in the pan to saute these!  Sprinkle with a dash of garlic powder for added flavor!

• Sit back and enjoy!

As you can see, my dog Tobi thought the Egg FitFuffin smelled delicious!  Here are the wonderful turkey sausage products I stumbled upon in the freezer aisle of my local grocery store!  Not only are they low calorie, but also have no MSG, no nitrites, and no preservatives!  I even introduced my family to them while staying there for Christmas; they were even a hit with my picky little brother (we never told them they were made of turkey, ha!)  To the right is the picture of breakfast with my family.  Instead of having an English muffin, I opted for a tasty hash brown (for 140 calories, we get ours frozen from Target!)  Kept the meal and my family healthy, while sharing with them a new breakfast option!

This is another variation of the Egg FitFuffin that I love!

This one used only spinach, tomato, and feta cheese along with the fried egg!  

Hope you enjoyed all the Egg FitFuffins!  I have seen recipes of pinterest where you can actually make a bunch ahead of time, wrap in foil, and freeze them!  This way you can simply grab one and warm it up for a quick, hearty breakfast to-go!  

Turkey Burger Wedge Salad

This delicious creation was the result of a much needed cleaning of my kitchen!  Hoping to clear out as much clutter and unused food as possible before the New Year, I found the perfect combination of ingredients for this amazing lunch.  (Going to keep these recipe blog posts short and sweet!  Could never figure out why most blogs babble on and on and give a whole family history to why the recipe is being made and featured!)  So here it goes!

Turkey Burger Wedge Salad:

1 Jennie-O Lean Turkey Burger, seasoned with garlic powder, salt & pepper

1/4 head of iceberg lettuce

1 hard-boiled egg

Tomato slices and diced

Sliced pickled beets

Reduced fat Feta cheese

2 tbl. turkey bacon bits (gobble, gobble!)

Walden Farms Calorie Free Blue Cheese (This is the key to keeping the salad low calorie!  I love browsing the dressing aisle for tasty new dressings and this one is delicious!)

Hope you enjoy!  I thought the turkey burger would be dry and bland, but the seasoning plus cooking it on the grill made in flavorful and delicious sans bun! 

Becoming a "Fit Girl" - Social Media as a Means of Fitspiration

28 days ago I embarked on the "28 Day Jumpstart" Winter Wonderland Challenge from Fit Girl's Guide.  These ladies have figured out quite the simple, cute & fun way to motivate girls to get fit via clean eating and at-home workouts.  Their Fit Girl's Guide was available for about $20 with an online code and easily downloaded to my computer, where I could view it there or on my phone.  This guide was complete with tips & tricks, grocery lists, meal prep plans, recipes, & more!  I was thoroughly impressed, but what was more impressive was the online community that has sprung from this Fit Girl revolution!

Many of the girls taking on the 28 day challenge decide to create new instagram accounts, often bearing the "fitgirl" badge somewhere in the name.  I chose to make one for myself so I could share my progress without forcing my new found "Fit Girl" lifestyle on my current friends and family.  Upon creating and sharing a few posts of my before pics & goals, I found myself swirling in a whirlwind of fitgirl likes, comments, & support.  After discovering the photo editing app "A Beautiful Mess" and realizing my talent for adorable food photos and designs, I woke up one morning to find that my Fit Girl instagram account had grown to almost 500 followers!  Fit Girl's Guide had shared one of my breakfast photos on their instagram to their 1.2 million followers and that was how I launched my new hobby as an insta-famous (as my brother calls it) Fit Girl representative (self-proclaimed)!

So now, on the last day of my 28 Day Jumpstart Challenge, I am almost 9lbs. less (which is impressive because I barely did the workouts and had many cheat meals/days), I have decided to expand my Fit Girl kingdom to the wonderful world of blogging.  The basis of my posts are easy, health recipes (because I am lazy and do not have much time to spend shopping, cooking, and prepping).  I hope you enjoy this page and my journey (and I apologize in advance if I go on public health rants here and there, it's my line of study after all).  Also, I'm not one to push products upon people, but I highly suggest you purchase a copy of the Fit Girl's Guide!

If you are interested, please follow me on instagram too!  (@fitgirl_shelby)