Tip Tuesday!

Every Tuesday I am going to share a little tip that I have recently discovered that is helping me lose weight! Today's topic...LUNCH.

I'm guessing like most of you, I work full-time in an office and get 1 hour for lunch everyday. Now prior to Nov. 8th (the day I began this journey) I would usually go out for lunch and grab something from a local deli or Wendy's- I did this at least 4 out of the 5 days a week I work. Then I would come back to work, sit at my desk for another 4 hours, and drink Coke. Obviously this is an equation for fatness. And poorness. Everytime I went out I would easily spend $6 which when multiplied by the 4 times a week I would go out= $24 which you all know in the process of a year would equal= $1,272 just for a lousy deli sandwhich or chicken nuggets? That is just stupid.

So for the last 2 months I have been doing something I truly never thought I would actually be able to stick to-(but I have)-which leads me to Tip #1 for losing weight: Bring Your Lunch to Work! Now I realize that for some that is hard because of your location or job and for others you work at home which I think is 10x's harder because you have a fully stocked refridgerator just calling your name but the principle is the same here...you must prepare and plan for success!

Here's what I do:

- I am realistic with myself in knowing that if I have to make a healthy low-POINT lunch every day before I go to work...well- it's just not going to happen. Some of you might be able to spare an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning but I'm not leaving any room for failure so...

- Every Saturday or Sunday I decide what it is that I'de like to eat for lunch the next week and I just make a ton of it (well, enough for lunch for 4-5 days). Some of my usual meals are: Cranberry Chicken Salad, Buffalo Chicken Salad (can you tell I like Chicken?lol), and Shrimp Pasta (Recipes soon to come!). Now some of you are probably thinking, "YOU EAT THE SAME THING FOR 5 DAYS?" Well...yes :) I am a creature of habit and it is just much more time efficient for me to just make a lot of a good meal on one day and eat it for the rest of the week. If you just don't think you can eat the same thing all week then make enough for 2 days worth!

I find this helpful because it leaves me absolutely no excuse to not have a healthy lunch every day- PLUS- once I calculate the POINTS for that meal I'm done with calculating lunch POINTS for the rest of the week! ....I don't know if that's lazy or genius...lol. Not to mention I have the absolute hardest time making healthy choices when I go out to eat (not just because of the lack of nutritional information provided but because everything looks so dang good and everyone else is eating whatever they want) that it is just best for my waistline and my wallet if I eat out as little as possible...which isn't very little at all actually...but that's another post!

And now for my Cranberry Chicken Salad Recipe (6 servings):

2 Chicken Breasts, 1/4 Cup Craisins, 1/4 cup Celery, 1/4 Walnuts (optional), 6tbls Fat Free Mayo, Dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning to taste and...VIOLA! I most often eat this as a sandwhich with 2 pieces of whole weat break but it also works great with crackers or on top of a salad.

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): 126.7 cals, 1.5 fat g, fiber .9g, Protein 18g, carbs 10g.

What about you guys? How do you navigate through lunch?