FMP: My Pros & Cons After Week 1

First to start with some more of the meals from my first week with Fresh Meal Plan...

Today I had my second meal of the Banana Hazelnut French Toast since I ordered 2. I learned from the first time and only heated the turkey bacon and french toast for 45 seconds so that I didn't burn the bacon.

I also scraped off all of the chocolate that was between the 2 pieces of toast before heating it. Guess what, I actually ate it all today. I drizzled a bit of syrup on top and it was quite good. Redemption for one of the breakfast meals.

Yesterday, I tried this Tenderloin & Egg breakfast... it was not my favorite. I didn't even take a picture of it since it didn't look that great either. I wanted to like it because it smelled good but I only ate half of the steak, the orange and english muffin. It was a disappointment overall.

This was a great lunch the other day though. The Southwest Chicken Salad had a bit of kick with the chipotle aioli dressing. The chicken was seasoned nicely and I liked this salad overall. There was no avocado like the label mentioned.

These Peanut Butter Chia Power Bites are so delicious. I had every intention of not liking them because of the way that they looked. I also figured that they would have way too much of a peanut butter taste. But, I was pleasantly surprised and ate the entire thing. It was a great alternative as a snack instead of the candy that I would normally grab. I love these little things. My son tried part of one, because I didn't really want to share. He said it tasted like candy and he loves them too. He's 8.

Okay... Now on to some other stuff.

Working out this past couple of days has still been hard with the type of class that ILKB is... BUT, I'm not exhausted and immediately want to take a nap after and tired the rest of the day. Fresh Meal Plan has definitely helped me eat more and eat more healthily. With that, my body is already using its energy differently. I can feel a change in myself before and after I workout. Before, and by before I mean last week, I was really tired all the time. I didn't get much done around the house and was just overall lazy I guess... there were more depression issues too. However, now that I've been eating more, I have gotten more done at home. For example, yesterday I washed, dried AND put away all the loads of laundry. That is a major accomplishment. Kickboxing at ILKB has been different too. I have more energy to push myself a little bit more and after I'm done, I feel like doing something else. Normally I just go home, take a shower and go to bed. But, the last 2 days, I have generally felt better with eating FMP and working out. It has also forced me to eat more daily than I normally would.

I always knew that food and fitness worked together. I learned the hard way. I listened to my body though and knew I needed a change in diet. I knew my body was shutting down because it wasn't getting the proper nutrition. I am definitely grateful for the Fresh Meal Plan meals, even the ones that I didn't like, and how it has helped me this week.

The basic breakdown of the CONS for FMP for me personally are:
*Price: it's a little disappointing to have meals that you don't really care for the price that it is
* Eggs: the eggs in the breakfasts were not my favorite. The texture and taste just weren't great for me and I only ate it to try it. I didn't eat it beyond a few bites.
*Labeling: the labels on the meals were sometimes wrong and didn't match what was in the meal itself. I think I did read somewhere that ingredients could change without notice, but getting turkey sausage with fennel instead of turkey bacon was a complete turn-off. So, I guess mislabeling may happen from time to time.

The basic breakdown of the PROs for FMP for me are:
* Ease: I love not having to think about deciding what I need to make for myself when I'm hungry. They're quick to prepare/make.
*Peanut Butter Power Bites: They're awesome.
*Lunch/Dinner meals: The ones that I have tried have all been great.
*Feel Better: I generally feel better now that I have eaten more, regularly, and have healthier choices.
*Workouts: Kickboxing at ILKB hasn't been so tiring. My energy has increased overall.
*Feeling Full: After eating a meal for lunch, I am pretty full until dinner time. I can make it most of the afternoon without much snacking, which is a huge accomplishment.

So yes... I definitely like Fresh Meal Plan and recommend it to you.

Okay... confession... I did have some fast food yesterday after not having any for several weeks. I went through the drive-thru to appease my 2-year-old. I got something for myself. It was a mistake. My stomach hurt and it just made me feel terrible... and a little guilty. Actually paying attention to what I'm putting into my body and what the reactions are has been eye-opening. I fear that if I don't have something like Fresh Meal Plan to give me easy, healthy food options that I'll fall back into my old eating habits.
Discipline: I'm bad at it... but I guess I need more of it.

Breakfast 0-2 vs Lunch 2-2

Ok, I am on day 3 of eating at least one meal from Fresh Meal Plan. Today I actually had one for breakfast and the other for lunch. Here's how it went...

Breakfast was not great, for me. That makes my breakfast meals 0 for 2 since the 2 that I tried were not what I expected. The Kelly & Betty Omelet was different than I thought it was.

I did eat all of the grapes today and most of the sweet potatoes, but the omelet was a different story. On the label, it mentions turkey *bacon as an ingredient... but I think it was clearly turkey sausage. I get that substitutions may have to be made because of availability and things like that, but its completely different. This presented a problem for me only because it had fennel in it. I do not like fennel and it threw off the taste of the entire thing. It was all I could smell and taste.

The kale and the egg itself was fine. I just couldn't get past the taste of the fennel in the sausage. I was a bit sad that breakfast wasn't great for me again. So, if you are ok with fennel, then you'd probably like this.

PS, I don't want to discourage anyone from trying the breakfast meals. Remember that these not working out for me are personal opinions and preferences.

I had a win for lunch though. I ate the Bison Burger Club and it was really good.
The Aioli dressing was delicious on the burger. I don't even know what aioli is, but I like it.
I have noticed the sweet potatoes have been a bit on the mushy side with the reheating though. (sidenote: I also noticed that with my microwave, the heating time is actually much less than the instructions of 2-3 minutes so I have to watch it closely) I did take out the burger and bacon to only heat those up.

 I took off the tomato since I'm not a fan of those.
Also, I noticed that avocado is listed on the label, but there were none. I chalked that up to the recent avocado recall and maybe they were out of them.... ir it is in the aioli?... I have no idea, but I didn't have any.

Overall, I am satisfied with the Bison burger. I ate the whole thing and it was delicious. Lunch has proven to be better for me, in my opinion.

Besides not having luck with the breakfast meals, the other thing that bothers me a bit is the labeling issues with the ingredients that I have found today. There was no avocado for my burger and the bacon in the omelet was actually sausage. Mistakes happen, I get it... or it was an availability issue.

Now, since I've been eating these Fresh Plan Meals on the weekend and there are only Saturday morning classes available at ILKB on the weekend, I don't know how eating these types of meals are affecting my workouts yet. Hopefully, in the next few days when I get to class more often, I will be able to see. For now, I do actually feel better physically because I'm eating more in the morning and afternoon... because I normally don't eat much or just snack on junk. I have more energy by eating more healthy with these FMP meals, well the lunches.
The Abs for April challenge put on by ILKB this month has encouraged me to drink more water during the day too. I cut out soda and haven't had much juice either, so that cut back on sugar has helped quite a bit with the stomach issues I was having.

If you'd like to read about the other meals I tried click (here).
If you'd like to read my origin story of my fitness journey click (here).
If you'd like to check out ILKB or sign up for trial classes click (here).
If you'd like to check out Fresh Meal Plan click (here).

Fresh Meal Plan: It's Here

I went to a Friday morning class at ILKB, which I haven't done in a while. It was great. I worked hard, sweat a lot and burned a ton of calories.

If you want to read my origin story of starting ILKB and deciding to try Fresh Meal Plan go (here).

When I got home, this fabulous box was waiting for me. Fresh Meal Plan, with my 10 meals.

Here's how it comes: The meals are packed in a styrofoam container with wrap and ice/gel packs. It was really cool in there to keep the food fresh. I was surprised. The ice packs are mine to keep. There were 4 inside, so I don't think I'll be needing all of them if I new ones every week. The box and styrofoam are supposed to be left out on the day of the next delivery to be swapped out or reused. I don't know, Fed Ex dropped it off so I'm not sure if they'll take the empty one back. We'll find out.

So here are the lunch/dinner meals that I got. They are all from the Traditional meal category: Bison Burger Club, Chicken Burrito Bowl, Chicken Parmesan, Cardamom Turkey and Southwest Chicken Salad.

For my breakfasts, I ordered from the Traditional category: 2 Banana Hazelnut French Toast, Tenderloin & Egg English Muffin, Morning Bread Pudding, Kelly and Betty Omlet.
Each of the meals have a sticker on the side with the ingredients, which everything can be pronounced. It has the number of calories, grams of protein, grams of carbs and grams of fats listed as well. There is a use by date too; which is basically a week from when you receive your meals. Technically your meals should be eaten by the time your next shipment arrives.

Here are pictures of what a few of the meals look like in their container before being heated. They look pretty good. Not like a bunch of slop that you find in other microwavable meals. You can tell what everything is.

So for lunch after my workout, I tried the Chicken Burrito Bowl. It was actually pretty delicious. I ate it all and was full the rest of the day. I forgot to take a before picture because I  made the video but here is an after picture. I like that the chicken is cut unevenly. It makes me believe that it was cut and prepped by a real human... not a machine in a factory.

Breakfast Fail.

Saturday I tried a breakfast meal; the Banana Hazelnut French Toast. I took out the fruit and syrup to heat up the turkey bacon and french toast.

On the label, it recommends heating for 2-3 minutes. I did 2 minutes but didn't leave it in the full amount because I started to smell the food.
I burnt the turkey bacon. I could taste that the bacon was pretty good and I'd eat it all if I didn't burn it. I am not a crispy bacon person, so I couldn't eat much of it.
Most of the grapes didn't travel well. Some were not edible since they were smashed and others were soft. I'm just really picky about grapes for some reason. I like them firm and crunchy and I'm more of a green grape girl.
The banana chips were 'stale'. Well, soft from being refrigerated. But, I still ate those anyway.

The actual french toast was ok. I liked the crispiness of it... but, there was way too much chocolate on in the middle of the two pieces. I am one to not put much of anything on my french toast. I like a little drizzle of syrup just to sweeten it a touch. So all of this chocolate was a real turn off. After I scraped it off, I was able to eat half of the toast. My husband ate the other piece.

I pretty much ate half of everything and my husband ate the other. All he said was, "It's kind of weird." I was a bit disappointed. But, just remember that this breakfast failure is just a lot of personal preference. This meal broke a lot of my 'rules'.
You can't win them all I guess. I feel bad that this one was a lot of negativity... but...
Overall, I still think Fresh Meal Plan is great. I am still excited to try my other meals.
Go to FreshMealPlan.com to check it out for yourself.

ILKB and Fresh Meal Plan

So here's my story of how my fitness journey began.
You'll basically be in my head... so if you don't really care to know just hit the x button or the red dot in the corner and move on. I won't be offended... this may make sense or not because my thoughts are always all over the place ...
Several months ago, probably in August or September of 2018, my husband and I went to dinner at Chin's with a few friends. We parked and walked across the lot and I noticed the large pictures in the windows next door at ilovekickboxing. The lights were dim and the music was loud. I mentioned, "Hey, that looks fun. I'd exercise if I did that." I couldn't really get the place out of my head and coincidentally, I ran across an ad for some trial classes at a really good price. My mother-in-law then got the trial classes for me for my birthday in September after I had talked about it a few times. When I finally decided to start my classes, I used about one per week to spread them out to make them last longer. But, I instantly knew that I needed this. I needed to be here, in this place, for me. I wanted to be here all the time. I wanted to be a member to come whenever I wanted. But, I just couldn't at the time. It was bad financially for us and I was just scared of the commitment to feel obligated to be there so many times per week to make the monthly cost seem worth it. I just continued my trial classes for a while longer. But I was mad. I'm not good with rejection or being told No and my husband told me he couldn't pay for the classes at the time. I want what I want and when I don't get it, I hold a grudge and I'm not nice. I mean, I was really upset he wouldn't do this for me. I don't think I talked him for at least 3 days.
So, I was researching non-stop trying to find some way to make everything work out in my favor. Finally, I just decided that I had to do it on my own. I found my own way and its been the best decision. This was important enough to me to use money that I had stashed away. This was my rainy day. To invest in my sanity and have a reason to be healthier by exercising more and having time for myself. It was fun and different and hard but I always wanted to come back. There's a poster in the studio that I like. It says "I don't have time, So I make time" with a picture of a mom with kids hanging all over her. I relate to that picture now.
So, here are some pictures of my time since January after becoming a member at ilovekickboxing.

Crazy post-kickbox hair

80's themed DJ night

So what is ILKB? 

High-intensity interval training. An hour-long class split into a gnarly warm-up that I want to quit around 4.5 minutes, cool down stretching, typically 6 rounds of different combinations with punches and kicks on the bag, partner drills and another cool down stretch.

Shred Your Excuses DJ night

Happy post-workout selfie

Photos compliments of one of the instructors

My time here at ILKB so far has been amazing. I've been going 4 or 5 times per week... sometimes 3 if I don't have enough childcare. The instructors are great and helpful and everyone taking classes are fun to be around.

Lately, I've noticed that I go to ILKB to work out aggression from being a stay-at-home mom. It's hard. Some days my kids are just wild maniacs and mean and they make me cry and it's tiring being around them all day. Emotionally, I'm a wreck most days. I have no adult interaction and barely any friends. Depression has been taking over quite a bit lately, for several reasons which is a whole different post. Day to day tasks are daunting and hard to complete. I can't concentrate on any one thing for very long. I've just been miserable and I struggle with a lot of things.

BUT, ILKB has helped. I can punch and kick all I want to physically get my mood back in a better place... even if it is only for that hour. I go almost every day to have time for myself. To reset and it's normally easier for me physically in the evening. My body is ready for the work and my mind can escape the stresses of the day. I can release all the bad from the day into the bag. (FYI some days aren't all bad though. Some days are ok for me and that's when I go to ILKB just for fun.)

The only struggle that I have had recently with going to ILKB though, is my food intake. I have never been one to exercise routinely. I have always hated, or thought I hated having sore muscles and haven't really done any type of hard physical activity since sophomore year in high school; which was roughly 20 years ago. Working out has always seemed like a chore that didn't sound fun in the recent years because I automatically think of going to a gym; with all that equipment that I don't know how to use, going by myself and being bored, doing the same thing every time. And because I went from never working out to going to these high-intensity classes 4 times per week, I noticed my body hated me. My body hated me because I obviously have trouble eating the proper things for what I've been doing. Actually, I've always eaten terribly. I don't really eat anything healthy until dinner time. I'm lazy and tired after making breakfast for the kids and their lunches and their snacks. I don't want to eat what I make for them so I just grab junk. I need quick and easy. Nothing quick and easy is usually healthy.

Below is a picture of what I ate the other day before 11am plus several handfuls of gummy bears. Because this is what I typically eat throughout the day, I have been getting really exhausted during class and quickly. My body isn't recovering like it should. I have talked with instructors as to what would help. Of course they said, "Eat more protein." Honestly, I tried. Junk like this is what I always revert too. "It's fast, I'm hungry and I need something now" is usually what I'm thinking when I'm looking in fridge. I'm seriously lazy in the food department when it comes to myself. My kids are fed just fine... I think. But me, my stomach hurts all the time. I crave the sugary stuff. It's just not fun. Eating what I want, when I want just isn't working anymore.

The last few weeks at the ILKB studio, the instructors have been talking about this service called Fresh Meal Plan. Its pre-made, pre-packaged meals delivered to your door. There are different meal plans for the picky eaters or different diets; Paleo, Keto, Vegetarian and several more to choose from. The meals are specially made to provide the correct nutrients for working bodies. Lower calories, decent fats and have good proteins. Again, I knew that I wanted to try it and that it would be good for me, but I didn't want to commit or pay for another thing. The instructors always say after class, "Go get some good proteins in your body." All I think is, "I have no idea what that means" because all that comes to mind is steak. Eat a bunch of steak? No thanks. Lol.

A few more weeks have gone by where I'm exhausted easily and my stomach hurts from bad eating habits... things just aren't what they should be. I am not feeling like I think I should from going to ILKB so often. So, I finally decided to bite the bullet and try Fresh Meal Plan for a few weeks to see how that helps my diet and body after workouts. My first shipment of meals comes in a week. I got 5 breakfast meals and 5 lunch/dinner meals from the Traditional meal category. I'm excited to actually eat something in the morning and at lunch time. I'm nervous that I won't like them, although everyone has said that they're good.

We'll see how it goes.

Stay tuned for when my FMP meals actually get here.

PS... the husband doesn't know yet... since I didn't want to hear No. Ask forgiveness not permission. Right!? Ha.