Happy New Year’s Eve! I hope y’all have some fun things planned for this evening.
We’re going to head up to my parent’s house for a “mean” party with some of my aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings. It’s a lot of fun. My mom has been hosting this party for as long as I can remember and I look forward to it every year!
We’ve been enjoying the holiday break this past week as well. It’s been nice. Here are a few pics from some of the fun things we’ve been doing…
We took our cute 15 year old son out to dinner at Chilis for his birthday over the weekend. I told you guys he is a Christmas baby, so it’s tough to do a whole lot on his actual birthday. We had a fun time at Chili’s though…
We also brought our three year old along with us. He’s a cutie pie…
I got the Chicken Fajitas and they were fabulous…
It was so nice to get out and spend some quality time together!
On Sunday we went up to my parent’s house for dinner because my brother was in town from California. We had soup (White Chicken Chili, Cheesy Vegetable Soup and Tomato soup), breadsticks and veggies with dip. Everything tasted so dang awesome and I ate entirely too much!
This is not a cute picture of my sister and I (and the dog!), but I thought I would share anyway. 😉
Oh, and in case you didn’t know….I LOVE my little puppy dog, Jimmer so much! We take him with us whenever we visit my parent’s house and he loves it so much. I’m trying to convince my mom that he’s her 34th grandchild, but she’s not so sure about that, lol.
Anyway, I made the breadsticks and they were so yummy! They aren’t healthy at all (shocker!), but they’re so quick and easy to make. They are the perfect thing to take or serve at a party. I really love them.
Yesterday, I went out to lunch with some friends from my neighborhood. We went to Red Robin and it was delicious.
I’m kind of hiding in the back of this picture…
I ordered the Whiskey River BBQ chicken wrap with fries and it was wonderful!
Yes, I totally got the fries because…#1. Red Robin fries are the best in the whole world….I’m not even kidding. #2. I wanted to enjoy myself before the New Year hit.
It was great, but that innocent little wrap packs quite a large calorie punch. It’s 820 calories…yikes! It’s still much better than the burgers (~1200-1400 calories), but I couldn’t believe it had that many calories. I should have checked the nutritional information before I left.
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Well, since the New Year is TOMORROW, I’ve been working on a healthy plan. Yay. I’m basing my eating plan loosely on Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Stripped plan.
BTW, this is a wonderful, wonderful book and resource. I would highly recommend it to anyone! LOVE IT!
However, I decided to make up my own customized plan using the foods I eat on a regular basis. I think my plan is much simpler and a lot less “gourmet” than her plan, which is a huge plus in my book. I’m all about quick and easy ’round here…I have no time for “gourmet” or complicated meals!
Anyway, you can click on the image below to access my plan. I also hyper-linked a lot of the recipes on the plan to recipes on my site for simplicity…
You can customize this plan any way you like as long as you stick with the approved foods (listed below.) You can also eat the same breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks every day if you want as well. Just do what works for you.
I think it’s a great plan based on clean and real food. Here is a list I compiled of the Approved and Non-Approved foods.
As far as the exercise plan goes, I’m going to stick with the schedule I’m on right now. I am currently working out HARD four times a week for an hour to an hour and a half at a time. It is working our perfectly for me right now.
I look forward to my workouts and I love having a few days off. It’s the perfect balance for my life. However, if you are serious about weight loss, I think the Body For Life Workout schedule is best.
You basically workout six days a week alternating between strength training and cardio. On the cardio days, you do 20 minutes of interval training. You can run, bike, use the elliptical, etc. The key is in the interval training. I talked all about it in this post if you’re interested. On the weight training days, you can do an all-over body workout or just work on a specific body part/parts. The key is to lift heavy and really challenge yourself.
Well, we’re getting ready to head up to my parent’s house in a minute, so I gotta roll. I wish you all a fabulous New Year!
I really like Tosca’s plan. Yes, heavy lifting is the key. That’s my moto. I wish we had a Chili’s here. I love their fajitas.
Happy New Year and all the best!
I love Tosca and I’m a huge fan of heavy lifting! I’m sorry you don’t have a Chilis by you, dang it.
Ok Melanie – I’ve read a lot of healthy living blogs and I’ve decided that you are the most similar to me. Love this plan and I’m committed to doing it for January – thanks!! Can’t wait to do it together.
I’m so happy to hear that Laurel!! I wish you all the best!
Happy New Year!!! So glad that we “met” this year.
I’m amazed that your parents have 33 grandkids – that is awesome!!!
Thanks so much. I’m so happy we’ve met as well!
I love your approved versus not approved graphic. Makes it easy to see.
Thanks so much!
Happy New Year beautiful!
Thanks! I hope you have a wonderful New Year as well. 😉
Happy New Year, Melanie! Those breadsticks look AMAZING! I’m such a fan of a good breadstick, but then again, who isn’t? 🙂 Glad you got to spend some time with your family! I’m also a big fan of Red Robin–they have the best fries and onion rings!
Thanks! I really, really love those breadsticks and my kids can’t get enough of them! Red Robin is soo good and their fries are dangerous!
Happiest of New Years to you!
Thanks so much! I hope you have a wonderful New Year too!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! All of this food looks delicious. 🙂 I can’t wait to get my new year food and fitness plan together!!
Thanks so much! I love this time of year…all the goals and planning. So fun!