Got a busy work or school week ahead?

Our crazy asses signed up to work five 12 hour shifts in a row last week, this is what we did to set ourselves up for a smooth and successful week:

PLAN WHAT YOU NEED:

Part of having a successful week is planning what all you might need. We decided on making a big pot of Leonard’s delicious chili in the crockpot, a big pan of chicken fried rice and stocked up on some healthy snacks. (I’ll post the recipes too, they’re amazing!) We also knew we were going to need fabric softener, milk and toothpaste. Nothing is more of a buzz kill than having to step foot into the chaos of Walmart before work because you ran out of toothpaste. Anticipate what you might need and get it all.

MAKE A GROCERY LIST:

On Sunday we went grocery shopping and stocked up on things we would need this week. If you make a list, it helps you stay away from buying things you don’t need (like cookies or Cajun crab). Plus it helps you get out of the store pretty quickly. And it helps you not forget something!

Here’s a nifty trick for those of you with an iPhone (you may know about it already) but go to your Notes, click the person with the plus sign on the top right corner, add the person who you will be shopping with or shopping for (in my case, Lenn) and then you can both add to the same list throughout the week! And you don’t have to worry about losing or forgetting your list because it’s on your phone!

MEAL PREP:

I’m a huge believer in meal prepping. If you’re like me, you wake up with just enough time to look presentable, fluff your scrubs in the dryer, let the dogs out and throw your food in your lunchbox.

Taking some time the day before your busy week starts to plan what meals you will have, prepare it and put it in Tupperware will save you not only time but money too. Its super easy to grab a jimmy johns one day and Chick-fil-A the next. You’ll end up spending $20 on food for one meal when we made chili to last 5 days for less!

Planning your meals helps you stay away from eating things you shouldn’t. Instead of snacking on Hot Cheetos and cookies, you could make egg salad and eat it with crackers! Planning and preparing help you make little tweaks to your diet that will have a huge impact on how you look and how you feel.

Here’s the snacks I packed in my lunch this week:

Protein packed yogurt with protein granola:

Yogurt: 21g of protein, 11g carbs, 8g of fat

Granola: 10g of protein, 32g of carbs, 4.5g of fat. (Thats a full serving, I usually do a 1/2 serving so it’s not as many carbs)

 Skip the chips and satisfy your crunch with some cut up cucumbers!

Let be honest, we’re all human here, we all love to dip in some ranch, just get the fat free kind…it’s about balance.  

 Egg salad with crackers! Good fat! Good protein! and it’s yummy!

 Mangos (Or any fruit)! Skip the sugary candy and get your daily serving of fruit.

I use to buy fruit, be too lazy to cut it up and it would go bad. If you cut it up and store it in tupperware then it’s easy to grab and go!

TIDY UP:

After Lenn tossed all his stuff in the crockpot (the joy of a crockpot) he started tidying up the house while I worked on the rest of the cooking. There really is no better feeling then coming home to a clean house. It’s one less thing to stress you out or clutter you’re mind.

PLAN WHEN YOU WILL WORKOUT:

After working 12 hours straight, do you think I really want to go work out? Not necessarily but it needs to get done. Planning when you will get there, what workouts you will do, and giving yourself a time frame will allow you to stay on track to get your workout in but also get home to get some sleep. Sometimes you have suck it up, quit making excuses and make it happen. That’s not to be harsh, just to be truthful. Some of my coworkers will ask how I have motivation after work to go and the truth is, sometimes I don’t, I just suck it up and do it.

GOT PETS?

The look my dogs give me when they know I’m getting ready to leave literally pierces a hole in my heart. One thing we like to do is make sure we wake up 30 minutes earlier to take them to the dog park and play with them until they’re begging us to go home and lay down. Life is busy but don’t forget about your fur babies.

Can’t cause too much trouble if you’re too tired from playing!

I don’t have kids so I can’t pretend like I know anything when it comes to that department but I feel like the same thing kind of applies. Life is extremely busy and I can only imagine what it’s like for those of you who are parents but I guess what I’m trying to say is, even in the chaos of life and cooking and laundry and working, don’t forget to spend time with your babies even if it’s as simple as throwing the football for 10 minutes, reading a book or playing princess tea party while dinner cooks. I always treasured when my parents took the time to PLAY with me and my brother not just take care of us.

GET SLEEP:

The most horrible feeling is getting out of your bed with only a few hours of sleep and knowing you’re not going to be back in that bed for 15 hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds (does anyone else do the math?) Do your body a favor and get the right amount of rest! By doing all the things I mentioned previously (meal prepping, grocery shopping, cleaning and scheduling workouts) you optimize your time so you can get more sleep!

SET IT OUT:

Lay out everything you will need for the next day! Make it easy to just grab and go! It’d be a real bummer to have forgotten your sports bra at home or wait til the last second to realize your scrubs are dirty!

& lastly, KICK ASS:

Stay focused. Take a deep breath. And kick some major ass this week! You got it! Don’t make excuses, make it happen!

xoxo, Keanna