January's Dinner Menu: It's a Start

First thing that people trying to loss weight should do is cut out fast food, soda, coffee, alcohol, candy, etc. These things can hinder or even make you gain weight depending on your level of activeness. Have said that, in hopes of preventing me of finding an easy way out of cooking dinner, I have planned out the rest of the month's dinner meals. This may involve having to go to the store and spend a bunch of money there. However, did you ever think to keep track of all the money you may spend getting fast food or buying Starbucks? I am sure if you stop going to those places, you will have plenty of money to go grocery shopping more often. Hell, you may even have a lot extra money if you cut out those habits.I know that saving 15 bucks every time Joe and I go to In-N-Out or 40 bucks at a restaurant, should help in accomplishing saving money and using it for something worth while.

One rule of thumb when it came to this menu plan, is to keep the meals under 500 calories. If you are following the golden rule of eating every few hours and keeping those meals/snacks at a low calorie count too, 500 calories for dinner should be more than enough. Another thing is to not eat after 6pm or 7pm. In my case, I can probably go to 8 or 9, since I am a night owl, but in general, you should try to stop eating a few hours before bed.

Back on track, this is what January's Menu is looking like.

January 11th: Sesame-Orange Shrimp 
January 12th: Hot Chile Cheese Sandwich
January 13th: Hungarian Apple Soup
January 14th: Wine Braised Chicken
January 15th: Crab Cake Burgers
January 16th: Roasted Pear-Butternut Squash Soup
January 17th: Summer Vegetable Crepes
January 18th: Sausage Gumbo
January 19th: Chinese Beef and Vegetable Hot Pot
January 20th: Chicken and Sun-dried Tomato Orzo
January 21st-23rd: Going to Vegas :)
January 24th: Chicken Parmesan Sub 
January 25th: Short Ribs
January 26th: Italian Vegetable Hoagies
January 27th: Seared Steaks with Caramelized Onions
January 28th: Chicken Piccata
January 29th: No Meal. Joe's Uncle's Birthday
January 30th: French Onion Soup
January 31st: Broccoli, Beef, and Potato Hot Dish

The majority of these recipes can be found at EatingWell.com. This website has been my go to site for healthy recipes. They even have weekly meal plans designed with a specific daily calorie intake in mind for those unsure of what they should eat throughout the day. Most of the recipes are very simple and take less than 30 minutes to put together. And at the bottom of each recipe, it tells you the calories in the dish.

Look out later this week for a post about common food myths and what my new workout routine is like.

Have a great week!!