The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of getting ready for family to visit and not feeling well at the same time, and so I got a little behind on my documenting. I'm catching up with two weeks worth of meals for you to possibly be inspired by. :)

I did spend a great deal of time planning these menus, with a pile of cookbooks and magazines at hand, as as my pinterest as inspiration. Some weeks, things come to me easier than others. One of the things that most overwhelms me is trying to be sure I have ALL the ingredients planned out for all my dinners, and then plenty of options for my other meals I eat throughout the day. I'm still doing about 6 small meals a day - I've train my body to expect something nourishing and healthy on these regular 2 1/2-3 hour intervals, and it seems to work best for me.

note: each day is annotated with the main meal for the day and any noteworthy combinations of things throughout the day. note: this does not always consistitute the entire days meals, you can look at my MyFitnessPal if you want more details!

What did YOU eat that you really loved last week?

In September, I participated in the Back to Basics challenge (#wwbtb). I started by making goals, and followed up after that with improving spaces, then talked about the importance of tracking. This post will serve as a look at weeks 3 and 4, and a look at the success of the challenge goals I set.

The Week 3 challenge (wwbtb: GHG post) was to improve your health by integrating at least one of the GHG elements into your life:

Good Health Guidelines (from WW): 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruits. Give preference to whole grains. 2 servings of dairy. 2t of healthy oils. 1-2 servings of lean protein. limit sugar/alcohol. drink at least 48oz, preferably water. take vitamins.

I'm proud to say that I am doing good in all 8 of these areas. The hardest is probably sugar - sugar substitutes at least. When I cook, I'm using honey or maple syrup most of the time. I'm also working on targeted vitamins instead of a general multi. Anyhow, the GHGs fit in really well with my learnings from Take Shape For Life - my recent post on the BESLIM acronym has some expanded themes for general health.

fit Kristine (instagram)

For Week 4, Brooke took a look at exercise (wwbtb: exercise post). My favorite takeaway from this was to make an exercise plan! why am I not doing this when I do my meal planning?! (ok, one reasons is that with fibromyalgia, I need to concentrate on doing what I can, when I can: the #WYCWYC challenge that Roni has been posting about). So I can still slate out my basic plans, and I plan to do just that. I'm also starting to think about my long term exercise goals. And I determined that wearing fit clothes makes me FEEL FIT and I'm going to buy another set of yoga clothes!

Now what you've been waiting for ;) How did I do in the goals I set for this challenge?