This weekend we had two days worth of family parties. My birthday was last Wednesday, and my stepson's and my Father in law's birthday's are this coming week. We wanted to eat some good food, but not have our diets completely thrown off track.
I did a little searching on-line, and found this cheesecake recipe. At only 211 calories per slice, it was pretty healthy for a cheesecake. I was a little nervous, but it turned out amazing! I didn't take a picture, but I think the picture on the website is pretty representative. It was rich and creamy, and no one could tell it was low-fat. I will make this again and again!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Last night's dinner
Turkey Italian Sausages! These were delicious. We (and by we I mean my husband, while I sat and watched) grilled them on the George Forman grill. Paired with a whole wheat hot dog bun and some spicy brown mustard, this was a 260 calorie plate of deliciousness!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Eating Healthy on Vacation...
Is impossible to do. Buy why? I recently came home from a trip to Disneyland. It was hard to eat well while traveling, but there are some things that can be done to minimize the damage.
I was thinking about it, and I don't think that most of us plan our vacations around food. We plan it around activities and sights that we are wanting to see. So why is it so hard to stay on track? Part of the reason is that we're often eating on the road, which always makes it more difficult to eat healthy. At that point I think a lot of us give up and just use vacation as a free pass to eat whatever we want whenever we want, even if we're not really enjoying it. Here are some of my ideas to try to minimize the impact of travel on weight loss:
1. Keep busy. While at Disneyland we walked for probably hours each day. This helps burn off the extra calories.
2. Only eat while sitting down at planned meals. If you're busy with fun vacation activities, it's easier to not snack. Make a conscious effort to not eat mindlessly.
3. Now, this may not be Dr. approved, so take it with a grain of salt. But sometimes skipping meals can help offset the extra calories consumed. For example, on Friday we stopped at McDonalds. I was hungry, it was a planned meal, and I wanted a treat. I probably ate 1000 calories in that one meal. But because that and breakfast was all I ate that day, the damage was minimized.
These are some things that helped me. What are some of your tips for not gaining weight on vacation?
I was thinking about it, and I don't think that most of us plan our vacations around food. We plan it around activities and sights that we are wanting to see. So why is it so hard to stay on track? Part of the reason is that we're often eating on the road, which always makes it more difficult to eat healthy. At that point I think a lot of us give up and just use vacation as a free pass to eat whatever we want whenever we want, even if we're not really enjoying it. Here are some of my ideas to try to minimize the impact of travel on weight loss:
1. Keep busy. While at Disneyland we walked for probably hours each day. This helps burn off the extra calories.
2. Only eat while sitting down at planned meals. If you're busy with fun vacation activities, it's easier to not snack. Make a conscious effort to not eat mindlessly.
3. Now, this may not be Dr. approved, so take it with a grain of salt. But sometimes skipping meals can help offset the extra calories consumed. For example, on Friday we stopped at McDonalds. I was hungry, it was a planned meal, and I wanted a treat. I probably ate 1000 calories in that one meal. But because that and breakfast was all I ate that day, the damage was minimized.
These are some things that helped me. What are some of your tips for not gaining weight on vacation?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Chicken Fajitas
We eat a lot of tacos, tostadas and fajitas at our house. Mainly because you can put pretty much any kind of meat in or on a shell and, for better or worse, call it dinner. Tonight we made chicken fajitas/burritos/tacos. They were awesome!
Chicken Fajitas
7-8 inch tortillas - you should use whole wheat. I didn't.
1 lb chicken breast
1 package McCormick Chicken Taco seasoning
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Lime and Garlic Salsa, or your favorite Salsa
Avocado
Cook the chicken according to the directions on the seasoning package. Assemble your fajitas according to your wildest dreams. I used a lot of salsa, and about 1/8 of the avocado. The salsa was so strong that I couldn't really taste the avocado, so I'd probably leave it out next time.
This ended up being about 300 calories, 7.9 grams of fat, 24.7 grams of carbs, 31 grams of protein and 3.6 grams of fiber. They were very filling!
The end result:
This was so easy and so good! What are some of your easy, go-to healthy recipes?
Chicken Fajitas
7-8 inch tortillas - you should use whole wheat. I didn't.
1 lb chicken breast
1 package McCormick Chicken Taco seasoning
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Lime and Garlic Salsa, or your favorite Salsa
Avocado
Cook the chicken according to the directions on the seasoning package. Assemble your fajitas according to your wildest dreams. I used a lot of salsa, and about 1/8 of the avocado. The salsa was so strong that I couldn't really taste the avocado, so I'd probably leave it out next time.
This ended up being about 300 calories, 7.9 grams of fat, 24.7 grams of carbs, 31 grams of protein and 3.6 grams of fiber. They were very filling!
The end result:
This was so easy and so good! What are some of your easy, go-to healthy recipes?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
I need some help with motivation for working out. A co-worker sent me a training schedule for a half marathon. If I'm being honest, that is never going to happen. But I did look for a 5k training plan that would help me to improve my time. I found this:
http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Kinter.htm
This looks like a doable, yet kind of intimidating plan. I'm thinking of starting Monday. For any runners out there, how do you get past the casual running stage to the actually enjoying it stage?
One thing I've been working on is not snacking when I'm not hungry. Something I've been doing is chewing eclipse gum. It is SO minty, that it makes food not sound that appetizing. It has been working pretty well!
http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Kinter.htm
This looks like a doable, yet kind of intimidating plan. I'm thinking of starting Monday. For any runners out there, how do you get past the casual running stage to the actually enjoying it stage?
One thing I've been working on is not snacking when I'm not hungry. Something I've been doing is chewing eclipse gum. It is SO minty, that it makes food not sound that appetizing. It has been working pretty well!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Bleu Cheese Turkey Burgers
I was going to take a picture of the final product, but I had a migraine and ended up asking my husband to make dinner. When he brought it to me it looked delicious, but my camera was on the other side of the house...and basically I was too lazy to go get it.
Anyway. Bleu Cheese Turkey Burgers:
1/8 lb 93% lean ground turkey
1 hamburger bun (I choose a larger, whole wheat bun. I believe it had around 190 calories. You could definitely lower the calorie count by just using a smaller bun, but I'm trying to stay a little bit away from white flour, and this was the best I could come up with).
2 T Bleu Cheese
2 tomato slices
2 pickle slices
Ketchup
Mustard
Form the turkey in to a hamburger, and cook using whatever method you prefer. We used the George Forman Grill. 1/8 pound may seem like a really small patty, but this is the size of a kids patty at most fast food places. It really is enough. If you think you'll still be hungry, you can always make a 1/4 pound patty.
Assemble the burger. The great thing about bleu cheese is that it has a really strong flavor, so a little goes a long way.
Result: This was delicious. I told my husband I could eat this every night!
Calories: 337
Fat grams: 11.9
Protein grams: 21.3
Fiber: 1.5
Carbs: 35.4
One great tool I have found is:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
This will calculate the calories in any of your favorite recipes. It has been really helpful!
Anyway. Bleu Cheese Turkey Burgers:
1/8 lb 93% lean ground turkey
1 hamburger bun (I choose a larger, whole wheat bun. I believe it had around 190 calories. You could definitely lower the calorie count by just using a smaller bun, but I'm trying to stay a little bit away from white flour, and this was the best I could come up with).
2 T Bleu Cheese
2 tomato slices
2 pickle slices
Ketchup
Mustard
Form the turkey in to a hamburger, and cook using whatever method you prefer. We used the George Forman Grill. 1/8 pound may seem like a really small patty, but this is the size of a kids patty at most fast food places. It really is enough. If you think you'll still be hungry, you can always make a 1/4 pound patty.
Assemble the burger. The great thing about bleu cheese is that it has a really strong flavor, so a little goes a long way.
Result: This was delicious. I told my husband I could eat this every night!
Calories: 337
Fat grams: 11.9
Protein grams: 21.3
Fiber: 1.5
Carbs: 35.4
One great tool I have found is:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
This will calculate the calories in any of your favorite recipes. It has been really helpful!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
A New Beginning
I'm starting this new blog to try help motivate me get fit and lose weight. I will post my progress, recipes, tips, etc.
Run a 5k in under 30 minutes - 15 pounds ago I was pretty close to this goal. I realize it's not super fast, but for me that 30 minutes is a huge mental block for me. Now that I'm heavier, I'm about 5 minutes away from this goal, which seems completely insurmountable.
Stop eating when I'm not hungry - I eat when I'm hungry. I also eat when I'm sad, lonely, happy, stressed, etc. You see the problem.
Drink more water, less Mountain Dew - I love Mountain Dew. Love it. It's the best. I dislike water. It's just not that good. But I realize I need it. I also realize that the artificial sweetener and caffeine in my diet Mountain Dew is not good for me.
So, any tips for me? Have you overcome any of these issues?
My goals for 2011 are:
Lose 20 pounds. This is the 20 pounds I lost in 2006/2007. I kept it off for awhile, but , as you can see from the before and after pictures below, after a few moves, getting married, and a new job, the weight is back with a vengeance!
Run a 5k in under 30 minutes - 15 pounds ago I was pretty close to this goal. I realize it's not super fast, but for me that 30 minutes is a huge mental block for me. Now that I'm heavier, I'm about 5 minutes away from this goal, which seems completely insurmountable.
Stop eating when I'm not hungry - I eat when I'm hungry. I also eat when I'm sad, lonely, happy, stressed, etc. You see the problem.
Drink more water, less Mountain Dew - I love Mountain Dew. Love it. It's the best. I dislike water. It's just not that good. But I realize I need it. I also realize that the artificial sweetener and caffeine in my diet Mountain Dew is not good for me.
So, any tips for me? Have you overcome any of these issues?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)