Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday

Good morning, gals!   Hope the first 2 days have gone stellar.  Sounds like it from all your comments, all your water-drinking, all your workouts :) Makes me blubber a little I'm so excited.

So a little Eating 101 for us.  I like that this article says to put some of your dinner calories in your breakfast, and to split your meals in half to spread them out more, doing mini-meals. 

Obviously if you're brand new to MFP or to counting calories, it can be a bit daunting.  To keep myself from becoming overly consumed by the counting aspect of it, I just log in to MFP each morning, enter in what I've got planned for the day ahead of me, and then I'm done.  You don't want to become obsessed or fixated on the counting aspect of it.  Just relax and plan ahead if you can.  Something else to note as you gain more experience w/ counting calories & MFP, you'll start to notice that some foods just tend to make you feel fuller longer, or some "stay with you more."  For instance, a yummy and healthy granola pear homemade muffin (even made w/ wheat flour) for breakfast at 230 calories only stays w/ me for an hour and isn't that filling.  On the other hand, a 200 calorie breakfast scramble of 6 egg whites, 1 cup spinach, & a little tomato basil crumbled feta will fill me up and satisfy me for 3-4 hours.  It's going to be a matter of trial and error with your body.  You'll find foods that mentally and physically fill and satisfy more.  Hey, I understand, sometimes you are willing to take the hit and your whole lunch will consist of a Snicker's candy bar, but if it keeps home murders from happening, I definitely am a proponent.  That's what's cool about the MFP.  Nothing is really off limits.  But, the point of this rambling, is to urge you to hang in there, experiment with lots of different foods and lots of different meals.  Eventually, you'll find a good repertoire of foods that you LOVE and that really fill you up and satisfy you, that give you the energy you need to tackle your excuses.  The more wholesome and the less processed you go, the more full & energizing it should be.  Let me know your thoughts on that! 

I love what Marin said yesterday, that if you fall off the bandwagon for one meal or one day, you jump right back on the bandwagon & the whole thing's not shot, you can recover from it if you DECIDE to.  Choose to be resilient, determined, and courageous. 

Although I am not a Miggy fan, on Biggest Loser last night, I did like what Miggy said in that the biggest change for her in being at the ranch has been learning a more positive attitude and how that has made all the difference in the world.  I also like how she spoke of the real, inner self inside of each of us that is coming forth.  We spoke a lot about that a couple challenges ago.  Inside of you, the fit, trim, healthy, happy, energized you is just rearin' to be let out!  So let's get to opening that door!

Wednesdays are the days we share food ideas, nutrition ideas, recipes, snacks, etc.  So what have you been eating?  Share!  This is the favorite day of so many of us :)

Feel Good Friday

Good morning, girls! 

There are 2 common pitfalls to trying to have a healthier lifestyle ESPECIALLY at this time of year- and I fall victim to them both. First would be comfort foods- things that make us feel all warm & snuggled up, reminders of homestyle cooking & baking from when we were kids.  Second would be letting yourself go all out on the weekends (or during holiday parties)- losing the momentum and drive you  had built up during the routine of Monday through Friday.

For the first, comfort foods, see if you can snatch your thoughts before they get you to turn them into actions and eat away at the comfort foods.  WHY is it that you want them?  I am no psychologist, but they just kept saying over and over on the Biggest Loser, especially Rudy, that you have to know WHY you over eat and WHY you gained weight before you can learn how to stop it, how to lose the weight, and how to keep it off.  Recognize and acknowledge those struggles in your life, they are real, and you need to accept them and tell yourself that was ok for then, but today is a new day and find a healthier thought process and outlet for your feelings.  If you turn to comfort foods strictly for the warmth because you're freezing, try some of these other warm yummies that are also lo-cal and healthy: Superfast Comfort Food Recipes.  Or the hot cocoa recipe from Meghan a few months ago that's made w/ Splenda:

Ingredients:

2 T. cocoa powder

1 T. sugar (or use Splenda at the end to taste)

2 T. water

6 oz. skim milk or soy

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. almond extract

Try flavoring it with cinnamon for a little change.

In a small saucepan, stir together the cocoa powder and the sugar. Add the water and stir well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a low boil and the sugar dissolves. Stir in the milk, vanilla and almond extract. Reduce the heat to low and stir until warmed through. Makes one serving.

Second, for letting lose on the weekends, perhaps it's because you're too denying during the week of little treats (within your calorie allottment) that you binge when the weekend hits.  Have a little piece of dark chocolate every day if that keeps you from devouring an entire Texas Sheet Cake in one weekend (  :) personal experience there).  Another reason is maybe it's the fact that everyone's home & not at work or school.  Is there a way you can get your family on track w/ your fitness goals, too?  Share with them how important this is to you, even with the kids present, and how if they can help you with eating healthy meals on the weekends and letting you get in good workouts, how much that would mean to you and how happy that would make you.  Chances are, you've decided in your head they wouldn't care before you even talked to them about it- maybe they'll surprise you!  Give it a whirl.  Another reason is maybe you get in longer runs and longer workouts on the weekends and so you feel more "entitled" to "reward" yourself.  Yes, you should feel like a million bucks after completing a tough or long workout.  But beware of that mentality of entitlement and reward.  Check out this Time article that cautions against consuming TONS after a workout, MORE than you even burned during the workout: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin (one we've shared on here before).  Can you reward yourself with a quiet drive away from the kids after your workout?  Or dropping by Target/Kohl's to pick up an inexpensive new Yoga top?  Or drop by Jamba Juice and splurge on a small yummy fruit smoothie?  Can you reward yourself w/ a nap?  Try to find non-bingeing things that you can do.  I really liked this article about how to change your un-healthy thought processes into healthy ones going into the weekend: What's Your Diet Doing This Weekend?

I post this today because this is what I struggle with.  I don't really know why I am not as good on the weekends as I am during the week, but I'm trying to figure it out and I'm trying to challenge it.  With it so cold, I'm trying to find healthy at-home recipe solutions to warm me up and give me energy. 

What are your thoughts, experiences, tips, tricks, advice on this????

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday!

I hope you all were busy doing active and healthy things last night :) I loved Abby's comment on Biggest Loser last night- something to the effect of "you keep moving, and you keep counting calories, and it works." Their basic idea is the same as ours...minus the f-bombs and 10 hour cardio routines :) Did any of you learn any good food ideas from their kitchen lesson? I want to try the fresh raspberries w/ dark chocolate sauce drizzle. Or the pineapple chunks skewered and grilled. Yum! So what have you been eating this week? Any fun new recipes?

So I haven't made this in a few months, but I ate this a ton in the spring. So yummy! I pulled it off the My Fitness Pal recipe forum, but I believe it is from Cooking Light originally. I added a few comments as did the MFP girl who posted it this spring.



Meatloaf in a Mug
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons 2% milk
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon onion soup mix
1/4 pound lean ground beef (this is key- it's got to be the leanest possible so there's no grease in the cup)
Additional ketchup, optional

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the milk, ketchup, oats and soup mix. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Pat into a microwave-safe mug or custard cup coated with cooking spray.

Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160°; drain (I didn't need to drain b/c I got 98% lean meat).

Let stand for 3 minutes. Serve with additional ketchup if desired.

Yield: 1 serving.

Nutrition Facts
One serving: (calculated without additional ketchup) Calories: 248 Fat: 10 g Saturated Fat: 4 g Cholesterol: 72 mg Sodium: 440 mg Carbohydrate: 14 g Fiber: 1 g Protein: 24 g Diabetic Exchange: 3 lean meat, 1 starch.

Tips:
-"Was out of ketchup so I used cocktail sauce! Might do that permanently! The horseradish in it is great with meatloaf!"
-"Used extremely lean ground turkey and there wasn't any grease left in the bottom...so nice..."
-"Didn't trust my mugs in the microwave so I just made it in a one-cup pyrex measuring cup. Didn't look as great but it worked perfectly."
-"Think I'll quadruple this recipe and cook one mug while I line 3 other mugs with plastic wrap and freeze them. When frozen I'll bag them up and save them for a rainy day!"
Edited by ChubbyBunny on Tue 03/10/09 10:02 AM

For me, I didn't freeze them, but I did make 4 at a time (buy 1 lb ground beef or turkey & split into 4 portions), cook them all, and cover and put in the fridge. We would eat them before the end of the week. This recipe is so yummy! And it helps w/ portion control. If you've got a big family, there are also lots of recipes out there for meatloaf "muffins" or meatloaf made in a muffin tin and baked which would get accross the same portion control idea but on a family scale.

Can't wait to hear about all your yummies :)

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

Wow, so let me first of all get it out of the way- The Biggest Loser premier last night was GREAT! They push it and work it so hard and see such huge losses. They challenge their past & their bad habits and they make it work. It really inspires me to push it harder. I didn't lose my husband and two kids in a tragic car accident, my mom wasn't a heroine addict, etc. The fact that these contestants can have so much strength despite their obstacles and histories, it means that I have NO EXCUSE! NO EXCUSE AT ALL! What about you? I am going to push the workouts harder and longer this week because of it! Have you ever checked out Kristin's Blog? Just came across it. She has a good and simple smoothie idea that she uses a lot: frozen strawberries, half a banana, skim milk, and a packet of truvia sweetener.



Share with us what your favorite workout foods have been! Our favorites this week have been 6 Week Bran Muffins, a family recipe of my sister-in-law Erianne. It makes a HUGE batch, but the batter keeps for 6 weeks in the fridge, so you just bake a fresh dozen when you need more. It's chock full of fiber and energy. I haven't done a recipe analysis yet b/c I'm waiting to see exactly how many muffins the batch made (I'm thinking 5 dozen- we've baked 2 dozen so far) but someone on MFP with probably a similar recipe has estimated it at about 230 cal each, which seems about right. One muffin in the morning for breakfast and it stays with us and keeps us full all morning.



6 Week Bran Muffins

2 cups boiling water
5 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 quart low-fat buttermilk
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup ground flax seed meal
1 tablespoon salt
4 cups All-Bran cereal
2 cups bran flakes (40% bran)
2 cups chopped dates
1 cup chopped almonds

Add soda to boiling water and let cool (I set it in fridge). Cream butter, applesauce, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in buttermilk, then flour, flax, and salt. Add water and soda mixture. Mix All-Bran, bran flakes, dates, and nuts in a large separate bowl. Add buttermilk mixture. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins (I don't use papers/wrappers) without stirring much. Bake at 375 for 20 mins. Store the remaining batter in a covered container in refridgerator- will keep 5-6 weeks.

Share a yummy good-for-working-out recipe or snack idea!