½ Cup Old Fashion Oats
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1.5 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
½ Cup Skim Milk
1 Banana
1 Packet Sugar Alternative
Summer is just around the corner. Try this “Apple Barbecue Sauce” for your next grilling venture.
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This weekend was a weekend of temptation for me. We were surrounded by a lot of family and also surrounded by a lot of food. My house was filled with pastas, casseroles, pizza and multiple desserts. It took every ounce of my willpower to refrain from eating what was in front of me. I somehow managed to stick to my workouts and my food plan. So when I stepped on the scale this morning I thought that I would have found my reward. Maybe even some bonus points for willpower alone. Instead, I found that the scale went in the opposite direction. I was dumbfounded….really?? I realized that I’d actually hit a plateau over the last week, despite keeping up with my workouts and being good with my food. So what’s the deal? How much does stress play a part in weight loss? Of course now I feel even more stress because there is only a couple of weeks to go…how will I meet my final goal? I guess my goal for now is to try to de-stress after an extremely hectic week and focus on moving forward from here.
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Most ingredients fit into the chop chop salads, but conserve on your calories by lessening your dressing and adding flavorful vegies and spices!
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Who else is celebrating a birthday during the challenge? I celebrated mine this last weekend and had to make a few modifications to my normal traditions. My kids were especially disappointed that there wasn’t any cake this year. I wasn’t sure how much FUN it was going to be without having all the “normal” food, dessert and alcohol. I was so wrong. I didn’t really end up missing those things. We went out for a sensible dinner and even went out and burned a few calories dancing. I had lots of FUN minus the calories. I admit that in the moment it was tempting but it was great to know at the end of the night that I didn’t blow my whole diet. Thank you to my friends and family for making my birthday a special one. I realized how blessed I am by having so many wonderful people in my life. I realized that I don’t need “emotional comfort” from food to make me happy. It was a much better feeling to have my friends and family see how far I’ve come on my weight-loss journey. And I got to do a little clothes shopping for my birthday too…it felt awesome to be shopping and FITTING in smaller sizes!
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Who else watches the Biggest Loser? I love to watch that show. I call it my “motivation”. It makes me want to head to the gym in the morning. It’s so amazing to watch the transformations. I wish I could drop 10-15 pounds a week like they do! I’d be done already! But if you think about it, those of us on the challenge are doing our own “real life” Biggest Loser minus the giant scales. (Thank goodness!) I recently got the Biggest Loser Simple Swaps book and it has a lot of good ideas and recipes. Here’s one I tried and liked. I’d love to see what everyone else is eating, so feel free to share your favorite recipes in the comments.
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Congratulations to all the New Orleans Saints’ fans! I admit I’m not the football fan that my husband is. The Super Bowl for me is more about commercials, socializing and eating. It’s always fun to get together with friends and eat yummy food while watching the big game. In the past, the food usually consisted of pizza and wings or some other high fat appetizers. Of course, this year I knew I couldn’t do that and, of course, my husband NEEDED to watch the game so we came up with a solution. A “healthy snacks” Super Bowl party! We got together with friends and everyone brought a healthy snack to share. We had soup, hummus, light cheeses, edamame, chicken meatballs, fruit and lots of veggies. My new favorite recipe was a faux ranch dip. Just mix a ranch seasoning packet with plain Greek yogurt and YUM! I LOVE ranch dip/dressing so to find a healthy alternative was awesome. Thank you Kari for giving me another yummy, healthy recipe! I was excited that we had a wonderful time without the junk food. So many social events seem to pivot around food and I realize that healthy living just means choosing the right foods.
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Wow! What a weekend! I felt like I was put to the test. Saturday was especially difficult. We had big scheduling issues. My daughter had a school activity that required her to be there all day, my husband needed to be at the office all day and I had my two-year old to entertain and his naptime to work around. So when was there time for me to workout? How was I going to work in my healthy eating? How was I going to take care of everything and still take care of me? Thankfully, I have a wonder husband. He was able to go in to work a little later than planned. I got up early and went to the gym, and then finished my workout at home while the kids ate breakfast. I packed lunches for all of us and somehow we made it to school on time and even had cookies for the bake sale. Then I was faced with my next temptation…dinner. We had a small break between school performances in the evening. The kids really wanted McDonald’s and, well, I really wanted McDonalds. I admit it….I have a problem with fast food. “Hi, my name is Melissa and I love french fries.” It would have been so convenient to run and grab fast food. But “It’s not willpower, it’s discipline”, right? So we reluctantly headed home for dinner. Yes, it required more preparation on my part, but in the end I felt great about sticking to my meal plan and it was healthier for everyone. I realized that I will continue to be faced with temptations and challenges in the next couple of months and beyond. My own discipline will be my weapon against them.
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I’m always looking for new, healthy recipes. I’m probably one of the pickiest eaters on the planet, so when I find something I actually like I’m really excited about it. If anyone has a recipe to share, I’d love to see it. I tried the Lentil & Chicken Sausage soup recipe from the Challenge playbook and thought it was great. I decided to try and make a favorite soup recipe a little healthier. So, I took Paula Deen’s Taco Soup recipe (you know, the southern gal from the Food Network) and changed a few things. It’s great because you can dump everything in a crockpot and at the end of the day you’ve got dinner. So here it is:
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