Phit-N-Phat...Making Fitness and Weightloss a Lifestyle

No Bake Shakeology Cookies: Recipe, Nutrition Information and How to Put In Your Meal Plan

A lot of you love Shakeology and someone asked me for No Bake Shakeology Cookies. I finally just made my own Sparkrecipes link because I couldn't find solid nutritional information on them OR advice on how to put them in your food plan.

I wrote my recommendations on the link: 3 small balls or 1 large is a meal replacement (like breakfast if you love a treaty breakfast) or 1 small with skim or almond milk for a treat before bed. 

My Shakeology No Bake Cookie Recipe

A delicious and SUPER NUTRITIOUS alternative to dessert or a daily shake.

Minutes to Prepare: 10

Number of Servings: 24

Tips

This makes 24 small balls for 115 calories. 12 larger balls for 332 calories. As a snack one small ball with a glass of skim milk. For a meal replacement you can do 3 small balls or one large ball.

 

Ingredients

1 cup of Chocolate Shakeology
1 cup of Natural Peanut Butter
1 cup of Quick Cook Oats
1/3 cup of honey

Directions

Remove rings and wash your hands really well. Combine ingredients in medium bowl. Mix well. Roll into balls (about a heaping teaspoon each).

Store in the fridge on wax paper.

Optional: Roll in crushed nuts, oatmeal mixed with a little cinnamon, whole-grain graham cracker crumbs, or unsweetened coconut flakes. Don't forget this does add calories if you add extras.

Serving Size: 24 small-snack sized balls OR 12 large-meal sized balls

Number of Servings: 24

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user PHITNPHAT.

 

 

Food That Has Power Over You

We often think of food as the enemy. When I say food has power over you...what pops in your head? Be honest!

- Do you think about wild needs for chocolate at night?

- Does a bag of chips on the counter render you munching your way through cooking dinner?

- When you go out to Mexican the chips in the basket just can't be turned down?

Food DOES have incredible power over us. If we aren't planning and prepping for our week it can have the wrong kind of power.

But I want to talk about the positive power food has. I am working with a group training for the Country Music Half Marathon. This message inspired this post.

Corinne, I wanted to give you a special thanks for all the training tips and the tips for eating prior to and after walking/running. I feel so much better than I did the last time I trained and I know it is because of the things you have shared with us. Recovery is much easier and I don't feel like I need to go to bed when I am finished!!

We too often sit around thinking about all the negatives with living the lifestyle and fueling our bodies that we forget just how great good food can make us feel. I know that the day you stop seeing food as your enemy and embrace it as part of what your body needs, YOU DO BETTER!

So many of us grow up in the mentality that more is not better with food so we should starve to lose weight. Less must mean I'll lose. Most of the time it means you starve a few days, overeat the others, and either gain weight or stall all while busting your ass and feeling like shit. We don't know how to figure calories so we go with what we know: starve and then let food have POWER over us.

I believe the best thing for your body is easy; listen to it and give it enough food to do it's job. If the job right now is to workout and lose weight, then you gotta give it enough FOOD to do that and it's more than a lot of you think on a DAY to DAY basis. 

Notice I didn't mention you can't eat carbs, you should avoid fat, never do this or that. If you want to have loads of food rules go ahead but I can tell you to lose weight there aren't that many. The body wants healthy food and it rewards you when you eat a lot of it. Things like...

• regular poops (you can set a freaking watch to mine)
• increased energy
• prettier skin
• better workouts
• a happy mom and wife
• a worker who can THINK

and lots of other things.

I could get into a lot of detail on how to eat healthy but this blog is about embracing good, natural foods to feel the positive power food has over you. If you are tired of feeling like crap then quit eating it. 

And, feel free to ask questions in the comments of the blog. I'm happy to tell you my "food rules" for your situation. :)

Related Articles...

Wasted Calories

Journal Review: Body Minder

 

Monday - How Was Your Weekend?

How was your weekend?

Many of us have tough times meaning we went in with good intentions (not planned and prepped food) and then sort of just slowly go to crap all weekend with all or nothing thinking.

Even I wake up on Mondays often in a fog. I work hard all week and then on the weekends eat out of the usual foods, drink a little and typically take a day off. There's a fine line between living a lifestyle and living it up! 

If you are living a lifestyle it is going to have times you eat things you want...in moderation. You take days off...when you deserve one or need one. A lifestyle is simply going to have unplanned, unstructured moments. It has days where you can indulge and days you need to tighten up. But the key is you overall do the the healthy things. 

I just got back from nearly a week in Vegas. We go a lot so I'm used to how I'm going to feel upon returning. My body will be bloated, my energy level in the toilet, my mood trashed, and the scale will be jacked up. I used to feel that way every Monday because my weekends were like a vacation; not a lifestyle.

Vacation USED TO BE my lifestyle and back then I weighed 250lbs. The reason I was out of control was because...

• I rarely worked out.
• I rarely drank enough water each day.
• I indulged in crap food DAILY. Seriously can't believe my diet used to be WORSE than how I ate on my vacation!!!!
• I eat only 2-3 times a day but big meals.
• I rarely got enough sleep.
• And, the key, I didn't keep people around me living the same lifestyle.

Sort of sounds like some the weekends I read from my clients.

It's so important to not get hung up in your mind games that come along with being out of your routine. Vacations to weekends, you need to be thinking about the right things to do. On weekends I get ready for them. I'm going to eat 13-15 times between Friday afternoon to going to bed on Sunday. Most people forget that sticking to your regular schedule with good choices can allow you to have a little treat. 

A TREAT...not a binge meal. The biggest HABIT I see most people get into is being a food prep queen Monday through Friday then just letting it all go Saturday and Sunday. No water, no snacks with them, no looking up a menu ahead of time to see what they can order, and no activity.

Planning for a weekend doesn't have to be crazy but if your HABIT is to jack your weekends you need to have a Sunday on Friday. And, you need to find some people who can help you be on your game. Have your hubs get your butt up early on Saturday so you do have a cooler of food. Ask your friends to plan some meals where you can eat healthy.  

The point is most of us can look at our week and figure out where the issues are. It's a matter of are you ready to change those habits and put in a new plan?

Food Prepping for the Family

We have a two menu related challenge teams for February: the Food Preppers and the Shakeology Menu team. Their mission this month is to focus on being prepared through the week with food prepped, coolers packed, and no excuses on being caught without something healthy to eat and cook for dinner. A member posted this...

Good morning ladies!  Yesterday I did some prepping but I didn't have baggies to weigh and protion my food.  So on the to do list is to buy lots of baggies.!!!!

I told my kids they can eat my portioned food but they have to let me know what they are taking so I don't run out.  Prepping is going to be intense if I'm prepping for 4 people!  Fun stuff.

I remember when I started the food prep stage of my weightloss journey; I was getting ready to compete and it was right after Logan was diagnosed. Since I was putting him on a special diet and I was on a competition diet, I literally went from nothing to prepping Queen overnight.

Often I talk about the mental mind blow competing did, but one thing it CHANGED for me and was invaluable in my keeping off 100lbs (not to mention teaching other ladies to lose their weight) was being prepared with my food.

That first year of competing and Logan's diagnosis I learned quickly I HAD to be prepared or WE WOULD FAIL. As odd as it seems, I felt his life was on the line and there was no assing around about food prep. He wasn't in true danger but it felt that way for sure. We were cutting gluten and caesin and just about everything had to be homemade. This was way before gluten free was easy to find.

What I found and put into our lifestyle is that when I take time on Sunday to prepare my whole family for the week our week goes smooth. Logan has less fits because I'm not making craptastic drive-thru runs because we are "soooo busy." My husband gets home earlier because he has his snacks and Shakeology meals at work. He often works through lunch with his shake rather than going out. This keeps him from staying until 6pm every night. I keep my weight in check and NAG LESS because I'm not pissed at what I ate today because I didn't have anything ready.

I can't tell you how many fights I've avoided with the family just because I'm not feeling bad about what I ate. My clients who don't prep and end up eating junk often are the ones who end up aruging with their kids and husbands. Personally, I think the food they choose is not only physically making them feel bad but MENTALLY lowering their self-esteem.

So, back to prepping for the family. Each week when I get home from the store I do several things:

1. I make all of my lunches and put them in Ziploc containers. It's like my own Lean Cuisine but healthier. Pop in the microwave and ready to eat each day. I work from home but when I do need to be out it pops right into my cooler!

2. I pre-portion and bag all chips (yes, we do keep chips here), nuts, peanut butter, cereal, etc. I try to always break-down all the foods for two reasons: it's easy for Logan to grab a snack bag out of the drawer and it shows DADDY what a dang portion looks like! And, truth be told, I'm as guilty as anyone of eating out of a bag or jar. A portioned bag/cup slows me down because it reminds me how many calories it is and begs the question "is it worth it?"

3. All fruits and veggies get washed, cut, and bagged. I cook dinner most nights now, but I used to pre-cook our dinners because I didn't have a quick system in place. Now I've learned how to get the basics all done for the week so that when it's time to toss together our meal it takes about 20 min. max. I can check email while it cooks! If we are having chicken fajitas all I have to do is toss the prepped peppers and onion bag in the skillet, the chicken I sliced up in, and microwave a bag of brown rice.

The key for me is to just look at what we plan to eat, all of us, and make it as grab-proof and simple as possible. It makes the week so much simpler. And, when I make menus for my Shakeology clients, I craft the weekly menu with the prep instructions. It's helped them lose a lot of weight because someone paid it forward with their tips.

Makes me feel good to know that the lessons I learned during one of the most difficult years of my life is paying off for so many. :)

 

Busy Week and Unprepared

I want to make sure everyone knows where I am this week since it's going to be my hustle week. I thought it would be easier to blog it since most of you will see it who belong to PNP and such.

Monday - Logan's birthday!

I'm laying low PNP collecting the final results from the In and Out challenge and finishing the Holiday Hustle challenge that starts NEXT WEEK. Keep checking your email because when I have the program finished PRIVATE MEMBERS will get access immediately. Teams will start forming mid-week once I get the structure settled.

Today we have a class party, choir, dinner, trick or treating, and I still haven't been to the store this week. As some of you know, I'm having a few health things I'm taking care of this week and I've been really tired lately. Yesterday I slept most of the day and didn't do a food prep. I can count on one hand how many times this year I didn't do one.

Luckily I keep frozen dinners and veggies so I have enough to get me through. I plan to hit the store between choir and Trick or Treating and then I can cook up some stuff after we finish hitting the hood.

Tuesday - at doctor's appointments all day. Taking the day off from exercise and the world.

Wednesday - Should see more of me online as I'll be getting together several teams and answering questions.

Rest of the week should be my normal working and availability.

I really wanted to stress to all of you that even when you are busy and you can't prep, you can ALWAYS have back up things in your house. I keep frozen dinners, frozen bags of vegetables, pasta sauce and gluten free pasta, beans, egg white cartons, oats, frozen berries and bananas for Shakeology, Boca Burgers and frozen bread (gluten free) and P90X protein bars. If I had to go 2-4 days without prepping I always have enough stuff to make it through without doing damage. It isn't the IDEAL and most satisfying food ever, but it's not starving or Dairy Queen.

Those who want to make it happen have back up plans for when they just can't squeeze it all in. :)

For workouts, I'm behind today. I either start running now on the treadmill or take the day off. Might be a day off and just cut back some calories. I'm pretty tired and busy and I want to enjoy my time with Logan tonight.

Maintaining Weight Loss Reasonably

I had a great weekend. Drank a lot but ate well. One thing I have improved in the years is the all or nothing thinking with the weekends. I go into a weekend with a mindset of choosing the things I want. Most of the time I want date night with Chris which means dancing and wine. When I make that choice then dinner out is a healthy choice. After we are done I have my “aftermath” planned. Like if  want pizza we make Weight Watcher pizzas and have a Skinny Cow before going to bed. Used to be Waffle House or me laying in bed just eating away because I knew I was going back on plan in the morning.

I guess what changed for me is that I now understand that when you are just trying to look good for every day life, your husband, and yourself, you don’t have to restrict and be boring. It’s all about being smart and letting go of food being a source of guilt. The only time I MUST be super-strict is if I am competing. Otherwise, I just track my food/calories, eat when hungry, and if that happens to be carbs at dinner or "gasp" before bed then that's what happens.

For most of my readers who are simply trying to be a size 8, look good in a pair of jeans, or feel confident on your date night, macros just don't matter that much. Of course there are all kinds of "best case scenario" food choices to help get trim BUT most of you just aren't going for a look that requires that much worry. 

Yes worry. I see more girls, including myself, BLOW IT with BLT's, binges, or wild weekends all because they wanted to avoid a baked potato at 6pm. Y'all really have to get over the idea of there being wrong foods. If you want to have wrong foods, for God's sake, avoid making it things like the drive-thru, Pizza Hut, potato chips, or true crap food. Quit trying to demonize corn, potatoes, whole grain bread, frozen yogurt, frozen dinners, and fruit. Seriously, if you use some common-sense you can quickly figure out what foods make you break out in fat.

So, here's some things I ate in the last two weeks...

- Roast beef wraps: low carb wrap, horseradish mustard, purple onion, cole slaw mix (dry). Roll up and you can make ahead of time for a couple of days. 

- Orange Roughy: I season with chicken seasoning. Heat a large pan on med-high. One tbsp of coconut oil and then lay roughy down frozen. Sprinkle with chicken seasoning, garlic, and salt. Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes. Flip and put more seasoning on then cook 4-6 more minutes. 

- Baked Potatoes: We love them here and most of the time have one at night. One hour before we are having dinner I rub olive oil and course salt on three potatoes. Poke four holes with a knife on each side. Cook for an hour, flipping half way through, on 350. I buy the medium sized potatoes.

- Pork Chop and Spag Squash: Cook spaghetti squash. I just stab it a few times with a long knife then microwave for 13-15 minutes on high. Cut in half, scoop out seeds, then take a fork an shred. Simple. I George Foreman up 3-4 days of chops seasoned with Smoke Seasoning I buy at Kroger. Delicious. I top with a little Ragu. 

- Veggies of all kinds and most raw: radishes, big green salads with spinach, baby carrots, asparagus, roasted brocolli, cucumber slices, sauteed squash, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peppers, okra, and tomatoes with basil. I love me some vegetables and eat tons of them.

I also had a Weight Watcher Pizza yesterday and two glasses of wine. I tracked my calories because I wanted to know I had the calories for the wine. My plan right now is to track when I want an indulgence like wine and the days I'm going clean and basic just eat as I am hungry. 

This will work for me, in my opinion, and keep me honest with flexibility. I'll weigh when I need it or feel good about me. The deal is to not be hung up on numbers but let habits guide the numbers. 

Workout wise...I love it. Yesterday I lifted shoulders/chest and today was leg day. When I'm in the gym I feel my best. I'm also doing my cardio and lifting from 5-7am. It works with our summer schedule and just gets the day started RIGHT. 

Well, time to pack. We are headed to FL in the morning for a whole week. Gotta get clothes, beach stuff, snacks, and cookware packed up. We'll eat healthy because my Logan does best when he's not eating a steady diet of restaurant crap. What kid doesn't? We've got plans to eat out a little so I'll try to post up how we are rolling on vacay. One thing will happen...I always run the beach each day and have some vino with the King this weekend listening to the ocean. Love that!

 

Fueling Your Little Athletes Helps YOU LOSE WEIGHT

Moms, raise your hand if sports are in full swing or nearing! Now, how many of you are in a panic that your food and workouts are going to the toilet for the sake of the kids? I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my PNP clients:

Those who want it – do it. Those who don’t want it just found ANOTHER excuse.

I have a private member of the site who has three kids now playing soccer and baseball. She commented that from now until sometime in May every night of the week they will be at a ball field and because there are three kids she and her husband have to divide up the kids to get them everywhere!

Now, that’s a load. I have some girls with no kids complaining how little time they have and others (cough, cough ME) with one who feels overwhelmed! LOL. I can’t imagine raising a small wolf pack.

Her other worry is that while doing for her kids sports she’s being selfish taking time to exercise and eat right. I know it’s easy to feel this way but what’s selfish is ditching your health and in turn providing your kids with an example of someone who just can’t plan well enough to even take care of their own basic needs.

Since when did physical activity and healthy food in our body become luxury time??? If you blew off your kids to hit the spa a few times a week I would see it. But, I see plenty of women all the time who have no time for exercise or food prep well-versed on books, TV, manicured toes and nails, and made up every day. Hmmm….

My client worked out a plan where she shifted some workouts and plans to jog or walk during practices. She also is looking at how to make dinners after all the practices. I gave her some advice because so many of us with weight to lose have one thing we want differently for our kids: to grow up healthy eaters so they never need a site like PNP to help them lose weight. It might be bad for business for but I would love for the day to come where I had a hard time finding clients because we all eat so well!

Here’s what I said…

Sundays are YOUR day to spend a couple of hours in the day dedicated to getting all you need ready for lunches, snacks, and such. Bag up, cut up, wash up the foods you will eat this week and if you need to freeze some stuff to pop in the oven or crockpot do it.

Sounds like you have a house full of athletes. These kids DESERVE an athletes dinner after practices and games. You ain't going to get that with drive-thrus, restaurants, and crappy food at home. You are an athletes’ mom so look at this season as your chance to fuel these kids right along with yourself getting healthy.

It’s important to realize that kids playing sports is the foundation for a lifetime of being healthy. It isn’t enough to cart them to some games, hand your 15 year old a Gatorade, and then hit a drive-thru on the way home because you are BUSY.

Do you know what happens at 25? That same kid hits the drive-thru after work when they aren’t playing sports because they are tired and busy. They never saw YOU getting ready for a good week. They didn’t watch how important good food is to feeling good. Then at 35 they start the same crap with their own kids.

It’s not enough for you to want to lose weight, Mom. You gotta want this for you kid and set the example you expect them to live when they are on their own.

Vacation Starts When You Leave!

Here is an excerpt from a client who is going on vacation.

I am so HAPPY I learned the importance of prepping meals. It's been a lifesaver. And seriously I've never ate so GOOD before vacation. I always 'mean' to and it never happens. Drinking all my water... guaranteed I won't be 'stopped up' the first two days of vacation.

This is really big for me - I have really changed my thinking and knowing that I will have a splurge or 2 or 3 on vacation does not mean vacation starts before I've even left. I'm also EATING. I know I typically cut back on eating because I know those splurges are coming and guess what happens... it's a splurge that isn't enjoyed because I’m so hungry I can't think!!! So woot woot.

And I am super excited that I have meals ready for when we get back (well meaning egg whites bought, frozen vegs, frozen rice and canned chicken). I have ZERO excuses.

Thanks CORINNE!! Thanks everyone here who's ever shown what living a healthy lifestyle means.

I always start vacation on vacation. Often I bring snacks and such to enjoy while there. My splurges are tame when I haven’t spent the day running around, not eating, then showing up to the restaurant starving.

I also have something at home for when I get back…frozen dinners are perfect here! And Chris knows we plan the return trip home WITH ROOM for me to hit the store before the week starts because food prep is going to happen. Vacation ends when we leave and lifestyle starts right back up.

Doing those things takes planning but it’s worth it. It’s worth it because I can go on vacation and have a good time without worry I’ll wake up two months later 15lbs heavier. I don’t come with memories tarnished in guilt. I come home and get back to eating and exercising like a rockstar! That’s how you roll when you want results.

Why We Overeat

‎"Everyone - every single one of us - eats how much we eat largely because of what's around us. We overeat not because of hunger but because of family and friends, packages and plates, names and numbers, labels and lights, colors and candles, shapes and smells, distractions and distances, cupboards and containers. This list is almost endless as it's invisible." - from the pages of Mindless Eating

 

I saw this on a post today and it reminds me of how easy it is for most people to forget that losing FAT is not always going to be easy. We got fat because we too often take the easy way out.

Yep, there are times you are going to get hungry. Adjust your plan so you keep making good choices.

Sometimes you WILL HAVE CRAVINGS. Guess what? You can't always have what you crave. Sometimes you have to make the not so fun choice if you ever want to start having fun in your body!

One of my private site clients posted something enlightening in her private journal. With her permission I want to share it and feel free to comment on it, too.

I know I do my meal planning and some prep for the week on Sundays.  Usually, I have all my breakfasts and lunches done for the week and I also have 100% compliance during these times. I know what I will have for supper, but I have to come home after a long day to the most stressful time of the day with the boys, homework, activities and supper prep.

When I travel I actually lose weight because I am not in the kitchen "making supper" and have few "food opportunities" as the meals are prepared for me and delivered to me.

I thought I did my meal prep, but what I learned and read yesterday is that I give myself  "food opportunities" throughout the week when I cook supper.  I already have the meat thawed and the menu planned so the meal is a no brainer.  But what I didn't get until yesterday is that I am setting myself up to eat an extra 200 + calories a night by munching during the supper prep.  If all I had to do was put on some pots of water to boil and I could be in and out of the kitchen in 5 min, I would be reducing the temptation by a lot of calories a night. If I could get someone else to do this for me, well then that would be the best ever.

So what I will/did do is prep. my suppers to the extent that I can.  I have sliced all the veggies for sides and bagged pre-measured amount of rice, one big salad for the week, jello salads made in the morning before work.  So if all I have to do is spend 5 min. in the kitchen making supper, I would have managed this food opportunity much better.

I know I read someone else had previously mentioned something about making suppers a no brainer but I didn't get the connection to reducing the food opportunity.  I thought making it "fresh" each night and having a plan was enough.  Now I realize that having it prepped is even better.  K - I told you I sometimes "get it".

Something else I realized this weekend when I was too busy to eat a couple of meals... the lack of structure - and packing my cooler- messes up my eating plan.  Even though the meal may be prepped and in the fridge, I am not structuring my eating on the weekends like the week days.  So I will pack a cooler on Saturday and Sunday and just leave it in the fridge just like the week days. This way, the only choices I will have to make is when to open the fridge and lunch bag to eat.

 

If you ask me, Tracey is really starting to figure out her own roadblocks and blowing through them. Amazing what a private journal on my site does for you when you take the time to keep one. For all my private girls remember I do read and I do guide you so USE IT!

Food Prep Bliss

I ADORE my food prep Sunday. It amazes me how many people don't take the time or refuse to do it each week.

If you really want to save time through the week you would do it. You probably have ZERO idea how much time you spend waiting in restaurants, driving through lines, discussing what to eat, cooking up something, standing in front of the open fridge, hating what you ARE choosing that isn't HEALTHY, and moving slower through life because the foods you do choose keep you drained.

If you want to make GREAT decisions about your food you would prep. Wouldn't you rather choose once a week what you are eating versus making 35+ decisions a week? I promise people who prep might choose poorly a couple of times a week but someone who has to make five meal decisions a day seven days a week is probably making one or two poor choices a day.

If you want to lose weight you will be prepared. I rarely meet anyone who loses weight that isn't keeping chopped vegetables, washed and prepped fruits, cooked meats, and other things in their pantry and fridge.

Food preps can be quick and simple or long and lengthy. It depends on your taste, dedication to clean eating, time, and willingness to try recipes.

I have clients who do EASY preps each week. Apples and bananas are the fruit they eat. They eat canned and individual frozen vegetable entrees. They buy rotisserie chickens and portion it out along with buying some deli sliced turkey and cans of tuna. A few oatmeal packets, hard boil some eggs, and yogurts and you have their week. They are busy and just don't have time for fancy.

Then I have people, like me, who make it all pretty much on Sunday. Mine is still simple but I do a chicken, turkey, and red meat meal. I bake up sweet potatoes, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta for good clean carbs. I cut up lots of fruits and veggies because we eat a lot of raw. I roast some veggies and stir fry some frozen. My prep is typically in my journal or the food prep thread on PNP.

With a new year coming, it's a good time to start thinking about the habits you want to put in place for 2011. I promise, food prep is one habit you will never regret implementing and it could change your whole fatloss life!

***Side note: I am taking a FEW private clients in January. There are only a few spots left for anyone who wants to work with me. If you do, information is here on my website and sign up NOW. I will need the next two weeks to have your personal program ready and YOU ready for the lifestyle OVERHAUL!!! Woot!