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

Holiday Lifestyle: Quick Grocery Tips for the Family Dinner

We are all so busy in the holiday season! Running around, shopping, dropping off gifts, visiting family all can lead you to hitting the drive-thrus, having one too many chocolate Santas, and forgetting just where the gym is located. Well, ladies, let me teach you how to have a hectic holiday season and still wear your pre-holiday pants by New Years.

The next few weeks I will feature some holiday blogs and my PNP clients from the forums are helping me by giving you the gift of their best tips. I also invite you to spread the cheer by commenting on your own ideas and questions. Let's make this a season of celebrating and love, not calories and chub.

Drive Thru or Grocery Store
Many people will opt to run by a drive-thru and get food versus running into the grocery store to pick up a pre-cooked dinner. It might take a few extra minutes (maybe not with some drive-thru lines) but you get so much more healthier food than for CHEAP!

A client of mine just recently did this. She was soooo tempted to stop and pick up a bunch of burgers for her family. She's tired and had a long day. Knowing that this would be the easiest thing to do she decided it wouldn't be the thing in two hours she would feel good about. We all know how it goes; what's easy is often the same thing you will re-hash in disgust for the next twelve hours.

Now THAT is some wasted time.

So, she ran into the grocery store. If it was you going into the store, what would you grab that you can put on the table in less than ten minutes? I would grab:

• a rotisserie chicken fully cooked and ready to go
• a bag of mixed lettuces for a salad and some baby carrots bagged to put on top
• a can of veggies (Logan loves green beans, black beans, and corn so one of those)
• a bag of frozen brown rice
• lowfat vanilla yogurt and fresh berry or frozen berries

When I get home I would:

• Throw the brown rice in the microwave.
• Put the canned veggie on stove on medium with a touch of EVOO for a healthy fat.
• Pull off the skin of the chicken and toss and then make a bowl of the meat quickly stripped off the bone.
• Throw the lettuce in bowls and top with carrots and dressing.
• Pull out the rice, mix in 1 tbsp of Smart Beat Butter, a touch of salt, put on plate and top with chicken.
• Put veggie on side.
• Call everyone to eat and while they make their way to the table mix the berries into the yogurt and sit out for dessert. (If the berries are frozen I would nuke for a couple of minutes then mix with yogurt.)

Ummm...this meal is about $15 for everything. You probably have leftovers for your lunch tomorrow. A nice big chicken salad with some black beans or corn would be great!

I can have all of that done in less than 10 minutes and feel good about what I am eating, what my family eats, and know my body will appreciate the effort. :)

So, do you have ideas for drive-thru alternatives OR HEALTHY things to ORDER in the drive-thru? Remember, a lot of items can be made healthy with some creativity.

The BEST No Equipment Exercise Programs

Very often women approach me concerned they can't lose weight or get in shape because they don't have a gym membership and they don't have enough equipment at home.

Really? You really think you can't lose fat unless you buy tons of expensive things? I like to call that an EXCUSE!

Let me layout a program anyone can do for four weeks and lose four to eight pounds without anything more than a small space, a day of rest, and a gallon of water a day.

M - W - F Routine - Warm up with five minutes of walking outside or walking up and down a flight of stairs.
20 x Jumping Jacks or 8 Lunge-Lunge Pop Squats for Advanced girls

15 x Squats or 15 Squats with arms in overhead Y shape above head for Adv

15 x Alternating Lunges or 8 Jump Lunges

15 x Step Ups (low level for beginners and raise it up for adv girls)

Just set a timer and do all four exercises back-to-back, rest for 1-2 min. and repeat until you can't go anymore or your run out of time to exercise.

 

T - Th Routine - Warm up with five minutes of same as above.
10 x Push Ups (knees or toes)

5 x Burpees

10 x Slow Chair Dips (feet out and crossed over for advanced, feet under knees for beginners)

5 x Pike Walks (add a push up to the end for advanced girls)

10 x Renegade Rows (5-10lb DB's)

Set a timer and go again like you did the day before.

 

On Saturday you rest completely. You can take a walk or you can do your housework but you won't exercise.

On Sunday the most important workout is to be done. Get in your car and go buy the following:

Chicken Breasts
Salmon
Ground Turkey Breast
Eggs
Almonds
Old Fashioned Oats
Any fruit you like
Frozen Veggies or Fresh (any vegetables will work)
A few can of beans of choice
Brown Rice
Reusable Plastic "Gladware"

Now, get back in the car and go home. Prep the following:

B - 1/2 cup of dry oats, 1 packet of splenda, and put into plastic baggie. Cook at work in a coffee cup. Cover with water and cook for 3 min. on high. Have two hard boiled eggs with it. I cook 42 eggs on Sunday, peel them all, and dump the yolks of 30 of them. I personally eat 5 egg whites and 2 whole eggs with my oats every day.

10am - eat a piece of fruit with 12 almonds

L - have some chicken, beans and veggies you bought. I take the square Gladware and put about 1/3 of it with chicken, 1/3 of it with beans, and 1/3 of it with any veggies I like. It's portion controlled for you if you don't like to measure.

3pm - eat a piece of fruit with 12 almonds

D - have salmon or ground turkey breast with brown rice and veggies you bought. Same as above.

9pm - eat a piece of fruit

You can use all the spices you want. Get CRAZY!

 

Trust me, you do this and you will lose weight, tame your cravings, and cleanse your palate. It's not low in calories nor high. It's just basic, healthful, easy planning eating and anyone can do it.

Now, if you want something more creative and spelled out without fancy equipment, you can also order a more custom program from me here. Muscled Up Cardio doesn't require much more than your effort, a step bench, and some dumbbells.

Snacks Are Your Lifeline to Losing Weight

Man, when I was in the 200's for most of my life I honestly didn't snack much. The only time I ate a snack was when I would skip McDonald's on the way to work. Then my snack was walking across the street with a co-worker for gas station cappuccino, and a package of Snackwell Fat Free Cookies or a big ole plastic wrapped cookie.

This was before Starbucks and when I look back it is NO FREAKING WONDER I felt miserable all the time. That cappuccino at the gas station is a straight up sugar bomb - fat free or not - and both of the cookies are, too. Heck the regular cookie is probably better because there is some kind of fat in there to blunt the sugar coma coming up.

Now a days I am big advocate of eating five to six times a day. I live by it. Depending on my day, sometimes my snacks are more like little meals in the 250 calorie range. That's when I'm going to be working for most of the day at home and can graze more. The days I will be on the road all day working remotely I like to make my main meals larger and my snacks light, grab-and-go stuff in the 150 calorie range.

These are my ideas and what I eat.

Fruits: I eat fruit all the time. I often eat a 1/2 cup of fruit before I start making dinner, an apple in the car, a small bag of grapes after a cardio workout, etc. NEVER feel guilty about eating some fruit. My favorite question to people is always this: Did you seriously put on your weight because of an addiction to fruit? HELL NO! You got fat because you didn't TURN TO FRUIT and you went for shiny wrapper.

Nuts: I pre-bag them when I get the can at the store. The most healthy yet lethal snack can be a can nuts. Have them portioned so when you are hungry you have the calorie control built right in to your snack. I pair nuts with protein shakes because it tends to fill me up nicely.

Protein Shakes: I make my own with Optimum Nutrition and Lean Dessert. Those are my favorite brands. I often mix it with water, ice, a tbsp of sugar free pudding to make thicker, and some fruit. I also buy EAS Carb Control shakes when I'm rushing and I keep Slim Fast Shakes for when I am caught needing something to hold me longer in between a snack and meal.

Protein Bars: I keep a few on hand for emergencies! To me a protein bar is a treat like a candy bar. In a pinch or at TOM they are great to keep you from eating worse but I hate when I see people build a daily protein bar into their plan. Only if you have no other choice do I advise this. Eat food. Get used to eating REAL FOOD.

Now, these are some things I combine.

• Banana Nut Protein Muffins with one tbsp of peanut butter on top or 100 calories worth of nuts
• Corinne's EZ Protein Bars with 8 oz. of unsweetened almond milk
• Cucumber Red Pepper Salad tossed with 3/4 cup of cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1 tsp of peanut butter, 1/4 cup of dry oats mixed with 1 packet of Splenda
• 3/4 cup of cottage cheese, 1/4 cup of berries, 1 packet of Strawberry Crystal Light
• Protein Pudding
• 100 calorie bag of popcorn and 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
• 1 pc of Ezekial Bread with 1 slice of 2% cheese, sliced tomatoes, 1 tsp of Light Miracle Whip
• 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 tbsp of light cream cheese, 1/4 of blueberries, 1 packet of Splenda

I also like greek yogurt with fruit, a turkey sandwich, 200 calories worth of salad topped with cottage cheese, beef jerky, Fiber One with greek yogurt, small low carb wrap stuffed with cut veggies and 1 tbsp of hummus and a drizzle of light dressing, and just some chicken breast with a half sweet potato.

In the end, my goal with food is to make the WORST choices be things like a little Splenda, leaning on a protein bar in an emergency, and such. I try hard to keep my food healthy as possible so I don't have to get caught up in counting calories and macros. To look good and lose weight you WILL be successful if you cut out crap. It doesn't have to be overnight but you have to start making the effort.

I hope this helps and if you have your own ideas feel free to post them in the comments. Questions are welcome, too!

Clean Eats...It's What for Dinner

Now we are at dinner time. Ring the bell because here's what I eat a lot. Ya'll know it can be tough for me to cook dinner at night. Often Logan has therapy that runs into dinner hour and when my boy is ready to eat...HE IS READY TO EAT. A lot of what we eat is what I call fast-clean-food.

Let's start with when I do cook. Now, before you say, "My kid won't eat that," MINE does. Why? I don't offer anything else. Sure he gets to have fun stuff, too, but when we do healthy dinner that's what we have. When we do "junk" that's what we have. I don't make a second dinner and Logan has learned eat what Momma gives you or you don't eat.

By the looks of his plates he eats what Momma gives him. Score!

• Salmon, Atlantic Cod, Shrimp - I just grill it or broil it with some Kroger Grilling Time for Seafood.
• We usually pair these with brown rice, sweet potato, baked potato, fresh salad (light dressing), fresh cut tomatoes, peas, black beans, green beans, or white beans. I typically will have some type of fresh fruit on the plate, too, for Logan.

Normally, I will pick a rice/potato, serve salad or tomatoes, and then choose a bean. Logan loves beans. We do fruit as a dessert.

• Breakfast for dinner. Anything I put out for breakfast we do.
• Kashi GoLean Waffles and eggs (egg whites for me), Oatmeal with greek yogurt and fruit mixed, Eggs and peanut butter toast, and protein pancakes and fruit.

Breakfast is a favorite in our house so it is EASY, QUICK and Logan's favorite meal. I can get good calcium, protein, and fruits in quite easy. If he's in a great mood I mix in some tomatoes and spinach to the eggs.

• Big Salad with a protein of choice. That's mainly just me. I do a salad that has loads of vegetables in it that I make up on Sunday and toss in a variety of protein based on the calories I have left for the day.
• Grilled chicken, grilled fish leftover from when I cooked, can of tuna mixed with spicy mustard and a little cottage cheese, serving of chic peas with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, packet of Starkist's Salmon Creations Chipolte Mango, or two Boca Burgers cooked and diced up to toss on top.

Sometimes I will stick some leftover roasted vegetables on there, too, with some reduced fat feta cheese. That's tasty.

Stuff I cook that we like...

• Chicken and Black Bean Soup
• Power Chicken
• Protein Chili
• Stuffed Peppers

Easy cook things we like also...

• Laura's Lean Hamburger patties on Whole Grain buns with green beans or a salad.
• Turkey Burger patties with cheese and beans.
• Macaroni and Cheese (I eat Weight Watchers and the boys eat Easy Mac) and we have it with green beans, tomato slices and a fruit for dessert.
• Ezekial bread egg sandwich with cheese and tomato served with fruit bowls.
• Hamburger Helper made with almond milk, no butter, and just use extra water. I also use ground turkey breast and will make a vegetable or salad for the side dish.
• Egg salad (just mustard, light MW, cumin, celery seed to taste) on Ezekial break toast or Wasa Crackers, raw baby carrots, and fruit and yogurt.

Lots of vegetables I keep cut up are red peppers, zucchini, yellow peppers, and baby carrots. I also roast each week two to three pan-fulls of cut up vegetables (zucchini, squash, broccoli, egg plant,white onion, and anything else that looks good). To roast I mix 2-3 tbsp of EVOO, 4-5 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, red pepper, stir it up and toss with raw veggies. Throw into the roasting pan on 400 for about 40 min. Delish! I do it all to taste. The amount of stuff I mix together depends on how many vegetables we're eating.

Hope this helps! Tomorrow is snacks and we're done with what I eat.

Lunch Bunch!

We talked about what I like to eat for breakfast, so now we will talk about lunch. On Sunday during my big prep day I make a huge bowl of salad. I use it for lunch and dinner and it's the spring board for many things I cook. What I love about the salad is that it knocks out a lot of vegetable for the day. Even if I'm not eating a "salad" for lunch I at least have a side salad of this base to start because it just makes getting vegetables in so simple.

Salad Base
2 heads of Red Leaf Lettuce
1 bag or bunch of spinach leaves torn
1 head of other lettuce that looks good
1 bunch of fresh cilantro OR parsley chopped
1 container of cherry tomatoes halved
1 cucumber diced
1 bunch of green onions
1 red pepper diced
1 zucchini diced

You can add any vegetables you want to this. I try to use what's the best looking when I'm shopping. Don't put dressing on until you are ready to use! I made that mistake one Sunday and by Friday I was eating salad soup.

Dressing
1/2 tbsp of EVOO
2-3 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
1 packet of Splenda
1 tsp of Ground Mustard
Dash of Chili Powder

I make some of this to use as a dressing. I also like to use Kraft Done Right dressings in a pinch. Roasted Garlic and Pepper is good and Chris and Logan like it. I'm not much of a dressing girl, though. MOST of the time I just use some balsamic vinegar and go.

Another good way to make dressing is to take a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and mix it with some type of Sweet and Spicy type mustard. Just stir and then put on salad and toss. Gets you a little protein and calcium without trying really hard.

Lunch Ideas On the Go and Fun!
I keep frozen food because I never know when I have to run out the door or I'm wanting something fun versus what I have cooked. Honestly, ya'll, I do a prep each week but I am not above wanting Mexican, pizza, and other things you love, too. The difference is that when I want it I have planned ahead for those cravings by keeping a suitable fall back in the kitchen.

That keeps me from running for the border and trust me, I can put a hurt on Nachos Bell Grande with some Supreme Tacos on the side. Seriously, I WILL ALWAYS WANT JUNK FOOD but I CHOOSE to eat other things because I HATED myself back then.

So, if you like to eat crap food like I do you HAVE TO FIND things that are going to see you through these times that are easy to get your hands on and that you will feel successful when you have it. Here's some of those things.

 

Cedarlane Products- Beans and Rice and Roasted Veggie and Cheese are my favorites! The Cedarlane brand is by Dr. Sears who is the author of The Zone. They have solid products and many organic versions. I like them because I don't feel like I'm getting a bunch of junky stuff when I want to eat something easy.

 

You will still want to look at the calories. Not everything is low calorie but a lot of it is.

Pizza wise I love South Beach Diet Pizzas. I just haven't found another brand that can rival the taste and the protein in them. Not clean but they are certainly good and beat dialing up Domino's. I've even ate two when I was super hungry and wanted to "splurge". 700 calories for two and let me tell you, when I want to eat and want to eat a splurge it wouldn't be anything for me to put down a half to full pizza. I didn't get to 250 by half-assing my eating just like I didn't get to 140 by being unrealistic with my habits and desires.

The other awesome trick I have with the SBD is that I cook it up for road trips and eat it cold several hours later. I just put in a Ziploc sandwich bag and toss in the cooler. Makes me feel like I'm having a treat when everyone else is having McDonald's.

What I Eat Routinely
I keep the following in the kitchen and rotate these things each week:

• Big salad topped with can of tuna mixed with 1 tsp of Light Miracle Whip and 1 tbsp of mustard, 1 apple
• 5 oz. of Chicken cooked in either salsa or terriyaki marinade over 2 cups of roasted vegetables
• 5 oz. of Chicken in a low carb wrap with spinach leaves, 1 cup of baby carrots dipped in Sweet and Spicy Mustard
• 3 oz. of grilled Salmon on big salad
• 2 hard boiled eggs mashed with mustard and celery seed and cumin, red pepper strips, and toasted Ezekial Bread made into a sandwich and have salad with it
• 4 egg white spinach and onion omelet (made in microwave) on toasted Ezekial Bread, 1 slice of 2% cheese, 1/2 sweet potato
• 1 baked potato with 1/2 cup of cottage mixed in and topped with salsa. I eat this with a salad
• Big salad tossed with 1/2 cup of black beans and lentils mixed, feta cheese, and a few nuts of choice

Normally if you look in my fridge or panty I have:

• Hardboiled eggs
• The Big Salad
• Apples, strawberries, blueberries, grapefruit, and grapes at minimum
• Pre-bagged 4-5 oz. chicken breasts cut up and cooked already for salads and sandwiches
• Low Carb Wraps, Ezekial Bread
• Baby Carrots, Spinach, Red Pepper Strips, Chopped Green Onions
• Salmon and Cod we have for dinner almost every Sunday night so I have leftover fish for a day or two for salads and wraps
• Cans of tuna
• Cartons of egg whites, cottage cheese, and 2% cheese shredded and sliced
• Cooked and bagged cold sweet potatoes (great to chase with protein shake after a workout)
• Baking potatoes to pop in the microwave
• Salsa, mustard, lite MW, Crystal Light, Splenda, Protein Powder, Sugar Free Pudding and Jello Powders
• Cans of beans and other vegetables for quick sides (I often will want Macaroni and Cheese and eat a WW version with a can of green beans mixed in - sounds weird but it's good)
• Nuts already bagged into 1 and 1/2 oz portions

Teach Your Loved Ones Portion Control

In our PNP client forums, one of my BRILLIANT girls (Jill - she's in the middle of our HAWTMESS) posted something today so worthy of a blog. Here it goes...

 

Normally I only portion out 'my snacks' which can get me in trouble when I get into John's snacks. So I  portioned out his, too. He wasn't really happy when he saw how SMALL a portion was of trail mix... BUT I said 'dude take 2 or 3 packs if you want.' I also said, 'that's a weighed portion of 160 calories'.

 

 

When I read this I IMMEDIATELY thought how smart this is on several levels.

 

1. She realized a weakness...her family's food.

We all eat OUR food just fine most days. It's the STUFF that is off limits that we end up bingeing with. If we ate a portioned amount of "crap" it could be called a treat rather than a fall off the wagon and landing in a pile of Cheetos experience.

 

 

2. She isn't demanding anyone to do her "diet."

The great thing in this lesson is that although she is ready to change her lifestyle her family isn't. That's OK. Rome wasn't built in a day. Jill is allowing tempting foods in the house in a way she can control. Both people win.

 

3. She is SUBTELY teaching the ideas of portion control and acknowledging calories.

WOW! This is the best part to me. Our husbands and kids typically have no idea what is a true serving. They don't care most of the time, either. The last thing they want is a lecture about it.

A NON-THREATENING way to teach them is to have foods bagged. They SEE what portions are. You can even write the calories on the bags. Say YOU need it in the event you eat some. Talk about teaching nutritional lessons without being preachy.

It's cheap, too! You can bag something pretty quick and save a ton of money versus 100-calorie snack packs.

This is such a good start to teaching a healthy lifestyle to our loved ones. It's a great start to ridding the house of foods NO ONE should be eating. Making them aware of the portion sizes of the junk and then having the good stuff you are eating portioned out might make them think about making a healthier, larger portioned choice.

Let's discuss this in comments because I think this is such a good topic.

 

 

 

 

How many of you are MORE tempted by what your family eats?

Have you ever had your family get mad at you for making them all go on diet?

Has your family ever "beat you down" to get "good food" when you are trying to lose weight?

What things can you start portioning to save you and them some calories and what things of YOUR DIET FOOD might make them switch what they eat?

 

Let's get talking and creative because I think this can help a lot of women out there.

Lose Weight CHEAP

No one take this personally but I get so out done when people make this harder than it needs to be. Again, let's go over some basic rules of eating cheap.

It's only expensive to go on a diet if you buy all the pre-packaged goodies, buy healthy stuff and throw it out each week after not eating what you didn't prep, and (my favorite) have plenty of money for the vending machine but not enough for a box of oatmeal.

You can lose weight eating only these things if you are broke.

1. Eggs - 3 of them are great cooked with frozen GENERIC red peppers and onions. Pair it with a Kroger Carb Master yogurt (5 for $2 most weeks) and you have breakfast for less than a dollar a day.

2. Oatmeal - 1/2 cup mixed with 1 tbsp of PB and a cup of skim milk and WOOT WOOT you got a breakfast or a snack. Hell, have it for dinner if you like.

3. Chicken Breast - buy some breasts (they are cheap, cheap, cheap compared to those frozen dinners, vending machines, convenience stores, and Subway stops you make a few times a week), cook in crockpot with a jar of Ragu, and mix with brown rice. If you want to get crazy add in a bag of frozen spinach (dirt butt cheap) to boost the veggie content. You now have dinner for a week. Want to get super crazy and dump the rice for a baked potato and use the chicken to top the tater. Nummy.

4. Nothing like you buying a big bag of generic pretzels, bagging it up into single servings and enjoying with some peanuts. They are cheap and if PB is good for you then I'm sure peanuts are, too. You don't have to buy the most expensive nut in the bunch.

5. Lettuce...get you a couple of heads, wash and chop and toss into a big bowl. I like to chop a few things of celery and green onions for flavor and they are really cheap. Get a lowfat generic dressing and eat a big salad with lunch and dinner.

6. Stew Meat - it's cheap. I cook mine in generic beef broth and half a white onion for flavor in the crock pot. I then bag it into 4 oz servings and throw it on top of a salad.

7. Cottage Cheese - cheap protein that gives you dairy and can be made into a lot. I like to cut up tomatoes, cukes, green onions and mix it with a little lite Miracle Whip. Snack time! You can also blend it with some ice, water and sugar free pudding mix for dessert. Booyah - you are on your way to putting money in the bank to buy new clothes when you lose weight.

8. Vegetables - I've named a few but green beans in the can are cheap, beans can be a quick side item, and a baked sweet potato is great as a morning snack.

9. Last but not least - FRUIT - bananas, apples, and oranges are cheap almost year round. Buy a few and eat a piece each day.

Hey, this ain't fancy but if you are broke and overweight you gotta put up with not being fancy. I just gave you CHEAP ways to eat every meal, spend next to nothing at the store, spend minimal time prepping food, and getting in a healthy diet.

Besides, if you are really broke you should have time to prep a little to save money because you can't go out and shouldn't have cable. Right?

Now, park far away from the grocery store and get to shopping. I just gave you a bonus workout.

Protein Pancakes and Quinoa Salad...Yummy!

It was another successful food prep Sunday at the PNP house! I got a lot of good stuff done and since everyone seems so interested in what I eat and how organized my fridge is I thought I would do it again.

Let me say, the rest of the house is a wreck. Don't think for a SECOND the Crabtree's roll orderly and clean. We don't!

My menu this week is:

M1 - 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1 yogurt, 1/2 cup of mixed berries
M2 - 1 turkey burger on WW bun, 1 cup of pepper slices or Cucumber Salad
M3 - Cottage Cheese Smoothie (1/2 cup of CC, 1 dry serving of SF Choco Mix, 1 tbsp of Instant Coffee, 1 packet of Splenda, ice and water)
M4 - Apple or 2 Cuties (small, easy peel oranges)
M5 - (after strength) 4 oz. of Sweet Potato or homemade hot slaw, 4 oz. of baked cod, 1 small can of green beans
M6 - Protein Pancakes or Qunioa Salad on top of green salad
M7 - Chicken Marinara on top of green salad
M8 - Cottage Cheese Smoothie with mixed berries

1820 calories a day and I add in an extra apple or 1/2 serving of almonds on big exercise days to fill in the gaps.

Now for pics and recipes!

 

 

 

 

Quinoa Black Bean and Corn Salad (This will make you slap your Momma!)

I changed it a tad. I did 1 cup of dry quinoa and used 1 tbsp of EVOO. I didn't use the feta, chicken, or Epazote. I also used regular oregano and just tossed all the seasonings into the quinoa, mixed, then put in the black beans and corn and stirred. It was SOOOO GOOOD. Logan and Chris ate it up big time.

This dish is so loaded with healthy food, good protein, and vegetarian friendly. If you are gluten intolerant it's a winner! I like eating it in the late afternoon because I strength train from 1:45 - 2:45 and by 4-5pm I want something with protein and healthy carbs. This way at dinner I can go to a protein based meal and not feel deprived.

 

Cucumber Salad

This is very easy. Slice some cucumbers, some red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Put some salt on it, mix it up and pour a little Lowfat or Fat Free Italian over it. It tastes better after a couple of days.

My granny used to eat this over cottage cheese all the time. I might do that this week for a cool afternoon snack!

 

 

 

Protein Pancakes

1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese
dash of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 packet of Splenda
1/4 cup of egg whites

Put all ingredients in your blender and blend until smooth and like cake batter. Pour onto med-high griddle or pan sprayed with cooking spray. Cook until the edges are brown and flip for another minute or two.

Sometimes I toss in berries to the mix and skip the egg whites (add 1 tbsp of water if needed) to make a flavored pancake. You can also do a couple of slices of bananas, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, or even 1-2 tbsp of choco pudding (sugar free powder) to make a chocolate pancake.

The basic pancakes without added fruits and such are almost 300 calories. I don't use syrup on them. You could use sugar free jelly, syrup, or eat two with a little peanut butter in between like a sandwich.

YouTube - Protein Pancakes - Make Em Pretty

Chicken Marinara

In your crockpot, place 2 nice sized chicken breasts (skinless and boneless). Pour one jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Dump one bag of frozen chopped spinach, chopped broccoli, and 2 cups of green pepper strips. Let cook on low for five hours. Shred the chicken when done and then serve over fresh spinach, lettuce, or pasta through the week.

Corinne's Weight Loss Food Prep Video Lessons

After high demand and countless requests, I put together a video series of a typical food prep Sunday. Two things I like all my clients to do each week: plan your menu and exercise THEN prepare the food.

Trust me, if you HATE journaling the sure fire way to get out of it is to make one menu a week, prepare all of your food, and then eat it. Don't deviate. If you do that, you don't even have to worry about tracking. You already know your calories and have the FREEDOM to focus on your exercise.

My prep session took me about 4 hours. Not every week is my prep that long. This week I had to get together extra stuff like two weeks worth of snack bags for nap time. I also took about an hour break to eat some dinner and spend time with Chris and Logan. Throughout the prep I was able to get some laundry done, flipped through some piled up junk mail, and clean out old email with my laptop. I make use of all my time.

The other great thing about this session is that my total grocery bill was $149.00. Seriously! This covers all of our food, detergent, trash bags, etc. It's so much cheaper to eat healthy and do your own stuff.

Let's say you live like this:

• Three times a week your family eats out for dinner at $25. That's conservative for most people. We typically spend $30 including tip and drinks.
• You eat out for lunch each day spending around $5.
• Two days a week you stop and get coffee with a meal or pastry and spend $4.
• You eat out of the snack machine or convenience store once a day at $1.

You are up to $113 on the CONSERVATIVE side. Most of you are spending more than that and eating breakfast and snacks more frequently. One of my pet peeves is someone who has "no money" for a gym membership but all kinds of money for the snack machine.

$113! You haven't fed your kids and husband outside of three dinners! No snacks, no breakfast, no lunches, and four dinners are left. Eating healthy isn't expensive; it's a cheap lifestyle but like everything you have to do a little work for it.

For example, I don't buy much pre-portioned or bagged stuff. I can do it myself pretty fast. It saves a lot of money to buy a box of cereal, some raisins, and peanuts and bag it than to buy the already portioned trail mix. For about $10 I prep 14 bags of snacks. You can't buy the pre-done stuff at 14 HEARTY bags for $10. Plus, you catch stuff on sale or with a coupon and you are really in business.

My prep day this week included:

• Cutting up 3 containers of strawberries (on sale)
• Peeling and bagging Cuties (on sale)
• Bagging grab bags of baby carrots
• Boiling 10 eggs (5 for me and 5 for Chris)
• Crockpot Chicken Breast (on sale and I use low sugar BBQ sauce)
• Microwaving 10-4oz. servings of Sweet Potatoes and bagged them with 4oz of the BBQ chicken (great snack)
• Cooked asparagus, squash and zucchini, and bell pepper boats
• Prepped a large bowl of Cilantro, Red Onion Green Salad and a large container of plain green salad for Chris to take to work
• 7 Servings of Broccoli, Spinach, Onion Quinoa Salad for lunches
• Bagged 1/2 cup servings of Fiber One
• Bagged Logan's fruits and snacks PLUS cooked his chicken tenders for his lunch for the week
• Bagged 1 oz servings of almonds

I'm ready to go for the week, Chris has all his food at the office, and Logan's lunches are done. My mornings will be much easier getting out the door when I just pop bags of goodies into the coolers.

Now for the videos...

Food Prep Part One - yes, I'm rocking to Xanadu in this episode.

Food Prep Part Two

The Outcome - I progressively get more ragged looking. As always I'm keeping it real. No makeup, a hat to cover my tore up hair, and barely tidied up the kitchen.

My typical daily menu this week is:

2 Cuties before morning cardio

M1: ½ cup of oats, 1 hard boiled egg, yogurt, cup of strawberries

M2: 4oz chicken breast, 4oz sweet potato

M3: 1.5 cup Quinoa Salad, ½ serving almonds, mixed veggies

M4: Protein Shake, 4oz sweet potato

M5: 4oz chicken breast, grilled veggies

M6: Big Salad, Salmon, 1 tbsp Cheese

M7: Yogurt Smoothie, frozen fruit, ¼ cup of Fiber One

There you have it. A day in the prep day of Corinne.

Lifestyle Change for Mammy Part II: First Menu

As you know, last week I told you my mom is embarking the clean eating lifestyle. We chatted about strategies and ways to start a healthy lifestyle. The bottom line for someone who has been significantly overweight (like myself) and primarily sedentary is to start basic, small, and with things you know you can do. Don't go to for perfect. Making ANY changes for the better is going to yield so many great things for you.

This week I talked with my mom about looking at the list of foods in the Clean Eating book and making a basic, easy to follow menu that repeats each day choosing the foods she already likes. Keep up walking her little dog, Bubba, for daily activity and don't worry too much with calories...just eat five times a day and stick to clean foods.

That was Mammy's task and pretty much how I slowly start most girls at PNP. I get you to change your food slowly but I do give you workouts. My mom has special health concerns that we need to address before getting into more exercise. Walking is so good for you, anyway, so we are starting with what she enjoys the most. Isn't that the best way to build a lifestyle?

Here's the menu she came up with all by herself. I'm so proud! It looks great and doable.

 

Breakfast	banana, Kashi Cereal (like shredded wheat), skim milk, serving of walnuts, coffee
Snack 1	Watermelon or carrots, chicken breast
Lunch	Egg White Omelet, cream of rice, tomatoes, peppers and onions
Snack 2	Yogurt, pineapple chunks
Dinner	Salad with1 tbsp of Ranch (filled with veggies), baked potato stuffed with cottage cheese, chicken
Optional Snacks:	Apple with peanut butter
	Pineapple with chicken
Optional Dinner:	Whole Wheat pasta with marinara and chicken breast

I am proud of her for prepping her food yesterday. One of her pitfalls is not eating all day because she's too tired to fix anything then eating 2000 calories of garbage that's easy. Everything is ready to go, measured, and the only thing that requires cooking is some lunch that she can make in the microwave. She works from home as a telephonic nurse so she has no choice but to eat at the house.

This is a menu filled with clean foods she already likes so it will be easy to stick to. Maybe next week we can venture into some turkey burger patties because she loves a good hamburger. A turkey burger and small baked potato with ketchup sounds pretty good to me, Mammy!

If you notice this menu is not fancy NOR is it expensive. Don't tell me eating clean is costly! Anyone can do this menu cheaper than going out to eat and/or eating out of machines.

Let's all keep praying and wishing Mammy well on her health journey!