Protein Snack Attack

There are some people that can do just fine only eating 3 meals a day, I am not one of those people. I tend to have three small to medium size meals and 2 snacks, sometimes 3 depending on the day. A few years ago my snacks would have consisted of granola bars, crackers, half a bagel, 100 calories pack of cookies or something similar. Not any more. Now I want my snacks to be healthy and help fuel me throughout the day. As I started cutting back on carbs and sugar and that processed stuff, I found it harder and harder to find good quality snacks. I mentioned this problem to my mom the other day when I was at my parent's house. We sat there for a moment trying to come up with good ideas, and then she got the aha face, walked out of the room and came back with a can of chicken, I thought yeah right this is going to taste good. She told me it has become one of my dad's new favorite snacks and really fills him up. My poor dad, every time us kids are over their house my mom is giving away his food for us to try. Love you dad!

I went home and tried a little, I was pleasantly surprised, it was really good, but I wondered what could I do to this can of chicken to make it even more filling and delicious? Then I has my own aha moment! I had recently tried this really delicious blue cheese dressing and thought why not mix it.

Canned chicken, I got the kind that has white and dark meat,
but they have just white meat if that is your preference.
This dressing is really good and the lesser of the dressing evils.
I am open to dressing suggestions if anyone wants to suggest some

For a 2 oz serving of the chicken you get 50 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 0 carbs, 0 sugar, 9 grams of protein. When I first measured it out, it didn't really seem like much, but then you add in the dressing....

2 ounces of chicken

The blue cheese dressing really adds a whole other flavor to this dish, I am sure any dressing you like will work just as well. 1 serving size of the dressing is 2 tbsp you get 130 calories, 14 grams of fat, 1 gram carb, 1 gran sugar, and 1 gram protein. I usually only use 1 tbsp which is plenty. This little snack is packed with fuel and so filling and delicious!

Add 1 tablespoon of dressing to 2 ounces of chicken
Yep that cute black and white mug is my giant cup of coffee, waiting for me to enjoy

Quick, easy, low carb, low calorie, and very easy to take with you to work.
It doesn't have any weird fishy smell like tuna so you can eat it at your desk without it bothering coworkers

Look familiar, the chicken was part of my breakfast I talked about in
Mission Accomplished...For the Week

This snack has definitely become one of my favorites. I usually eat it in the afternoon, it gives me energy for my workouts and holds me over so I don't get the grumbly stomach feeling halfway through my routine, but it really is delicious any time of the day.  Hope you enjoy!!

Mission Accomplished..for the Week

What a week! You know those weeks where you aren't sure if you are coming or going? Yeah that was my week. It actually started last Saturday when I had my friend's bridal shower. Thanks to shopping in my mom's closet I had a cute outfit to wear and I was armed with cheese sticks in my purse, just in case there was nothing for me to eat. What, not everyone keeps cheese sticks in their purse? Haha. The party was a good time.  I can also say for the first time, I was toilet papered. Yup you read that correctly...I was nominated to be the model for a toilet paper wedding dress. It was definitely a funny moment!! As it turned out I needed my cheese sticks. There was nothing there I could eat and I was starving.  I can't wait for the wedding and  don't worry I will stash some cheese sticks in my purse for that too. Mission Bridal Shower: Accomplished!

Getting my toilet paper wedding dress

Next up..my work convention. We left early Sunday morning and thanks to a marathon and road closures I got to my first meeting 15 minutes late. My amazing and wonderful boss was totally great about it and understood, I had called him from the road to warn him. The meeting went well and then I rushed off to lunch. As I mentioned in my previous post Food Food Everywhere my coworker got me cobb salad, it was really good and thankfully filling. I meant to take a picture for this post but it didn't last long as I had to rush out to education sessions. Need a nap yet...I did! Dinner time was my favorite, we went to a restaurant in the hotel where I got to order Rib Eye steak with side veggies and shared shrimp with my coworker...recharged and feeling good for the evening events, which included our dessert reception. Cupcakes, pastries, ice cream, chocolate everywhere!! Being tired and in the room with that deliciousness was not easy, but thanks to my filling dinner and feeling good I didn't even take a taste.

Yup, it tasted as good as it looks

Dessert reception...
good thing sugar can't jump through my camera or I would be in trouble 

The next night was our big event, the Awards Banquet. As I was getting dressed I thought back to previous years, and usually by this time I felt run down, miserable, and wasn't overly thrilled with my outfit thanks to my efforts to try and cover up as much as possible. Not this year...this year I found an outfit that I absolutely loved and loved wearing it. As I got up in front of crowds and walked around to help people, I truly felt confident and was so thankful I changed my eating habits these last few months. It made that moment so much better!

Every girl should add a little sparkle sometimes
The night was so much fun, I even got up and danced a little (sorry no pics of dancing)

I knew every morning I would only have the option of muffins, bagels, and pancakes...that just wasn't going to work for me. I needed more than cheese sticks in my purse for this. So this time, I packed hard boiled eggs, salad, olive oil, and some shredded chicken to keep in my room. I used a few ice packs to keep the food from spoiling, and it worked they stayed perfect before I could get them into my hotel room fridge. Now I got to start every morning armed and ready to conquer the day and feel good about it.

Not what most people pack to eat away,
but this helped me start my day off right.
I was full until lunch and had tons of energy

The next few days were similar to this one. Run around, food all over, me being happy my pants fit and I had the energy to keep up, amazing how much a year can change. Last year I was eating anything and everything, worst part was I could barely keep up and felt awful the whole time. Not one dessert or bad food passed my lips this entire trip! Mission Work Convention: Accomplished!

Next up:  Italian Festival with my family tonight....

Nature Walk

Last night my mom stopped by my place for a little to help me pick out some outfits, catch up on my online dating stories (that's a post for a whole other day), and just fun girl talk. I love our time together, It was so much fun! While we were talking about eating and working out she asked me why I stopped walking. I looked at her confused and told her that I am on the treadmill every morning at 5:30. She said that's great, but what about your outdoor weekend walks and walking in the park. I thought about it for a second, why had I stopped walking outside around town or in the park. I didn't even find other parks to walk in like I had hoped to do this summer. Okay sure the summer was a little humid, but not terrible and the bugs were annoying, but not the worst. Even after she left I couldn't stop thinking about my outside walks. I love those walks. I always felt so refreshed and rejuvenated after one of those walks.

Nice way to start the weekend and my workout! 

This morning when I got up and went to get into my normal workout clothes and hop on my now normal treadmill routine, I stopped myself, time to go back outside. It was around 6:30 and pretty chilly...I loved it!! I had on long sleeves and my headphones and loved every second of my walk. I watched the sun finish rising, the squirrels start running around for the day, the air was calm and pretty quiet with not too many people up and out yet. I did about 3.5 miles, it wasn't my fastest time, but I really enjoyed taking everything in and being in the moment. You can bet this will be back on my weekend routines!! I'm so glad my mom said something to me and reminded me how much I love my outdoor walks.

My squirrel friend
Stayed in front of me for at least a 1/2 mile before
finding just the right tree to hop in

Hope everyone has a great weekend and if it's nice out, go outside and enjoy it!!

Love the fall weather.
I'm definitely looking forward to more weekend walks

My after walk low carb breakfast
Eggs over messy with some cheese, a little salad
and a big cup of coffee

Food Food...Everywhere!

Coming up is my big work convention. We spend so much time preparing and getting ready. Making sure everything runs smoothly, how the Events Director pulls everything together is really amazing. It's a really wonderful event to be part of, but also really exhausting!!

Silly girls...it's not time to pack yet!

We get up early and go to bed late. We, the staff, are pretty much all over the place making sure things run smoothly and every one of our guests are happy. In addition, this year I am really excited, because I was asked to take photos for my company. The convention not only has really wonderful education sessions, speakers, and classed, but it also has amazing delicious food! We start with a big lunch that includes sandwiches, soups, and lots of pastries. That's nothing compared to the dessert reception where you will find a chocolate fountain, cupcakes, pastries, cookies, you name it!! The following night our big dinner banquet includes Caesar salad, pasta dish, entree, and of course dessert. I'm stuffed thinking about it. 

Anyone want dessert? 

With the convention dates creeping closer I was really starting to worry. What would I eat? Last year was when I started noticing I was getting sick eating high carb and sugary meals/dessert. So it's not even that I don't WANT to eat all of that, but I really CAN'T! I know if I eat any of that I will be so sick and being sick is not fun any time, but especially at a huge work event...yikes! Turns out my amazing coworker had my back. She ordered me a Cobb salad for my lunch full of everything that I can eat and enjoy. For dinner I will have a house salad with oil and vinegar, steak and shrimp, and by then I will be so stuffed I won't need dessert. I am also planning on stashing some snacks in my purse just in case. Thanks to my coworkers taking care of me I can spend more time focused on work and enjoying the convention and less time on what my next meal might me.

Saw this on Pinterest and had to agree
Being healthy is hard work and more than just weight loss

Learn to Trust Your Body

A few years ago a friend of a friend approached me to help him with some administrative/marketing work for the gym he had opened up. I knew financially they weren't set yet so we decided to make a deal. He was going to give me a super low discount and train me personally for my administrative/marketing services. Since I was really wanting to get into shape I was on board with that deal. This wasn't your everyday treadmill, weights, classes type of gym; this was more of a boot camp style gym. Before we even started working out I warned him that I had a very weak lower back and sometimes my knees bothered me and wanted to make sure that wouldn't be a problem. He assured me it would not be a problem and he would modify moves to prevent injury. I worked out with him for about a week and was feeling sore, but knew I was working towards my goal.  During the second week I went in like usual for my workout, he decided to switch up the routine a little and we used medicine balls and dummies to drag around. Turns out I was the dummy that day and didn't listen to my body. I knew something didn't feel right during some of the moves, but thought, this guy is professionally trained and must know what he is doing.....

They know a lot, but you know your body.
Don't forget to tune in and listen to yourself
Pic: http://www.memecreator.org/

After waking up the next day and passing out from the pain I was in when I tried to move. I went to a chiropractor for a full workup. He discovered I had 2 bulging discs and 1 partially herniated. OUCH!  I continued to see him multiple times on a weekly basis to get myself back in action for a very long time. During each session, or every time my back would twinge, or when I see the shoes I can no longer wear due to the heel size, I repeated to myself...why didn't I just trust myself when I knew that workout was bad for me.

Moving was not an option
pic: https://lapsedpt.wordpress.com/page/2/

I learned a lot from that experience. The biggest being, trust your body and instincts. Sure he was professionally trained, but that doesn't mean he knows everything and he especially doesn't know my body. I should have stopped him and refused to do the workout, even though he told me to work through the pain. Big lesson learned. Through my chiropractor I  learned about the importance of stretching. My chiropractor gave me tons of stretches to do on my own to help loosen everything up and that made a tremendous difference. I found this really neat deck of cards that shows other stretches and techniques, they explain every move and even have pictures on them to help you visually see what the stretch should look like. The stretches are for all over the body, not just your back. I highly recommend them. I still do my stretches after every single workout or even on days when I feel my muscles tight. The last big lesson I learned was to always keep a good heating pad in your home!!

Stretch Cards
Really helpful information to get you started stretching

Front and back pictures of the cards
One side explains and the other side shows

I know my back will never be the same again, but I am learning more and more how to help myself and maybe this story will help prevent someone in the future from going through what I did and if you already suffer from aches and pains check out different stretches that you might benefit from.

TV/Movie Gathering Healthy Style

I thought with the weekend coming up this would be a fun post to share. I love to have friends over to just hang out around the coffee table relaxing and catching up. I also love when we sit around watching tv or a good movie. Usually these fun events are accompanied by some not so healthy food choices including pizza, chips, dips, fries, and of course brownies and cookies for dessert oh and usually some wine. Fun times, but after all that I usually regretted it the next morning.

In the past if your friends couldn't decide on dessert....you get all three!
Bring on the sugar hangover

Last week I made plans with a friend of mine to come over and watch the NBS show "Chicago Fire". The new season is going to start up soon and we wanted to be caught up with all the story lines. My first thought, awesome TV party time! My next thought...I don't want to eat bad food, but I want it to be a fun time and be a good tv party hostess. What to do...text mom. She came up with some great ideas, off to Shoprite I went.

Chicago Fire on NBC
New season starts September 23, whose watching?

The creative food ideas were flowing...I picked up cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, tomatoes and some ranch dip. Healthy, but I needed more flavors and some protein. I added to my cart cheddar and colby cheese cubes, pepperoni slices, and I stopped by the olive bar for kalamata olives and garlic and blue cheese stuffed green olives. I figured to be a fair hostess I would include chocolate chip cookies and Fritos just in case my friend wasn't looking to stay totally healthy that night.

Healthy and nutritious snack choices
Now to make it look nice and get everything ready to be served

It was the perfect spread. We nibbled on everything while watching, a little of this and that. I was able to eat within my calorie goal for the day and stay low carb! My friend mixed it up and did enjoy the fritos and cookies as well.

A little of this and a little of that but most of all lots of  fun for your guests
The majority are healthy snacks that everyone will enjoy, even those not watching their weight.
I also love that I was able to keep it low carb
ENJOY!

So the next time you are planning a get-together remember to find the balance of fun, healthy, and tasty snacks everyone will enjoy!! You will be able to enjoy and still have the button on your pants thank you the next day.

Here's to many fun tv parties!

Easy Cheesy Burger Pie

There are some foods that get you right down to your soul. You eat them and they make you happy and warm inside. My mom would make this dish for us growing up that she called meatloaf. It wasn't until years later when I tried someone else's meatloaf that I realized my mom's dish was not meatloaf, but a million times better. My sister renamed the dish cheesy burger pie, after you read the rest of this post you will understand why.

When I started playing around in the kitchen I wanted to get a few dishes under my belt that I knew I could make, and make well, before really trying out different recipes. I turned to my mom who taught me how to make her delicious, low carb, mouth watering, cheesy burger pie. I could not believe how easy it was to make.

Very few ingredients, BIG time taste!

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs ground beef
** I prefer to use 80% lean ground beef (I like a little fat) **

3 eggs
Shredded mozzarella cheese
** You can use your favorite cheese if you don't like mozzarella **

Salt and pepper to taste

Yup that's all it takes. I know it doesn't sound like much and if you are someone who needs a lot of spices and kick to your meals I am sure you can adjust it to taste the way you love. Me I love the cheese and meat combination flavors and I don't need much else.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray a  9 x 13 baking dish with Pam or something so the meat doesn't stick to it.  I also like to put that on top of an aluminum foiled baking sheet just in case it splatters at all the baking dish will catch it and not my oven.

Crack 3 eggs into mixing bowl.
I do this first just in case any shells get away from me

Add mozzarella cheese
When it comes to the cheese, I don't have an exact measurement.
I put in as much I want. So I will leave that to your preference. 

Time to add the meat
Mix everything together.
I use my (clean) hands to get everything good and mixed

Get ready for a delicious low carb and tasty meal

Transfer the meat mixture to the baking dish and flatten out as best you can. Put additional cheese on top of the meat and stick in the oven for about 60 minutes.

Flatten meat mixture in a 9 x 13 baking dish

Add extra yummy cheese on top

About halfway through cooking, check it and see if the cheese on top is starting to get crispy. You don't want it to burn too much, a way to avoid this is to put tinfoil over the top for the remainder of cooking.

Let the drooling begin!
One taste of my cheesy burger pie and your taste buds and heart will be hooked

I love to let it cool off a little and then dig in! You will be hooked. Good thing it is so easy to make, because I make it often.

I hope you and everyone you share this with enjoys my favorite cheesy burger pie.

mmm beef, cheese, side salad and  lot of delicious flavor!

Wake Up and Workout

A few months back I mentioned that I joined a gym and I love going. I never thought I would say I love the gym, but I do. I loved learning how to use the different pieces of equipment, the atmosphere, and the mental escape for the time I am in there. But then summer happened, and along with summer came more daylight, beautiful warm weather, and after work outdoor fun! I think I made it to the gym after work about once all summer. Sure I was usually swimming in the pool with my family or going to backyard BBQs, but I missed my workouts.

The girls enjoying ice cream from the ice cream truck
Dad and me lounging in the pool...
(moments before this picture I tried to jump on the raft and lost my bathing suit bottom,
not sure who turned redder me or the life guard!)

One morning I woke up early, I had too much on my mind. It was 5:30 a.m., not enough time before the alarm clock going off to even try and go back to sleep, so instead I got up and decided to go for a jog on my treadmill. After about a minute I felt wide awake. By 5 minutes my mind, which had been running in circles with too much to think about, was now open and clear. After that I didn't check the time, it was full speed ahead and felt amazing!! 

Yup, I took an early morning workout selfie

I enjoyed that workout so much I now set my alarm clock to get up at 5:30 every morning. My morning and days no longer feel as awake and complete without that workout. I also get to watch the sunrise, hear the birds chirp (when I turn the headphones off), and enjoy the quiet that comes with mornings. I also love knowing that no matter how the rest of the day unfolds and no matter how busy I get I at least got my minimum 2 mile jog done for the day.

My morning treadmill view
L: When I first hop on the treadmill
M: During my jog..don't worry I slowed down to take this picture
R: When I am finished and ready to start the day

I still love the gym and get there whenever I can, in fact, I am going to try some Zumba and yoga classes this month with a friend. I can't always control the evening, but now I know the morning is all mine and totally worth getting up early. If you can get up and get moving I highly recommend, and the best part is, once you do it a few times I bet you will be hooked!