All posts in category Meal Planning

WIAW: Whole Foods Plant Based Diet

I stated on Monday that I was going back to a plant-based diet and I am now on day 4 and going strong.  I am already feeling lighter with more energy, and lets just say that last night was a whopper, yet I am not feeling tired at all (we’ll see how I feel come this afternoon!).  On a side note, I can’t wait until we get our third room finished for our new daughter.  She is the NOISIEST sleeper ever!  She grunts and makes all sorts of weird noises and when I get up to check on her she is totally asleep!  The first 3 months are the hardest, right?

Anyway, onto my Tuesday eats!  Thank you to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting this blogger get together every Wednesday!

Breakfast was eaten before I could snap a picture, but it was Oatmeal with ground flax-seed, vanilla soy milk, and frozen berries.  Not anything too exciting.

Lunch was leftovers from the night before and they were delicious:

IMG_0443Homemade veggie burgers dipped in BBQ sauce and a salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, avocado, and spicy hummus.  The recipe I used for the veggie burgers came from Oh She Glows and it is her Spicy BBQ Chickpea Burgers

I love the crunch that the sunflower seeds added, although, these would have been better on a bun (I forgot to get some from the store).  But I mus say they held together really well and it was a lot better than buying sketchy frozen veggie patties from the store with an ingredient list a mile long!

In the afternoon I saw that I had a banana and a zucchini that was on their last legs so I decided to make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from Happy Herbivore. I love this recipe because my daughter calls them “cupcakes” and she will polish off 2 before I can blink my eyes.  She has no idea that is she is getting some fruits and veggies in each muffin.  My second pregnancy caused my first daughter to become a picky eater.  Too much eating out will do that to someone, so now I’m trying to get her back on the healthy eating band wagon a little at a time.

IMG_0445I added in some mixed fresh berries and it was a filling snack that held me over til dinner.

Dinner was something unexpected.  This week I meal planned and told myself that no matter what, I was going to stick to it.  Well, last night I realized that I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients I needed for at least two of the meals I was planning so I went in search of a recipe for something that I had the ingredients on hand for.

After a quick check of my Google Reader I found a recipe that looked easy and delicious: Coconut Ginger Curry Rice Bowl From PB Fingers.  Who doesn’t love a one pot meal?  The only problem is that I had run out of brown rice and had to sub with white.  The great thing was that it was done and on the table in less than 30 minutes.

IMG_0447I wish that I had fresh broccoli instead of frozen, but it works in a pinch.  I will be having leftovers of this for lunch.

After getting back on the plant-based bandwagon I am feeling great.  My cravings are going away and the scale even gave me some motivation this morning by showing me a lighter number.  My only concern is that I feel like my breast milk supply has gone down a bit.  I can’t tell if I am just being paranoid or if my little babe is eating more than normal.  I’m monitoring it for the next few days and it is probably in my head.  Other than that I’m feeling great, and only T-4 days until I can start exercising again (hopefully I will get the clear at my 6 week postpartum appointment next Monday).

Have a happy Wednesday!

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by Shrinking Carrie on May 15, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Breast Feeding, Challenges, Commitment, Diet, Energy, Goals, Good Food, Health, Health Benefits, Link Love, Making It Happen, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet, Postpartum, Recipes, Weight Watchers, WIAW

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 15, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/15/wiaw-whole-foods-plant-based-diet/

Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

After having an absolutely horrendous week of eating whatever I could think of I decided to give myself a Mother’s Day present:  I’m going back to eating a plant-based diet.

The life of a mom with a newborn is taxing and I can feel it wearing on me daily.  The nights are a little rough and the days can get long and demanding.  With 2 kids and a husband I often feel like I get pulled in three directions constantly.  What better gift to give myself than the gift of health?

I had a wonderful talk with my husband about a week ago and it involved excuses.  I was going on about how when I get to six weeks postpartum it will get easier because I can exercise.  He totally called me out on my crap and said “you always say it will be easier when…”  fill in the blank.  I know that I have thought about these excuses before and light bulbs constantly go off in my head and I have plenty of AHA moments.  The problem is keeping myself motivated.

Do or do not, there is no try.

I thought I would take a little advice from Yoda and not put the word TRY into this post.  I almost wrote that I was going to TRY and get back to a plant-based lifestyle, but then I got taken back to my retail management days and I would get so annoyed when people said they would TRY to do the thing I was asking them to do.  It basically meant that they had an easy out clause with the word TRY.

This week will be all about getting myself back on track with eating (it is 70% of weight loss).  I’ve given myself permission to eat as much as I want to this week, but the only stipulations are that it has to have vitamins and nutrients of some sort, not be to grain heavy, and cannot come from an animal.  I’ve meal planned and I told the hub’s I don’t care if it doesn’t sound good the night I’m suppose to make it, that’s what we are eating.  He is surprisingly on board (I will mention that after this last pregnancy he is the heaviest he has ever been, and is motivated to lose some pounds).

I’m hoping that I will see great results like the last time I practiced this diet.  I lost weight, started sleeping better, was in a better mood, and I just felt great!  I’ve already had a great first day (which was Sunday, Mother’s Day mind you) and I am excited to get through this first week.

And because a post is always better with a picture, here are my two girls hanging out in our 80 degree house in their diapers (Air conditioner gets serviced on the 16th and it can’t happen soon enough!):

944667_4808877061090_1537861817_nHappy Monday!

2 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on May 13, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Daily Struggles, Diet, Goals, Health, Making It Happen, Meal Planning, Mindless Eating, Motivation, New Mind-set, Nutrition, Plant Based Diet, Postpartum

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 13, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/13/happy-mothers-day-to-me/

WIAW: What Nursing Mom’s Eat

One of the major things I notice when I start nursing is that it seems like I am STARVING all.  the.  time.  It doesn’t help that my little one is kind of a little piggie and I feel like she is taking most of my calories.

So like I said last week, I joined Weight Watchers Online  and my daily allotted points are 55.  It seems crazy high to me, but I will try it out for a few weeks and see what kind of results I get.  My real strategy is to eat as many 0 point foods as possible throughout the day and hopefully that will make all the difference!

Thanks to Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for helping me to stay accountable for my eats every Tuesday.  Dustin says that I need to document my weekend eats and that I always eat perfect on Tuesdays because I will have to blog about it.  Maybe next week.

I am happy to say that I stuck very closely to my plan yesterday and I didn’t end up being hungry at all throughout the day.  Small victories people.

Breakfast:

  • IMG_04222 eggs, plus 2 egg whites
  • 1/4 an Avocado
  • Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat Bread
  • 1 Tbs. Justin’s Almond Butter
  • Blackberries and Strawberries

Here is what my WW tracker looked like:

Picture 1Lunch:

IMG_0424

  • Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla
  • Grain Mustard
  • 6 oz. Peppered Deli Turkey
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • Brocco Sprouts
  • Baby Carrots
  • Cantaloupe

I really didn’t think that my lunch was going to last me all day and so I added in a Chobani Pineapple Greek yogurt for a little sustaining power, and it seemed to do the trick.  Here is how lunch tracked:

Picture 2Dinner:

IMG_0426The blurry pic is because it was STEAMING hot.  This Red Curry soup has been a stand by in my kitchen the last few weeks.  It is incredibly easy to make and you can always use different ingredients of whatever you have on hand.

  • Red Curry Paste
  • Chicken Broth
  • Coconut Milk
  • Carrots
  • Onions
  • Red Pepper
  • Red Potato
  • 6 oz. Chicken
  • 1 Cup Brown Rice

This meal was a little high in points, but I think it’s because I over estimated to make sure I wasn’t cheating myself.  Here is how it turned out:

Picture 3

Even after over estimating I still have 7 points left at the end of the day.  I think they will be spent on a Chobani with berries.  That leaves me with 3 points left.  Not bad.

Eaten anything memorable lately?

6 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Breast Feeding, Challenges, Daily Stats, Diet, Good Food, Link Love, Meal Planning, Nutrition, Weight Watchers, WIAW

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2013

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2013/05/01/wiaw-what-nursing-moms-eat/

Shhh…. Don’t Tell Him That It’s Healthy

I’m Back!  I had SO much fun being at girls camp last week, but to say I’m happy to be home and trying to get back into my routine would be an understatement.

One thing that I am trying to do this week is DETOX.  I failed to mention last week that the theme of our camp was “Candy Land”.  There was candy everywhere!  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a MAJOR sweet tooth.  Chocolate and ice cream are two of my biggest problem foods. When I got home on Saturday I felt sluggish, dirty, and tired, and I’m sure the crappy eating was one of the bigger issues for having those feelings.

On Sunday I sat down and made a diet detox plan for the week and I am forcing myself to stick with it so that I will feel better.  Even after only two days of getting some real greens in me and no sugar I feel about 80% better.

I also splurged this week and had Kombucha make a come back!

My body is in some serious need of getting the bad out and the good in.

I also made a Sam’s Club run this week and stocked up on fresh fruit.  I may have gone a little crazy and I now cant fit anything in my fridge, it is PACKED.

This morning while reading blogs I came across a recipe from my favorite Vegan website Oh She Glows I may be a little obsessed with her recipes.  It was for a jam, and coincidentally I had just ran out of jam, and had all of the ingredients on hand, shocker.

Try this recipe now: Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam

IMG_1224

Photo Credit is of course to Angela over at Oh She Glows since she is a FAR better photographer than I, and I don’t want to disrespect her recipe!

The hub’s loves jams and jellies so when I told him that I found an easy jam recipe he was in full support of me using some of our overly stocked fruit to make this Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam.  The even better thing is that it is actually a HEALTHY jam.  Why I never thought of Chia seeds for a jam recipe is beyond me.  I have been learning so much about plant-based cooking that one day I might just venture out and start trying to create some of my own recipes.  But until then Oh She Glows is my top go to for delicious & quick vegan meals.

But don’t tell my husband that it’s healthy, k?

4 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on June 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Blogs to Read, Candy, Challenges, Diet, Energy, Kombucha, Link Love, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on June 26, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/06/26/shhh-dont-tell-him-that-its-healthy/

Meal Planning Monday

If I am going to end my 21-Day Vegan Kick Start strong, a plan is what I need!  I’m going to make these last 7 days count and get me closer to my lowest weight.

This will be the first week that I am officially participating in Menu Planning Monday, which is put on by Organizing Junkie (a site I just found and have been a little obsessed with!).  I have been Menu Planning pretty consistently for about 6 months, and I can say that it definitely makes life easier.  It’s good on my grocery bill, less stressful come dinner time, and it helps to keep your diet healthy when you plan ahead.

Here is what is on the menu this week:

Monday: Meatless Bean Chipotle Burger with Sweet Potato wedges.  I am still toying with making an actual hamburger for Dustin.  If I decide to it will for sure be this recipe.

Click pic to be taken to Meals & Moves for recipe

I LOVE the fact that Janetha has opened my eyes to grinding your own lean cut of beef in the food processor.  Genius.  While I won’t be eating these, they are sure to please the meat-eating hub’s.

Tuesday: Nordstrom’s Tomato Basil Soup

Click Pic to be taken to recipe

This was actually on the menu last week and we didn’t end up having it.  I will have to tweek the recipe a bit (it calls for cream, but I will be subbing it out with Olive Oil and Unsweetened Soy Milk).  I tried a cream sub in my Butternut Squash Soup last week, and it made it really creamy and thick.  Pretty excited for this recipe, especially since it has been rainy and cold the last few days.

Wednesday: Meatless Fajita’s, a weekly staple and easy to whip up.  Two green peppers, purple onion, and fajita seasoning.  Put it on top of a grain of your choice (we usually do brown rice) add some black beans and avocado, and you are set!

Thursday: French Toast & Morning Star Meatless Sausage.  The return of breakfast for dinner!  I finally found some animal product free breakfast recipes which makes my mouth happy! Also, since I have now experimented with this recipe I won’t burn the first few!

Super crappy photo, I know.

Friday:  Homemade Pizza.  This was always a tradition when I was growing up, and I am trying to make it a new tradition for my little family.  I have perfected the pizza dough for one pizza, and I have no problem eating mine cheese-less, and packing on the veggies!

This is a pizza from a couple of weeks ago that I made with Vegan cheeze sauce. It tasted pretty good, but the hub's was not a fan. We will most likely be sticking with marinara and lots of veggies.

Saturday:  I don’t usually plan a meal for Saturday’s since we almost always end up eating out.

Sunday: Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avocado, and Cumin Lime Dressing.

Click Pic to be taken to recipe

I’ve been meaning to try this salad for a while and it will be my first time cooking with Quinoa.  A little nervous about how it will turn out, but it looks delicious!

And that is my weekly meal plan!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Happy  Monday everyone!

Do you meal plan?

Ever cooked Quinoa?  Were you intimidated?  

4 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on April 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Meal Planning

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 16, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/16/meal-planning-monday/

Weekend Catch-up

We had a great, relaxing Easter weekend, and I am happy to say that I stayed pretty good the entire time!  I saw a 5 pound loss on Saturday (on monday I weighed in at 260, up almost THREE POUNDS from the day before, and by Saturday I was down to 255).

On Friday we went to an authentic passover dinner.  I was nervous about how this would affect my plant-based diet, but then I thought that I’m sure in Jesus’ time there were not a lot of processed foods so it might work out okay.  I was right!  Check out this spread:

There were a lot of olives (all types), tahini, bitter greens with olive oil,  vegetable based dishes, grapes, and leven bread (?).  I passed on the lamb, and the lamb stew of some sort.  I had no issues with eating plant-based, and I didn’t embarrass my hub’s in front of all his meat-eating co-workers!  Win for me!

On Saturday we went shopping and I made the best choice possible for lunch.  We went to Mccallister’s Deli (I thought they would have some sort of vegetarian option) and got a veggie club with no cheese and subbed out the parmesan cheese spread with balsamic vinaigrette, and a side salad with no cheese and no croutons with BV.  I was satisfied and felt tons of energy for keeping it clean.

I finally got to see Hunger Games on Saturday, and I totally messed up by not having dinner beforehand, doh!  I couldnt’ resist the popcorn (which is a HUGE obstacle for me, I freaking LOVE movie theatre popcorn).  We were in a hurry and I didn’t plan well enough, lesson learned.  I liked the movie, but I hate that it’s been out for a couple of weeks and had heard too many amazing things about it.  It makes it kind of disappointing when you finally get to see it expecting something crazy good, and it is a bit of a let down.  Next time I won’t listen to all the hype, and I will enjoy it more.

On Sunday, Hanna and I got to dress up in out new Easter dresses to attend church:

Even though Hanna hadn’t slept very well the night before and was being a pill.  And my hub’s sucks at taking pictures.

We had a low-key night, and enjoyed some outside time with Hanna:

I am loving how quiet our neighborhood is.  I love not having to stress as much that Hanna is going to get hit by a car.  We also have a huge grassy area behind our house that she can run and play on.  I took some pictures of the gorgeous views that surround our house:

I truly do live in a beautiful place!

Lots of fun things coming up this week regarding blog topic’s.  A book review and a new 30 day program I am trying out!  Fun stuff!  I was going to do a Meal Plan Monday post today, but after looking through my calendar of eats I decided that they are kind of boring this week!

How was your weekend?

2 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on April 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Challenges, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 9, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/09/weekend-catch-up/

Menu Plan Monday!

PCRM’s 21 Day Kick-start starts today!!!  I’m so excited for another 3 weeks of energized, joint pain-free, and deliciousness!  Last night I sat down with my trusty vegan websites (post on those to come later), and planned out the entire week of meals, and I must say that my mouth was eager to get this week started.

I have to say that I have so much fun Menu Planning on Sunday nights!  I love going to different websites and trying recipes that I have never tried.  This week’s menu is making my mouth water.  Here is what is on our menu in the Seals household:

Monday: Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta with roasted broccoli

Click pic to go to source

We tried this recipe a few weeks ago, and not only is it super tasty, but it is EASY to make!  My little one LOVES tomato’s and the sauce is such a great tomato and “cream” sauce, you would never guess that it was dairy free!

Tuesday: Taco’s with Corn Salsa

In this salsa there is corn, orange pepper, purple onion, cilantro, lime, and garlic salt.  I put it over black beans and serve in a corn shell.  It is fast and totally curbs a craving for mexican fare.

Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup with roasted cauliflower

The only thing I will have to change in this recipe is to swap out chicken broth for vegetable broth and voila! Vegan.

Thursday: Avocado Wasabi Salad

Click pic to link to source

I am so serious when I say my mouth is full on watering by looking at this salad. Anything that involves avocado’s is a win in my book.  And to think that before I met Dustin I didn’t like them.  Craziness.

Friday: Roasted Veggie Pizza with “cheeze” Sauce.  I will have to let you know how this one turns out.  I am experimenting with a few different recipe’s and rolling them into one.  We’ll see!

Saturday: Mushroom Risotto with Carmelized Onions

Click pic to link to source

Sunday: Sunday gets tricky because it is Easter Sunday and we have already got invites to people from our church homes for dinner.  The only thing I can think is to eat before I go over (most likely leftovers), and then I won’t be tempted to eat the things that usually derail me.

The rest of the weeks grocery list is getting things for smoothies, and snacks.  I have been on a hummus wrap kick lately, and I will most likely have some version of that for lunch every day this week.  I am so glad that I don’t mind eating the same things everyday!

Sweat it out:

I haven’t had a chance to sit down and come up with a workout plan, but I do know that I am going to do my FIRM DVD’s on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  In addition, I will also be taking a walk for at least 30 minutes everyday so I can get out of the house.  Most of today I will be trekking down to Grand Junction and going food shopping to stock up the fridge for the week!

Have a great day!

What’s on the menu for you this week?

 

2 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on April 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Meal Planning, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 2, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/02/menu-plan-monday/

And So It Begins….

Let’s face it, March wasn’t my month.  I am ready to make April the new beginning for the rest of the year.  Tomorrow starts the 21 Day Vegan Kick-start, and I am revving to go full speed ahead into the next 3 weeks!  I am looking forward to getting back to my lowest weight of 248, and break out of the 240′s if it kills me.  These past few weeks I have felt sluggish and heavy.  When I get out of bed in the morning I just FEEL like I’m carrying around more weight.

How do I help myself out with a successful week?  Planning.  Goal making.  Executing plan, and following through.  Back to the beginning where I had weekly goals, and back to the beginning where I had monthly goals.  These thoughts give me comfort that I can get back on track.

Monthly Goals:

  • Workout 6 times a week.  Ahhhh.  Remember when I had no issues with this?  I am excited to get started on my at home workouts.  I will be adding and planning those workouts to my meal planning calendar that I complete every week. Also, I bought an exercise ball, and a yoga mat, so this expands the workouts quite a bit.
  • Complete the Kick Ass April challenge that is being put on by Shrinking Jeans.

If you want to follow along you go to Shrinking Jeans and print off a copy of this calendar.  This is also a challenge extended to us by Dacia, where the Monica’s Birthday Challenge is going on (I’m giving it the good fight, and even though I haven’t been at the top of my game I am still reporting my non-existent weight loss every week.  I am hoping that I can catch up in the last 3 weeks of the challenge!).

  • Finish out the Monica’s Birthday Challenge.  Hopefully the 21 day challenge will help me to at least lose a few pounds before the end of this challenge.
  • Complete the PCRM’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart.  The great thing about this goal is that I have already completed this challenge once and so I know what I am in for.  The first challenge helped me to prepare for the second and so I am hoping that the transition isn’t as jarring as the first round was.
  • Wear my Bodybugg.  My poor bodybugg has been sitting in my dresser drawer for the last month.  I didn’t want to have to update it, and be reminded of how little I was doing towards my goals.  Also, it is now short sleeve season and you can see my BB clearly, which is a little embarrassing (I have to get that out of my head).  I tried to wear it on my calf, but it wasn’t accurately counting my calories.  I will just have to get over myself and wear it at all times.

I think that is a sufficient amount of goals for the month of April.  Not overwhelming, but still challenging.

Weekly Goals:

  • Successfully Start the PCRM 21 Day Vegan Kick-start.  
  • Meal Plan.  When you are eating a plant-based diet planning is crucial!  All it takes is a moment to lose everything that you have worked so hard to achieve!  Lucky I have a TON of recipes “pinned” on Pinterest, and a lot of recipes that I like the first time around so it is just about picking a weeks worth and I am set.
  • Workout 6 times this week.  Along with a Meal Plan, I should have an exercise plan as well.  I will be mapping out my workouts for the week and where I can find them (HULU plus, netflix, or a video of my own).
  • Drink 100 ounces +.  Self explanatory.
  • Take a walk each day with Hanna.  We finally live in a neighborhood that has sidewalks and a walking path.  This means that I am going to try to take a walk either in the morning or afternoon with Hanna so we can both get out of the house.
  • Read something!  I use to read at least 2 books a month, but this number has decreased dramatically since having Hanna a year and a half ago.  The only times I have a chance to read is during Hanna’s nap time (which is when I usually blog), or after she goes to bed (and then my eyes almost immediately close automatically.  With eating plant-based I should have a lot more energy so I have ordered two books off Amazon: Disease Proof your Child, & The 21 Day Weight loss Kick Start.  Both of these books are on Veganism and the second is what the kick-start I am starting is about.  I will do full reviews of these books as soon as I get them and read them.

Here is to a great beginning to a new week!

3 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on April 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, Body Bugg, Challenges, Diet, Goals, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet, Vegan

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on April 1, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/04/01/and-so-it-begins/

Made in the Kitchen, Indeed.

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 60 Minutes
Foam Rolling & Stretching 20 Minutes

I love Pinterest!  It is no secret that the struggling part of my weight loss journey is diet.  FItness is in the bag and I could improve on it immensely if I could just get my food intake under control.

Yesterday I had some noteworthy food and a few non-scale victories, if that is what you want to call them.

I do all of my grocery shopping for the week on Monday.  In the recent past I have gotten into a NASTY habit of rewarding myself (for going to the grocery store?) with a candy of my choice.  Ok, you got me.  A KING SIZE candy bar of my choice, which I scarf down in the car.  Ya, that puppy doesn’t even make it home before it is in my stomach.  I kept rationalizing that if it was only once a week it was no big deal.  But then there are the times that I have to run to the store because we are out of diapers, or some other small thing, and those delicious candy bar’s are staring you in the face at the check out counter where they have been strategically placed.

I actually haven’t “rewarded” myself with a candy bar for a few weeks, but it’s probably because I have been “rewarding” myself with all kinds of foods for the last 3 weeks for something or another.

I went to the store at 2:00 just after Hanna’s nap and I could tell on my way down there that the carrots, hummus, pineapple chobani, and apple that I had for lunch were not going to hold through the entire shopping trip.

I started getting a hankering.  For something sweet.  The thought would not leave my mind.

“No, Carrie.  You have done so good today and if you are hungry it only means that you body needs something, and that something is NOT a candy bar.  It will only leave you feeling sick and guilty”  

I love when I can have an inner monologue with myself, and it helps even more if I can actually say it out loud so I can hear it (yes, I talk to myself.  I am SO NOT crazy.  Try it when you have a moment of weakness, it helps).

After talking to myself down about 5 aisles (remember that I have a small child with me so everyone thinks I’m talking to her), I had an idea.  Protein bar.  Duh!  Why have I never thought about this before?  They sell them individually and at this point in the day I had only taken in less than 1000 calories, burned 700 calories at the gym, and I could totally afford a delicious protein bar.  The only problem is that I wanted a bar that had a LOT of protein in it so it would tide me over until dinner at 5:00.  A Luna or Larabar just wasn’t going to cut it.  I needed some calories people!

After staring at the protein bars for what seemed like forever I decided on this beauty:

Chocolate Peanut Butter= Pure Heaven.  It totally did the trick for curbing my sweet tooth and had a whopping 30 GRAMS of PROTEIN.  It was a weight lifting day yesterday and so I was trying to pack a protein punch.  It had 280 calories (that’s actually way more than I would normally eat with a bar, but at this point I was using it as a meal replacement) and 7 grams of fat.  Not bad at all.

Fabulous discovery #2:

I FINALLY made this amazing recipe:

Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta from Oh She Glows.  BEST. VEGAN. PASTA. EVER.  I could have eaten an ENTIRE pan full of this stuff, it was that good.  I give it 5 out 5 stars.

Go try this recipe, now.  It was fast and EASY, and even the hub’s was into it.  I still have a little of the sauce in my fridge and I am saving it like its liquid gold.

Fabulous discovery #3

I’m trying to incorporate more salads into my diet and have decided that I am going to be eating them for lunch, but since I don’t want to run to the store several times a week I discovered a great way to store your lettuce so it lasts longer:

This is 3 bags of lettuce stored in glass mason jars.  I had heard previously that if you store lettuce in glass it will stay good longer, but I never even thought (until pinterest of course) that you could store them in jars!  What a great idea!  I’m trying it out this week to see if my lettuce will stay good all the way until my next grocery day.

Now I just need to make sure that the salad stays different and interesting.

What are your favorite salad toppings? Favorite dressing?

Protein Bars: love or hate?

Are you like me and feel like you have to reward yourself for doing everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping?

5 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diet, Meal Planning, Planning, Protein, Rewards, Shopping

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 28, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/28/made-in-the-kitchen-indeed/

Recharged and Back to Basics

After an entire week of overindulging I have to say enough is enough.  I feel that my healthy battery has been re-charged and I have seen my evil ways.  It’s time to get back to basics.

  • Get on the scale. I have a fear of the scale when I have been naughty.  Does anybody else do this?   I need to face the music and seeing the number on the scale will start this week out where it needs to start. Besides, most of the weight will be water weight anyway and I should be able to get rid of most of it by the end of the week.
  • Re-start NROLFW.  I need to have some sort of plan when I go to the gym and I don’t want to lose all of the muscle I gained when I did New Rules of Lifting for Women first time around.  I am not going to wait for my move to start the program again, and I can let this program help me with the struggle I have been having with the gym lately.  I am going to add a few more moves that aren’t in the book to keep it interesting.  I am also going to get to the gym earlier.  The longer I wait to go to the gym in the morning, the easier it is to talk myself out of going.
  • Track, Measure, Weigh, Repeat.  I will be doing daily stat’s post for this next week since it seems to help me stay accountable for what I am eating.  I will weigh and measure my food as exact as I can for this is the only way that I have seen positive results on the scale.
  • Drink lots of water.  Flush out all the chocolate.  Also, I haven’t been sweating as much at the gym and I think it’s because my water consumption has been lower and my salt intake has been higher.
  • Meal Plan, and then stick to the meal plan. I have been meal planning since the beginning of the year.  It has helped with my eating and my budget, but lately it seems that I have made a plan and then not stuck to it.  Some of the dinners that I had planned on making just didn’t sound good when it came time to make them.  The fact is, when you eat fat, sugar, and salt, you crave fat, sugar, and salt.  It may be a rough couple of days getting back on track, but sticking to my meal plan is a sure-fire way to get there.
  • Positivity.  So I lost a week, that’s ok.  The important part is that I start again.  I forgive myself for the foods that I have eaten, and I tell myself that I am a strong woman who can do hard things.  I know I can get back on track, I just need to re-focus my energy in the right area’s.

I am only going to get more stressed out in the upcoming weeks with the move coming on and I can’t let it completely de-rail me.  It is just another excuse hurdle that I need to jump over.  Life will always get in the way of weight loss and conditions will never be perfect, so I have to keep pushing everyday.

This Week’s Meal Plan: 

  • Monday: Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta 

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows (this is also Angela's Picture)

  • Tuesday: Meatless Fajita’s.  This is a fast and easy recipe where I just removed the meat entirely from the meal.  I sauté green peppers and a red onion with fajita seasoning and then put over black beans and brown rice.  Top with mashed avocado and it is a yummy plant-based dinner.
  • Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup: 

Click picture to link with All Recipes.com (picture is also from allrecipes.com

  •  Thursday: Breakfast for dinner.  Does anybody else LOVE breakfast for dinner?

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows for recipe (picture credit is also Angela's)

  •  Friday: Vegan Combo Pizza. I will be trying out non-dairy cheese and non-animal pepperoni for the first time.  Dustin is thrilled (insert sarcasm font).
  • Saturday: Planned date night where we get to go out to eat.
  • Sunday: Meat meal for the week, Healthy Hamburger Helper.  Dustin and I have been huge fans of Hamburger Helper since we have been married so when Janetha over at Meals and Movesfigured out a way to make it healthy I had to try it out (plus, Dustin deserves some meat at least once a week for being so obliging to my weird eating habits I’ve picked up).

    Click picture to link to recipe (Photo credit goes to Janetha over at Meals and Moves)

    So there is my plan for a successful week!  How do you set yourself up for success?

5 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Challenges, Change, Daily Stats, Diet, Distractions, Goals, Indulgence, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/19/recharged-and-back-to-basics/

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