Weight loss and Nutrition

Probably one of the most common questions I get is, "What do you eat?" (or "What should I eat to lose weight?")  Well the answer is actually really simple, I eat everything, in moderation. Truth is I didn't have my nutrition totally figured out during the majority of my weight loss.  I was keeping myself at a deficit (if I was diligent about tracking my food). So I lost weight.  However when I found IIFYM (If it fits your macros aka flexible dieting) I had much better success and the results came a lot quicker.  Because I was eating a deficit but also a balanced diet.  I personally have a HUGE sweet tooth so I do treat myself to the occasional "bad" treat. But it's all good if it's done in moderation.  If you're eating on plan 90-95% of the time 1 candy isn't going to set you back.

Anyway, I thought I would do a few posts on nutrition and how to lose weight while still eating normal food.  That being said, I don't eat out often. Mainly because I follow my macros strictly (It's really necessary when trying to get stage ready lean) and I need to know EXACTLY what I am putting in my body.  I do have the occasional meal out but I keep it to a minimum right now.

So my husband did a big costco run this weekend and I took some pictures of the fridge, freezer, pantry and fruit/veggie bowls so I could kind of summarize the "staple" items I always have.
I do not eat the exact same thing day to day.  If you follow me on  www.myfitnesspal.com (user name JenniBeanxo ) you'll see that.  All my meals are pretty similar day to day, but rarely exactly the same.  But I do have basic foods you'll always see (chicken, egg whites, green beans/broccoli etc)

So.. let's go to the pictures shall we?

Ok so it's all pretty normal stuff. Fruits (I limit to 1 a day or less), veggies (sweet potato, white potato, celery, asparagus, bell peppers etc), egg white, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, almond milk, lean meats (chicken, turkey, lean ground beef), natural nut butters .. Not pictured, whole wheat bread, wheat pasta. Which are also added in very sparingly right now.

Of course there are 3 other people that live in my house (note the toddler photo bomb in the last pic). So there are things in there that I don't eat. Also I'm trying to get incredibly lean for a show so for an overall healthy and fit physique you could still be a little more flexible than I am right now. 

What I ate today. High carb day.

Hello there fitfam. So a little update. I've been hard at work (at my job and the gym) things are progressing slowly. I am carb cycling currently. Today is a refeed/high carb day so here's what I ate. 

Meal 1 

I made baked French toast with 1 egg, 2 egg whites and the wheat bread. 

Meal 2

Meal 3

Ok. I got a little hungry and forgot to take a picture. But this meal is pretty self explanatory. :) 

Meal 4 

 

I think I've posted the truffle recipe on my Instagram.. I intend to post more recipes here for easier access. If you want to

See this one (or any others) comment below and I'll add it to my list. 

Meal 5 

Meal 6 

And meal 7 (the Casein logged in with meal 6.. My fitness pal only has 6 meals) 

Casein pudding. 

To recap, I eat every 2-3 hours. The casein pudding I ate right before bed. I'm also putting my daily totals below so you can see how it all adds up at the end of the day.  I'm wrapping up my super busy time at work so I plan on posting a lot more often. If you have questions or things you'd like to see. Leave me a comment. 

BCAA gummy recipe

Happy Monday everyone. 

So I'll post this update with more details in another post but we've switched shows and I am just under 11 weeks out from the stage! That means 11 more weeks of prep and reduced calories.. actually 13.. but again that's another post.  So last week I messed with my meal times.. It was a horrible idea! I was saving carbs for post workout (I had been carb loading in the morning previously).  So I stretched out the time between my meals earlier in the day and there were a few days were I was STARVING between meals.  

One day I ate a handful of giant mints.. which turned out to be about 30g of carbs total! yikes! So I decided to look around for some alternatives for snacking between meals. (besides gum which also has sugars and piece after piece can add up during the day) 

So I had seen a few posts about BCAA gummies. So I looked into them a little more. I really had no idea they had no added sugar and it was just gelatin which is protein.  I used watermelon flavored BCAA powder and they are yummy! They were pretty easy to make too. I have plastic molds so I dusted them with cornstarch but still had to fight a bit to get the gummies out. I think I will use silicone next time as I think it's a little easier.  I don't have small silicone molds but I think I can just dice up the gummies into pieces once they have set.  So here's the recipe

Ingredients:
1 scoop BCAAs ( I used watermelon Rescue)

1/2 cup water

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons)

Procedures:

Mix the above ingredients together and let sit a few minutes

Heat mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

Pour into molds 

Freeze for 20 minutes

This made a lot of gummies. I didn't do a macro breakdown per gummy cause they weren't the same size (because my molds were different) but for the entire recipe the macros are:

Fat: Zero

Carbs: Zero

Protein: 24g 

Casein protein truffles

Hi Everyone,

I am seriously the worst at keeping up with things! Really I am an accountant first (that's what pays the bills) and we are in the midst of busy season. Meaning I Work, Eat, Train, Sleep. I am having trouble finding time for much else. Of course EAT is one of the things I MUST do.. And I really enjoy that too. :)  So of course with eating comes cooking/preparing.  So I have a couple recipes I've tried that I want to share.  The one today is Casein protein truffles.  

If you are like me, you love chocolate.  Does anyone not love chocolate?! But clearly having a box of Russell Stovers or a bag of mini Reece's PB cups is not in the plan right now. Sooooooooooo.. I improvise.  Luckily there are some genious people in the world who create and share recipes for those of us that are a bit challenged in the kitchen. And this one is adapted from Proteinpow.com is already a favorite.  I've made them twice this week.  (and drooled over her website for days and days)  

So first these are a snap to make.. if you can mix, and roll "dough" you've got the necessary skills. Did I mention I am challenged in the kitchen? :) If I can make it, a 5 year old can.. but seriously, you could make the kids make these for you.. if you trust they won't eat them. 

Ingredients: 

1 scoop Casein Protein (I used chocolate of course but any flavor would work)

1/2 tablespoon of coconut flour (I might have used a touch more)

2-4 tablespoons of almond milk (or milk of choice)  

about a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder for coating the truffles

(at Proteinpow.com they dip these in dark chocolate.. so that's an option too)

I started with 2 tablespoons of milk, mixed and then added a bit more until you get a consistency which will form a ball but isn't TOO wet. (if you add too much milk, add a little more Casein or coconut flour) 

Procedure:

1. Add dry ingredients to a bowl

2. Add almond milk

3. Mix

4. Form into 4-5 balls. I did 4 as you can see below

5. Roll the balls in cocoa powder

6. Chill in the fridge 20 minutes or so.

7. Enjoy the deliciousness!

(if you wanted to dip these in chocolate, I would chill after step 4, melt the chocolate, then dip and chill again to set the chocolate)

I made these before work and brought them as my afternoon snack/pre-workout so my plating is phenomenal.   Ninja turtle containers, hell yeah!!  (Yay 80s kids!!) .. But for the record my husband bought these ok. :) 

Macros for the WHOLE recipe using cocoa powder

Calories: 160

Fat: 2.5g

Carbs: 10g (2.5g of fiber, 5g of sugar)

Protein: 25g

The truth about eating healthy

The thing about eating healthy is, it takes work. It requires effort. It's not as easy as fast food or prepackaged meals (though you can pay for prepared healthy meals now). It seems so easy when people ask how I lost weight and I respond with "diet and exercise." But the truth is, eating healthy takes work. It takes research. I still research when I'm putting meals together. What are the macros in a serving of green beans? How does that compare with a serving of spinach? What about chicken instead of beef? All foods aren't created equal and it requires efforts to calculate what you need to fuel your body and meet your daily goals. 

But there are tools that help. And it doesn't require an unreasonable amount of effort. If you really have a goal in mind and you're focused on that, the effort will be well worth it when you achieve that goal.  I plan on blogging an entire day of food soon. But for now here is my typical dinner (presently) 

We have here 3 oz baked salmon

1 cup raw mustard greens (sautéed in 1 tablespoon coconut oil and garlic)

1/2 cup diced avocado 

I typically have been eating green beans for dinner (and also lunch) it took a bit of playing around in myfitnesspal to find some exchanges for the green beans. But it's worth having the variety. I was getting a bit sick of eating green beans. I was being a little lazy in finding alternatives. But in all honesty it probably took me 15 minutes to find 3 alternatives. Which will be well worth it over the next 15 weeks. It'll help me stick to my plan and reach my goals. Yes, It takes some planning. Spontaneous meals generally tend to be less healthy. But while it's not super easy, it's not that hard to eat healthy. And you don't have to eat weird stuff. 

And you're going to eat unhealthy once and a while. That's ok. Eating healthy doesn't mean you never indulge or treat yourself. Just that you don't do that at every meal. Or even most meals :) Everything in moderation. 

Lump of Coal treats

WARNING .. This is NOT a healthy recipe.

I love baking and making goodies. Even if I'm not going to be the one enjoying them.  So here's something I made for my daughters dance class party. I'm not going to lie. I tried one. It was AMAZING. These are also super simple and a fun project to make with your kids. They would make a fun stocking stuffer or treat for all those holiday parties. 

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of butter 

10oz bag of marshmallows

1 container of Oreos (I bought family size and used most of them. But I think a typical sized package would also work) 

Procedure: 

Melt butter and marshmallows over medium heat, stir often, until all the marshmallows are melted 

2. While those are melting, crush your Oreos. You can do this by hand or with a food processer. (I used a food processer) 

3. When the butter marshmallow mixture is lump free, remove from heat and mix in the crushed Oreos. 

4. Pour mixture in to a greased pan, I used 8x8. And let cool. Then cut into desired number of bars.  Alternatively you could roll the mixture in to balls and shape like coal.