Nachos you don't have to feel bad about!

Here is my low carb, low fat, high protein spin on Nachos.  As always feel free to experiment with your own toppings, proteins etc.  All recipes are open to interpretation.

You will need:

1- Joseph's Whole Wheat, Oat Lavash
1/4 cup of Fat free Kraft shredded Mozzarella
1/4 cup of Fat Free Kraft shredded cheddar (or cheese of your choice)
1/2 cup of Jimmy Deans turkey sausage crumbles
Toppings of your choice- I like jalapeno slices and Trader Joe's Garlic chipotle salsa

Step 1:
Cut Lavash into "chips" using a pizza cutter or scissors, place on non stick baking sheet

Step 2: Place "chips" into oven, pre-heated to 375 degrees, bake for 7-10min depending on desired crispness

Step 3: Arrange chips on a microwave safe plate, I like to do to layers and divide the cheese and turkey evenly between them.  You can also arrange them on a pan, but I prefer the microwave method.

Step 4: Microwave the Nachos for 5min or until cheese is melted- if using the microwave chips will not be as crisp when finished.  

OR

Place pan in oven and bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melted (this will take slightly longer but result in crispy chips)

Step 5: Top as desired and ENJOY!

Nutritional Facts if prepared as above:

Fat: 8grams

Carbohydrates:22 grams

Protein: 39grams

Keep in mind, be creative and adapt to your own dietary needs!

A sample weight routine for any skill level

As you continue to follow this blog you will notice over and over that I stress the importance of resistance training.  I will give you a personal example of why resistance training is so important for long term success.  When I began my transformation almost 7 months ago with X Training my trainer/coach Katie started me off eating about 145 grams of Carbohydrates each day, 40 grams of fat and 135 grams of protein.  Gradually as I lost weight, plateaued a bit and then got to the stage where I was simply trying to squeeze the last fat off of my thighs over 6 months those numbers at their lowest were 110 grams of Carbohydrates, 30 grams of fat and 130 grams of protein.

Since achieving the weight, look and body fat that I desired we have been slowly building my food intake back up again so that I can add more lean muscle mass and eat at a maintenance level.  Long story short, currently I am eating almost 200 grams of Carbohydrates per day, 55 grams of fat and 145 grams of protein and HAVE NOT GAINED A SINGLE POUND!  That is almost twice as much food, this is due to the fact that I have built up so much lean muscle mass that my metabolism is on fire and have also been extremely consistent in following my diet and exercise program. If I had lost weight simply doing cardio this would not be the case because that time on the treadmill would be doing almost nothing to help my metabolism in the long term.

If you simply do not know where to start here is a sample of one of my very favorite weight training routines, provided to me by Katie Wilson at X Training.  I enjoyed this one a lot because it is very simple, straight forward and quick.  It is heavy lifting so form is important, it will also get you results and have you in and out of the gym in less than an hour.

DAY 1: LEGS

• Barbell squats: 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Leg press: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Stiff-legged dead lifts: 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• One-legged calf raises: 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Sitting calf raises: 2 sets x 4-6 reps

DAY 2: ARMS & ABS

• Barbell curls: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Hammer curls: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Preacher curls: 1 sets x 4-6 reps
• Close-grip bench press: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Weighted triceps variation dips: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Skull crushers: 1 sets x 4-6 reps
• Palms-down dumbbell wrist curl: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Palms-Up Dumbbell wrist curl: 2 sets x 4-6 reps
• Decline sit-ups with weight: 2 sets x 8-12 reps
• Leg raises with weight: 2 sets x 8-12 reps

DAY 3: SHOULDERS

• Shoulder press: 4 sets x 4-6 reps
• Upright rows: 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Bent over lateral raises 3: sets x 4-6 reps

DAY 4: - NO WEIGHTS

·       Cardio Optional-

DAY 5: CHEST

• Incline Barbell Press 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Decline Flyes 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 4-6 reps

DAY 6: BACK

• Wide Grip Chin ups 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Bent-Over Barbell Rows 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Lat Pull downs 3 sets x 4-6 reps
• Dead lifts 3 sets x 4-6 reps

DAY 7: -NO WEIGHTS

·      Cardio Optional

 Please remember to always use proper form and ask for help from a trainer or friend if you are unsure of the proper form.  There are also a lot of video instructions available online at www.muscleandstrength.com, youtube or just plain Google.  

Happy Lifting! 

A DIET is 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

Most people are under the impression that if they successfully follow their diet plan Monday through Friday that this means they can go crazy on Saturday and Sunday or sometimes Friday through Sunday. I have bad news for you, this doesn't equal results.

Everyone starts off strong on Monday. The gym is full, fridge is stocked with veggies, alcohol has been drank and you are ready to go. Fast forward to Friday, the gym is empty, the fridge has only leftovers and you are tired and need some relief. You figure, "why not go out for pizza and a few drinks. I deserve it.". Friday night you eat too much pizza, have too many drinks and cancel out any progress you made on Monday and most of Tuesday.

Saturday you sleep in and skip the gym because not only do you think that you deserve it but you feel like crap from eating and drinking on Friday. Later on that same day you have a graduation party to attend. You could follow your plan and eat before you go or just have a salad and chicken when you arrive but, hey it's Saturday! So you live it up, eat beef and fried chicken plus a few more beers. Go ahead and wipe your hard work from the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday off the board.

Now it's Sunday, you sleep in again, take the dog for a walk and call it exercise and although there are no social events there is also no food in the house so you order out before going to the store or fill up on random snacks that just sit in the cupboard week after week. Go ahead and wipe Thursday off of your progress board.

Now it's Monday and you are basically starting from day one again. The majority of people over estimate how many calories they burn and under estimate how much they eat. Not that you can't go out to eat now and then but if you want to progress each week towards your goals you should have no more than ONE cheat MEAL. Not a day, or two or a whole weekend. Those extra calories in two or three days combined with the workouts you skip are what is standing between you and your new life.

If you honestly and accurately tracked your calorie consumption vs calories expenditure in a day by day basis you would be shocked by the reality of those numbers. Combine that with a weekend of eating out and over consuming and you will be horrified to see that they really do equal a stale mate.

The moral of the story is not that you cannot have fun or go out but do so with your goals in mind and make better choices. Keep the big picture in mind and once you have reached that goal you still can't go crazy but you could allow a little more wiggle room. Just get there first!

 Never forget: Muscles and Abs are made in the kitchen!

Baked Mozzarella Sticks YUMMMY!

Here is a healthful way to make my favorite fatty food . . . Cheese Sticks!  It is super simple and quick and of course, low fat and low carb!

INGREDIENTS:
1-package of Frigo light string cheese (or the brand of your choice)
1-package of Naysoya Egg roll wrappers

STEPS:
1. Use the pan of your choice and spray with non-stick cooking spray
2. lay out the desired number of egg roll wrappers
3. Place one cheese stick in the center of each wrapper and fold the bottom up and the sides in

4. Then roll the cheese stick until the wrapper is closed

5. Place cheese stick on pan, for a juicier stick you could brush them with a bit of oil or butter and place in oven, preheated to 400 degrees F
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
One cheese stick:

Carbs: 13 grams
Fat:  3 grams
Protein: 10grams

The Weight Room is your friend, step away from the treadmill

A common belief that most people have is that they need to do extreme amounts of cardio to lose weight and get in shape.  The fact of the matter is that the opposite is true.  Yes, doing cardio will help you lose weight but it is not really helping you build your metabolism or physically changing your appearance.

Each and every weight loss plan should contain Cardio exercise and weight training, these two things should complement each other.  Even if you do not want to have big muscles you should still be doing regular resistance training.  When people ask me what my workout routine consisted to lose weight and get fit the part that they are most surprised by is that I did no more than 60min of cardio total per week at any time during my program and most of the time I did far less than that.

Although doing cardio is much easier, more comfortable and less intimidating than resistance training you need to step out of the comfort zone and hit the weights.  By using resistance training you will increase your lean muscle mass which will increase your metabolism, which will in turn burn more calories 24/7, which will help you achieve your goals.  Just simply doing cardio is not increasing your bodies metabolism and in the long run will not change the way you look physically aside from making you smaller and still soft.  The reason many people reach a weight loss goal is because they are only focusing on one type of exercise, both cardio and resistance are necessary to make long term gains possible.

You may be thinking to yourself, "I don't know how to lift weights".  There is only one way to learn, if you cannot or do not want to hire a trainer, there are many other options for you that are free.  Start by using machines first to become more familiar with some different exercises.  Use the Internet, muscleandstrength.com  is an amazing resource with articles, workouts and instructional videos.  They are categorized by goal, fat loss, building mass, maintenance etc.  Once you find a workout you want to try you can use the site to look up specific exercises and how to perform them.  Fitness magazines are another great resource there are millions of workouts in these magazine each month with example of form, reps and sets.  Once you get over your initial fear of the weight room you will be amazed how much you enjoy it.  Everyone standing around you had their first day in the weight room too.

A few things to remember when lifting:
-Pay attention to your form, if you are supposed to be doing a bicep curl and you are feeling it in your back you are doing it wrong.  Don't be afraid to ask a trainer for help, most of them will gladly help you for free.
- They are weights, they should be heavy.  If you could do 25 reps of an exercise and there is no discomfort or burn in the muscle you need to increase your weight.  Don't think only power lifters lift heavy.  I am lifting heavier than I ever have before and I am the smallest I have been since 8th grade!
- Have a purpose.  Before you go to the gym, think about what you are going to do that day, have a plan, take a small note book or even a post it with you so you know your routine.  If the workout is from a magazine or website, bring it with!
-Your mom does not work at the gym, clean up after yourself.  When you are finished with a dumbbell, put it back.  When you are finished with a machine, put the plates back.
-Consider weight lifting gloves.  They keep your hands protected and prevent calluses and discomfort with heavier weights.
- Have fun and don't be scared!

While you mentally prepare and research for your big weight training debut I will be working on next weeks blog where I give you an example of 1 week of my weight training routine!

Chicken tortilla soup! Low fat, Low carb, high protein

This week at work a vegetarian friend of mine was talking about the "chicken" tortilla soup that she and her husband make on an almost weekly basis and all of a sudden a light bulb went off in my head, I could make a delicious low carb, low fat soup!
So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 Jar of salsa-I use Trader Joe's Garlic Chipotle but any kind will do, homemade would be delicious
1-large box of chicken broth-I use College Inn light and fat free(vegetable broth for vegetarians)
2-1 lb packages of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  I find the think sliced kind is easier to shred in the    end or protein of your choice
2- fresh lime
1-jalapeno or pepperoncini pepper depending on desired taste
1-TBSP of Cilantro, lite house makes freeze dried spices that cook very well
1- clove or garlic or 1TBSP  garlic salt
1-package of taco seasoning mix





STEPS:
1. place chicken or whatever your choice of protein is into the bottom of a crock pot
2. Pour 3 cups of chicken broth into the pot, depending on the size of your crock pot and how much soup you would like you could use more.  I use 5 total, by adding 2 at the end.
3. Pour the entire jar of your chosen salsa into the crock pot
4. Cut 2 limes into halves, squeeze the juice in and add the lime itself to the mixture
5. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add that to the crock pot
6. Add 1 TBSP of cilantro and 1 garlic clove/TBSP of garlic to the crock pot
7. Add 2 tsp of the taco seasoning packet depending on personal taste
8. Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 90min depending on your individual crock pot
9. Add 2 cups of chicken broth depending on your personal tastes or needs.

Depending on how much of your diet you are actually tracking macro wise (carbs, protein, fats etc)  This last part is optional.
10. Remove the chicken breasts from the broth with tongs, place in a separate container.
11. Let the broth and the chicken cool so you can measure each one and shred the chicken.
12. Pour the broth into a large liquid measure cup- If you followed directions exactly you should have about 8 cups of broth.
13. Shred the chicken and portion according to the desired amount of protein you want in each serving of soup.
14. Store the broth and the chicken separately or portion accordingly and place in the fridge.

The reason I do steps 12 and 13 is so that I can know exactly how many carbs, fats and proteins are in each cup of soup that I consume and plan for it with my weekly meal plan.  I store the broth and the chicken separately and eat 1 cup of broth plus 3oz of chicken to meet my daily needs.

TOPPINGS:
You can top each bowl of soup with fat free cheese, sour cream, and of course tortilla strips.  I like to make my own tortilla strips by baking low carb tortillas in the oven and cutting them up with a pizza cutter but you could use store bought ready made strips as well.

Nutritional Information Per 1 Cup serving of Broth:
Fat-0
Carbs-4
Protein-1
Calories-20
Plus 3oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast
Protein 21 grams

ENJOY!

5 days of packed and ready food

I have talked a lot about how planning out your meals in advance will make your life and your success 1000 times easier but sometimes a visual, step by step is what it takes to make it all click into place.  While I was preparing my food for the week yesterday I took a few pics to help you out along the way.

1) Plan the meals (myfitnesspal.com), make a shopping list, go to the store.  I make one larger shopping trip every 2 weeks and a smaller one in between for more perishable items.  Since I started doing this I buy pretty much the same thing over and over so I have my list down to a science.  When chicken or turkey are on sale I buy a few extra to freeze or if it is rice cakes etc.  I just stock up because they are definitely not going bad anytime soon.  In the long run this whole process can really save you a lot of $$$.

2) Cook the food you will need
     Once a week I will make a crock pot of boneless, skinless chicken breast or 99% lean turkey meat in tomato sauce to last me for the next 5 days or so.  If I make too much I freeze the rest in a Tupperware until I will need it next week.  Be careful not to let your prepared food sit in the fridge for too many days after you cook it because you do not want to be sick.  5 days at a time is my personal rule of thumb, yours may be more or less.

3) Now that you have planned, purchased food and cooked the other food you will need it is time to pack.  
   
The first thing I do is lay out my 5 days worth of containers. This is a picture of the larger one with a removable ice pack that fits into the lid.  The smaller ones behind it fit perfectly inside, 4 small ones fit inside of each large one. These are made by fit and fresh and you can find them at target, bed bath and beyond, amazon.com and fit-fresh.com.  There are many different kinds available.

For dry, non-cold items that could be crushed inside of my bag, cooler or purse like rice cakes I simply use glad ware and lay them out, fill them and stack them.

I use a digital food scale that measures in ounces, grams and kilograms to weigh out my vegetable and meats. Which I then place in the small fit and fresh containers so they will fit inside of the larger ice pack container and stay cool while I am out of the house.

I then pack go through and pack up the 5 days of food I need for the week, I put my string cheese, yogurt, laughing cow cheese wedges and anything cold inside of the larger containers. I pre- bag my protein shakes into zip locs and place it inside of each container.  The rice cakes and my daily 1/2 PBJ sandwich are packed separately but kept next to the larger containers in the fridge so that I do not forget them when I leave the house.  The only meal I do no pre pack is breakfast because I am always home to eat breakfast so it is not going anywhere with me.

These are smaller containers that have individual ice packs, they also make special ones for salad, cereal and fruit.  I place these inside of the larger ones as well for extra refrigeration.

Now that all of the food is packed, ready and in the fridge how do you take it everywhere without looking like a complete dork?  Thankfully there is a wide variety of fashionable cooler choices available online and in stores.

The bag on the left with large polka dots is from thirty-one bags and I like it because I can fit 2 whole days of food inside, it has an outside pocket and a long cross body strap. ($30 from thirtyonegifts.com)  When I use it I also use it as a purse.  The small green bag in the middle fits one day of food, has an outside pocket and is not too bulky if you have other bags to carry or need to put it inside of another.  It is made by fit and fresh and runs about $20 they also have similar ones at target and bed bath and beyond.  The black and polka dot bag fits 2 days worth of food, has a short strap, outside pocket and I also use it as a purse/cooler to cut down on items to carry.  I purchased this on clearance at target for $7!

It may seem like all of this takes an entire day and the first one or two times that you do it it will take longer but once my food is cooked this entire process takes me 30min, every 5 days and saves me the time of making a lunch daily, going out to find food during the day and makes sticking to my diet 1000x easier.  When all of your food is by your side there is no excuse to make a bad choice and others will follow your example.  Purchasing fancy containers and coolers is not a necessity either, glad ware and icepack and the $7 cooler do a great  job of keeping you prepared.  Just find a system that works for you and use it.

Links
http://www.fit-fresh.com/?c1=GAW_SE_NW&source=USA&kw=fit_and_fresh_exm&cr5=14328025691&gclid=COzKkbOet7ACFQ8CQAodRTpz6w

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/