Pizza!!!

This is a super easy, 10min pizza recipe using pre-made ingredients.  You could of course customize it and make everything from scratch but who really wants to do that?

You Will Need:
-Pillsbury Pizza Crust.  They make a variety, whole wheat, original thin etc.  This recipe is with the original thin crust.
-Turkey Pepperoni- I like the hormel brand but you can use whatever kind you like
- Jimmy Deans turkey sausage crumbles
-Mrs. Dash Tomato and Basil seasoning
- Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese, this can be hard to find, I usually get mine at Jewel
-Contadina Pizza Sauce Squeeze
-Cooking Spray
-Pizza Pan

From this point on it is pretty simple:

-Spray your pan with cooking spray if need be

-Roll out the Pillsbury pizza crust

-Add 1/2 cup Contadina Pizza Squeeze, spread evenly

-Add 1/2 cup Jimmy Dean's Turkey Sausage Crumbles,spread evenly

-Add 1 cup (or more if you like extra cheese) Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese

- Add Hormel Turkey Pepperonis, I lined them up in rows across the top of the cheese to make 16 equal pieces and used the Pepperoni to guide where to cut the pizza

-Season to taste with garlic, Mrs. Dash, basil, oregano etc. 

-Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 mins depending on desired crispness

Nutrtitional Info-Per slice if done in 16 slices

Carbs-10

Fat-   2

Protein-5

*As always remember all of these ingredients can and should be adjusted to taste and nutritional goals.  The specific ingredient information that I used is what I like and what made it easy to fit into my daily numbers.  Get creative people!  

Eating is only as hard as you make it

With the new year having come and gone many of us are trying to start 2013 off on the right foot. Whether it be by spending less, saving more or getting in shape.

In turn a few friends of mine have been asking for advice on what I eat, when, how do I cook it all? Let me begin by telling you that I have now been eating this way for an entire year and I am to the point where I truly enjoy each and every meal I eat each day. Over time I have developed healthier ways to enjoy some of my favorite things and do not feel like I am missing out on very much food wise. I got to this point by thinking outside of the box.

When I first began trying to eat healthy and eat a certain number of fats, proteins and carbs each day, it was not fun.  In the beginning I was not planning my meals in advance, cooking ahead of time and in bulk or pre packing my meals.  This led to many frustrated nights, trying to figure out how to eat 20 carbs and 2 grams of fat and so forth.  Then one day the light bulb went off and it all came together for me.  (insert sigh of relief) From that moment on I would put my meals into myfitnesspal.com a week at a time, go grocery shopping and cook all of the food, put it into containers and be set for my entire week.  No guessing, no hunger, no running out of bread on Wednesday and deciding to eat a whole bag of chips instead and this is what I have done ever since.  I cannot imagine life any other way.

At the beginning of each week (which for me is Wednesday because of my work schedule)  I cook and package all of my food.  I cook one pound of ground turkey and make turkey taco meat, one crock pot of chicken breasts, a few cans of green beans, and a few packages of rice.  I weigh it out, put it into its appropriate place, stack it in the fridge and freeze the extras.  The food that is frozen is frozen in individual servings so in a bind I can just pull one out and go.  Over time my menu has changed and evolved, I get tired of things or one day cannot bear the thought of eating chicken so I adapt.  Do some research and think about what foods you like and if they are not healthy find a way to make them healthy.

Some of my favorite "fun" things to eat are pizzas with turkey pepperoni on pita bread, Quesadillas(the possibilities are endless) with fat free cheese and turkey, egg white and turkey sausage pizzas, wraps.  Mixing plain zero fat greek yogurt with chocolate cheerios is my current favorite snack.  Replace peanut butter with PB2 for a lower fat alternative that can be mixed into protein shakes, yogurt and cream cheese.  Mixing protein powder up with very little water to make a pudding is much better than you may think as well.  Don't feel like to eat healthy you have to be stuck eating chicken breasts and veggies forever.  There are a million websites, blogs and cookbooks that have awesome ways to adapt and change your favorite recipes for the better.

If you want to see what I eat join myfitnesspal and add me, lesterlie09

The Slippery Slope of Keeping it off

Almost one year ago I began my weight loss mission, I was sure that losing weight was going to be the most difficult, horrible thing that I had ever done.  One year later I can tell you that I was wrong.  Losing weight although not always the easiest most fun thing that I had ever done was not the hard part, keeping the weight off is the hard part.

Throughout the weight loss phase you have something that you are striving for, that magic number or perfect size.  You are working towards your goal and that is what keeps you saying no to that piece of cake and hitting the gym every day.  The moment you step onto the scale and see your magic number flashing back at you and your skinny pants fit everything changes.

The goal has been met, mission accomplished, you feel great and a weight (literally) has been lifted from you shoulders.  Now it is time to go out and celebrate with that pizza you haven't had in 6 months.    From that point on what is it that will keep you from over indulging, skipping the gym, going back for seconds?  You lost the weight so now you deserve to indulge a little right?

Maintaining weight loss is very challenging.  Anyone who has ever lost a deal of weight in their life knows this to be true.  Personally this is the third time in my life that I have lost a great deal of weight and I am determined to make it my last.  Each and every time once the weight came off I slowly slid back into my old ways of living and eating that put the pounds on initially.  This is the reason that diets do not work, it really must be a complete change of lifestyle.  Never losing sight of why you should still say not to that extra dessert or walk away from the all you can eat pizza buffet.  Slipping back into your old ways will also stuff you back into your old pants.

The past few months this is something that I personally have been struggling with and withe the holiday season approaching I am determined to not lose sight of my goal and all that I have accomplished.  While you are surrounded by holiday snacks at the office try to keep in your mind what you have been working for this entire time.  Saying no completely is so much easier to maintain than sticking to just one bite.  Think about how much better you feel at the end of the day knowing you stuck to your plan and your pants still fit!!

PB2 Mini Cheesecakes, low fat, low carb and AWESOME!

If you love peanut butter like I do but wish that it was not loaded with so much fat, you should check out PB2.  PB2 is a natural, preservative free peanut butter powder made by bell plantation.  They reduce the fat content in the peanut butter and dehydrate it leaving a powder.  It can be mixed with water to make peanut butter or added to protein shakes, oatmeal. yogurt and any recipe.  This is a PB2 mini cheesecake recipe from their website, bellplantation.com that I tried last night.

You will need:

2 8 oz pkg: Fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup: Fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup: Light ricotta cheese
3/4 cup: PB2
1/4 cup: Skim milk
1/4 cup: Splenda brown sugar
1/2 cup: Splenda granular
2 tsp: Vanilla extract
3/4 cup:Egg Beaters

1)Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees with a pan of water in the bottom to steam and moisten the cheesecake. 

2)If you want to make mini cheesecakes place cupcake/muffin papers in a cupcake/muffin pan to make removal and eating easier.  If you prefer a whole cheesecake, you can skip this step. 
* Please note that I am not making a crust for my cheesecakes to reduce to carb/fat count.  If you would like to add a crust crush graham crackers, vanilla wafers or cookie of your choice, stir into melted butter and place in the bottom of the papers/pan.  Just keep in mind it will raise the fat and carb content.  

3)Mix all ingredients together with mixer or food processor until smooth and creamy.  Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup pour batter into each paper, this makes about 18 minis.  

4)Place pan in over, bake at 300 degrees for 50min, then turn over off and bake 30min.  Remove cheesecake from oven, let cool and refrigerate 4-6 hours.  You can definitely eat the cheesecake the moment it comes out of the oven but it will be hard to remove from the papers and the consistency will not be quite right yet.  

ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL FACTS (per mini when making 18)

Carbs- 8 grams
Fat-     1 gram
Protein-8 grams

Feel the burn . . .out

We have all been there standing outside of the door to the gym, feeling like you should go in but dreading it at the same time, sometimes you go all the way back home and feel guilty about it.  Other times you go into the gym only to have a half-a$$ed workout, leave and feel guilty about that too.  Neither one of these scenarios is ideal or makes us feel good, what in the heck is going on!?

In general Americans tend to be pretty all or nothing people.  This applies not only to "stuff", money, clothing and food but exercise as well.  If going to the gym 4-5 times a week is good, why not 7 days a week twice a day?!  I will tell you why, because your body needs rest.  When you lift weights you are actually in a sense damaging your muscles fibers in order for them to grow but the secret is they grow while they repair themselves AT REST!  A good rule of thumb to use while training is to give each body part 24-48 hours to rest before lifting that body part again.

For example if you do back and biceps on Monday then you would not turn around and train them again on Tuesday.  You would give them at least that day to rest and then train them again in the second half of the week, Thursday or Friday.  Depending on your goals and the system you are using you may not train them again until next Monday and that is just fine too.  If you want to make gains physically you must allow your body time to repair itself no matter what type of exercise routine you are using.  More often than not people think that doing something twice as much must be better but it is not.  Over training is one of the most common causes of injuries not just to regular people but to athletes as well.

Just because you did not get enough sleep last night and you wake up tired does not mean that you can use over training as an excuse to skip today's workout.  But if you are consistently sleeping enough, eating enough, drinking enough water and in general taking proper care of yourself but just seem to be dragging for no reason you could be over training.  If you normally have no problem going to the gym and for some reason just can't make yourself walk in that door today, you may be over training.  If you are having a hard time recovering from your workouts or notice the recovery time seems to be much longer than normal, you may be over training.

 Be honest with yourself and pay attention to how you feel mentally and physically.  Don't be afraid to take a few days off now and then, not only will it rest and invigorate you, you will be able to go that much harder and lift that much more when your body is refreshed. Do something nice for yourself like get a massage or go for an easy walk outside.  Be careful not to let a few days off turn into a week and then two and so on and get into a rut.

The next time you cannot seem to get up and get to it at the gym take a moment to think about why.  Is it lack of sleep?  Did you not eat enough today or was your last meal hours ago and you need to replenish?  If so get something to eat and go at it!  If not and you cannot remember the last time you missed a workout or took a true day of rest, go home and do something nice for yourself.  The gym will still be there for you tomorrow.

Its your fault, not McDonald's

We have all been in a situation where we are offered an extra helping, a dessert, a drink another piece of cheesecake whatever the case may be.  It was offered, this does not mean that you have to take it.  Playing the innocent victim is life is always the easier route.  McDonald's made you gain 50 pounds, each day when you walk by Ronald himself jumps out of the bushes, gun in hand and escorts you into the restaurant where he not only forces you to get a Big Mac but super size as well!  Let's not even talk about what happens when you try to order the grilled chicken sandwich instead!

Let's face it, we are each in control of our own lives, destinies and choices.  If you are offered and extra serving of dinner or dessert it is your decision and yours alone if you choose to accept.  The person offering it is probably just being polite or possibly secretly trying to sabotage you to make them feel better about themselves.  The next time you make a bad decision, not just in your diet but life in general take a moment to think about why you made that decision, the consequences, accept responsibility and move on.

Never for one second place the blame on some one else, especially restaurant, fast food establishments and friends when you know you need to be prepared to make good choices.  Never leave the house without your next meal or snack in your pocket even if you think you won't need it.  Don''t be the victim, take charge and make change for yourself.  It was you that made the choices to gain this extra weight you are trying to lose and it is you that can make the choices to make it go away.

CHEESECAKE!

Who doesn't love cheesecake?  The following is a recipe for a crust less, low fat, low carb cheese cake that a friend of mine, Sharra Coley created. As always you can add things to make it your own.  This is just for a basic, plain cheesecake with a hint of lemon.

You will need:

1- Cup of Splenda or sweetener of your choice
1- 8oz package of FAT FREE cream cheese
1- egg (not pictured)
2 -egg whites (not pictured)
1- tsp vanilla extract
Lemon to taste

Preparation for this is very simple and straight forward.  Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl, I recommend softening (not melting) the cream cheese first.  Mix until smooth, I used a mixer you could do this by hand but it may be more difficult to achieve a smooth consistency.  Pour mixture into pan, I used a greased pie pan, a cheesecake pan is really not necessary unless you are going to double or triple the recipe.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min, remove from oven and allow to cool.  Slice cake into 8 triangle pieces for desired nutritional information provided below and ENJOY!

 NUTRITIONAL INFO:(per slice)

Carbs: 8 grams
Fat:         1 gram
Protein:   5 grams