Simple Fitness for Busy Moms: May 2014

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Let's talk water!!!

This is soooooo important I can't believe I haven't addressed it yet. You need to drink water!!! If you are inactive drink 1/2 gallon or more. If you are active get in a gallon! It's summer time now too, so make sure you're staying hydrated! Add lemon drops it helps cleanse body & makes it taste better! Water serves more functions than just hydration:

Cleansing
Digestion aide
Helps alleviate joint pain

And so many more I can't think of right now!

I have seen ppl get a gallon jug they have to finish each day, I use a 32 oz jug & I keep track of how many times I fill up & it goes with me everywhere! Drink up!!!

We'll call this week 3

Mon, tues, wed, lunch--the chicken maranaide from my last post. 4oz with 1/2 cup of rice & broccoli.

Dinner--grnd turkey medley.

Thur, Friday--lunch, grn beef bean salad.
Dinner--turkey bacon/avacado wraps

Recipes--just a note, if you are reading this blog from a mobile, click view web version at the bottom in order to see sidebar notes. I detail portion size & when to eat what in more detail.

Ground turkey medley

Brown 1 lb of grnd turkey season with mrs dash original blend
Add a can of corn & a can of grn beans.

I try to never use canned food, and when I do I either use cans that have used sea salt OR the low sodium option. Try to keep sodium intake under 1000 mg a day!!!

Ground beef bean salad.

Soak 1/2 cup of black beans, chickpeas, and kidney beans in water overnight.
Brown extra lean ground beef (Costco!!!)
Add ground beef & beans to crockpot. Cook on low for 7-8 hours
When it's done cooking add 1 can of corn.

Top with lettuce, chopped raw spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, 1 oz of motz cheese. I always add a tiny bit of low fat Catalina dressing.

My kids LOVE this one so I always make extra and freeze to take out on those nights when there's nothing to eat & I don't want to cook.

My kids add Fritos, but resist the urge to add to yours! It's good on its own!!!

Turkey bacon avacado wrap credit--@deliciouslyfitnhealthy on Instagram. She has a blog too which you should visit for clean desserts & yummy dinners. Deliciouslyfitnhealthy.blogspot.com

I used my half n half tortillas I love right now. Fried up some turkey bacon. Made some avacado (avacado smushed?!? Haha!, cilantro, red onion, lemon juice pepper. Fried tortilla until crisp & throw it all on the tortilla I made 2 because the tortillas are small. Yummy.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Few new recipes,,,experiments gone well.

I've tried a few new recipes this week. I picked up a pretty low sodium, low calorie maranaide from Costco and covered 5 pieces of chicken with it in crockpot & served with rice. You can do this with any maranaide. AJ's has some good looking low calorie maranaides.

I also maranaided chicken in a coconut balsamic oil overnight. I simmered the balsamic & tbls of honey in pan then cooked the chicken in it for 25 min or until brown. I served this with sautéed spinach & brn rice.

Last was simple & yummy. I used the 1/2 corn 1/2 wheat tortillas I'm currently addicted to. I put them on the burner added 1 large tbls of refried beans & 1 oz of cheese. I added the salsa crockpot chicken i make (the recipe is on wk 2 I believe) I cooked the tortilla until it was harder like a tostado. I took it off and added red onion, tomatoes, avacado & salsa. So yummy & very filling.

Once you know the basic meal plan, you can start experimenting & creating your old fave recipes in a healthier way! Let me know of any of your experiments gone right!!!

Meal Prep

I want to say, you will not be successful if you do not meal prep. It's too much food, too much cooking, and too many times you will want to talk yourself out of doing it. I personally don't like leftovers. I have to eat it & remind myself food is fuel!! I make all my meals for Monday-Friday on Monday & then I might cook a little over weekends. Now that my metabolism is better I cheat more over the weekends, so I don't like to waste food by meal prepping. I wouldn't recommend cheating for the first two weeks of this diet so your metabolism will stabilize.

Carb Cycling

I hit a plateau about 6 months into my fitness regiment & noticed messing around with my carbs helped get me to my ultimate goal of 18 percent body fat (I stopped looking at the scale, I'm about ten lbs heavier than I was before kids, but in a smaller pants size,,,the scale lies!). I don't recommend necessarily starting with carb cycling, start simple, one step at a time, but I want to explain it, as that is what I do & I will talk about it a lot in my meal plans. Everyone has a different take & There are a million ways to implement it, so I will just tell my version & you can research it If you want further info.

Healthy carbs that you'll want to eat are brn rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and brn rice pasta. For my snacks I have fruit, eat your fruit early in the day because it is a complex carb. I have popcorn with no butter & light light light salt sometimes. If you pick a protein bar or shake, pick one with low carbs. Quest bars are high in carbs, so I eat them in the mornings or closer to my workouts.

So if you notice I eat 1/3 cup of oats in the am, 1/2 cup carbs for meal 4, then 1/4 cup carbs at meal 5. On a low carb day I might lower this or keep it the same. On a high carb day I will eat more carbs. Most of the time I add healthy carbs to snacks, I eat a full 1/2 cup with my meal at night. I still leave out carbs of meal 6.

My carb cycle is simple, when I've had a intense workout, especially when I've worked my legs or back I eat high carbs, most other days I keep them lower.

Hopefully as I blog this will make more sense!

Basic Meal Plan

Meal 1--1 scoop protein shake. (Check your label, muscle milk, for instance is high in calories & carbs, try muscle milk light. My fave is protein 7) an apple or banana, 11 almonds or teaspoon of peanut butter. (I love flavored peanut butters from trader joes & sprouts.)

Meal 2--4 egg whites & 1/3 cup cooked oatmeal add an ounce of cheese to eggs or avacado & tomato. I buy egg whites in a carton. So much easier than cracking eggs.

Meal 3--snack, could be same as meal 1 or try protein bar ( read your labels! I love quest bars)

Meal 4--4oz chicken breast, grnd turkey, or 5-6oz talapia, veggies, 1/2 cup of rice, sweet potatoes, or rice pasta, and a fat, 1/4 avacado, 1 oz of cheese, or a teaspoon of Peanut butter.

Meal 5--same as meal 6, except remove carbs or only have 1/4 cup.

Meal 6--1 scoop protein shake.

*you can rearrange meals & snacks to your own schedule, for instance, I workout at 5 am, so I eat a fruit & pb before I go & have my protein shake right after. That's my meal 1. If you'd rather eat eggs right when you wake up & eat the snack later go for it. Just make sure you get all your meals in!

*this diet is formulated for a woman, men get double the amount of food. So for men, 8 egg whites in stead of 4 & 8oz meat instead of 4 oz, 1 cup brn rice instead of 1/2, and so forth. No fair!