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Greek Yogurt with Coconut Milk and Berries

By Angela on January 7, 2014

Sometimes Greek Yogurt feels a little dry and heavy to me, especially the 0% fat versions. But I love that it’s nearly lactose free and that it’s so high in protein. Stirring in a small amount of full fat coconut milk, makes this mixture light and fluffy–almost like mousse, and gives it more hunger relieving power. Sweeten to taste as you wish (I like Truvia) and use seasonal berries. There was a great sale here on fresh blackberries, but usually in the winter I thaw out some wild blueberries from Costco.

Greek Yogurt with Coconut Milk and Berries

257 calories; 16 net carbs; 10g fat; 20g protein; 8g fiber

Ingredients

3/4 cup (6 oz) Greek Yogurt 98 calories
1/3 cup full fat coconut milk 90 calories
1-2 packets Truvia
3 oz Blackberries 69 calories

Instructions

Stir together yogurt, coconut milk and truvia until smooth. Top with blackberries.

http://www.centsablyfit.com/greek-yogurt-with-coconut-milk-and-berries/

Protein Mocha Latte

By Angela on January 7, 2014

This is a delicious super fast breakfast that is big on protein and low on calories. Knowing I can have one of these in the morning, makes it easier to get up when the alarm goes off!

I’m not an advocate of drinking coffee and if you want to make this without it, it will be a delicious giant hot cocoa (still yummy.) My doctor asked me to try a bit of coffee in the mornings because I have such low blood pressure. If I just use a tiny bit, it does seem to help.

Protein Mocha Latte

174 calories; 2 net carbs; 8g fat; 21 g protein; 7g fiber

Ingredients

2 cups almond milk (unsweetened vanilla) 60 calories
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (designer whey) 100 calories
1 Tbs Dutch cocoa powder 12 calories
1 tsp instant coffee 2 calories
2 packets truvia (or sweeten to taste as needed)

Instructions

Warm milk. Transfer to a blender and blend in remaining ingredients. Pour into a mug that makes you happy.

http://www.centsablyfit.com/protein-mocha-latte/

Day 23 Single Serving Protein Pancakes, plus Drywall and Running

By Angela on September 17, 2013

I woke up at 6 am for the second day in a row! The plan was to go running this morning, but I’m not usually up this early and who knew it’s still dark at 6am? Like midnight dark. Plus it was raining. I’m totally a fair weather runner. So I read my scriptures instead, which was another kind of awesome.

The drywall man came today! I watched him for awhile and happy tears came to my eyes. It’s finally happening! There’s hope to have a real kitchen before Thanksgiving. I may be able to paint Monday…

After dinner I looked outside and the rain had stopped and the sun was out, so I went running :). Felt good to make strides towards being ready for the 5k in a few weeks.

I took no pictures of food today, but here’s my journal. And I figured out a single serving protein pancake recipe–so you don’t have to guess if you get one serving or not.

Single Serving Protein Pancakes

Ingredients

1 egg
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1-2 Tbs almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 packet truvia
1 pinch baking powder

Instructions

Blend everything until smooth and cook on a griddle. Makes about 4 pancakes.

http://www.centsablyfit.com/day-23-single-serving-protein-pancakes-plus-drywall-and-running/

FTC 2013 Day 10–Chicken with Apple and Pepitas salad

By Angela on September 4, 2013

Breakfast: 1 cup protein cereal, 2 Tbs raisins and 1/2 cup almond milk

Snack: 6 oz plain Greek yogurt with stevia and 1 cup fresh strawberries

Lunch: Tomato basil low carb wrap with deli turkey, light mayo and lettuce. 1 grapefruit (which was delicious!)

Dinner: Mixed lettuce with canned chicken breast, 1/2 chopped apple, 1 Tbs pepitas and 2 Tbs light French dressing. (Not pictured…biscuits and gravy–whaaaat?????)

I finally saw the doctor today. My samples tested free of bacteria, but I had a low grade fever and very low blood pressure. They are leery of throwing more antibiotics at it so we are going to watch and see. In the meantime, he suggested I go back to the chiropractor. That surprised me, but I’m glad to go.

So for now, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (with my darling new water cup.) I’ll keep taking the herbal that did the most help for me and sipping kombucha tea to rebuild natural cultures. And I think I will slowly do some exercise, walking and a plank or something and see how it goes. That’s tomorrow and I’m excited about the thought. I feel like I’ve missed the first two weeks of this challenge and am ready to go for it.

My food choices today were really good until dinner. The calories in my original supper was on the low end and I was still hungry without a good idea of what to eat. So I ate a portion of the biscuit and gravy dinner I made for the family. I’m worried about the carbs but I’m still under 1600 calories for the day. And I’m plenty hungry tonight–so hoping for progress anyway.

I tried on skinny pants again at the store today–they finally looked passable, so I ordered a discounted pair of the same thing off ebay. I ordered a size smaller, since I’m confident that I’ll need them by the end of the challenge. I’m hoping they will be ok for teaching in.

FTC 2013 Day 4 All-Fruit Strawberry Gelatin

By Angela on August 30, 2013

Breakfast: Protein pancakes sprinkled with frozen wild blueberries during cooking.

Then topped with Greek yogurt with wild blueberries stirred in. It was super yummy. And I felt a little bit like super mom. (I had mixed up 20 cups of pancake batter earlier in the week and 9 cups of protein batter then kept it all in the fridge waiting for a morning like this.) So the kids got blueberry pancakes too.

Strawberry Gelatin–A yummy experiment:

Our freezer got propped open with a stray piece of drywall and a huge Costco bag of strawberries (half full) thawed. I threw them into the blender and made 5 cups of puree and added some stevia extract to sweeten it up a bit. Then I boiled 1 cup of water and dissolved 6 Tbs of bulk plain gelatin in it. Then threw it all into the blender and gave it one last buzz. After a few hours it was nice and firm and ready for lunch.

The lunch sandwich was super yummy. It was smoked deli turkey topped with sliced cucumbers and light mayo on a 100% whole wheat sandwich thin. I feel a bit guilty about the sandwich thin, but I seem to have more energy when I use some whole grains.

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Today was more of a struggle for me. I worked out with friends for the first time since summer and there was so much to catch up about. It was my IT day, so I didn’t take weights and thought I would just do the exercises in a on then off fashion. Well, whew. I ended up just marching in place and flapping my lips. I couldn’t do much of anything and think a good amount of rest might be required to get over this infection once and for all.

Tomorrow morning, I have an appointment with a massage therapist and then chiropractor to follow and then the day after Labor Day a doctor to fix this infection thing–I hope. I’ve already visited 2 nurse practitioners, but the antibiotics aren’t working. I wonder if they could just do an antibiotic IV in the office?

Tonight was open house at school and the last day our Chipotle BOGO coupon was good-so Darren grabbed that for me and was generally a hero tonight–doing family worship, scripture memory and putting all the kids to bed. Also, we finally got a drywall guy to come look at our project. He’s going to call us tomorrow with his bid….we’re on pins and needles.

FTC 2013 Day 3 Cucumber deli snacks

By Angela on August 29, 2013

I didn’t take a lot of food pictures today, but you can see what I ate below in my journal. And that I ate way too many sweet potato chips. My body is asking for more salt–I need a more calorie friendly way to comply, lol

But I did snap a photo of this yummy snack. It’s just fresh cucumber spread with Aldi’s version of light Laughing Cow cheese wedges, sprinkled with lemon pepper and topped with deli ham. Delicious!

Day 3 workout was August workout of the month b. I’m still super sore from 2 days ago and really regret not making the recovery shake a priority on Monday. I rarely have pain when I use the shakes, but I really thought I was taking the first workout back easy and didn’t work hard enough to earn a shake. Bwa ha ha. Holly’s workouts may be short, but they are mighty!

I’m still not feeling well and had to take a nap after lunch. It worked out ok since Grant napped at the same time. I just set my alarm so I would make it to school to teach my one class on time. The rest is good, but it also feels like I’m not getting all my chores done. I go to another doctor Tuesday after labor day and hope he’ll know how to kick this infection for good.

FTC 2013 Day 1: Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

By Angela on August 26, 2013

Breakfast: 2 eggs with peppers and onions

Snack: Chocolate strawberry pudding shake (made with glucomannan)

Lunch: Southwest stuffed sweet potato half (Taco meat; black beans; peppers and onions, stirred with the pulp from half a baked sweet potato and topped with Jack’s fresh salsa. It was really good. I stirred a bunch of cheese into Darren’s portion which made it even better.)

Snack (not pictured): 1 apple and 2 Tbs peanut butter

Dinner: Ranch Chicken Salad with Pepitas (Chicken was slow cooked all day with basil, garlic, onion, and lemon extract)

More from dinner: Organic Terra Sweet and Beet Chips (I’m low on calories today and thought these would be a nice treat–they were :).)

Workout today was FYM workout of the month August A. This was my first time on this workout (I spent August workout out with construction work and lap swimming instead.) At first I thought this was a doable workout, then I realized Holly was going for 4 rounds instead of 3. Whew! That made it a challenge.

This was my second day to teach school and I’m not in a rhythm yet, but having a great time. I woke up today with a recurrence of my UTI from July which the nurse practitioner thought had never completely gone away. It’s a bit of a relief since I haven’t felt great the last 2 months and now have hope that I can get better. The nurse also gave me a lecture on drinking enough water. The tests showed I was pretty dehydrated which is also linked to my low blood pressure.

Day 23 & 24–PI Grilled Pizza and Pigs in Ponchos

By Angela on July 10, 2013

BEST Story Ever. I have to put this first, because I’m going to bore you with the rest and you might stop reading before the good stuff. (If there is anyone reading…knock, knock…anyone out there?) Anyhoo, I was out shopping at Wal-mart today and lost my car. Long story. So I’m wandering around in the parking lot trying not to look stupid, but feeling really stupid at the same time. Also, trying to look confident and move quickly so I don’t look like an easy target to some criminal mind. I was wearing my exercise clothes because I meant to work out earlier in the day, but didn’t. No makeup–hair in a pony. A car pulled up beside me with two men inside. It scared me and I took off walking the opposite direction as fast as I could without running. The passenger rolled down the window and tried to talk to me, but I kept going…faster. Then he got OUT and start to shout to me. “Ma’am…” I turned on my heels to look at him. He was a marine in full dress blues. The back of his car had an official government plate. I relaxed a little. “How old are you?” He wanted to know. I was shocked…kind of a rude question for a lady my age and we’ve never even met.

“36,” I said. His jaw dropped to the pavement.

When he recovered he asked, “Do you know anyone ELSE we could recruit for the Marines?” Marines? He was going to invite me to be a marine…but I was already near retirement age for the military, bwa ha ha. It made me feel good and when I told my dad he gave me a high 5.

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Yesterday I had my second ballet class. I’m the one on the right. It was tough and I have a lot of practice to do–especially to learn to spot a turn and not get dizzy, lol. I’m growing more flexible which is super exciting to me. I’ve been stretching out every day and started to wonder if I was just maintaining a balance of flexibility. The strength training makes me less flexible and I thought the stretching was only working to keep me as flexible as I was–but, no! I’m actually getting better. That is encouraging me to keep it up. It’s little things like being able to touch my toes without bending my knees that get me excited, lol.

Today is a bit of a blur. I worked out at 3pm and did strength A from the July WOM. My shoulders are the weakest part of my body and I really feel them in planks, push-ups, reverse planks etc and this workout has them all. Hopefully by the end of the month it will be a piece of cake —I can wish and keep working at it.

Two of our air conditioners broke this week. My attic was over 100 degrees (where my kitchen is) and the second floor with the bedrooms were close to 90. Thankfully we have a basement that keeps cool, but cooking didn’t sound good at all. So for dinner last night I bought deli pizzas from Aldi and grilled them. I ate 1/16th of a sausage pizza and then some pieces of sausage that Grant picked off his piece.

(I forgot to eat the cantaloupe, but someone in the family got it :).)

Cold foods sound best, so I ate a few meals of cold cereal (but chose a protein rich variety.) And shakes and puddings. Lunch was a pig (turkey pig) in a poncho (low carb tortilla) and dinner was leftover grass fed sloppy joe meat on a tortilla with the rest of the broccoli salad from the weekend.

Day 24–Assessment

By Angela on July 10, 2013

I’ve run out of time waiting for my body to adjust from my cycle and the 4th of July. It’s time to weigh and measure and accept things the way they are for a new starting point.

Total loss in the last 3 weeks: 2.9 lbs and 2.75 inches. Not to shabby, but not as good as it was the day before the 4th of July :). It’s easy on, hard off for me. When I was younger I could have a few big eating days and then the weight would fall off as soon as I went back to good habits. Not so now. It takes the full pound per week–good lesson to remember.

STC 2013 Midway Results front

The pictures aren’t the best with the striped swimsuit and the morning shadows, but I can tell in the first photo that my belly is sticking out in a pooch above the waistband and not in the second. Yay for little victories!

What I’ve done right this challenge so far: Doing all my strength workouts and all but one of my ITs. Logging my food daily and measuring everything. (I missed a few days of holiday eating where it was hard for me to figure out what I was eating to write it down.) Photographing my food with my phone to help me remember what it was to write down later. Writing here or in my FYM journal every day.

What needs improvement: Challenging myself more for ITs. Room for improvement for cleaner eating.

Breakthroughs: I am emotional and stress can stop my ability to control my eating. I need to guard my stress and how busy I make my schedule for my health and my family’s well being (since how I feel affects them even more than it does me.) I need to stay hydrated and add electrolytes when I’ve been super sweaty. No more blacking out means I am more motivated to work out again the next time. Also, I love how a recovery shake keeps me from getting sore after a big strength work out and helps me recover faster so I can function the rest of the day.

Days 17 – 21– Peanut Butter Cheesecake

By Angela on July 8, 2013

Whew, the last 4 days were nutty and so much fun!

Day 17: Wednesday night we went up to Maysville where we used to live for their congregational Independence Day. It started off with a potluck (basket) dinner, then a 3 hour worship service. (I’m stumped why it needed to be 3 hours and why it ended an hour after dark, but it is that way every year.) Then homemade icecream and fireworks. We had a health emergency with a couple of the kids and had to leave before fireworks. We would have left during the service, but I was supposed to sing the last number. It felt like the service would never end so we could get home and deal with the problem at hand. The kids grabbed bowls of icecream to eat in the car on the way home.

This was the easiest day to make good choices. I had a hamburger patty topped with ketchup and mustard; broccoli salad; fresh fruit; and some faux potato salad made with cauliflower (thanks Rebecca!) And a deviled egg. I went back for seconds on the broccoli salad–that’s my favorite thing! Then on our way home, Darren ran back in and grabbed me a small bowl of dairy-free chocolate coconut ice-cream that Rebecca had also made. It was such a treat to enjoy ice-cream again. I usually don’t like coconut, but this was really good, creamy and smooth with no ice crystals. I need that recipe!

We got home a little after 11:00 pm and after dealing with the health issue, it was 3 am before all were in bed. We had planned to get up early on the 4th and go out for a water ski show (and possibly a 5K race), but all those plans flew out the window with the late night.

The only life jacket to fit Grant was Barbie–but he didn’t care. That’s a man secure in his manhood :).

Day 18: We arrived just in time to see two water skiers flip over each other on boogie boards; and a 9 person pyramid (all with tow ropes) ski around the lake. That was pretty awesome. And the turtle race–fun stuff :).

My niece and her 2nd place turtle.

The day was amazing with good friends; boating; water skiing; fishing; and relaxing. The food was more challenging. We had pulled pork, brown sugar baked beans; potato chips; potato salad; macaroni salad; ravioli salad slathered in olive oil and cheese; slaw, and several types of cookies and brownies. It was all delicious but the only partially supportive choice was the smoked meat.

For evening meal; it was more of the same with hot dogs and s’mores to boot. I wish I had brought some meals to eat with everyone, but with the crazy night and packing 6 kids for the lake–it was just too much to think about. There’s almost always good choices available amongst the bad, but not this time. We ended the day with watching a fireworks show on the lake and you could see the sky lights reflected in the water–beautiful!

Day 19: Friday, I tried to get up and run intervals outside, but it was hot and my body was stressed with the things I had eaten. I ended up walking for 2 miles and coming home. Emotionally I was about to hit the wall. I ate clean all day then had date night at a friend’s house. She served grilled tilapia; brown rice salad; Cuban beans; rosemary artisan bread; slaw; and for dessert flourless chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Delicious! But not Back on Track.

After dinner we toured their farm and then learned to make kombucha tea hands on. She sent me home with my own scoby and I’m super excited to make my own batches of tea. It has a small amount of caffeine in it (from green tea) and tons of B vitamins and probiotics in it. I do really well with a half can of RedBull in the afternoons (though don’t drink it during FYM challenges) and am hoping this will be a healthier alternative for the afternoon slumps.

Day 20: Saturday: I got up at 7 this day and did my FYM strength workout and stretching routine right away. Then I prepare food for the day and headed up North to the family farm for our 4th Independence Day celebration.

Two of my sisters in law are also FYMs! So we got together and planned the food. We had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs (which I ate without the bun) a veggie platter; broccoli salad made with Greek yogurt and stevia dressing; fresh watermelon; pineapple and cantaloupe; then chips and cookies for the kids. I made a Peanut butter cheesecake with stevia. It was ok, but would have been better with a different stevia. Here’s the improved recipe:

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Yield: 9x13

Serving Size: 1/16 of the pan

Calories per serving: 163

Fat per serving: 13g

Ingredients

4 bricks (8 oz) neufchâtel cheese
2 cups water
1/4 tsp nunaturals pure stevia extract (this is the least bitter stevia I've found.)
2 Tbs plain gelatin powder (I buy mine in bulk or you can use 2 packets of Knox)
2/3 cup peanut flour

Instructions

In a mixer with a cookie paddle, beat neufchatel cheese and stevia until light and fluffy.
Meanwhile place 1/2 cup of water in a deep microwaveable dish and sprinkle gelatin on the top. Microwave on high for 1 minutes or until gelatin is dissolved (It will want to boil over so get a really dip bowl.)
Beat gelatin mixture, water and peanut flour into the cream cheese. (I took plastic wrap and wrapped my kitchen aid bowl to the top of the mixer to keep anything from splashing out. A splash guard will work too.)
Pour into a glass 9x13 dish and chill for several hours until firm.

Notes

Protein 8g; Carbs 5g

I made a crust for mine with flax meal; almond flour; stevia and coconut oil but think it would have been better without. Alternatively you could lay a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of the dish before pouring the cheesecake on top. But really, it's fine without crust.

You can halve the recipe and pour into a pie pan. Or substitute 2 cups of cottage cheese pureed for 2 bricks of cream cheese. This saves money and calories and boosts the protein. But the flavor isn't quite as good.

http://www.centsablyfit.com/days-17-21-peanut-butter-cheesecake/

For the evening meal we brought it all back out and had cold cut sandwiches instead of grilled meat. I had two slices of turkey inside a pita bread and also had some potato chips–too tempting for me after a hot day.

I was VERY grumpy on Saturday, complaining at and about my husband who is the dearest sweetest one I could have. Found out it was major PMS plus just TOO Much. Too many gatherings, too many late nights; too much running around; too much rich food. I ended up napping on the couch for several hours and then never felt quite with it the rest of the day.

Day 21: Sunday: I decided to weigh and find out the damage from the last 4 days. I never missed a workout and made the best food choices I could under the circumstances but still found myself 3 lbs up. I expected it but it was still discouraging. I’m going to give it another day to let the water retention work through and the hormones to stabilize and then do my halfway assessment and essay. My husband preached in the morning for sacrament service, which is one of the more stressful (important) services to do. I took the children to church early and left him home alone for some quiet moments. After church I made taco salad for lunch and then took a nap–sleeping through my manditory camp meeting :(. I’m going to be a counselor at Girl’s camp in two weeks–oh dear. I’m glad the director is my good friend and very forgiving.

We went to Summer Series in the evening where they have a cookie reception afterwards. I packed my own protein cookie to eat so I didn’t feel left out. But was pleasantly surprised to find a table full of fresh fruit and veggies beside the cookies. I had a little produce with my protein :).