So I ate lots of green veggies this week and I lost 2 lbs! So now I am 259 lbs.! Not a whole lot to report this week besides the fact that I ate vegetables in handfuls! For anyone who is making the recipes I post, here is one that you HAVE TO TRY!!!!! It is delicious, and it makes you see just how much chicken is in one breast. After pounding out one breast of chicken it looked like a bear claw. I thought, you know I could eat half of that and totally be satisfied. Also, I started tracking my points on weight watchers.com. Anyone that is trying to lose weight and not writing down the food you eat in a day, needs to start. After looking at everything that I have been eating day in and day out I see where my problem areas are and what time of day I get cravings. Try this recipe:
Pecan-Crusted Chicken
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1-1 ¼ pounds), trimmed (see Tip) ½ cup pecan halves or pieces¼ cup plain dry breadcrumbs1 ½ teaspoons freshly grated orange zest½ teaspoon salt¼ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (see Note)1 large egg white2 tablespoons water1 tablespoon canola oil, divided
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Ingredients Cont.
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Instructions
1. Working with one piece of chicken at a time, place between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even 1/4-inch thickness.2. Place pecans, breadcrumbs, orange zest, salt and ground chipotle in a food processor and pulse until the pecans are finely ground. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish. Whisk egg white and water in a shallow dish until combined. Dip each chicken breast in the egg-white mixture, then dredge both sides in the pecan mixture.3. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add half the chicken and cook until browned on the outside and no longer pink in the middle, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm. Carefully wipe out the pan with a paper towel and add the remaining oil. Cook the remaining chicken, adjusting the heat as needed to prevent scorching. Serve immediately.
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Instructions Cont.
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tips
Tip: It can be hard to find individual chicken breasts small enough for our recommended 4-ounce (uncooked) portion size. If yours are closer to 5 ounces each, remove the tender (about 1 ounce) from the underside to get the correct portion size. Wrap and freeze the leftover tenders; when you have gathered enough, use them in a stir-fry, for chicken fingers or in soups.Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers. Ground chipotle can be found in the specialty spice section of most supermarkets.
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tips Cont.
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Nutrition Information
Per serving: 281 calories; 15 g fat (2 g sat, 8 g mono); 66 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrate; 29 g protein; 2 g fiber; 430 mg sodium; 376 mg potassium.Nutrition bonus: Selenium (34% daily value), good source of omega-3s.1/2 Carbohydrate ServingExchanges: 1/2 starch, 4 lean meat, 1/2 fat
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Nutrition Information Cont.
Enjoy!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Heavy Lifting
I am conflicted on the way I feel about strength training and weight lifting. On the one hand, I know that when you work your muscles you burn more fat and strengthen your bones. On the other hand, you gain a little weight for the first week and then you have to keep on trudging through that frustration to get to the desired effect. This week I started weight training and that meant a few things for me. The first, is that I had to shorten my cardio which means I had to make it extra hard. Instead of and hour, I worked as hard as I could for 45 minutes. I Sweated like a pig, but it felt awesome! Next I did crunches, back lifts, side lifts, and leg machines. I went to work feeling good and strong, sat all day long and then woke up the next morning........... not being able to move! I guess this is expected the first time you do weights when you haven't done them in a long time. So I do feel a sense of accomplishment even though my weight stayed exactly the same, 261 lbs. I am going to blame it on my muscles growing so big and strong.
The goal for this week is to eat more vegetables. I get all my servings of fruit in every day but I know I am lacking in veggies. This is an experiment to see how they effect my diet. For those of you who don't get enough in your diet here is a great way to get spinach in. I know there are a lot of you that drink attain shakes, and I am on the attain train as well. When you go to make your shake put a handful of spinach with your shake in the blender. I am serious when I say you CANNOT taste the spinach, it does make your shake green, but I repeat you CANNOT taste the spinach! It gives you a lot of extra fiber, vitamins, and nutrients.
And now for the recipe for the week:
White Bean Chicken Chili
1lb. Chicken Breasts
3 cans White Beans
1 can diced Green Chili's
1 cut yellow onion
cumin, salt, and pepper to taste
2 cans chicken broth
What I do is a take frozen chicken and cut onions and cook it in the crock pot for about 5 hours. Then I shred the chicken and add the remainder ingredients and cook for another hour. Sorry I don't have more precise measurements for the spices, but when it comes to cooking I cook like my mom. I keep adding until it tastes good. You can add as little or as much as you desire of the broth, it just depends on how thick or soupy you want it. This is low fat, if you want a little more fat you can add light sour cream and mozzarella cheese, but I promise it tastes very yummy without it.
I hope everyone had a fun valentines and a little shout out, Dustin I love you, you are the peanut butter to my jelly!
The goal for this week is to eat more vegetables. I get all my servings of fruit in every day but I know I am lacking in veggies. This is an experiment to see how they effect my diet. For those of you who don't get enough in your diet here is a great way to get spinach in. I know there are a lot of you that drink attain shakes, and I am on the attain train as well. When you go to make your shake put a handful of spinach with your shake in the blender. I am serious when I say you CANNOT taste the spinach, it does make your shake green, but I repeat you CANNOT taste the spinach! It gives you a lot of extra fiber, vitamins, and nutrients.
And now for the recipe for the week:
White Bean Chicken Chili
1lb. Chicken Breasts
3 cans White Beans
1 can diced Green Chili's
1 cut yellow onion
cumin, salt, and pepper to taste
2 cans chicken broth
What I do is a take frozen chicken and cut onions and cook it in the crock pot for about 5 hours. Then I shred the chicken and add the remainder ingredients and cook for another hour. Sorry I don't have more precise measurements for the spices, but when it comes to cooking I cook like my mom. I keep adding until it tastes good. You can add as little or as much as you desire of the broth, it just depends on how thick or soupy you want it. This is low fat, if you want a little more fat you can add light sour cream and mozzarella cheese, but I promise it tastes very yummy without it.
I hope everyone had a fun valentines and a little shout out, Dustin I love you, you are the peanut butter to my jelly!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Fun With Food Storage
So I had a productive Saturday. My wonderful friend Teralyn asked me over to make homemade granola (which I have never made). It was fun and tasty. Check out this sealing contraption that Teralyn borrowed from her ward. This thing was serious, keep you hands and arms inside the ride at all times. You can't see it but there is a pedal on the floor that when you press it with your foot the sealer slams down on bag and heats it to seal it shut. It was a pretty scary machine, but me and Teralyn had fun doing food storage and now I have granola and potato flakes for a few years. This year I also vow to learn how to can peaches and such. More pictures to come! 
Cherry Chocolates and Laffy Taffies!
So does the title get your attention. I know your probably thinking I fell off the wagon, but I didn't! 1 lb gone, I am now 261lbs. I am happy this is coming off slowly, and its because I know I am not depriving myself of the things I enjoy. This has made it so much easier to stick to it. The word is MODERATION, say it with me M-O-D-E-R-A-T-I-O-N. This week I ate a few cherry chocolates and laffy taffies.
Every other Wednesday this woman we call the mountain chick comes into our office. She drives around a truck with a camper full of candy and treats. She is such a nice lady that we all have a hard time saying no. So what I did is I got some sugar treats that I have medium feelings for. I like them but I could also do without them. I know, your thinking if you could do without them, then why not do without them. This is an unrealistic goal for me every now and again I have to have something sugary and if I have candy around that I have mediocre feelings for then I am less likely to eat the whole bag. That way I can have a portion size feed that craving and move on. So I got cherry chocolates and laffy taffies. Then I put them in the break room (not at my desk) so that A. I wouldn't keep putting my hands in the "candy drawer" and lose track of how many I was eating and B. I would have to walk back and forth between the break room and my desk anytime I wanted some. Baby steps people. Maybe one day I will be able to give up candy all together. What a great dream!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the great comments last week. Once again I have the most wonderful support system and I get warm fuzzies every time I read your comments. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
Great recipe that I tried this week is Kung-poa Chicken. If you like spicy food, and I do mean SPICY then try out this recipe:
Kung Pao Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut up
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp. oil
3 T chopped green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to 1 ½ tsp. crushed red pepper
¼ to ½ tsp. ginger
2 T wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/3 c unsalted, dry roasted peanuts
4 c hot cooked rice
Combine chicken and cornstarch in a small bowl. Toss to coat. Heat oil in skillet or wok on medium-high heat. Add chicken. Stir fry 5-7 minutes until no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet. Add onions, garlic, red pepper and ginger to skillet. Stir fry 15 seconds. Remove from heat. Combine vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in small bowl. Stir well. Add to skillet. Return chicken to skillet. Stir until well coated. Stir in nuts. Heat thoroughly, stirring. Serve over hot rice. Makes 4 servings.
Serve over brown rice for some fiber. It is colorful and delicious! If you have any easy recipe's that are healthy please feel free to email them or post them in the comments.
Every other Wednesday this woman we call the mountain chick comes into our office. She drives around a truck with a camper full of candy and treats. She is such a nice lady that we all have a hard time saying no. So what I did is I got some sugar treats that I have medium feelings for. I like them but I could also do without them. I know, your thinking if you could do without them, then why not do without them. This is an unrealistic goal for me every now and again I have to have something sugary and if I have candy around that I have mediocre feelings for then I am less likely to eat the whole bag. That way I can have a portion size feed that craving and move on. So I got cherry chocolates and laffy taffies. Then I put them in the break room (not at my desk) so that A. I wouldn't keep putting my hands in the "candy drawer" and lose track of how many I was eating and B. I would have to walk back and forth between the break room and my desk anytime I wanted some. Baby steps people. Maybe one day I will be able to give up candy all together. What a great dream!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the great comments last week. Once again I have the most wonderful support system and I get warm fuzzies every time I read your comments. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
Great recipe that I tried this week is Kung-poa Chicken. If you like spicy food, and I do mean SPICY then try out this recipe:
Kung Pao Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut up
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp. oil
3 T chopped green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to 1 ½ tsp. crushed red pepper
¼ to ½ tsp. ginger
2 T wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/3 c unsalted, dry roasted peanuts
4 c hot cooked rice
Combine chicken and cornstarch in a small bowl. Toss to coat. Heat oil in skillet or wok on medium-high heat. Add chicken. Stir fry 5-7 minutes until no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet. Add onions, garlic, red pepper and ginger to skillet. Stir fry 15 seconds. Remove from heat. Combine vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in small bowl. Stir well. Add to skillet. Return chicken to skillet. Stir until well coated. Stir in nuts. Heat thoroughly, stirring. Serve over hot rice. Makes 4 servings.
Serve over brown rice for some fiber. It is colorful and delicious! If you have any easy recipe's that are healthy please feel free to email them or post them in the comments.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
One Month Down!
Yes!!!! It has been 1 month since I started my venture. Do I feel better? Yes. Has this been a rough month? Yes. Do I hate asking my own questions and feeling like I'm talking to myself? Definitely. This week my body decide to throw me off a little and lose 2 lbs. I am now 262. The gym is a wonderful thing, it you don't work out I highly suggest it. There is nothing like the end of a workout, I wish I could keep that feeling all day long. It is great when the people at the front desk know who you are and you start to feel the bond with the people who are with you at 5:00 am come rain or shine. A surprising twist: Dustin accompanied me two times to the gym, and not begrudgingly!
So I 'm sure everyone has those goals that start to fizzle and then something happens that makes you go, "oh yea, that's why I'm doing this". I had one of those weeks.
Dustin and I recently applied for Life Insurance. After asking all the really embarrassing questions, height, weight and what not, there is the time where it is a waiting game. This week I got the test results back and they were less than desirable. Now, I'm no dummy, I knew that my results would not be wonderful. I know my ideal body weight for my height, I knew this was not going to be good. Table 4. I know this doesn't make sense to everyone, but a table 4 is not good! I mine as well be a 60 year old smoker. I called our Life center because I am new to life insurance and I wanted to make sure I knew exactly why I was a table 4 so that if I was ever in a situation with a client I knew what was going on. Poor Elizabeth. You could tell she knew exactly why i had been classified a table 4 and that she was trying to break the news to me as lightly as she could. Finally I said "Look, Elizabeth, I know I am not the ideal body type for super preferred, or even preferred for that matter, I only want to now the exact process so that it can help me with my job". She eased after I told her this and it made the rest of the conversation much easier.
Just another reminder why I am doing this, a long and healthy life.
Now, to all that are reading my blog, here is a little chewing out! Please LEAVE A COMMENT! You have no idea how much I look forward to them. These do help fuel me daily, and I promise I read them more than once. And of course, thank you to all who leave comments they have been so helpful! Here's to another great week!
So I 'm sure everyone has those goals that start to fizzle and then something happens that makes you go, "oh yea, that's why I'm doing this". I had one of those weeks.
Dustin and I recently applied for Life Insurance. After asking all the really embarrassing questions, height, weight and what not, there is the time where it is a waiting game. This week I got the test results back and they were less than desirable. Now, I'm no dummy, I knew that my results would not be wonderful. I know my ideal body weight for my height, I knew this was not going to be good. Table 4. I know this doesn't make sense to everyone, but a table 4 is not good! I mine as well be a 60 year old smoker. I called our Life center because I am new to life insurance and I wanted to make sure I knew exactly why I was a table 4 so that if I was ever in a situation with a client I knew what was going on. Poor Elizabeth. You could tell she knew exactly why i had been classified a table 4 and that she was trying to break the news to me as lightly as she could. Finally I said "Look, Elizabeth, I know I am not the ideal body type for super preferred, or even preferred for that matter, I only want to now the exact process so that it can help me with my job". She eased after I told her this and it made the rest of the conversation much easier.
Just another reminder why I am doing this, a long and healthy life.
Now, to all that are reading my blog, here is a little chewing out! Please LEAVE A COMMENT! You have no idea how much I look forward to them. These do help fuel me daily, and I promise I read them more than once. And of course, thank you to all who leave comments they have been so helpful! Here's to another great week!
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