Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Day 3 Group LittleBlueDress Challenge & Rosemary Sundried Tomato Chicken Winter Blend Bake

Day 3 of the Challenge and everyone is going strong. I love how everyone is so excited to work on changing their lifestyles. Here are a few fabulous things from yesterdays message board.

Yummies to make-

-My Mexican chicken creation came out really well. Thin sliced breasts seasoned with cilantro, garlic, adobo seasoning, cayenne, and drizzled with olive oil and baked. Then I added avocado slices, salsa, green chiles, and a little pepper jack and put it on broil. We had it with black beans and spinach seasoned with cumin.

- Italian Parmesan - 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (Tones spicy spaghetti seasoning is the bomb!!) 2-3 tablespoon of Parmesan 1 tsp garlic salt and garlic pepper. Shake up and you have my fav!! Good night ladies!

 Tips, motivation and accomplishments-
 
-I just finished my Barre Fusion class and boy was it a good workout!!! It was a lot of small isolated movements and I was shaking! I would suggest to anyone that has it at their gym Also, super proud today b/c I avoided the looming left-over candy at work AND picked out the M&M's in my trail mix.
 
-When I arrived at my hotel today, I was starving and noticed that italian was my only room service option. I REALLY wanted to order a pizza, but since you ladies are holding me accountable, I spent 15 minutes online and walked to an AMAZING little hole in the wall sandwich shop and grabbed a veggie wrap.
 

-My plan for the day: B: Two eggs S: banana L: lean tortilla soup, no cheese or tortillas S: Apple and low fat yogurt D: prob more soup or roasted butternut squash
Exercise: Two games of Dodgeball
 
 
 
What you will need
rotiseeree chicken
winter blend frozen veggies
1/4 cup chopped onions
skim mozzarella cheese
fat free cottage cheese
Rosemary & sundried tomatoe blend
garlic salt
2 eggs
(a few things arn't picutred in the picture below because I added them as I went)
 
 
Start by defrosting your veggies and draining. Then layer on the bottem of your baking dish
 
 
Then shread off all the white chicken from the rotiseerree chicken and layer over broccoli.
 
 
Chop your onions and add.
 
 
The add your cottage cheese. I used about half of the container.
 
 
Add some garlic salt and
 
 
rosemary & sundried tomato blend,
 
 
and 2 eggs.
 
 
Then mix everything together. You will have to add a some water.
 
 
Let bake for an hour on 375'
Then add mozzarella cheese to the top.
 
 
Let bake for another 10 minutes.
Let cool!
 
 
I then added some pepper and enjoyed!
 


Today's workout:
15 minutes on elliptical
15 minutes on bike
both fat burning level
planks for 5 minutes
all arm weight machines
 
Day 3 Group LittleBlueDress Challenege:
Breakfast and snack: 2 eggs with sugar free syrup and mixed fruit
Lunch: Rosemary chicken and winter blend bake
Snack: edamame
Pre workout snack- green apple
Dinner: Rosemary chicken and winter blend bake


 
     

    Tuesday, November 5, 2013

    LittleBlueDress Challenge Day 1 Was a Complete Success

    Yesterday morning I was super excited to see a lot of the girls had introduced themselves and let everyone know their goals. Right of the bat everyone started sharing new recipes, workouts, tips and motivation. So throughout this challenge I am going to be sharing some of their recipes, workouts and tips. So I wanted that to be the main focus of my post today.

    I first let everyone know what I did when I first started the LittleBlueDress Challenge back in January.

    These are the items I completely cut out of my diet!
    1. All bad carbs: bread, pasta, basically anything with grains or flour
    2. Sugar: desserts, artificial sweetener, etc.
    3. Soda: diet or regular
    4. With dairy I only eat reduced fat for fat free

    I try to eat as clean as possible and I am still working out cutting out processed foods.

    Workout routine: I try to workout at least 3 to 4 times a week! Depending on if you are a beginner or exercise regularly. But remember any exercise is better than none. So if you are new start slow so you don't get burnt out.

    I then shared an example meal plan:
    I have 5 small meals a day

    Breakfast: 2 large scrambled eggs with some fruit
    Snack: 20 almonds
    Lunch: healthy baked speg.
    Snack: veggies with hummus
    Dinner: Grilled chicken salad with as many veggies as you like with a low fat dressing. ( try to stay away from fatty dressings

    Some tips from the ladies!!

    Great start! Accountability is critical especially for those of us who are moms! It's very easy to have excuses! Thank you Melissa for getting us started. I just had my 5th child 7 months ago so working on getting my post baby bod back. Not much further to go but can always use encouragement along the way. I have been eating like Melissa since I had my first baby and let me tell you it works!! I eat 5 times a day. Here are my goals. 1. Eliminate all sugar, processed foods, simple carbs (only complex carbs) and NO drinks except water! (Side note and just a heads up... the past 8 years of eating like this i am a believer in a cheat meal/day ONLY if you know you can get right back on track). 2. Protein shake for breakfast, mini meal mid morning, portion controlled lunch, mini meal mid afternoon & portion controlled dinner. 3. Drink at least 128 oz of water daily. 4. Workout 30 minutes 5 days a week Alright here is to a great holiday season and head start on the new year!! Cheers!

    Example workouts for home!!

    One of my favorite workouts if you are short on time! Just repeat if you want a longer workout. I add 3 sets of 12 tricep dips, 3 sets of 12 push ups and 25 crunches, 30 second plank, 50 bicycle, 30 second plank and 25 crunches and you've got a quick total body workout!







     
     
    Ideas for snacks!!
     
    Almonds, EDAMAME ( I know you love that stuff), apples with pb, no fat greek yogurt (that will help with sweet tooth), hummus and veggies, skim mozzarella sticks, etc.
     


    I have fallen in love with PB, it's good with celery too!

    Just checking in. Helps with motivation! You are doing awesome so thanks for the encouragement. For mid morning snack it was low fat swiss cheese rolled in low sodium deli roast beef with half apple. lunch 2 eggs with salsa, grapes ( that was hard since i cooked my little guys cheese quesadillas) I'm at 80 oz of water. And totally agree with Melissa on how to help with sweet tooth. It takes about a week for me and after that I don't crave it. You've got this girl!!
     
    Recipes!!
     
    ALL HEALTHY FALL SOUPS
     
     
     
    Cook 1 lb of venison sausage in 2 tsp olive oil. Add 4 cups of kale, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 chopped medium onion, 3 diced carrots. Cook till vegetables are tender. In pot add 4 cups organic chicken broth (low sodium), 2 cans organic kidney beans (low sodium). Combine sausage vegetable mixture. add 1 tsp of garlic salt. Simmer for 1 hr. Now this is enough to feed my army so may want to cut in half or 4ths. Note: take kale off of stems and tear in into small pieces. Kale stems are very bitter so you don't want it in the soup.
     
     






    Examples of Dinners:
     
    I bought a good looking pork chop from Whole Foods so I plan to bake that with fresh broccoli & garlic mashed cauliflower. Melissa- I have a spaghetti squash I have been waiting to use, I am making your Healthy Baked Spaghetti tomorrow night!

    Dinner will be baked chicken with French green beans.
     
    I will be having chicken, Brussels sprouts, onions, broccoli and carrots. I usually just put everything in a piece of tin foil with some Mrs. Dash seasoning and put in the oven for 45 mins on 400F. It's so easy and plus, it gives me to time after I get home from the gym to shower and do some things around the house before having dinner.
     
    This is just some of the great things that have come from our message board. All the girls have been so open and it is really going to help with everyone staying motivated and accountable. I am just so excited about the wonderful things that are going to come from this. Make sure you check out my daily post to see all the fabulous success everyone is having.
     
    I did want everyone to know I will not be using anyones names for safety and privacy. Please respect that.

    My workout:

    2 miles on treamill
    20 minutes on elliptical

    Full body workout:
    20 squats
    20 lunges
    20 pushups
    20 incline sit ups
    1 minute plank
    20 mountain climber
    20 crunches
    1 minutes side planks (both)
    20 leg lifts
    20 reverse crunches
     
     
    Day 2 Group LittleBlueDress Challenge
    Breakfast and snack: 2 eggs with sugar free syrup and mixed fruit
    Lunch: healthy baked spag.
    Snack: green apple and 25 almonds
    Dinner: a few bites of healthy baked spag.before my workout and after I had my rosemary chicken, broccoli and cauliflower bake.
     
     How you you all. Do you have any tips, recipes and workouts that these girls should try out??
         
         
           

          Monday, November 4, 2013

          New Hair, Photo-shoot, Healthy Baked Spaghetti and Day One of Group Little Blue Dress Challenge

           
          I have a new do for the holidays :)
          Still getting used to it but I think I kind of love it!
           
          (weird pic I know but I was trying to show my hair ha)
           

          This weekend was non stop from the time I woke up bright and early Saturday morning. I met up with my bf's sister and her husband to tag along with them for their maternity pictures
          .
           
          Isn't she glowing!

           
          The shoot took around 2 hours and I tell you I laughed the entire time. Men and pictures are just entertaining :)

           
          But he did it with a smile on his face because of the love he has for his wife and son!

           
          After the shoot was over we headed back and I had a much needed nap. That night we all went on a double date and stuffed our faces with yummy, yet healthy food!!
           
          The next morning I woke up once again bright and early and headed  over to my new house to begin the moving process. For the first couple of hours I basically scrubbed every inch of the house. Then I finally could begin bringing stuff over and decorating.
           
          Here is a sneak peak :)
           I have a LONG way to go!!
           

           
          Nowwww to a new crazy yummy recipe.
           
          Baked Spaghetti
           
          What you will need
          spaghetti squash
          ground chicken
          low sugar marinara
          fat free cottage cheese
          skim mozz cheese
           

           
          Start by baking you spag. squash on 400' for about 45 mins. While that is cooking cook your ground chicken.
           
          Once spag. squash is fully cooked scrape out the middle.
           
          Then cover the bottom of baking dish with "noodles"

           
          Then add a thin layer of fat free cottage cheese,
           
           
          then your ground chicken,

           
          and your sauce.
           
          Let cook for about 45 mins. (375')

           
          Then add your mozz cheese.
           
          Bake again for another 20ish mins. ( You basically want to cook until it thickens up)

           
          Let cool,

           
          and then enjoy you Healthy Baked Spaghetti!!

           
          Now to the thing I am most excited about!!
           
          Day 1 of the Group Little Blue Dress Challenge!!
           
          Today a group of 15 including myself are starting the Little Blue Dress Challenge (I said I started last Tuesday but I wanted to start again with the rest of the girls), Basically we will be doing the same thing I did when I first started the challenge. No carbs, sugar or soda!! I will be keeping updates with everyone's success throughout the challenge. Wish everyone luck. I know they will all succeed.
           
          Day 1 of the group challenge:
          Breakfast: 2 eggs with sugar free syrup
          Snack: 2 tbsp of pb
          Lunch: going with my mom to lunch will add once I know what I am having.
          Snack: green apple and 20 almonds
          Dinner: Healthy baked spag.