Awesome I just made a commitment to hit a personal goal by Sept on my blog and did my first work out today. This will help me stay accountable. Thank you so much for posting this.
When I first started out, I was surprised at the amount of calories in most pastas so I've since then cut back and have 1 oz of pasta and bulk it up with veggies like zoodles (zucchini noodles).
Same goes for many nut butters. I try to stretch it out by having 1/4 cup of yogurt and putting in 1 TBSP of nut butters.
THIS is such a great idea! I also have tried to cut back on carbs that come from grains, so I really like the idea of combining zucchini noodles with regular pasta! I'll have to try that!
I sometimes become impatient or worried about my eating and don't always wait until my weigh in day before weighing myself to make sure I'm on track. So I weighed in today and was at 216.7. Fingers crossed that it sticks/drops down even more for Friday.
angelicus, I have slowly been learning these things as well. It's shocking!
Broth is your friend! I use it for EVERYTHING now. Instead of sauteing spinach in oil, I put a small amount of chicken broth in the pan instead. Sames goes for pretty much anything else. And I like amandie's suggestion of oil + chicken broth for pasta. I also started baking a lot of things that I otherwise might have sauteed. My toaster oven is my new bff!
I've also cut down on pasta A LOT. Spaghetti squash, zucchini, other veggies can be really yummy as a quasi-replacement or to bulk it up like amandie suggested.
And for salad dressings, I still like oil-based dressings, I just water them down (literally) to cut back on how much oil I use.
amandie and nonameslob - I would never have thought of using broth at all. I will definitely give it a go. I normally have quite tomatoe-y based pasta sauces but I was in the mood for something more mediterranean style, hence the olive oil. I imagine by using a broth you get a lot of extra flavour as well. How do you make zoodles etc? Any good recipes to share?
levoguette - I'm the same. I often end up weighing myself every day, although I give myself the whole week to see if the weight loss (or gain ) sticks. I'm not sure whether I should be weighing myself every day though! Its just so tempting when I'm in the bathroom...
I also love baking (and coking in general) and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of healthy things to make. I'm thinking of trying to make different bread varieties when the baking mood strikes me rather than something sweet and tempting. Any other suggestions?
Angelicus- No real recipes to share, sorry. I use the zoodles in place of any pasta dish I make like alfredo, spaghetti, and stir-fries. I've also made cauli-rice also by grating cauliflower (using a generic grater) into small pieces then lightly cooking so it still has some "crunch", like rice, sort of. Oh yea, I use a julienne peeler for the "zoodles" but you could use any peeler, mandolins or a spirializer (sp?) if you have it. It just would be in different shapes, that's all. Lightly cook them since you still want some bite to them.
I've used leeks before too in place of pasta for a healthier lasagne. Sliced lengthways and un-rolled into sheets, flash boiled until soft and dried on a tea-towel. It worked really well and tasted great!
Amandie - zoodles and caulirice are great! I must remember to make them more often. I'm sort of heading towards a paleo diet and bulking up meals can be quite tricky, remembering I can add more veg like this is useful.
Last edited by themilesawaygirl; 03-26-2014 at 07:29 AM.
levoguette - I'm the same. I often end up weighing myself every day, although I give myself the whole week to see if the weight loss (or gain ) sticks. I'm not sure whether I should be weighing myself every day though! Its just so tempting when I'm in the bathroom...
I also love baking (and coking in general) and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of healthy things to make. I'm thinking of trying to make different bread varieties when the baking mood strikes me rather than something sweet and tempting. Any other suggestions?
Ive been told by many many people I shouldn't weigh every day, but I personally think when you are trying to figure out your diet it can help a lot. You can kind of monitor what makes you bloat more or less. (I started noticing on days I ate white wheat, I have an increase of 1-2lbs the next day, which then helped me to better access what works for my body and what doesn't.)
Just don't let a gain one day get you in a rut or anything like that!
I dont have any specific recommendations but I LOVE pinterest for finding healthy recipes!
If you haven't used it before, it's basically like having an online bulletin board where you can "pin" things to. You can search for other member's boards that have made boards for recipes for special dietary needs and then you can make a board dedicated to recipes you might want to try.
I also like recommending Taralynn's blog. I think it was called undressedskeleton, although she may have gotten a new website recently. I've mostly been following her on instagram lately, used to follow her blog. She seems to have really good ideas for baking and cooking healthy and I remember she used to have a long list of recipes on her blog!
That sounds like a good idea the only thing that would worry me is the broth is loaded with sodium.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nonameslob
angelicus, I have slowly been learning these things as well. It's shocking!
Broth is your friend! I use it for EVERYTHING now. Instead of sauteing spinach in oil, I put a small amount of chicken broth in the pan instead. Sames goes for pretty much anything else. And I like amandie's suggestion of oil + chicken broth for pasta. I also started baking a lot of things that I otherwise might have sauteed. My toaster oven is my new bff!
I've also cut down on pasta A LOT. Spaghetti squash, zucchini, other veggies can be really yummy as a quasi-replacement or to bulk it up like amandie suggested.
And for salad dressings, I still like oil-based dressings, I just water them down (literally) to cut back on how much oil I use.
I've used leeks before too in place of pasta for a healthier lasagne. Sliced lengthways and un-rolled into sheets, flash boiled until soft and dried on a tea-towel. It worked really well and tasted great!
Amandie - zoodles and caulirice are great! I must remember to make them more often. I'm sort of heading towards a paleo diet and bulking up meals can be quite tricky, remembering I can add more veg like this is useful.
I will have to try the leeks in a lasagna/lasagne. I have also tried cabbage, same method as yours re: flash boiling/blanching then dried with a towel. Pretty good also. Good luck with your WOE.
skittles, I use the Better than Bouillon Lower Sodium Chicken Base when I am only needing a small amount of chicken broth (we're talking like a 1/4 cup for a recipe), which for the small amount of broth isn't much sodium. I also make my own chicken broth often and don't add any salt.
I actually just saw that Swanson sells an unsalted chicken stock that's only 130mg for a cup, which is super low. So there's definitely options that would ease your concerns!
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Loving these recipe ideas! Just wish I could get the bf more into veggies. I am going to have to start sneaking them into food with purees. Does anyone have any experience with this and any suggestions?
Last edited by nonameslob; 03-26-2014 at 10:51 AM.
ditto nonameslob, I'm loving all these recipe ideas! yum I feel like I need to make me some zoodles now! I never realized that was possible...and using broth instead of oil is something I will need to try as well
is anyone planning on taking before bikini photos? I know someone mentioned it earlier (Patience, I think).... I won't ever be comfortable in a bikini as I have way too many stretchies on my tummy, but I do want to look better in my cute board shorts/bathing suit. might have to take some befores tonight.
No bikini for me but I like the idea of taking some before pictures in my current swimsuits. Not sure if I'll share here, but I'll take some pics tonight. Good idea!
I'll post a before photo. I'm trying to keep a regular photo diary to judge whether I'm changing shape as opposed to losing weight, but that's in my sports bra and shorts. Think I might dig out the bikini if I'm sharing it publicly!