Grocery Shrink

It’s hard to believe today is the last day of January! I have more weight loss recipes to share but I will tuck them in later in the year.

 Tomorrow we will be moving on to the basics of Shrinking our food budgets. I have some amazing guest posts lined up for you and will walk you step by step through the process.

In January, I have given you several categories of foods to combine for weight loss. These include: Stir-fries, omelets, soups, and salads. In addition you can use sandwiches on flat bread (Like Orowheat’s bagel thins) or in half a pita (click for the recipe.)  Think about a sandwich in terms of your lean protein + veggies.  Sprouts are amazing this way!  Watch out for calorie rich cheeses, and spreads.  Mustard adds a ton of flavor for very few calories and herbed strained yogurts are amazing too.

My sixth food category is protein shakes.  I use vanilla whey protein powder and water as my base and add unsweetened frozen fruit (like the strawberries and wild blueberries from costco).  If I want chocolate I add 2 T of pure cocoa powder and a packet of stevia to my smoothie.  Cocoa powder is low in calories, high in protein and antioxidants and is a perfect addition to a weight loss smoothie. 

When I meal plan for myself during weight loss, I think in terms of Stir-fries, omelets, soups, salads, sandwiches and smoothies instead of casseroles.  There’s no reason to get bored with them since there are so many possibilities in these categories.

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Here’s a quick directory of what we talked about this month.

Simple Math = Weight Loss

Meal Planning for a Healthy Weight–This is a good one with downloads at the end

Keeping a Food Journal

Measuring Food for Success

5 Ways to Stay Motivated

About Protein

About Carbohydrates

Water

A Typical Day of Food and Exercise

Fat and Alcohol

About Salt

7 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

The Most Effective Type of Exercise

Some Days You Should Eat More:  Set-Point Theory

How to Think Thin

The Adaptable Omelet

Reduced Fat Peanut Butter Spreads

Combining Fitness and Family

The Many Faces of Stir-Fry

Where to get “diet” foods at the best price

Soups

Salads

Light Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

How to Give your Recipes a Healthy Makeover 

I’ve mentioned a lot about stir-fries in my previous posts, but I’ve also gotten a lot of emails asking for more information.  So I’ll tell you exactly what to do, step by step.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you where I get my foods at the best prices.

1.  Choose your protein source.  I personally choose from 3 oz of salmon filet, shrimp, chicken breast, or canned tuna (but I like my tuna cold not stir-fried.)  You could even use an egg or 2 and make it omelet or frittata style.

Choose your veggies:  Use 1-2 cups of anything you like except for potatoes, corn or shelled peas (these are counted as grains for our purposes.)  Some ideas:   onions, garlic, mushrooms, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash (zucchini or yellow), snow peas, bell peppers, okra, spinach, clinatro, parsely, or lamb’s quarter.  You can use fresh or frozen or a combination of both. 

Choose your seasonings:  Just salt and pepper is fine!  Or try a southwest blend:  cumin, chili powder, garlic, and a dash of oregano.  Lemon pepper or seasoning salt are also nice.  I have also purchased premixed cajun blend and hickory smoke blend.  For an oriental flair try garlic and ginger.  I just shake these into the pan right out of the jars.  I go my smell, taste, and look to see how much.  Start light.  You can always add more spice.

2.  Prepare a large skillet (I like cast-iron, but use what you have) by spraying lightly with non-stick spray.  The trick is to add your ingreidents to the pan in order of cooking time needed.  For example, raw chicken takes several minutes to cook, but spinach should just be barely wilted.  I start by sauteeing any super hard vegetables like baby carrots, broccoli or cauliflower. After cooking for a few minutes, I add onions and garlic with my protein source and half of the seasoning.  Next I add softer vegetables adn cook until everything is crisp tender and the meat is cooked through.  At the end I’ll turn off the heat and  toss in any greens like spinach and just stir around until they are slightly wilted.

Examples

3 oz Salmon burger with baby carrots, onions, sugar snap peas and fresh mushrooms.  Seasoned with lemon pepper.

3 oz chicken breast with 1/4 cup black beans, red onions, baby bell peppers.  Seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic, and seasoning salt.  Topped with mixed greens and shredded carrots.  (Salsa and cilantro would be awesome.)

3 oz shrimp with onions, baby bell peppers and spinach.  Seasoned with cajun blend.

Salmon burger with broccoli, onions, carrot slices and fresh mushrooms.  Seasoned with seasoning salt.

Chopped chicken breast with frozen oriental blend, seasoned with garlic, giner and soy sauce.

Chopped chicken with cubed fresh pumpkin, broccoli, mushrooms, red onions, and baby carrots.  seasoned with ginger and lemon pepper.

Salmon filet with baby carrots, broccoli, baby bell peppers, fresh mushrooms, and kale.  Seasoned with cajun blend.

There’s no reason to get bored with stir fries!  These are just a few examples to help you create beautiful, healthy and fat burning meals for yourself!

Yep, you read that right.  Our bodies were created to adapt to our environment.  Ever notice that the 50 degree day in the middle of winter feels really warm, but a 50 degree summer day would freeze us all?  It’s the same with our calorie intake.  Our bodies get used to a steady calorie level and adjusts it’s speed of metabolism to maintain your body size at that level.  So sometimes, even though you are very careful with your food choices, your weight loss slows down or stops.

There’s a theory called the “Set-Point Theory.”  The thoery goes, your body sets itself at a certain weight, so if you eat a whole bunch one day, your body revvs up it’s metabolism to use up the extra calories and keep you at the same weight.  If you eat too little, the opposite happens.  It takes a steady pattern of calorie changes to get the body to actually gain or lose weight.  Once it does, it will reset it’s “point” at the new weight, but in order to do that you have to work hard to maintain it for awhile to convince your body that it’s a good place to be.

Image Credit: Ivan Vicencio

The trouble is your body may reset itself at a weight that’s higher than you want.  Your low calorie diet can slow your metabolism to a crawl if you aren’t careful and you will experience the dreaded plateu.  One way to prevent that is to boost your calorie level by 300 calories one day a week.  This revvs up your metabolism for the day and keeps your body guessing where to land.  But it’s important you choose well where those 300 calories go.  Adding 300 calories of white flour and sweets will add water weight to your body by the morning.  It’s not fat, but it will feel like it.  Choose whole grains, fruit, veggies, and lean proteins–even for your extra calorie day.

Another way to keep your metabolism pumping is to follow an interval exercise program like we talked about a few days ago.  Doing both will insure you keep losing weight at a reasonable rate.  You may have noticed that some popular weight loss programs, like Weight Watchers®, have included floating calories, or extra points for you to use sometime during the week.  Now you know why!

Naturally skinny people eat in a way to benefit from set-point theory without even thinkng about it.  I’ll explain how to think thin tomorrow.

….is interval training.  Interval training trades periods of high intensity exercise with short periods of rest. 

Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and burns fat, while weight/strength training builds muscles and strengthens the bones. The best kind of interval training combines the two. 

During the high intensity periods the power of aerobic activity is used and during the short phase of “rest” (lowering the heart rate slightly) strength training is used.  This allows you to get two workouts in the same time it used to take to get one.  It allows your body to enter the fat burning phase more quickly and since your heart rate stays somewhat elevated during the period of rest, the aerobic period continues through the strength training session.  An effective workout can be achieved in just 20 minutes!

No matter how excellent your exercise routine is, it is possible to out-eat any amount of exercise and still not lose weight. Exercise complements but doesn’t replace a healthy, moderate diet.

To get even more power from your interval workout, combine upper and lower body exercises at all times.  The larger the muscles you use the more calories you burn.  Your thighs (quads) and bottom (glutes) are the biggest muscles in your body.  For example,  if you are doing bicept curls, add a squat at the same time. For the best results use as many muscles at once that you can.

I use videos to help me know what to do next in my workouts,  My favorites are the Mama wants her body back series using a fitness band.  They are expensive though (and I’ve heard it’s hard to cancel the subscription to the videos–though I liked mine so much I didn’t want to.  I’m sure there are other good ones out there, and to be honest I haven’t used a ton.  Try to borrow any video from the library or a friend or look for an excerpt on youtube before buying a video.  Once you’ve decided on a title you’d like, check prices at Alibris.com and Amazon.com before buying.

You tube has several excellent training videos for free that will help you create your own interval routines.  To create your own routine all you need is a timer and the appropriate weights or restistance equipment of your choice.  Music is a nice touch. 

The following video  by Holly Rigsby  is an interesting take on how to get the most out of your exercise time by using the right amount of added weight.  She has several other videos on her youtube channel with more exercise moves to add  to your routines.

Here is a second video from Holly which features some of her favorite interval moves. If you are still confused about what intervals are and how to do them this video will clear it up.

Disclaimer:  No business or person has sponsored this post.  The sources posted here are purely some I have personally benefitted from.