The Red Dress Challenge

I don't normally do this but I needed a motivator. I bought a dress that I don't fit into with the goal of trying to fit into it in three weeks. It was on sale for $20 and I figured even if I don't fit into it in three weeks it still would be a goal for later on down the line. I have no idea how much weight I have to lose to fit into it, so losing inches is definitely going to take priority over losing pounds the next couple of weeks. We'll see how I do. =)

Low-cal chili recipe (made with ground turkey)

A note here, I'll try to post recipes as we try them out and let y'all know what we think. I'm posting two today that I've used in the past that not only I liked, but both my husband and older son liked as well (our younger son doesn't get a say yet =) If anyone has any recipes they've tried and liked please share them. I'm looking for recipes that still taste good but are also lower in calories and have less meat in them.

I originally got this one from a "Family Circle" magazine several years ago. It's also online, but you have to register to access it (it doesn't cost anything to register). This is a non-spicy chili recipe, though I personally love spicy food, this one is a better recipe for the whole family. The baked beans and corn make it a bit sweeter than your typical chili.

Ginny's All-American Chili Chowder
Makes: 12 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes; Slow-Cook 4 hours on HIGH or 7 hours on LOW

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium-size onions, diced
2 pounds lean ground turkey
2 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 cans (15-1/2 ounces each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (28 ounces) baked beans
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
4 cups frozen corn, thawed
1/4 cup chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Tortilla chips, optional

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned. Crumble in turkey; cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until turkey cooks through.

2. Place turkey mixture in a 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in diced tomatoes, kidney beans, baked beans, tomato sauce, corn, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired.

Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe: 12 servings
Calories: 394
Total Fat: 10g
Saturated Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 61mg
Sodium: 825mg
Carbohydrate: 53g
Fiber: 12g
Protein: 26g
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Best Laid Plans...

It's been a brutal two days. It's been a long week with family obligations and the hubby being out of town, but the last two days have been the hardest since I don't feel well and can't do much for very long. Also, revaluating my schedule, I'm going to try for a triathlon in April. It's called The Cave Man Tri (as in, it's so easy a Cave Man can do it =) It's a sprint distance and has a pool swim which is what I'm looking for.

Good things for the week, first, I decreased the amount of beef and pork I ate. I had it twice last week. Not down to once a week yet, but I think I can do it this week. I've been eating more veggies, but I still need to eat more fruits and less processed foods (especially sugar). We had fish last night for dinner, and our 6-year-old asked if we could have it again tonight. =)

That's it for now; I hope this week will be better.

Correction =)

A friend just pointed out to me that I used an expression in my last post that isn't as clear as it could be. Of course five pounds of muscle equals the same weight as five pounds of fat. =) What I'm referring to is the fact that five pounds of fat is much larger than five pounds of muscle. So, if I have a grapefruit size of muscle in one hand, and an equal grapefruit size of fat in the other, the muscle will weigh more. The same amount of muscle weighs more than the same size of fat. Based on that, my assumption is that over the break, my poor eating habits combined with a lack of working out lowered the amount of muscle I had and added to the amount of fat I had. This would explain why I currently weigh the same as I did before but, since I can tell I'm bigger, I'm assuming I've replaced some muscle that I had with fat. I can’t prove this since I haven’t been measuring my body fat, but it’s my best educated guess. =)

Falling off the Wagon

It's been 4 weeks to the day since my last post. Let’s just say since then I fell off the wagon. Big time. For three weeks. So I decided I would give myself a week after New Year’s weekend to start eating right so I wouldn't have as bad a case of sticker shock when I finally got around to weighing.

I knew by how my clothes fit that I gained weight, I figured I gained five lbs, best case scenario maybe only three or four lbs (remember I am short), and worst-case seven or eight lbs. I weighed this morning, and I weighed (drum roll please)... 156 lbs. Yup, exactly the same as the last time I weighed in. I was so shocked that I re-weighed myself several times to make sure that was right and I wasn't just standing on the scale wrong. It was definitely 156 lbs. How is the possible? Most of you have probably heard that muscle weighs more than fat; I just had that reiterated to me this morning. It's always one thing to know something in your head, and another to have it reaffirmed on the scale.

Which is both good and bad. It shows me again that I can't just use my weight as a barometer for how fit/healthy I am, but as I don't have an accurate body fat measuring tool at my disposal, it's the best thing I have (for now).

As of this Sunday I will have exactly 8 weeks until the sprint triathlon I want to do. Still possible to train and complete it, but that doesn't give me any extra time in case life gets in the way. =) I will start training today since I know I'll be out of town two weekends, one for two days and the other for almost 4 days so I need a few extra days to make up for those if I can't work out then.

I also have another change in my diet I want to make. After talking to one of my friends who is a raw vegan, one who is a vegetarian, and another who doesn't eat beef or pork I'm going to start limiting the amount of beef and pork I eat. Beef is my weakness in this area since I love beef and we live in Texas where it's easy to get awesome steaks and burgers. =) I'm not sure how easy it will be to make this change; I still have to discuss it with my family as well since I'm usually the one that cooks. I think I'll start with having beef/pork only once a week with my eventual goal to get myself down to once a month.

That's it for now. Next "official" weigh-in will be next Wednesday. I hope that working out for the first time in almost a month will help me have a good week.