Tuna Macaroni Salad

One of the recipes I made this week was this healthy take on Tuna Macaroni Salad that uses greek yogurt as a subtitute for all the mayo you'd usually use.  It tasted great and I'm happy I found a healthy version of one of my favorite summer foods!

You will need:
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cans of chunk light tuna packed in water, drained
3 cups cooked whole grain pasta (I accidentally made 4 cups so it came a little more dry than it probably should, but still tasty!)
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
2 tbs light mayo
1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Mix everything together

Literally, that's it!  I'm a huge fan of mac salad with tuna and peas in it, so when I came across this recipe I was pretty pumped.  The greek yogurt really saves you a lot of the fat and makes you feel a lot less guilty about eating this!  I also used whole wheat pasta to make it even better.

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com: Yields 6 servings, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 244; Total Fat 2.5g; Saturated Fat 0.2g; Cholesterol 13.3mg; Sodium 261.8mg; Carbs 43.7g; Dietary Fiber 4.8g; Sugars 5.4g; Protein 17.7g.

Week 14 Update

Well, folks, here we are: it's almost over, only one week left in my challenge!  Since losing the 15 pounds, I have tried to stick with my plan and see if I can lose any more weight, but I have to admit I've been particularly lax, especially last weekend.  I had friends in town visiting, went to a beerfest, and it was cinco de mayo.  I may have partied a little too hard because of those things, but really I only have myself to blame for my week 14 results.

Physical Fitness:
-5/4/13: ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes
-5/6/13: went on the elliptical for 30 minutes and then ran 1 mile on the treadmill
-5/7/13: BODYATTACK
-5/8/13: BODYSTEP
-5/9/13: ran outside for 35 minutes, went 3.2 miles
-5/10/13: ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes

I tried to work out extra hard to make up for my weekend fun.  I've been doing a lot of running and it's grown to be much more bearable than it was in the beginning.  I used to hate running, now it's something I tolerate.  After all, it's one of the best forms of straight up cardio you can do.  So far the spring weather has been perfect for running outside, but I'm concerned that once the DC summer weather really kicks in it'll be too hot and I'll be relegated to the treadmill.  Or maybe I'll try to force myself to get up earlier more often to fit in morning runs before work, and before the temperature rises too much for the day.

Food:
I did a good job with food during the week and ate pretty much all the normal things.  The problem during week 14 came from my weekend partying.  In particular, on cinco de mayo my friends and I all went to a beerfest and despite my best intentions, I let the alcohol influence my food choices and I wasn't strict enough about it.  The beerfest was followed by a cinco de mayo dinner, complete with margaritas.  I know I've talked about this before, but alcohol really is just completely terrible for you if you're trying to lose weight.  Not only is it empty calories with little to no nutritional value, but alcohol itself slows down the fat burning process, and influences you to make poor decisions food-wise.  That's why as of the seis de mayo, I decided that I wouldn't drink any more alcohol until my challenge is over and I'm at the beach with my friends.  The Outer Banks trip that I'm taking over Memorial Day weekend was what inspired me to start losing weight in the first place and marks the end of my weight loss journey, so what better place to celebrate my success and end my detox than a sunny beach vacation surrounded by my friends?  God, I can't wait to have a gin and tonic...

Cooking:
Once again I didn't use my time efficiently enough to schedule in a night to cook something new.  I am making up for it by making 2 new recipes during Week 15, though!  One of them was a healthy tuna macaroni salad that I made last night - recipe to follow.

Weigh-In:
Thanks to my partying ways last weekend and depite my attempts to make up for it with 6 workouts throughout the week, last week I lost...

0 POUNDS!!!

That's right, once again I have stayed the exact same.  It would have been nice to lose another pound, but I'm still very pleased with making my 15 pound goal so it's good to know that I didn't derail all that progress by gaining weight back last week.  I also think at this point my body has completely gotten used to my new lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise so I'm hitting that plateau I've been dreading.  I'll try and push through that to see if I can lose any more weight in the last week of my journey.  I'm motivated and ready to move forward through the 15th and FINAL week of this challenge!!!

Workout Song of the Week: Conor Maynard

This week I'm feeling the pop tunes more than the angry rock ones, so I'd like to share this little gem with you that I found a while back thanks to iTunes: Conor Maynard "Animal"

This song gets me pumped up for workouts for so many different reasons.  It's got a great bouncing beat and you know by now that I'm a huge fan of anything synth-heavy.  There's also something so motivating about a guy singing about a woman who keeps messing with his mind!  A pop song to the core, this jam gets me up and running every time.

Weekly Tip: Translating Restaurant Menus

It's going to happen to you at some point in your weight loss journey, it's inevitable: you're going to eat out at a restaurant.  Situations like going out to eat make it difficult for people to make good food choices because there's so much temptation, but there are ways to interpret the menu and figure out which dishes you should opt for.  Here are some things to keep in mind:

-Good: grilled, broiled, roasted, baked, steamed, steamed, blackened or poached

-Bad: pan-fried, sautéed, battered, breaded, au gratin, cheesy, creamy, buttered, deep-fried, béarnaise, or crispy

-Go for veggies!  You don't necessarily have to order a salad, but when looking over the menu try to pick out the items that include lots of veggies.  Opt for sides like steamed vegetables instead of french fries.

-Keep it simple! Aim for the simpler sounding dishes.  The more complicated a dish sounds, the more ingredients it has in it, which means the more calories it probably has.

-Sammies: order sandwiches with whole wheat, pita, or multi-grain bread. 

-Get saucy! Watch out for cream or cheese sauces, try to choose lighter sauces and clear broths instead.

Of course there are other great tips for eating healthy when eating out as well:

-Look up the menu online before hand and have an idea of which things you can eat before you go.  Try to make a plan and stick with it.
-Ask for a half portion, or ask the server to box up half your entree before serving it to you.
-If you know you're going out to eat for dinner, try to eat lighter or get a good work out in earlier in the day.  Don't skip meals, however, since then you'll show up to the restaurant starving and probably make poor choices.
-Remember: you're the guest at the restaurant, which means they'll give you what you want.  Don't be afraid to customize a dish or ask for substitutions.

Happy dining!

Portobella Mushroom Pizza

I took a turn cooking family dinner for my friends last Sunday and decided to try out this recipe for Portobella Mushroom Pizza.  It's such a fun and healthy twist on normal pizza; you cut out the starch by using mushroom caps instead of dough!  It's also perfect because each mushroom cap is the perfect portion for 1 person.

You will need:
4 large portobella mushrooms (I used 6 since I was cooking for more people, so in that case you can also use a little more tomato and onion etc to make more of the sauce)
4 tomatoes, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
parmigiano reggiano cheese
fresh parsley
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
salt

the sauce simmering away

empty mushroom caps just waiting to be filled!

"pizzas" ready for baking

 Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 400F.
-Heat up the olive oil in a pan.
-Add the onion and stir until it’s slightly brown.
-Add the tomatoes, garlic, leek, and a pinch of salt to the onions. Saute the ingredients until the tomatoes are soft.
-Squeeze about 1 table spoon of fresh lemon juice over the ingredients.
-Add about 5 leaves of chopped, fresh basil.
-Spray olive oil on a baking sheet and place the mushrooms on the sheet with the bottom side up.
-Add the mixed ingredients from the sauce pan into each mushroom and top with grated parmegiano cheese.
-Bake for 12 minutes.
-Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Ready to serve!

Just out of the oven

close up

so much cheesy, saucy goodness!

This was such an easy and creative recipe.  You could also play around with the toppings a bit and put on whatever you want.  It's full of veggies, super tasty, and each mushroom cap is only 200 calories!  If you're looking for a healthier twist on plain old pizza, you should definitely try this.

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com per 1 mushroom cap: Calories 209; Total Fat 12.6g; Saturated Fat 4g; Cholesterol 15mg; Sodium 187.8mg; Carbs 12.9g; Dietary Fiber 3.3g; Sugars 2.9g; Protein 8.9g.

Week 13 Update

Well, apparently I've hit my plateau.  I knew it would happen eventually, and at least it happened after I already lost my goal of 15 pounds!  I was pretty good during Week 13 and worked out 6 times, but it seems my body has finally hit a wall.  Here's the recap:

Physical Activity:
-4/27/13: ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes
-4/28/13: ran outside for 45 minutes, went 4 miles!
-4/29/13: ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes
-4/30/13: BODYATTACK
-5/1/13: BODYSTEP
-5/2/13: ran outside for 40 minutes, went 3.2 miles

My office did a 5k walk/run to raise money for Boston last week, and I decided to run it to get my workout in for that day.  I got off to a slow start because I was walking with my coworkers for about the first half mile but then I took off and did the rest of the route running.  I'm happy with the knowledge that I can actually run a 5k the whole way without stopping, so I decided to sign up for a 5k race that my friends are doing in June.  That's another one of my challenge goals to check off the list!

Food:
Food and drink could probably have been better during Week 13, but it also could have been worse.  I drank more than I normally do last weekend, and I also had friends visiting this past weekend so that combined with the cinco de mayo beerfest that I went to yesterday means I didn't start Week 14 off in the best way that I could have either.  Because of that, I decided that from now until I leave for my Outer Banks trip, which is about 2 1/2 weeks away, I'm not going to drink any alcohol.  I don't think I drink too much or anything, but I definitely think alcohol impacts the choices I make in regard to food, and alcohol inhibits the fat-burning process, in addition to it's other reasons for being something you should avoid when trying to lose weight.  I really want to focus on getting the most out of the last 2 weeks of my challenge, so it's time to detox!

Cooking:
I made 2 recipes during Week 13 to make up for the fact that I didn't have time to cook anything the week previous.  One of the dishes I prepared was this Three Bean Salad recipe that I got from my mom, and the other was a recipe for Portobella Mushroom Pizzas!  Those came out great, they were essentially mushroom caps stuffed with sauce and cheese and then baked.  They were deee-licious and I'll be posting the recipe later this week.

Weigh-In:
As far as my weight loss results for week 13, I lost...

0 POUNDS!!!

I think I was probably so happy that I had already lost my 15 pounds that I was more lax during the week and therefore didn't continue to lose weight.  Also, I think at this point my body has adjusted to my new levels of fitness and it will be even more difficult to continue to lose weight.  The number on the scale stayed the same, but that's okay with me.  I'm happy as long as I'm not gaining back the weight I worked to hard to lose! 

There was another important milestone I reached last week that meant more to me than losing an extra pound would have.  You see, there's this pair of jeans I own.  I bought them sometime in late 2011/early 2012, and if I'm being honest, they were probably too tight for me even when I bought them.  I still wore them, but by fall of 2012 they were ridiculously tight on me to the point that I could barely get them closed.  I stopped wearing those jeans for a long time because I just plain couldn't.  Those jeans have been in the back of my mind ever since I started my weight loss challenge.  I refused to try them on throughout the last 13 weeks because I wanted to use them as a benchmark for my progress at the end of the road.  Well, since I lost the 15 pounds, last week I decided to put the jeans back on.  I almost cried when I realized that not only can I get the jeans on again, they fit PERFECTLY, even better than when I first purchased them.  Seeing real, tangible change like that means just as much to me as seeing the numbers on the scale decrease every week, so even if I don't lose any more than the 15 pounds I was initially aiming for, I'm satisfied with knowing that I have clearly changed my body.

Weekly Tip: The Support System

Much like my advice to find a workout buddy, this week's tip also involves the people around you: the people who encourage you to keep going, the people you can lean on when you're struggling with your progress, the people who keep telling you how great you look and what a good job you're doing even when you don't see it yourself.  These people are your support system, and it's important that everyone trying to lose weight or achieve fitness goals has that in their lives.

Throughout my challenge I've been amazed at the continuous support and encouragement I've received from the people around me.  People have constantly been telling me what a great job I'm doing and how I've inspired them to start working on their own goals.  Comments like that mean the world to me and make me that much more motivated to keep going because I feel like I'm setting a good example.  It also feels good to know that the people around you are paying attention to what you're doing and truly want to see you succeed.  I will be eternally grateful for the people who have been supporting me for the past few months of this challenge, but that's a post for another day...

I also have a piece of advice for those people who make up the support system of somebody who's working on their health and fitness goals:

1) Try not to comment on what they eat.  Obviously someone who's trying to lose weight understands that they need to adjust their diet as part of their plan, so most likely they've already thought about what they're putting in their mouth.  If they decide to have a cheat meal or they know they've worked out enough that day to earn that extra beer, that's up to them.  There's nothing worse when you're trying to lose weight than feeling like the people around you are judging what you eat.  The only exception to this rule is if that person cooks you something.  Then you are definitely allowed to comment, and hopefully sing their praises.

2) You can never compliment them enough!  People who are working hard at achieving their weight loss goals want to feel like other people notice a difference.  You can never tell them too many times how great they look or what a good job they're doing it.  Praise them, and praise them often!  Who knows, your comment might be just the thing they needed to motivate them into the gym the next morning when they were considering skipping out.

3) Don't give them excuses to slack off.  Leave the decision of when/where/how much to work out and what/when/how much to eat up to the person responsible: the person trying to lose the weight.  Telling someone that they can have the loaded nachos at dinner instead of the Greek salad because "you've been working so hard, you've earned it, you have to give yourself a break sometimes" only encourages that person to slip up.  Obviously at the end of the day, someone who's trying to lose weight is in charge of what they eat and how much they exercise, but when you tell that person that it's okay for them to cheat on a day when maybe they weren't planning on cheating, it only makes it harder for them to hang on to their self-control and make good choices.  Be encouraging, but don't give them any excuses.