Chicken Meal Prepping

So, I follow a very general reduced calorie plan, where I eat 6 small meals spaced through the day. Generally speaking I try to keep the meals about 200 calories, with at least 10 grams of protein, and get a couple of veggie servings in each. I'm a bit more flexible about carbs and fat. A large part of my daily diet is chicken breast meat that I cook myself and keep on hand to add to meals. Today, that is what my blog is going to be about.

Part of my meal prepping strategy is to cook extra when I do cook, and package it into meal size portions. In fact, I do not leave food in the pan for "seconds", when I serve a meal I make all the plates up for my family, then I package "leftovers" for later meals. This allows me to always have a stack of grab and go meals in the fridge. 

Chicken is sort of an exception for me. Every week I buy a pack or two of chicken breasts, season them simply (either Spike, or salt & pepper), and then I cook the entire pack. After it cools I shred the chicken, put it in a bag and store it in the fridge. Chicken is such a great source of low fat protein, and by shredding it I have lots of control over portion sizes. I also find that when it is shredded everyone in the family is happy with less. I often eat a 2.5 oz portion of chicken. The pictures below show a comparison of 2.5 ounces of chicken in a single piece, sliced, and shredded. You can see that shredding makes the portion seem much larger. Each 2.5 oz portion is about 86 calories, with not quite 2 grams of fat, and 16 grams of protein. (I don't mention carbs, because it has none.)

86 calories of a blank slate. What are some of things I do with this? I use it with leftover cooked veggies and a tablespoon or two of sauce. Think any type of leftover veggie, chicken, and sweet chili sauce, or, sliced onions and peppers with barbecue sauce. I throw it on salads, into "pasta" or zoodle dishes, and sometimes I just eat it plain, with raw veggies. A recent fave is to take about 1.5 ounces, mix a tablespoon of salsa, and throw it in a corn tortilla with lettuce and lite sour cream and cheese. The options are basically endless and it takes on any flavor.

Planning ahead for success when you are hungry is the best way to succeed, and this is why meal prepping works and is so popular right now. However, you have to make meal prep your own. What do you eat regularly? What could you eat everyday in different ways? Get creative.

Little Steps

Changing a little bit each day adds up. Navigating this new life style becomes easier daily. There is always the question of what I might do today to make another step to pursue my health. This week I have been much more active. Parking further from stores, going to the pool, taking walks. I cannot say that each week I decide what part of the journey I'm working on, but that just seems to naturally happen. I have the food part of my plan pretty under control, the next thing to work on logically is fitness.

I hear a lot of talk about non-scale victories, and I've been experiencing those frequently. Things like being able to sit with my leg underneath me, like I used to do before I had so much knee pain. The lack of knee pain is becoming a thing. Last week I set myself some weight loss goals. The weight ranges I wanted to be by certain times. This week, I'm realizing I have fitness goals. That may sound silly, because it would seem they go hand in hand, but fitness goals are not something I ever thought I would have, or set.

Even more amazingly, is the type of goal. So, I have secretly always wanted to do a triathlon. Clearly something I never spoke of, or shared with people because it was absurd considering my weight. You may even think it is absurd now. The crazy part is I can see myself enjoying two parts of the triathlon, the swimming and bicycling, but the third part, running is something I have never really enjoyed, not even as a child.

To take this a step further, this will mean I need to train in running, and the best way to test my endurance in that would be to do a marathon. Obviously this is not something I plan to do soon. probably not this year, but perhaps the next. This is something that is going to take training and planning, but I am seeing myself at the finish line. I'm not sure when that mind shift happened, I only know it did.

I've tried to lose weight so many times, but this time is so different. I cannot explain what has happened, I'm trying to wrap my own mind around it. All I can say is it must be the Holy Spirit transforming my mind. My goals don't feel the same, they don't feel out of reach. It used to be such a struggle. I worked so hard to try to lose weight, to even try to care about it. I couldn't seem to succeed because I was so focused on how hard it was. Now, it isn't so hard, just a series of steps. Small steps that are leading to a big outcome, a big revealing of sorts. What will I look like, be like, and do at goal? A question I'm constantly asking and answering. A question constantly being answered. I cannot wait!

40+ Lbs. Gone!

No more plateau, and I guess it wasn't really a long one or anything, but I've been kind of use to losing a lb or so every couple of days, when I don't it seems odd. Anyway, I got on the scale today and am down to 322, that is 41 lbs off. I don't think I've ever successfully lost this much weight. Even bigger is the transforming of my mind.

I mentioned in my blog a couple of days ago that I had been thinking about a blog I wanted to write but then it was whisked out of my mind. Here it is, back again. I know that God promises to transform our minds, and I know that I have changed so much from the woman I was when I first accepted Jesus as my Savior, but I'm so glad that He isn't content leaving me there.

My weight has been a lifelong struggle, as any of you who know me are well aware. I know it is a kind of bondage, and one that in some ways I've inflicted upon myself. I'm not sure why. I've met friends who have clear issues with being slim and/or at a healthy weight, and my subconscious tells me that there is something that is an issue for me, but I cannot put a finger on it.

I often ask myself is eating a form of self medication? What am I medicating? I look back, and while my life isn't perfect, I think I've had it pretty good. I had a loving family, my dad wasn't present, but I had a grandpa and uncle that were daily parts of my life. I've forgiven my father long ago for not being there when I was young, and we have many years of a great relationship now. My mom worked a lot, she had to, but I was always with my grandma, one of the most important people in my life.

As I walk down this road and work on myself, I cannot deny that I have emotional struggles to overcome. I, like so many people that are obese, have been an emotional eater. I've said it before, and I will say it again, I think that we are taught that by our society. Perhaps my greatest struggle with emotional eating is knowing what I'm feeling. It may sound silly, but that is something I have had a hard time with for a long time. I did a workshop called Heart Change many years ago, and I realized then that I intellectualize everything, and I don't really allow myself to feel my feelings.

This blog, this slow weight transformation, it is going to stir up feelings that I have to learn to take to the foot of the cross where they belong. I have got to stop holding on to them, but at the same time I have to give myself permission to feel them. If you haven't struggled with these things, bless you, but I know that my emotions are going to have to be addressed, and as I address them I see how the transformation of my mind is happening.

Without the element of emotional eating, as the Lord transforms me to understand that I am eating to fuel my body, making good choices is becoming easier, and a habit. He is so good to me that He gives me pleasure even in fueling my body, but I have to learn that He is my fuel, and I don't need to overeat to stuff the feelings I should be turning over to Him. 40 lbs lost means nothing, if my mind and emotions are not shifting so I can keep it off.

Plateauing, and amazing day!

It doesn't seem like 5 days since I blogged, so I apologize. I've had several busy days. I had a blog post all mapped out in my mind a couple of days ago, but darn if I can remember it all now. I know that it had to do with the emotional changes that come with weight loss. If I'm meant to write it, it will come back.

I still haven't gotten my hair dyed and cut, it has just been hectic. On top of it all, and maybe because I haven't been able to be completely on plan, I've been kind of on a plateau. It is just 5 lbs. below my previous plateaus.

Today, I may have discovered a breakthrough. Two days ago my husband and I tried roasting our own coffee for the first time. I know that I have written about coffee before, but this was an entirely new experience. We have been cold brewing for quite some time. It cuts the bitterness of the coffee. However, my hubby saw a TED talk about roasting coffee, and how coffee is a fresh food that isn't treated like one. The best way I can describe it is this, it is like dried legumes. They will keep forever if they are dried, green coffee is the same. You noticed I said green coffee?

So, once you cook the legumes you need to use them in a few days or they spoil, right? Same with coffee once it is roasted. According to this video, coffee should be roasted, and then allowed to sit for 7-9 hours before grinding and using. It should not be stored, and definitely needs to be used within 7 days from roasting.This preserves the anti-oxidants in the coffee.

All I can say is WOW! I am a daily coffee drinker. It seems to help my metabolism. This fresh roasted coffee was a completely new experience. I had energy to spare, so much so that I had to find ways to use it. My husband said that he has heard people say they needed a way to use up their energy, but neither of us have never felt that way until today. We drank our fresh roasted coffee yesterday, hot, but it did not do to us what it did today with the cold brew.

So, I will continue to report on this coffee breakthrough, and eventually I may make a video showing how we roast it, and how we brew it. Meanwhile, we will continue to experiment. (This first batch was not a taste we loved, but we plan to try different types of beans.)

Self Control--WOW!

Self control, I feel like this has been my nemesis. It is something I have struggled with, as a Christian, and knowing it is a fruit of the Spirit, something I felt ashamed to not be able to exhibit. Clearly, with my weight it was not something I excelled at. I could offer a lot of reasons/excuses, and before anyone reminds me, I know it is covered by grace. Still, who doesn't want to see the fruits of the Spirit in their lives?

However, the Lord so gently guides us, and beautifully grows those fruits in us, in me. It is exciting to see the Lord build something new in me. It was something I never doubted He would build in me, I just wasn't sure what it would look like. At this point it looks like almost 40 lbs. gone, and the scale still going down. It is not to my glory that He builds it, it is His, and that is something I do not want to forget.

So today, I want to say thank you Jesus! You are the rock on which I stand, and the wind beneath my sails. When I'm discouraged you lift my head. I'm thankful this is the time, and this is the way you are leading me daily.

This blog, today, has not really gone the way I had thought in my mind, but it is flowing from my heart. I'm so overwhelmed by God's amazing love, and that even in this He is lovingly guiding me.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

First Goal Acheived!

So, like many who are trying to lose weight, my first goal was to lose 10% of my original body weight. I have done that in just about 2 1/2 months, 11 weeks to be precise. So far, I'm averaging 3.5 lbs loss a week. I cannot anticipate to continue at that rate, although it would certainly be nice. I'm in this for the long haul, and I do not want to sabotage what I've worked so hard to accomplish.

Tonight, I was challenged by a student/family potluck for my daughter, who is a senior in high school. I planned ahead and brought my own meal prep container filled with food I knew I could eat on plan. I did have a few things from the potluck, a few pieces of fruit, a piece of sushi, and a single chocolate crinkle cookie off the dessert table. I decided before going to make sure I made very careful choices. Homemade items I would not get a chance to repeat, and or items that would fit on plan and would be okay. This pre-planning and decision making is what kept me strong throughout.

To celebrate my goal my daughters plan to help me dye my hair, and then my hubby is going to take me to get it cut. I hope to do that tonight, but it may have to wait until the weekend since we have a week busy with graduation events.

My next big goal is to get below 300, that means I have about 25lbs to lose to get there. I'm planning on adding more exercise to my program, and I'm finding that challenging. So, another of my goals is to be able to ride my bicycle to the local co-op, and eventually to the farmer's market. What are your goals?

Memorial Day!

Today, let's take a moment to remember those that have served our country, and especially the many that have died in that service. Those lives are the foundation of this country, they are the people who make our freedoms possible. Thank you!

My grandfather served in World War II, and today I am reflecting on so many happy memories of him. He didn't go overseas, and a part of me is glad for this, because if he had I may not have had the pleasure of spending so much time with him. I am blessed in that as a child we essentially lived in my grandparent's backyard. I spent many days with my grandpa, when he wasn't away working.

It seems that most of my favorite memories of him involve the garden. Growing up, we always had a huge garden. I have many happy memories of both my grandparents in the garden, but with my grandpa I remember picking strawberries, and the long sticks with cans that he made so we could harvest the fruit in the trees without an orchard ladder. (I'm not really sure why we never had an orchard ladder, we had many fruit trees.) I also remember the year we planted corn. We may have done it more than once, but I only remember once. That year my grandfather taught me about how tasty baby corn is, my grandma wasn't thrilled about this!

Ah...The garden. Some of my funniest memories of him are in the garden too. He used to sit out in a lawn chair with his pistol and shoot at the gophers. I think it was somehow therapeutic to him. The thing my husband still laughs about, and teases me about, is that when I was really little my grandfather convinced me that little girls could be pulled down into gopher holes by the gopher. He told me my only defense was to put my arms out so they couldn't pull me all the way down and shout gopher so they could come rescue me. We had many "Gopher Drills". He would shout gopher and I would put my arms out as quickly as I could. There was a part of me that is embarrassed by how silly I was, but I realize more all the time how my grandfather's sense of humor is part of my heritage.

A heritage I'm proud to be part of. It is gratifying to see how it passes down in the generations. I see quite a bit of my grandfather's sense of humor in my youngest daughter. She just makes me laugh, but she has that same dry wit. I see him in myself when I get obsessed with a topic and can't stop researching it, or when I find yet another thing I'm interested in. He had a quick wit, he was well read, and he had a playful side I have really come to appreciate. Thank you grandpa, for being such an important part of my life, and future.