Tip Tuesday

Benefits of Coconut Oil

*Increases energy and burns fat

*Kills bacteria and viruses 

*Weight loss

*Curbs appetite

*Lowers blood cholesterol

*Hair growth

*Moisturizes skin
*Removes toxins (oil pulling)

Past Meal Ideas

To explain the post below this....

I edited and kept most all of the IIFYM post from my old blog, {SwankySouthernCanvas}. I knew it would a good reference for people who want to incorporate their favorite foods into their diet. Read more about flexible dieting here.

So, this is my first post on my new blog.

I wanted to start off by sharing a couple of my favorite recipes/meal ideas with you!

"Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo"

Ingredients:
Boneless/Skinless chicken breasts  *I used two packs of small-medium chicken breasts and tenders*
1 block of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken
1 can of  fat free cream of mushroom
1/2 cp Fat Free italian dressing
1 bag of frozen peas or broccoli
Whole wheat linguini noodles
Penne noodles (or noodles of choice)
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional: Sliced mushrooms, green onions, Parmesan cheese


Directions:
Place chicken in crock pot. Add in the cans of mushroom/chicken, 1 cp italian dressing, salt & pepper then mix. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Once time is up, make sure to shred chicken into smaller pieces. Then add in the block of cream cheese. Cook for another 1-2 hours. Near the end of the time place on warm and start boiling water for the noodles. Once the noodles are almost done, add in the frozen peas or broccoli into the boiling water of noodles. The water will cook the veggies. Next, drain the noodles and veggies. Serve either the chicken mix over the noodles or mix all together in a bowl and serve. Top with Parmesan cheese or green onions if desired.

"Protein French Toast"

Ingredients:
Bread (I like to use Sara Lee low cal bread or Ezekiel)
2-3 egg whites
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/2-1 scoop protein powder of choice (I use Cellucor Cinnamon Swirl or Vanilla)
Fruit of choice

Directions:
Mix egg whites, cinnamon, and protein powder together
Dip each side of a slice of bread into mix, coating the entire slice
Cook on stove over medium heat; flipping sides until egg is cooked
Top with favorite fruit and Walden Farms sugar free syrup

"Pumpkin Cheesecake-Pie"

Ingredients: 

 Filling--

1 pkg of Cheesecake pudding mix
1/2 can of Pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 scoop protein powder (I used Cellucor Cinnamon Swirl)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp Walden Farms sugar free syrup
2 whole eggs
3 Stevia packets

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

 crust--
8 sheets of low fat graham crackers
2 handfuls (1 serving) of fat free, unsalted pretzels

2 tbsp of peanut butter (I use low sodium, crunchy Jif)

1 cup almond milk

*Feel free to play around with the sweeteners! Also, to make this an actual cheesecake, add cream cheese to the mix. I may test this out soon and substitute the cheesecake pudding mix for cream cheese and see how the texture turns out*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust directions: Mix crust ingredients in either a food processor or blender. I chose to use a Ninja blender. Blend 4 sheets of low fat graham crackers, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 handful of pretzels and 1/2 cup almond milk. Transfer this to your pie pan. Then mixed the other halves of the ingredients in the blender, and put the rest in the pan. My blender isn't big enough for the full amount of ingredients, so I split mine into two parts to make the crust. Once the mix is in the pan, flatten out to form the crust. I put the crust in the oven for about 5 minutes before I added the filling.

Filling directions: Basically, mix all your filling ingredients together in a bowl really well then pour on top of your crust. Put back into the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Occasionally, check with a fork to see if it's almost finished. Put back in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until done. Cook longer if needed. Let cool for a bit, then put it in the fridge overnight. Serve the next day!

Macros: 
10 servings

1 serving = 4g fat, 33g carbs, 5g protein

And extra info.... 19g sugar, 188 cals

IIFYM

Hey FitFam!

Hashtag bodybuilding, hashtag fitness, hashtaggggg

....Yeah, little too much but HEY, just trying to get you motivated!

This post may look familiar, well, that's because it is. I took my last post from my old blog and edited the ish out of it.

Now...

Let's talk about this craze, IIFYM real quick.

Okay, so what is IIFYM? *Disclaimer: I am in no means a personal trainer (I wish), nutritionist, or licensed in any area of fitness, so take proper precautions and seek a doctor/CPT before starting a new workout or meal plan.*

 Ok, now that I got that out of the way...

IIFYM is, "If It Fits Your Macros." Basically you fill out personal information on the website, (age, sex, height, weight, and even how many times you workout a week), then you choose your goal, (lose weight, bulk, or maintain). The IIFYM calculator then calculates your daily intake for protein, carbs, fat, fiber, and calories according to your goal. The "rule" is you can eat whatever you want throughout the day, as long as you do not exceed those calculations. 

I don't know how I feel about eating poptarts and oreos any day of the week other than weekends.....
Sayyyy whaaaat?

*CG Note*

 I'm a very routine person. I like to eat healthy (little to no cheats) during normal business hours. I enjoy it actually.

I have multiple cheats throughout the weekend, but I also get my workouts in. As of now, Sunday is my rest day. Weekend treats are something I look forward to. I like the idea of reward. When Friday night rolls around, it feels rewarding to say, "Heyyyy, let's get sushi and fro-yo tonight!"

*CG Note*

I counted macros for about 3 solid weeks (not including weekends). It's a lot of work if you use a variety of ingredients. I would write down every single thing I ate, then calculate to make sure it "fit." I thought I was eating enough within each macro category. Boy, was I wrong.

I entered in all my information, how often I exercised, and my goal. My macros came out to 2,352 calories, 341g carbs, 130g protein, 52g fat, and 26-33g fiber a day. Within the first couple of days and without changing my eating habits, I noticed my problem areas.  My carb and protein intake was entirely too low, I was taking in too much fat, and my calories were substantially lower than 2,300.

Basically, IIFYM opened my eyes to a whole new perspective of eating. I learned that in order to meet my goal, I was going to have to EAT. Or.. eat more. And Yes, it's a lot of work to write down and count every single thing you eat or [[track your macros]], but if you want your goal bad enough (and you want to have your favorite treats any time, all the time), you'll make the commitment! OR, you can just eat the same ol' boring thing everyday. Some of the dessert recipes I make throughout the work week, I write down the ingredients, so even then, I'm kind of tracking the deliciousness I consume during the week.

So, I'm going to try and include the macros on some of the recipes I post. It'll help those of you who want to try IIFYM or who are already counting. The recipes with multiple ingredients will be more of a close estimate rather than exact. Sometimes, I toss in a little less or a lota more of certain ingredients depending on my taste buddies. So give yourself some macro wiggle room when it comes to my recipes!