Turkey Chili Recipe

Turkey Chili

1 cup = 200 calories

Ingredients:

1 lb 97% lean ground turkey (you can use 97% lean ground beef instead)

1 can diced tomatos

1 can Ranch Style beans

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 package of chili seasoning

Rice

Next time I'm going to leave out the Northern Beans. Not my favorite bean and the chili was a little too bean heavy.

 Make SURE you use 97/3 turkey or ground beef. If you use anything less you might as well eat a cheeseburger (I'm being a bit dramatic, but don't short yourself on lean protein).

Brown the turkey. It will turn white as you cook it, that's normal. Add a chopped onion at this point if you like onion.

 Add all the other ingredients to a big pot and cook on medium until it boils. Turn down the heat and simmer until dinner time. Cook the rice separately.

Layer a little rice, one cup of chili (use a measuring cup), a little cheese and crackers if you can afford the extra calories.

This is super yummy! Add your favorite hot sauce if you like a little heat!

Tuesday's Food 2.28.2012

Egg white breakfast sandwich, you can find out how to make it here.

I couldn't find an accurate description of my breakfast sandwich, but this one from Starbucks has about the same calories as mine so I used it.

Leftover turkey chili from the night before. I did add some cheddar cheese and saltine crackers. The cheese I used (1/4 cup) had half the calories of the entire bowl of chili. Not sure it was worth it!

I had a sweet potato at 3:00pm. I will bake 2 or 3 sweet potatoes at a time and keep them in the fridge for lunch or snack. I just microwave them and use one sweet-n-low. Being prepared is half the battle of eating right!

 For dinner we had steak stroganoff.  It is simply amazing and my husband's favorite meal. Anytime we have steak (like we did on Sunday night) he will grill one extra and I use it in the next couple days to make this steak stroganoff.  I ate before him and forgot to take a picture of my bowl, so this is his. I didn't eat quite as much as him. :) It is NOT low-calorie, so you must use self control with your portions. One portion size = a deck of cards. So noodles = deck of cards, stroganoff = deck of cards. That being said, click HERE for the recipe.

I went to Target and treated myself to a small sugar-free vanilla skinny latte. It was worth the 102 calories!

I had a baby that wanted to be held while I needed to cook dinner, so I cooked dinner like this!

Monday's Food 2.27.2012

Breakfast was real oatmeal (I cooked it on the stove) with one sweet-n-low, 2 slices of 100% whole wheat toast with 1tbsp of almond butter on each piece. 

Lunch was a tuna wrap with leftover salad and almonds. 

I didn't eat all my lunch, so I edited the food entry by deleting the greek yogurt, pita chips and carrots. Remember, you do not have to eat everything on your plate!

 Homemade turkey chili - VERY low calorie! I was only able to take about 4 bites because my baby started crying and then I had to runout the door to teach bootcamp. 

Because I didn't get to eat dinner I took a protein bar with me which  I ate in between workout classes. Try to keep a meal substitute like this protein bar in your purse or desk at work because sometimes you are just do not have the time to eat right. Better a protein bar than a Big Mac!

This is my favorite protein bar because it tastes yummy,  has 17g of protein and only 1g of sugar. You really have to check the sugar on so-called protein bars. Some have more sugar than a milk shake!

I had one protein bar at 2:30pm and another at 7:30pm.

You can find these at Wal-Mart and Kroger in the diet food section.

Sunday's Food 2/26/2012

I've screen printed my calorie logs so that you can see how I inputted all my food. I might have forgotten to take pictures at breakfast and dinner so I found internet images identical to what I ate. First day mistake!


Breakfast was a 1/2 cup dry (cooked on the stove) of plain oatmeal with one Sweet-n-Low mixed in and an EAS protein drink. Total 260 calories. I usually like to get at least 300 calories for breakfast, but this works since I got a lot of protein from the EAS drink.





Lunch was a salmon filet, medium sweet potato and a handful of baby carrots. There is a lot of orange on this plate! I buy the frozen Atlantic salmon at Wal-Mart. I simply put a little Cavendar's seasoning and bake at 375 for 10 minutes. I had baked the sweet potato the night before. I put one packet of Sweet-n-Low on the potato. And that large sonic drink is water! Not the cherry vanilla diet coke I wanted to order. :)


For a mid afternoon snack I had a small bowl of Kashi Heart cereal. This is really the only Kashi cereal that I like.





Dinner was a small caesar salad, a 6 oz filet mignon (no bacon) and half of a twice baked potato. This meal is a perfect example of eating what I wanted (or in this case what all the boys at my house wanted for dinner) and using portion control. Remember one portion of any food is the size of a deck of cards.





Shad had two of his uncles over for dinner.


Of course they are already teasing him.



~Marietta


***Please excuse any typos as this blog was posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

Food Diary Challenge

The most effective way to lose weight is to exercise to burn calories and to eat right by cutting down on calories.

Exercising is the easy part for me... Eating right? Not so much. To truly track your caloric intake you should keep a record of what you are putting in you mouth. The app "My Fitness Pal" is probably the easiest method because it computes the calories for you and you always have your phone with you.

I just had a baby 3 weeks ago and have not cared a bit what I was putting in my mouth. I was way too concerned about my new baby's needs.

However, starting tomorrow I will commit to one week of taking pictures of each meal and sharing that day with you on the following day. So tomorrow (Monday) I will share today's (Sunday) meals. My one disclaimer: My total calories will be a little more than yours (about 2,000) since I am feeding another human. But I will post the calories of each meal so you can see how much REAL food you can eat. (Fake food being processed junk.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quick Weekend Workout

This workout follows our bootcamp format of cardio to get your heart rate up (to burn fat!) and then strength training to tone up.

50 PLANK JUMPS

50 SQUATS

50 BURPEES

50 PUSH UPS

Rest for 1 minute

Repeat the same workout for the below repetitions:

40 times & rest for 1 minute

30 times & rest for 1 minute

 20 times & rest for 1 minute

 10 times & stretch! 

Below are descriptions of the exercises. 

PLANK JUMPS

SQUATS

BURPEES

PUSH UPS

Menu Monday: Breakfast Sandwich

My go to post-workout (morning) meal is an egg-white breakfast sandwich. You should always eat lean protein after bootcamp or any hard workout. So here is a yummy and QUICK solution that is packed with protein and whole grains, so it will fill you up! Also, you can make this sandwich, wrap it in tin foil and eat it on your way to work. This way you won't drive thru McDonald's or Chick-fil-a... right?!?! :)

My sandwich always has:

Two pieces of bread, toasted

Egg whites

1 piece of cheese

Tony Chachere's seasoning

Lite Mayo

Sometimes I add whatever else I might have on hand... tomato, onion, spinach, turkey bacon, sandwich meat - ham or turkey, etc.

Easiest way to make this sandwich pour 1/2 cup of egg whites into a cereal size bowl, add a shake or two of Tony Chachere's and microwave until done. Take the egg white mixture and put onto toast in one piece. Add mayo and cheese (my favorite is a sharp provolone).

I always use either Ezekiel Bread (available at Kroger in the organic freezer section) or Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread with no high fructose corn syrup... it's crazy that you have to check your bread for this horrible stuff!

I almost always use these egg whites because they are so quick and easy.

Superbowl Snacks

Are you going to a Superbowl Party, but don't want to eat cheese dip, hot wings or any of the other high calorie party food?

Since I only go to Superbowl parties for the food and commercials, I love it when there are actually snacks that are not completely processed crap. Here are several alternatives, but I'm sure you'll have to be the one to make and take the healthy version to the party!


Mini Caprese Stacks

(Baby tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper, cut in half, with 1 basil leaf and a slice of mozzarella)

Sweet potato, goat cheese and chives rounds

(bake the sweet potato rounds with olive oil, salt and pepper 375 for 20 minutes- top with goat cheese and bake 5 more minutes, top with chives)

Tuscan White Bean Dip

(canellini beans, plain nonfat yogurt, olive oil, italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic in the food processor) Serve with triscuts or pita chips. For a variation on this dip, add a handful of sundried tomatoes to the food processor.

*These recipes & photos were taken from http://fitnessista.com/2012/01/superbowl-snacks/

Why Pilates?

My new Pi/Yo class starts February 20th for 4 weeks at Bishop Park... read the below article on why Pilates is so great! Oh, and you can sign up for it HERE

Breathing
The most basic human function, breathing supports life and a fit life, too. A proper inhale fuels your muscles with oxygen, and a powerful exhale helps you engage your deep abs to protect your spine and support your torso. The conscious and studied breathing in Pilates might feel tedious at first, but learning how to breathe into your lower lungs, rather than just your chest, helps makes you a more efficient cardio machine. The Pilates method of inhaling wide through the ribs and exhaling by contracting the deep abs to push the diaphragm into the lungs also means you can keep your upper body and neck relaxed as you take in air.

Learn three more benefits when you keep reading.

Posture
Bad posture makes everything hurt, from my knees to my neck. Proper alignment of the spine is an essential element of the Pilates practice whether you're lying on your back, sitting, or standing in an exercise. The emphasis on working with a neutral spine, maintaining the natural curves of your back, helps strengthen the supportive muscles around the spine and reinforces the sensation of how the pelvis, spine, and skull stack on top of each other. Drilling good posture in mat classes and private sessions allows you to take your understanding of a lengthened and supported spine into all aspects of your life from sitting behind a steering wheel or lunging into Warrior 3.

Core
While Pilates seems like it's all about the abs, it's really core-centric — training the abs and the back to work in conjunction to protect and align the spine. In Pilates, the concept of the core extends to other important though often neglected muscle groups like the inner thighs and pelvic floor (learn how to find and work your pelvic floor here). Think of a Pilates session, be it a mat class or a private one, like a movement laboratory for learning how to stabilize the torso against a wide variety of forces, namely your limbs. Engaging the core to support the torso and spine is central to almost every Pilates exercise, and repeating this action ingrains the concept into your body. When out on a run or the gym floor, you can start to access this connection.

Body Awareness
Practicing a mind-body exercise form like Pilates is a little like meditation, but rather than clearing your thoughts, you focus on feeling your body in motion. This connection helps you better understand how your body works and where it is in space, which in turn helps you perform all kinds of actions more efficiently later, from twisting to reach your purse in the back seat of the car to doing a roundhouse kick. Body awareness also means mindfully working the necessary muscles without tensing other parts of your body, and this action helps you find the deeper, supportive muscles. The mind-body fitness connection also improves your coordination, which can help prevent injury.

*This article is by Susi May and was taken off of: http://www.fitsugar.com/Why-You-Should-Do-Pilates-20051915