Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Ice Cream

I'm back y'all and boy do I have a treat for you. Who here has a sweet tooth? This girl does! Today I got some low calorie high protein ice cream for you. This is not an original recipe... it is all over Instagram and YouTube. But I think I found the best one. 

Add all ingredients to a high powered blender or a regular food processor.

2 scoops of chocolate protein powder

1/4 cup of powdered peanut butter

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp of xanthan/gaur gum

 2 tablespoons of sweeter

And ice or frozen fruit  I used ice.

The more ice the thicker it is. 

Blend on high for one minute. Then scrape down the sides and continue to blend on high for another minute and 30 seconds.

The toppings is where you get to have your real fun. You can use M&ms, chocolate chips, candy bars, and granola bars. The possibilities are endless really. 

I used sugar free chocolate syrup, a fiber one brownie and a sprinkle of powdered peanut butter to top it.

This whole bowl  (toppings included) is 275 calories. This recipe however makes an entire blender full of chocolate peanut butter protein ice cream and you can eat the entire blender for less than 400 calories (before toppings).

I hope you love this as much as I do. See you next time and as always may the Scale be ever in your favor.

2 weigh ins for the price of one

Ok now it's time for a weigh in update!!!

As you guys are aware I missed last week due to some family stuff. Amidst all the craziness that was going on I did not get a chance to take photos last week but I did weigh in and I lost.... Drum roll please... One pound. 

With everything going on as well as being on my shark week I wasn't moving as much and not making the best food choices. I was so tempted to be angry with myself but I had to remember and remind myself multiple times that I did not gain weight, I lost weight. That before in a stressful situation I would have ate myself into a food coma or not eat it all and then binged. This tiny 1 lb loss is a victory and so many ways.

This week was a bit better though not by much. I was still dealing with things but we did see a 2lb drop this week. 

All right y'all I'll be back next Monday with another weigh in.. until then may the scale be forever in your favor.

Lavish

*Sorry I missed last week. Had a bit of a family emergency but everyone is ok and I'm back with a super yummy pizza recipe (or two) and I can't wait to share it with you.*

If you're anything like me pizza is life. Carbs are life. And we have been told time and time again to stay away. Well no more I say.. no more. 

It's time to make pizza completely customizable while being calorically responsible. 

These are my personal favorites. Pepperoni jalapeno and pineapple as well as barbecue chicken jalapeno and pineapple. But there are so many options we've now tried mexican pizzas and Greek pizzas. The options are endless. The secret though is your crust and no it's not cauliflower. It's lavish bread. 

Pepperoni Jalapeno Pineapple Pizza

260 calories for the whole plate 🍽️

-Ingredients-

*1 Lavish bread - 90 cal (I prefer Joseph's which is readily available at Walmart but any low calorie flatbread will work just fine)

*12 Turkey pepperoni - 40 cal

*1oz Shredded mozzarella - 80 cal

*1/4 cup Pineapple tidbits - 10 cal

*12 pieces of sliced jared Jalapenos - 5 cal

*Dealer's choice amount of Garlic powder - 0 cal

*1/4 cup Pizza sauce - 35 cal (I use chef boyardee pizza sauce in the can. I know what you're thinking but it's surprisingly delicious and does not taste like their ravioli. It's low calorie low sugar and very few ingredients. Best part is 1 can is enough for my whole family and then some.)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 take out your lavish breads and go ahead and put them on the baking tray, Pizza Pan or whatever you're working with. 

2. Once your oven is preheated go ahead and slide in your lavish bread. But stay close maybe even set a timer for like 2 mins. (These are thin and they will burn fast if you don't watch them.) After the 2 minutes if they're looking Brown flip it and go another two more. After it's reached desired doneness pull it out and let it cool while you get all your pizza ingredients together. 

3. Now that you have your toppings go back to your crust and begin assembling. Start with the garlic powder sprinkle it across the top especially around the edges. Gives it a nice little garlic crust touch. I've also used ranch seasoning which is pretty good as well. Then continue with the rest of your ingredients and whatever order you'd like.

4. Once you've got it all assembled put it back in the oven and set your timer for 5 minutes. Once the cheese is melted it's ready to go.

*If you're interested in the barbecue chicken pizza all you have to do is swap grilled chicken for turkey pepperoni and low calorie barbecue sauce for the pizza sauce. It is a few extra calories but still well under 400.*

Simple easy yummy and has become a house staple in this home. A Little pizza and salad goes a long way with my family. 

Also don't let these little guys fool you they are super filling and that comes from somebody who has eaten an entire Domino's Pizza on their own and asked or more. 

Do YOU Boo Boo

Whether your goal is to be a bodybuilder ora professional eater, it doesn't matter. Be whatever you want... As long as it doesn't hurt anyone else it's not anybody's business. You're job is to seek out the most meaningful life to you. You don't owe anybody anything. 

 

That being said your girls here with another Monday morning weigh in!!

I'm down 6lbs this week!!

aAl right y'all, I'll see you next Monday with a weigh-in and a recipe. We're going to be making flatbread pizzas.. Yummy. Until then may the scale be ever in your favor! 

It's all or nothing baby!

The killer of progress. My arch nemesis. And that little voice in the back of my head that says, damn fatty you just ruined your whole day over cookie. 

The dreaded All or nothing mentality.

If you've ever had to lose weight then you've probably come up against this very issue. 

You are having a great day, maybe even a great week.. Slaying the workouts. Killing the caloric deficits. Just doing all the things you know you should be. You are feeling amazing, like you're on top of the world. Then in the middle of all that progress you get busy or caught up and have to eat a fast food dinner. Or your partner wants to take you out on a date. Maybe it's the holidays and now you have to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. Whatever the case may be you are now faced with a plateful of food that is not in your caloric wheelhouse right now. 

What do you do?? 

Hopefully you eat your one bad meal and it changes nothing. You understand that things pop up in life and everyday won't be perfect eating and workouts. You were able to enjoy your meal and then go back to killing it with your weight loss. 

But if you're anything like me that one meal made you feel like a failure. You somehow forget all about the good meals and the hard workouts you have been focusing on. You put all your attention on that one meal in the middle of your week and you decide that you already missed your exit so you might as well keep on driving.

I know, I know, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. Who has ever missed an exit and just kept driving till the end of the highway. No one. It makes no sense.. it doesn't even make sense to myself. Yet it's what I do time and time again. And apparently I'm not alone. 

It's time to bust out of that All or nothing mentality. This weight loss journey is not about deprivation. It is not about never. It's about not as much. If you are looking for a stability you won't get there by saying you'll never have another cookie again. That's not realistic and it's time to live in the real world. 

So let's slow things down and just focus on one meal at a time. If you step over your caloric line you can always back up. Do not think of yourself as a failure. You are human. That cookie tasted amazing and you deserved it. Now go get back on your grind boo. We got heads to turn.

       Monday 3/15/2021  down 8lbs 🏃🏻‍♀️

Hope you all had an amazing week. I'll see you Monday and until then may the scale be ever in your favor.

 

 

Five Years Later

 Hey y'all. 

It's been awhile. Did you meet your goal? Did you keep the weight off? Are you now living the life you were dreaming of when we started this 5 long years ago?  

Nope, I did not, and I definitely am not.

In fact I only ever achieved a third of my weight loss goal. I gained it all back and then some and I am now further from that life than ever. 

So what happened?? How did I go from slaying weight loss to struggling with it?

Life. In losing the weight I started to enjoy my life again. I was going out with friends, meeting new people, and doing new things. I was looking good, feeling good and so excited to show it off. Which is what this journey was all about. And that initial weight loss led me to many great things. Like my amazing husband whom I married last March and our beautiful new baby together.

But somewhere along the line I stopped pushing myself. I got too comfortable eating out and skipping workouts. I quickly forgot why I had even gotten started in the first place and in no time I was all play. Yet again my life had no balance. 

When I step back now with a clear head and assess the last 5 years, I can see that I fell prey to the very thing I warned myself about time and time again. That dreaded All or nothing mentality.

 I would be having a perfectly great day calorie wise then go out with my husband have a bad lunch and instead of going home and having a better dinner, I would just jump off the caloric cliff. This time with a partner that told me I was beautiful the whole way down. 

It was much easier to ignore the signs of obesity while I was happy and with a partner who could care less what I looked like. I used my new life and my new happiness as an excuse. I played willfully ignorant as I stuffed my face with all the yummy foods, sat on the couch next to my handsome husband and gained every pound back. Knowing all to well the health risks and negative feelings that come free with every bite.

Now my new sweet baby is turning one. The same age my first son was when I realized I needed to lose weight in the first place. I am not smaller for this child but bigger. I have not done better but worse. And thinking about that first birthday quickly approaching while I'm in worse shape than I was five years ago had me shook to my very squishy core.

I pulled up my big girl pants in January 2021 and got back to it. Now I am down 24lbs and back to my original starting point. Which lead me right back here. 

At the end of the day I am and have always been a BIG girl and this big girl is hungry. 

HUNGRY for success.

I'll be posting every Monday with a picture and weigh-in update. I will also try to come with the all the motivation, tips, tricks, workouts and recipes just like before. This is Puff into Tuff round 2 and I'm your humbled host Kat weighing in at 290. 

See ya Monday and until then may the scale be ever in your favor.

Chicken Marsala Casserole

One of my Favorite Italian dishes made a little lighter and a little easier!

-Ingredients-

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion diced

2 teaspoons minced garlic

16 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms

1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 a cup Marsala wine
1/2 a cup fat free half and half
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup brown rice uncooked
2 packed cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken
1/4 cup parsley


-Directions-

Preheat oven to 375

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat

Add onions and mushrooms to the skillet and cook stirring occasionally for 5 -7 mins

add garlic and cook 2 more mins

sprinkle the flour on top and stir in for 1 min

stir in the Marsala and half and half slowly and shimmer until slightly thickened

stir in chicken broth

spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and spread the rice in a even layer

add the chicken to the casserole dish

Pour the mushroom gravy on top

Wrap tightly with aluminum foil and bake about 45 mins

Remove from oven and enjoy.

Each serving is 245 calories!

I love JM

Fitness and Sickness

I have been down with a cold for the last few days and it has made me ask a lot of questions that may be considered dumb to think about while your sick.

Like...

How many calories are in this cough drop?

Should I drink ginger ale or stick to water?

Can I still work out?

Will DayQuil/NyQuil make me fat?

What should I eat?

My fiancee laughed at me so hard when I asked these things.
Maybe I am a Little to focused on weight loss but I can't help it. Plus its never a bad time to think about your health right? lol

This is my guide to surviving a cold.

Cough drops may seem like a silly thing to worry about but they can actually have as many as 80 calories in a single drop. Even the ones with only 15 calories add up. My suggestion is using store brand sugar free drops as they are cheaper work better and have 0 - 5 calories.

Drinking lots of fluids when your sick is key. I have always been told to drink ginger ale which on a good day is 160 calories per glass. No thanks! Stay away guys. I know ginger settles the stomach but their isn't enough in ginger ale to actually make a difference. Instead drink Lot's of water and a few glasses of orange juice a day. The vitamin c really helps but try to find one with less sugar. I like the simply orange kind because it has tons of vitamin c and is only 100 calories.

Technically as long as your symptoms are neck up you can pretty exercise any way you want but holding back a little and doing less may help you in the long run. Do some easy sitting exercises or laying ones maybe even just walk in place for 30 mins and call it a day. If you ache through out your body or have a fever please go sit your happy butt down you will not be working out today.

Your medicine will not make you fat... In fact most of the time those liquid meds are calorie free and even if their not just take your damn medicines and get better lol

We have heard it all our lives IF YOUR SICK EAT CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP!
Well they are right guys It's low cal, yummy, and the hot broth will make you feel human again. Even if chicken noodle isn't your thing any soup with a clear broth will help. I am a die hard progresso girl! None of that starve a cold crap here. When you eat right you feel right!

 

Lasagna Please

Who doesn't love a nice cheesy saucy lasagna?

I know I do. I just don't love all calories and bad carbs that go with it.

Today using a few simple swaps, I'm gonna show you how to make a super low calorie Lasagna, that is still super high in taste! This is my zucchini lasagna and I promise not only is it yummy but it's also easy to make and pretty light on your wallet as well.

(My fiance bought the worlds thinnest zucchinis 

so I apologize for my patch work lol)

-Ingredients-

1 lb of Lean ground turkey 

2 Zucchinis

2 cups of low fat ricotta

1 cup of grated Parmesan

1 egg

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp basil (you can use fresh but I used dried)

1 jar of pasta sauce 

1 1/2 cups mozzarella 

1 tbsp of butter 

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

-Directions-

1. In a medium sauce pan brown your meat. 

When cooked Drain off any fat that may remain and set aside for now.

Go ahead and pre heat your oven to 350.

2. Rinse the pan and add pasta sauce heat over medium low.

3. while your sauce heats up slice your zucchini Length wise.

 Ideally you want them to be about 1/8" thick but if its not don't worry.

4. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add butter. 

Once the butter melts lay your zucchini in the skillet 

like you would strips of bacon and cook each side about 3 mins.

5. Once your zucchini are done let them cool on a plate. 

Meanwhile get your ricotta, Parmesan, egg and seasonings.

Mix them together in a bowl till your satisfied with the texture of your cheese.

6. Take about a cup of your pasta sauce and cover 

the bottom of your casserole dish. Then begin lining your 

dish with the first layer of zucchini.  

7. Spread your ricotta mixture across your bottom zucchini layer 

and then start the next layer of zucchini. 

8. Add the ground turkey and then the pasta sauce.

Top with mozzarella and back about 10-15 mins.

9. Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy!

The entire Pan is about 1700 calories. 

One large bowl full is 235 calories so add a little salad 

and you have one yummy meal.

So nice Ill say it Twice

So with my knee finally starting to feel better, I thought that I would take a moment and reiterate how important rest days are. They are every bit as important as work out days. Taking care of your body so it will function correctly is the best way to show how much you love yourself. 

I get being busy and barley having time to get to the gym let alone rest but you have to make the time. Weather it's a soak in a hot bath or a great nights sleep you need it so your body can repair it's self form the previous work out insuring that you are ready for the next.

Rest days allow your muscles, nerves, bones and connective tissue time to rebuild. it's a true regeneration process that also requires water, nutritious and high protein foods, and sometimes even supplements. Rest days make you stronger.

I understand the want to work out everyday but that is not what is best for your body. Working out 3-5 times a week and having Active rest days in between are so much better for your body then 7 days of pushing through. Plus you are way less likely to have an injury that way. Take it from someone who knows.

  

Love yourself and go take a nap lol

 Probably the only time you will hear me say that.