59 Days (Jennie)

August 1st already! This year is really flying by at a breakneck pace, it's crazy. A family friend once said that the years pass by quicker as we get older since each subsequent one is less of a fraction of our total life. It is amazing to me, I remember the school year feeling sooooo long when I was a kid- now it rushes by, summer rushes by. My oldest baby is getting ready to start 3rd grade, yet it feels like I was just taking her to kindergarten the other day.

I'm baking cookies tonight, peanut macarons with chocolate ganache filling.

Hi gorgeous!

I absolutely love baking, which is one of my biggest challenges for trying to keep weight off. It is a great stress reliever for me, and makes me lots of friends at the office too. I do try to sub in healthier items whenever the opportunity presents itself, some work beautifully and others, not so much. Subbing coconut flour in for regular flour was a disaster.

A few friendlier substitutions:
- Substitute 1/2 the oil called for in a recipe with applesauce or plain yogurt. It keeps the moisture in baked goods while reducing fat and calories naturally.
- Pumpkin puree can be added to many baked goods, it's low in calories and high in fiber.
- Unsweetened almond milk for whole milk (unless you're using it for whipping)

These are suggestions that have worked well for me and not had a detrimental impact to the final product. I look forward to finding more to share! I am a self-professed baking snob in that I want what I eat to be delicious, if it tastes "low cal", it's not worth it. I don't substitute where there would be a big noticeable difference to the taste of the item, such as removing butter or replacing all sugar with a substitute. I'd rather have a tiny bit of the full-fat wonderful thing then a bigger serving of the overly-substituted artificial counterpart. Food is fuel, but it's also enjoyment. And one forkful of something amazing is better than a plateful of something so-so.

Food for the day
Breakfast: post-workout smoothie with waaaay too much spinach (it was starting to turn and I didn't want to waste it- so dumped it all in the mixer!), vanilla protein powder, unsweetened almond milk and a banana
Morning snack: running late for work, so I grabbed a Greek yogurt from the fridge (fruit kind) and a handful of almonds
Lunch: salad with grilled chicken and ranch dressing, granny smith apple
Afternoon snack: granola bar
Dinner: cheeseburger- caught me a bit by surprise that hubby wanted to go out tonight, but he had a rough day at work and we both got home late. Our usual stomping ground (Chipotle) had a line wrapping around and out the door, so we went a few doors down for a burger instead. Thankfully I had a good workout this morning, so still under my calories for the day!
Dessert: nothing really- although I did sample tiny bits of macaron batter and chocolate ganache as I was baking tonight. So add a few calories there- but they were worth it!

Total calories in: 1930
Calories burned: 2500
Workout: P90X Plyo and a 2 mile walk

88 Days (Jennie)

Okay, I'm posting this a day late, but I didn't forget! We went out to visit friends for their city's 4th of July celebration, actually held on the 3rd. We had a blast (literally!), but didn't get home until 2:00 this morning! Sooo... knowing that I wasn't going to necessarily be eating super healthy for dinner, I tried to keep breakfast and lunch in check to compensate. Sadly, no workout either as I was scrambling to run errands and get items together to bring over for dinner. I planned to, even sat around in my pajamas (I took the day off) until 3pm, thinking that I would be working out and would get ready for the party afterwards. Not so much!

Here's the rundown for the day:

Breakfast
Coffee, turkey bacon and plain greek yogurt with honey and grapes

Lunch
String cheese and a protein shake (vanilla protein powder, frozen blueberries, spinach and unsweetened almond milk)

Dinner
Here's the not-so-good part. A wonderful salad and pepperoni pizza (loooove it- guilty pleasure), at least I kept it to 3 pieces, despite wanting to devour half of it.

Dessert
I was tasked with bringing dessert to our friends' house (did I mention I LOVE to bake? Works oh so well when you're trying to cut back on the refined sugar/flour intake). I made jello (layered blue raspberry, whipped cream and cherry for the red/white/blue effect), peanut butter macarons with chocolate ganache filling and key lime pie. I did keep portions okay, had a small-ish slice of the key lime pie and one macaron. This is why when I bake, I take it to work or let hubby take it to work to share. It's too hard to have the wonderful sugary stuff around, my sweet tooth is relentless!

Overall calories in: about 2000. This is a really rough estimate since I'm using a generic figure for the macaron and key lime pie.

Calories burned: 2100... grrr... definitely need to get a workout in!