Finding your Happy Weight: Know thyself...

Tuesday Recap:

Workout: 2 sets arms & legs with 8 pound weights

Breakfast: 1 cup cooked Steel cut oats + flax + 1/4 walnuts + 2 tablespoons craisins + cinnamon, vanilla and a little maple syrup

OK, this bowl of oatmeal was seriously HUGE. So huge that I couldn't even finish it. The only problem with that was I spent the rest of the day a litttttttle hungry, but never really feeling the desire to go back and finish the oatmeal for some reason.

I'm realizing more and more that a big breakfast is key for me. If I have one, I don't really feel too hungry at any point for the rest of the day. But if I don't have enough? The rest of the day tends to be a bit cravey and 'looking for the next thing.' Recognizing and acknowledging your 'food triggers' is SUCH an important part of the weight loss/getting healthy process, and I'm definitly noticing a pattern with this one. (the exception here is when you are TRULY NOT hungry for breakfast for some reason...like if you overindulged the night before. Then I don't believe in shoving food down your throat 'just because.' There is definitly a difference! Know thyselfJ)

Snack: 1 Berry Bliss Bar

Adding to the 'not enough food in the morning' was, coupled with the smaller oatmeal serving, this snack was the paltriest one of the bunch so far on the Bikini Series. Again, had I finished the oatmeal (or went back and finished it later) it would have been enough...but the 2 being sorta unsatisfying made for a bit of a 'looking for the next thing' kinda day.

I DID manage to keep it together, however....

Lunch: Salmon with scallions & dill over spinach + 1 cup of watermelon

Snack: 1 cup of watermelon + 1/4 cup of cashews

I also had a couple carrots dipped in hummus in the afternoon. This was the toughest part of the day to get through, without reaching for more & more snacks to help satisfy me. I held off, but it was definitely a struggle yesterday.

Dinner: Tone it Up Chicken Stir-Fry

Thankfully, dinner was super satisfying. I keep waiting for teeny-tiny dinner servings on this Bikini Series/TIU Nutrition program, but there really haven't been any as of yet. Most meals aren't really far off from how we normally cook, but following the plan, we've just been more conscious of oils/fats, no heavy carbs with dinner and an over abundance of vegetables to fill in all the gaps (ps-we were making enough for 6 servings, that you'll see later throughout this week, hence the MOUNDS of chicken & veggies!).

Along with a 'cleaner' stir-fry sauce made with garlic, tamari, ginger. sesame oil & rice vinegar. Don't get me wrong, Scott & I still love our Garlic/Green Onion stir-fry sauce varieties, but switching it up and making it this way (with LESS sugar/processing/ingredients) isn't a bad way to alternate your meals to being a littttttle bit healthier than normal.

And on the no carbs (past 3pm) thing, not that 1/2 cup of rice (white or brown) with dinner is going to be the difference between healthy and unhealthy, but I honestly didn't even miss it here AT ALL. So why not give it a try skipping it one time? You can always have it the next time, but ya might just realize you don't really NEED it, ya know?

And in 'funny Katie food pictures' of the week: not only did she take it upon herself to take out an entire 1/4 watermelon, unwrap it and have it as breakfast yesterday morning...

...but I used my 'trick' of letting her sneak veggies off the cutting board, where she proceeded to carry around and knawl on this broccoli stem like an ice cream cone for at least a half hour. Hey, whatever it takes! J