Wish me Luck

I started another new diet on Sunday. "Geez, what's new?" you say? But honestly, I haven't lost 1 lb since the start of the year and I am definitely not going to make my goal wedding weight unless I get serious.  Even with all my workouts and the new Warp Speed Fat loss, I haven't lost any weight. I have, however, increased my endurance significantly and cut about 45 sec off my mile pace. My clothes fit better and my stomach is down more than 2" which was my biggest problem area.

I'm using a 1300 calorie plan from my old Sports Nutritionist.  The meal plan has a good balance of all of food groups, with an emphasis on protein.  The food scale is a new staple on our countertop with my TI-30x calculator to help.  I didn't realize how my portions have grown over the last few years and I was probably consuming closer to 2000 cals/day which is way too much for my age/weight and activity level.

Three and a half days down. I am pretty hungry. It should take a little while for my stomach to adjust to the smaller portions and I know the first week is always the most difficult. I'm down 2.5 lbs since Sunday but it's probably mostly water weight.

The real task is making it through the weekend and not gaining it all back since that's basically been my M.O.  We like to go out to eat on the weekends, but we'll really have to cut that back now.  It will be a good excuse to save money too.

Stay Tuned...

Beef Stroganoff

Don't expect this recipe to taste like your traditional creamy beef stroganoff.  However, this is a much lighter, much much more healthy version that omits all of the sour cream, heavy gluten filled noodles and all those extra calories.

Ingredients:
1 lb beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 carrot, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth (be sure to confirm it is gluten-free)
1 cup whole plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Brown the beef in a large nonstick skillet coated with olive oil cooking spray
2. Add onion, mushroom, carrot, garlic and continue to cook another 6-8 min
3. Add beef broth, salt, pepper, bring to a low boil
4. Add yogurt 1 tbsp at a time, stirring constantly
5. Cover and simmer for 15 min on medium-low heat
6. Remove lid, add cheese and stir until blended

Serving Suggestion: We served ours over Spaghetti Squash noodles but you can try quinoa noodles or your other favorite gluten-free noodle.

A view of Step #2:

Note that this recipe contains dairy so it's not Paleo, but it is still gluten-free!

Denver Quiche

This super-easy quiche is like a Denver Omlet! We made this for our fun St. Patty's Day breakfast at our friend Clare's.

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded potatos (I used a pre-shredded, frozen package)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb Sausage, skins removed
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup 2% milk
12 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh parsley

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Toss potatos with olive oil
3. Press potatos into 9x12 baking dish
4. Bake 10-15 min until potatoes are golden. Remove from oven.
5. Brown sausage in a separate pan
6. Layer Sausage on top of golden shreeded potatos, layer onion and green pepper on top.
7. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, and salt. Add to Potato, sausage and onion pan.
8. Sprinkle with parsley
9. Bake for 20-30 min until firm
10. Sprinkle with shredded cheese once removed from oven. Let stand for 5 min while cheese melts.

Bean-Free Bison Chili

You should REALLY try this chili - it is easiest the best chili recipe we have made! Bison meat is super healthy compared to regular beef. If you don't like bison, you can try grass fed beef.  We have also used a low fat ground turkey that produced equally as delicious results.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 lbs ground bison
2 medium size garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 can diced plum tomatoes (28oz)
1 can tomato sauce (14 oz)
1 can tomato paste (5.5 oz)
3 tbsp chili powder
3 bay leaves
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp dry basil
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
1. Put oil in large saucepan. On medium-high heat, saute onion, green pepper and celery until onion is just beginning to soften.
2. Add bison. Stir and cook until bison is completely cooked.
3. Stir in garlic, diced tomato, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili, bay leaf, oregano, basil, cumin and jalapeno pepper. Allow chili to come to boil, then reduce to simmer.
4. Cook stirring occasionally for the next 30 minutes.
5. Removed Bay Leaf and Serve.

Modified from http://www.bisonbasics.com/

Warp Speed Fat Loss Week 4

Here is week 4.

Warp Speed Fat Loss Week 3

I forgot to post Weeks 3 and 4 workouts but here they are... finished up this training module last week and will post results soon.