Having Fun (OMG really?) Maintaining My Weight!

Friends,
I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted any recipes or updates! To be honest, we have been crazy busy. With what you say? For one, selling our first house, also, with all of this gorgeous weather, we have been outside a ton, jogging, walking the dogs, riding our bicycles and enjoying nature. Some nights, we'll look up and it's already 9pm!

I am still doing well on the "adapting" part of my life-style changing diet. At about 1,200 calories per day, I can intake the food I need to maintain a healthy thinking attitude and to exercise like I want to. Cory has been incredibly supportive as well, even picking up the "my fitness pal" app habit, to support me as I use it. By the way, it is a wonderful app! Link to the My Fitness Pal app.

Here are a few useful tips I have discovered during my adapting back to food:
1. Continue to drink 64oz of water per day! I have found that when I start to get the snacky/munchies, I'm most likely slightly dehydrated and can have a glass of water and feel fine.

2. Also, when feeling snacky, I get out of the kitchen! Sometimes, just having the option of an refrigerator or pantry door to open, can trigger "I'm hungry (but really not)" feelings.
3. When finishing a meal or again, feeling snacky but knowing you're not, go for a piece of gum. I've found some great flavors out there that suit every taste need: Trident Cinnamon is wonderful for anything, Trident Original gets the food taste out of your mouth, Extra Desserts are nice when you want something sweet. I haven't ventured out to try the Apple Pie or Strawberry Shortcake yet but the Orange Creme Pop and Mint Chocolate Chip are good.

4. If you have tried the ideas above but are still hungry, you really might be! Instead of going straight for the carbohydrates (fruit included), reach for some fresh veggies. Our nutritionist encourages us to definitely 6 servings of vegetables today. Once you try to plan that in, it is quite a challenge. I've been able to accomplish this too! Some of the new snack veggies I am loving: sweet baby peppers, sugar snap peas and baby carrots. Sam's Club sells a great value pack of all three (separately of course).

5. Another food Cory and I love, but couldn't afford to eat in the past calorie-wise, was peanut butter. The fat content was too high. Then, I took a work trip to Springfield and discovered PB2 at a Dillon's store. WOW, this stuff is awesome. If you truly love peanut butter, you are going to love this stuff as it tastes like pure peanuts. This type of peanut butter removes 85% of the fat that comes from oil by processing the peanuts like normal, dehydrating them and you buy it on shelf as a peanut butter powder. After you bring it home, you mix it with water to your consistency of choice and voila, a healthy peanut butter! They also offer a chocolate peanut butter. Look it up to find out more on the Bell Plantation Website. It's most cost effective to purchase from their website vs. Amazon, at least that's what we found in our research.

That's all for now. We are headed out for a hike with our pups. More to come later on our delicious grillin' out night with our friends Jon and Emily - we're making Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken Kabobs, yummmmm.