Healthy | city and burbs

I remember my ‘freshman 15′. It was not fun. I actually spent the better part of my twenties trying to work those pounds off. And I succeeded. With the help of MyFitnessPal (best calorie counting app EVER), a South Beach Diet-esque mentality, my wonderful trainer, and a little wedding anxiety I was able to walk down the aisle the thinnest I’ve been since high school. Well, I’m convinced now that there’s something called the ‘newlywed 10′ too, because guess who’s no longer at their wedding weight folks. Me.

I have a theory about how this happened. I was actually able to maintain my weight throughout most of my first year of marriage but then sometime around December, the battery on my bathroom scale died. You wouldn’t think so, but I’m convinced that derailed my weight maintenance. I’m one of those girls who weighs themselves every day. So without my daily weigh-in, with the holidays rolling around, and back to back vacations, I unknowingly put on some weight over the following 6 months. When I finally replaced the battery on my scale (that battery was harder to find than you would think), my fears were confirmed — the number on my scale had gone up by 10.

So this week, I’m recommitting to health and fitness and in an effort to boost my motivation, I’m on a very strict diet and workout schedule. I did not want to be derailed however, so I took every step to make sure there would be no complications. I cooked (or prepped) breakfast and dinner for the week, in advance, and made sure that I only had healthy food in the house. No alcohol. Very few carbs. No refined sugar. I’m keeping my daily calorie intake at 1200 calories per day and trying to get at least 45 minutes of cardio per day. Hopefully, this will give me the boost I need to get back to my wedding weight (and just in time for the summer).

So let’s check out the food I’m eating this week. Since this strict diet is only for a week, I’m not too concerned about variety. Fortunately, eating the same thing every day doesn’t bore me. Here’s the food list:

Reset Week – Food List

Breakfast:

Egg Muffins w/ Spinach, Sundried Tomatoes, and Low Fat Cheddar Cheese (modification of this recipe)
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Fruit

Lunch:

English Muffin w/ Organic Peanut Butter
English Muffin w/ sliced turkey and low fat cheese

Snacks:

Raw Almonds
Polly-O String Cheese
Sugar Free Jello Cup
Celery or Carrots and Organic Peanut Butter
Roasted Chickpeas @ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Fruit

Dinner:

Mediterranean Chicken Salad (substitute lite dressing)
Almond Crusted Baked Salmon and Steamed Vegetables (recipe coming soon)
Baked Chicken w/ Salsa & Lowfat Cheese (modified this recipe)

Dessert:

Jello 60 Calorie Chocolate Pudding
Carb Smart Ice Cream Bar

I’m eating a combination of food from this list (keeping my intake at 1200 calories) and making sure to eat a good balance of protein, vegetables and whole grains. Some may argue that 1200 calories is not enough — but as long as I don’t feel deprived, I think it’s okay. If I ever do feel like I’m starving, I’ll eat a healthy, filling snack (most likely, the raw almonds). Here are some photos from my prep on Sunday and tonight’s yummy dinner. I’ll let you know my progress next week.

Also, if you’re on MyFitnessPal feel free to friend request me — my username is ccandela — it’s always fun to count calories together .

Growing up, we hardly ever ate fish. The funny thing is, my parents liked it and I liked it, but my sister was horrified by the smell and would complain so much when they cooked it, that they eventually stopped making it altogether. As a result, I was actually really nervous about cooking it last night. Even more so when I unwrapped the salmon and the smell hit me like a ton of bricks — it was not pleasant. After donning a pair of makeshift freezer bag gloves (note to self, buy latex gloves), I got started on this recipe I found on allrecipes.com — Healthier Grilled Salmon I — which was really easy and quick. I made 3 minor changes – I used raw cane sugar instead of brown because that’s what I had, I used Lite Soy Sauce, and I used Polamers Ready to Use Chopped Garlic instead of mincing a clove. I grilled it on my new All-Clad Double Burner Grill from Williams Sonoma (my new favorite kitchen item) and believe it or not — the smell was not an issue. I plated it up with a bit of brown rice and much to mine and M’s surprise, it was actually pretty good.

Here is my modified version of this recipe. Let me know if you try it out and what you think:

Healthier Grilled Salmon I

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 lbs. salmon fillets
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon Polamers Ready to Use chopped Garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt, to taste
2 tablespoons Lite Soy Sauce
1/3 cup Raw Cane Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In a 13 X 9-inch glass dish, stir together lemon juice and zest, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic and olive oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish flesh side down in mixture and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat grill for medium heat.
Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Enjoy!