Hey all, thanks for coming back for today’s Chalk Talk!
Since it is now the end of my 15 week journey, I wanted to share with you, all the tricks and methods I have come up with to make losing weight and getting into shape at least a little bit easier. Now obviously this is no easy challenge when you are on a diet and have a goal in mind it seems just about everything in the world is against you. I mean for real, how many freaking holidays, birthdays, office parties and family dinners can you possibly do in a month! Apparently, a lot. You don’t ever realize how many times you feel obligated to eat like a pig until you actually start trying to eat better.
So here is a list of things that I have had to figure out a better solution for when going through a lifestyle change. None of them are in particular order, so read through them all and hopefully you will find a couple that you think could help you along your journey. To be honest, some of these are great even if you aren’t really trying to lose weight, it’s just good practice. Hope you enjoy!
Intermittent Fasting
I’ve talked about this on a couple of different occasions throughout the last 15 weeks but I think it’s a good one to keep in mind. There a ton of benefits of Intermittent Fasting but the biggest is it helps to keep you below your calorie count each day! See my previous post on Intermittent Fasting for all the juicy details.
Routines
Routines are huge! I can’t stress this enough. Whenever you want to accomplish anything at all. Develop a routine. This is such a simple and common sense idea but I only recently started applying this to aspects of my life and it has helped so much. Like planning out dinners, cleaning the house, going to bed on time. Really every aspect of your life can be made so much more efficient through routine.
Plan Out Your Meals
One of my biggest downfalls was always trying to think of what I “felt” like eating while starving and hangry. This always led to going over my calories or just picking up something on my way home so I didn’t have to wait to figure out what I wanted and then cook it. Speaking of routines, this goes hand in hand. Pick a day of the week that works for you and plan out your dinners for the rest of the week. Our’s in Wednesday. Every Wednesday I sit down with my wife and we decide what we want to eat the rest of the week and then we go shopping and get whatever we need for that week. Then come Friday night when I get home from work, I look at our plan and cook whatever is on it. Makes for much less decision making and helps a ton with planning meals that are good for your calorie count.
Food Substitutes
- Tortillas – Try the green spinach ones! They might not look as great but they taste exactly the same. Same texture and everything at only a third of the calories!
- Pasta – If you are at all like me, you love a good bowl of pasta. Go to your local grocery store or Wal-Mart and in the freezer section you can find pre-made zucchini noodles! They come in a bag and they are super low on calories. Obviously these are a more expensive option but way lower on calories with zero sacrifice in taste and texture.
- Deep-fried – Buy a box of Panko bread crumbs and cover whatever your heart desires with it, and then bake it! Panko is a pretty low calorie bread crumb and by just baking it helps with calories but still provides with some crunch satisfaction
- Buns – If you look carefully in the bread Isle you can almost always find “Skinny” buns. You can buy these and eat a big O’ burger or sandwich and still have your bun. The only catch is that they are thin. I still find it does well to satisfy the habit of having a bun while only bumping up your calories by 100 or so. Not a bad trade off in my opinion. I’ve tried doing just lettuce wraps and they are just messy and there is something just not as satisfying about it.
- Bagels – Kind of the same thing as above. There are also Skinny Bagels which are much lower and calories but still helps that delicious toasty craving.
Meals – This is just the basis of the meal add seasonings as you see fit.
- Buffalo Chicken Wraps – Dice up a bunch a fresh chicken breasts. Cook it with a little bit of olive oil and then cover it in Franks buffalo sauce. Spread a super super thin layer of butter on each spinach tortilla and then crisp up in a pan. Put chicken on tortilla with lettuce and a bit of ranch. Ah-mazingly good.
- Teriyaki Chicken W/ Rice – Cook diced up chicken in a pan with a bit of olive oil. Add in rice (or cauliflower rice for even lower cals). Then add a couple of table spoons of Yoshida’s teriyaki marinade sauce. Add in a small can of diced up Pineapple.
- Grilled Steak with Red Potatoes and Corn – Classic meal here. Pretty self explanatory but we have a meal like this almost every week.
- Popcorn Chicken Salad – One of my favorites. Cube up some chicken and bread it with your Panko breading. Bake the chicken and then put in a mixing bowl. Cover it in buffalo sauce, BBQ, or if your familiar with it, Wingers Amazing Sauce, and then put that chicken in a heaping bowl of lettuce and mozzarella cheese. Add a bit of ranch if your calories allow it.
- Skinny Pulled Pork – Slow cooked spicy pulled pork on a bed of lettuce or in a spinach wrap with some BBQ sauce. You’re welcome.
- Pizza – California Pizza has a thin crust pizza and its only 900 calories for the whole pizza! Not the best to get all your protein in for the day. But a great alternative when you need that slice!
- Breakfast – Can’t go wrong. Eggs, bacon, and Kodiak Protein pancakes. Super low calorie meal and you will be stuffed to the brim. Don’t be shy with that cheddar cheese on your eggs! I am usually at like 8-900 calories after this dinner and I still have 500+ calories left for the rest of the night if I wanted to enjoy something sweet…
Sweet Tooth Cravings / Snacks
- Homemade Fruit Smoothie
- Kettle Corn Popcorn
- Homemade frozen yogurt
- Halo Top Ice Cream
- Fruit Popsicles
- Banana Nut Muffins – Do some googling for a healthy recipe. My wife makes these for just over 100 cals each and they are amazing!
- Dark Chocolate candy bar
- Jolly Ranchers – I find I can have 2-3 of these for less than 100 calories and because they last so long you kind of trick yourself into thinking you have been eating something sweet for a longer period of time.
- Sparkling ICE drinks – Amazing!
Well that’s about all I can think of as of right now. Hope some of these tips and ideas will help you on your own journey to getting fit and losing weight! I know this is not an easy task to do but even just making some slight adjustments in the way you eat and cook can have a huge long term impact in your progress.
Thanks for reading today’s post, hope you all have a great weekend!
You’re not getting any younger.
The Cardinal Gift 