280 Calorie Lunches (sausage included)

A coworker the other day seemed disappointed I didn’t want to order a sub from the sandwich shop with her.  She said, “You always bring your lunch!  I’m trying to do that but what I bring is so boring!”  Found out that her lunch packing skills consist of yogurt and some fresh fruit.  That’s not a lunch!  It’s a snack, a tease!

It’s not that hard to prepare a yum-filled lunch.  I didn’t get to cook my meals for the week on Sunday.  I’ve been getting up at 6:30 am and cooking while I sip on my coffee.  Yesterday and today I ACCIDENTALLY made 280 calorie lunches with what I perceived to be a lot of food.  So here are the quick and easy pan recipes that are delectable, nutritious and palate-pleasing:

Cauliflower CousCous Chicken Sausage

• (1) 12 oz bag of pre-cut cauliflower –> 70 calories
• Curry (Jamaican style) = 0 calories
• 3 links of chicken sausage (remove casing) —> Trader Joes breakfast chicken sausage links = 170 calories
• 1/2 bag of fresh spinach

1.  Process the cauliflower in a food processor until it is “rice like”.  I use a large food processor and put a 1/2 bag in at a time.  

2.  In a large saute pan, mix the cauliflower, tossing in curry.  

3.  Once cauliflower is mostly cooked, push to side of pan and use free space to cook sausage links (I cut into pieces).

4.  Throw in the spinach with a bit more curry; cover the pan until spinach wilts.  

5.  Stir all ingredients for 1 more minute, then serve.

Seafood & Shaved Brussel Sprouts

• 6 large raw shrimp  (60 calories)
• 1 filet of tilapia (90 calories)
• 1 12 oz. bag fresh brussel sprouts  (120 calories)
• Minced garlic (5 calories)
• Coconut oil (50-100 calories)

1.  Shave the brussel sprouts by slicing from the meat of the sprout, “short ways”.  It will unravel/shave on its own.

2.  In 2 saute pans, lightly coat with coconut oil and throw in the minced garlic (medium heat setting).

3.  In one pan, start with sauteing the brussel sprouts in with the garlic/oil; in the other, cook the tilapia and shrimp (tilapia can be started 1 minute prior to the shrimp).

4.  Once both pans have cooked the items thoroughly, mix together and enjoy!

Quick and easy stove top recipes that take no more than 15 minutes to create!

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

~Melissa*

 

Lemon Ginger Truffle Balls

 

 

46 calories per truffle, 15-20 truffle balls per recipe…yes, please!  This is just what us sweet tooth lovers are looking for: Lemon Ginger Truffle Balls!  Granted, I usually enjoy chocolate or peanut butter to be a part of my sweet treat indulgence; I will say that these actually hit the spot regardless of those missing “yum factor” ingredients.  So here’s the skinny on the recipe:

• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 cup dried apples
• 1/4 rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons oat bran
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1.  In a food processor, add all the ingredients.  Mix/pulse for at least 1-2 minutes.  It will take a bit for the dough to mix.

2.  Once mixture is processed together and “dough like”, pour mixture in a bowl.  Form balls by packing the mixture together.

3.  Place lemon ginger truffle balls onto parchment/wax paper in a storage dish/pan.  

4.  Place in refrigerator to set for 5 minutes.

5.  Enjoy!

**courtesy Dr. Johnny Bowden’s 150 Healthiest 15 minute recipes.***

Intermittent Fasting: A Tool Not a Rule

Last Sunday I ate a glorious Easter meal with my boyfriend’s family.  They are Italian, so there isn’t just ham, potatoes and a veggie.  There is pasta and ravioli, meatballs, pork, salad and THEN the ham, potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, brussel sprouts with bacon……

Needless to say, I ate a lot of great food.  When I arrived home at around 6:00 pm, I thought, “Do I need to eat again today?  Am I even remotely hungry?”  Nope.  I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t need to eat another meal.  So I ate once on Sunday.

What does all this introductory story mean?  Well, it means that I use my ability to fast as a common sense tool.  I was born and raised on 3 square meals per day, as many of us are.  I used to feel as if I needed a breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Whereas on Sunday, I only had dinner.  I ate enough calories for the day and my body was satisfied.  There was no need to eat again, other than the fact that it felt as if I SHOULD have another meal that day.

In August of 2012, I started to try an Intermittent Fasting diet.  I chose to do the 16 hour fast with an 8 hour eating window, daily.  I couldn’t believe that I actually could fast that long and it wasn’t THAT bad.  I’ve continued to practice Intermittent Fasting through today, but with a MUCH, MUCH more flexible parameter.  Fasting is more of a tool than a hard rule for me now.  My fasting windows are more like 12-14 hours; sometimes I don’t fast at all.  If I go home to see my family and we go out for breakfast, of course I’m going to eat.  Fitness and diet are meant to compliment your life, not rule it.

Overall, I’m really glad I’ve taught my body how to fast so that I don’t overeat when it is not necessary.  I was not hungry at all on Sunday night, as I did not go to bed unsatisfied or with a growling stomach.  To put my fasting skills into play was quite easy and it made me feel as if the holiday dinner did not spiral me out of control or into a deep food guilt.

Am I telling you to start fasting or learn to start fasting?  No.  Fasting is not for everyone and for some people with very sensitive hormones or blood sugars, it is not recommended.  Fasting can also start to dictate your life and mentally creates too many eating rules.  It’s a very careful line you must draw within yourself, to not obsess on the “fasting window.”

However, I am sharing with you how my journey with fasting has evolved and changed.  It’s something to try at a more advanced level.  If you don’t have controls of your nutrition right now and are fairly new at “eating healthier”, I would not advise trying IF.  What I do advise is exactly what fitness experts and nutritionists repeatedly say…..LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.  EAT WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY AND STOP WHEN YOU ARE FULL.

I wasn’t hungry Sunday night…….so I didn’t eat.

Let me know if you have tried to fast or if you struggle with your nutrition — I’d love to hear from you!

Have a FANTASTIC Weekend,

~Melissa*

 

Foodie Friday: Sweet Tooth Filler & Lean Meatloaf

TGIF!

I promised to those who follow me on Facebook (eh hem) that I would post the recipes from some of my meal prep this week.  So here you go, I hope you give one of these a whirl this weekend:

Sweet Potato-Apple-Ginger Puree

• 4 cups (32 oz) vegetable broth
• 2 large sweet potatoes – peeled and chopped
• 2 large apples (2 cups) – peeled and chopped
• 1 medium sweet onion or 1/2 large onion – chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic minced (more if you desire)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 celery ribs, halved
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 

1. In a separate bowl, wisk the vegetable broth, ginger, garlic, honey and cinnamon.  Set aside

2. In the crock pot, place the sweet potatoes, apples, celery halves and onion.

3.  Pour the vegetable broth mix over the contents of the crockpot, cook on low for 4 – 5 hours or on high for 3.

4.  Once mix is cooked (be sure potatoes are cooked through), remove contents and puree in a food processor or blender.

It’s a really interesting blend that cures a sweet tooth AND makes me quite full.  I’ve used it as my “dessert” item or side dish this week.

Lean Meatloaf with Carrots

• 1 pound lean, ground turkey
• 1 pound lean, ground lamb (or beef)
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup reduced sugar ketchup
• 1.5 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 1/2 chopped green or red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 onion chopped ( I used vidalia)
• 1 pound of carrots (baby and/or hand cut)

1.  Place the carrots in the bottom of a large crock pot.

2.  In a separate bowl that will be big enough to handle the 2 pounds of meat, mix together 1/2 cup of the ketchup, the Worcester sauce, egg, oats, onion and pepper.

3.  Mix meat into the ketchup mixture, breaking pieces off and adding a little at a time.  However do NOT overwork the meat.

4.  Mold the meat into a meat into a loaf shape and place over the carrots in the crock pot.

5.  Cook on low for 4 hours or until loaf is completely cooked.  The carrots will have been flavored by the fats of the meat, as well as keep the bottom of the meatloaf from being too moist.

6.  During the last 15 minutes of the cooking cycle, take the remaining 1/4 cup of ketchup and spread on top of the loaf.

There you go!  Enjoy your weekend!

Obsession vs. Habitual Focus

Good Morning, All!

Life happens.  We say that a lot.  It basically is a quick way of saying, “Deal with [it], this is how it is and figure [it] out.”

The basis of my blog is to discuss how to manage fitness and solid nutrition as “life happens”.  So as I sit here drinking my coffee, I’m creating my packing list to fly to Maine today for work.  I was in Albany, NY yesterday and Monday…I visited my family in Western PA over the weekend.  So it’s safe to say that I’m struggling to get in my workouts this week, PLUS I didn’t get to cook over the weekend.  Hello Panera Bread and Subway……..or even worse, turnpike Travel Plaza food.

Am I cranky about this?  Yes.  Of course I am.  I’m human…and an impatient and high strung human.

BUT I will NOT obsess over this.  I have seen this happen to me so many times before, where something significant is impeding on my normal routine and I have to adjust.  Now I’m trying to manage how I mentally handle these life episodes.  It’s not my best week, but I’m on my solid 14-16 hour fasts and trying to keep the calories under control, albeit they are “fast foods.”  Furthermore, the hotel has dumbbells and a bench according to the pictures, so I will be doing a modified workout.  It’s okay that I can’t do barbell hip thrusts or chin ups.  Life will go on, I will not lose all of my strength this week.

What this means to you?  And several of my fitness friends?  STOP OBSESSING.  STOP REVOLVING LIFE AROUND FITNESS AND DIET.  Fitness and diet should be a habit just as much as brushing your teeth and washing your hair.  It’s there and you naturally manage it into your schedule.  Have a “habitual focus” but don’t create anxiety disorders over this part of your life.  And on the days you go off the rails or the weeks you just say “I’m not in the mood to workout”, it’s okay!  Don’t try to do crazy things to “make up for” that birthday cake you ate (eh hem) and double your workouts because you missed some.  JUST STOP IT.  Hop back into your normal routine and enjoy the moments you ate the cake or actually relaxed at home and skipped the gym.

I feel my best and happiest when I bang out 3 strength training days, happily skip along on fasted walks 2-3 times per week and do some solid finishers in the gym; have all my meals cooked and don’t experience food-guilt.  BUT that is not how life is every week, it just isn’t possible.  So as Adele Dazeem sings (oh wait, I mean Idina Menzel), “Let It Go!”

Practice what I preach — time to foam roll, pack and get to the airport!

Have a Great Day,

~Melissa

Recipe: Red Cabbage Apple Chicken

Good Morning!

I’m going to keep it simple-simon — here is a fun, unique recipe that I gave a whirl last week and thought it was super tasty…..and it’s healthy with plenty of leftovers for your meal planning.  Enjoy:

Straight from my messy stove to you.

Red Cabbage Apple Chicken:

• 4 links of sweet/apple chicken sausage (recommend Applegate)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1.5 – 2 bags of pre-shredded red cabbage OR 1 medium head shredded by hand/food processor
• 2 cups of green apples, coarsely chopped
• 1 small red onion, sliced 
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red wine (cooking or table wine)
• 1 tablespoon sweetener (my choice: light agave nectar)
• Dash of salt and pepper

1. You will need 1 large saute pan with lid.
2. If your sausage is not pre-cooked, take the raw sausage out of the casing and break up and begin to cook in the coconut oil in the large saute pan; if your sausage is pre-cooked, simply remove from the casing and chop up into medium sized chunks.
3. Place onion and sausage in the coconut oil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring gently.
5. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.  You will want the cabbage to be tender, so don’t rush this part.

**I didn’t have any apple cider and made this without it the first time — it was still delicious, so don’t fret if you don’t have that ingredient for this dish.**

That’s all folks — this is a really tasty and unique dish.  Highly recommend for those of you who want something with leftovers or feeds a small family.  I hope you enjoy!

~Melissa*

My Travel Menu

We all know that I preach meal planning and cooking for the bulk of your weekly meals…..so I thought I’d share some recipes that I whipped up and brought with me on my 4 day, 3 night business trip:

Spinach-Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

• 6 chicken breasts – pound to 1/4 inch, cut in half

In a food processor chop (you can manually chop, but it would require a lot of effort):

• 4 cups of fresh spinach (baby or regular)
• 1/4 cup fresh or dry basil
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 4 garlic cloves
• 6-8 oz feta cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

The mixture looks something like this when it’s ready:

Simply LIGHTLY spread a layer of this on the wider end of the halved chicken breast.  Roll it and place in crock pot with the SEAM END down.

Once all breasts are placed in crock pot, pour a can of basil-garlic diced tomatoes (or whatever your flavor choice is).

Cook on low for 4-5 hours OR on high for 2-3 hours.

Lime Curried Carrots (my fave):

I’ve posted this recipe before, click here: http://ariesincharge.com/2014/01/02/lime-curried-carrots/

Protein Almond Bread

• 4 cups almond meal
• 2-3 scoops vanilla protein powder (2 scoops if you don’t want it too dry)
• 5 eggs (or 1 1/4 cup egg whites)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of baking powder

Mix it together, pour into a loaf pan.

Bake for 60 minutes at 300 degrees.

Turkey Taco Chili

• 1-1.5 pounds ground turkey (browned)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 8 oz tomato sauce (more if you like your chili thinner and not chunky)
• 1 can of beans (you choose, all taste good)
• 8 oz/small can of yellow corn
• 1 packet dry ranch dressing
• 1 packet mild taco seasoning (low sodium if you want to tone down the saltiness)

Throw it together in the crock pot, cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top when serving.

(I also sauteed some zucchini and squash as sides too)………….

It’s all here in my lil’ insulated grocery bag!

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!  The majority of my meal planning has now been revealed for you to try.  And I hope you do!  I’m pumped about my food.  Stuffed chicken breast and lime curried carrots for lunch while co-workers eat a salad from McDonalds?  Yes, please!

Have a fantastic week!

~Melissa*

Plateaus Part 2: Food

Greetings!  I’m back for “part 2” of my plateaus blog, as food warrants its very own dedicated time.

Hitting a “food plateau” to me means that I’m frustrated with making poor eating decisions over and over again (during a certain duration, not just one day), as well as getting bored with “eating healthy.”  So let’s discuss!

FOOD DECISION MAKING SKILLS:

1. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE AN EVENT OR REASON TO GO OFF THE RANCH WITH YOUR DIET.  Don’t do it for every one of those occasions (wedding, birthdays, your kids birthday, vacation, bridal shower, baby shower, work meeting, picnic, girls night out, guys night out, Super Bowl Party…).  Some of those are okay, and maybe all of them are okay for you — but if you have a very active social life and are constantly hitting that “food frustration plateau,” take a look at your decisions here.  Perhaps eat something before you go so you aren’t so hungry?  And simply don’t excuse yourself to eat 3,000 calories at every special occasion.  There will be another one right around the corner for you to indulge at.
2. The Second Bite Rule – recently Neghar Fonooni pointed this out in a blog; the second bite better be just as good as the first was.  If it’s not, STOP EATING IT!  For example, if I buy a fancy chocolate bar with bacon in it (yes, this happened) and the first bite isn’t absolutely divine, then the remaining 400 calories of that bar aren’t worth the indulgence.  That chocolate-maple bacon-bar was NOT that delectable, so I didn’t finish it.  I’ve also found that natural peanut butter that only contains “nuts, salt” is not near as yummy to eat straight from the jar (as I discovered after ONE knife licking).  So I only open it to bake with now.  Sweet!
3. Servings Per Package – recently, such as in the past 30 days, I have committed to not buying anything that has more than 1-2 servings per package.  Primarily, I’m talking about snack foods (my own personal devil).  I already know that I WILL NOT only eat 2 servings if there are 5.  I WILL eat all 5.  So I just won’t buy it now.  It’s a rule I made up for myself but it really seems to be working well.  No more travel size Chex Mix, trail mix or Swedish Fish in my future.
4. Drink Before You Eat – as an intermittent faster, I have learned that you definitely mistake hunger for thirst.  Personally, I think my stomach just needs something to do.  It doesn’t like when NOTHING is there to break down, swirl around and send throughout the body.  So if I have a stomach rumble, I try to drink something first (that has zero calories, aka – water, black coffee).  This always seems to work and staves off an eating binge.  Some studies have indicated that caffeine can curb your appetite, so that is why I like to use coffee in these circumstances (typically in the morning or late night when I THINK I need a snack).  It may be mental, but the aforementioned works for me!
5. GET IT OUT OF YOUR HOUSE – yes, anything you can’t control yourself with, do not keep it in your house (dark chocolate nibs, pretzels, peanut butter).  You WILL eat it and eat too much of it at once.

FIGHTING FOOD BOREDOM

Sick of this everyday?

1. Learn to Love Recipes – one of the best foods (if you aren’t vegetarian) to eat can be chicken, primarily of the skinless-fat trimmed-breast type.  BUT it can become so boring and mundane.  Lucky for us, chicken is very easy to prepare and there are a GAZILLION recipes that you can try.  Step outside of your cooking comfort box and whip up a new recipe today!  ——- I made spicy chicken mole in the crock pot last week, I mean who knew I had that in me?
2. Don’t Be Afraid of Fat – we often avoid “fatty foods” because we still want to think that fat makes us fat.  I’m not saying to go eat fried chicken fingers, french fries and eat a gallon of ice cream.  What I am saying is that it is okay to eat a burger, use a little extra coconut oil to fry chicken cutlets in, eat some bacon with your omelette.  No need to bake with “fat-free” cream cheese, egg whites and fat-free milk.  That’s actually NOT natural, right?  Just control your portions, as with any time you are eating.  Fat is what makes much of our food so flavorful.
3. Find Your Healthy “Go-To” Foods – I have some go-to foods that are healthy but so yummy.  I look forward to them and don’t feel bad when eating them.  Here are a few examples: rotisserie chicken, chili, macintosh apples, beef jerky, roasted vegetables, stir fry chicken and shrimp, Artic Zero ice cream (150 calories per pint), and Popcorn Indiana Natural Sea Salt popcorn.  Almost all of these can be bought prepared or cooked very easily.
4. Buy Pre-Prepared Ingredients – you will be more apt to cook a good meal if most of the items are easily accessible and prepared.  I almost always have pre-cut vegetables in my fridge for when I want to whip up a chicken stir fry.  The messy de-seeding and cutting green peppers and having watery eyes from onions are gone.  I’ve also recently seen avocado halves, pitted and air-tight-sealed.  Now that’s easier!
5. Morning Meat Assessment – before I leave for work in the morning, I make sure I have my prepared lunch with me.  But I also make a mental note to know what I will have for my dinner when I get home.  If I don’t have a meat to eat, I take something from my freezer and place in the fridge.  That way when I come home, it’s thawed and ready for me to cook (often it’s 2 chicken breasts that I set out to make my stir fry).  I also freeze chicken breasts individually, just for this reason.
6. Explore, Explore, Explore – as I stated in #1, you should learn to love recipes.  But also learn to love new ingredients and flavors.  Over the past year, I’ve incorporated curry, cumin, rosemary, ginger and cilantro into so many meals.  I never even purchased any of those items prior to 2013.  Furthermore, I started to eat lamb and pork, two items I never really looked at twice in the grocery store.  The more variety you have in your diet, the less apt you will get bored and make poor decisions.

Okay, so there you have it.  These are a few tips among so many out there.  Do what works for you.  Some of us travel for work, some of us have children and a husband, some of us are single…..don’t fight food, make it enjoyable, guilt-free and easy-peasy for your lifestyle.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

~Meliss*

Diets, Detoxes and Cleanses

Recently, I had a good friend comment on my Facebook question as to what you all wanted my next blog topic to be.  Fittingly enough, her suggestion was to discuss what diets work and don’t work, and I’m throwing in detoxes/cleanses in the mix too.  It is a fitting topic because Girls Gone Strong had just posted that week, an article written by a doctor, in which she explains detoxes.  I will link you to that article below.  Let’s start with that topic first:

DETOXES/CLEANSES

The article I read pretty much summed up why I never did a detox.  Your body naturally detoxes for you everyday.  Your liver is the detoxing organ, that’s what it is there for.  If you want to make life easier on your liver and “cleanse” yourself from eating a lot of processed, chemical-laced foods while on a weekend vacation or something, by all means avoid a few things for a week.  These “things” to avoid, according to Dr. Brooke are:

• Packaged foods
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Sugar
• DO eat high quality meats (organic, grass fed) — protein is key to the detoxing function in your body.

And that is all you simply need to do.  No green juices or cleansing packages.  Furthermore, detoxing is not a jump start to fat loss, as many feel it is.  If it makes you feel better to decrease on eating “junk” and do the aforementioned steps for a week, by all means.  You will likely have more energy and feel ready to get your workout on at that point.

DIETS

A diet is simply the food that each person consumes everyday. For example, a nutritionist may deem your “diet” to be healthy, too dense in calories, not enough calories, too  much processed food, etc.  That is because that nutritionist is simply assessing the food you put into your body everyday; that IS your diet.

But the word diet has taken on a life of it’s own in our modern day society.  People say “I’m on a diet.”  “I need to get on a diet.”  “I’m on the Atkins diet.”……..those things make me cringe.  What they mean to say is likely, “I need to alter my diet so it better fits my health and fitness goals.”  That is more appropriate (in my opinion).

I could go ON and ON and ON about this topic.  It’s one I struggle with from time to time — I’m only 5’4″, but I have the portion control of an Olympic athlete, chowing down thousands of calories in one day if I’m not diligent.  No joke.

BUT, a diet is what you eat.  If you are tempted to try the Atkins, South Beach, Paleo diet, etc. just make sure it is something you will SUSTAIN over time.  It’s great to lose weight on a certain gimmick diet in just a few weeks/months, but if you are going to gain it all back once you “get off that diet plan”, was it worth it?  I can think of at least 3 people right now who went on the South Beach diet who have since then said, “I lost so much weight BACK WHEN I was on the South Beach diet for my wedding.”  Case closed.

Simply, try to change eating habits, little by little, not all at once.  I’ve gone from cooking “usually” to cooking dinner every night to now pre-planning and cooking meals for the week.  That was an evolution over time for me. Also, in 2008, I freaked out about trans fats and eliminated them for the most part (sometimes they creep up in the ingredients list of something unsuspecting).  I used to drink diet sodas every day — now it’s a weekend “treat” for me.  All of these various habits were changed for the better over the past 5 years.  I didn’t do it all at once.  I’m still changing some habits.  It’s nice to focus on one habit at a time, however.

Bottom line, there are ways to have a healthy diet and not restrict yourself from pleasurable foods.  Seriously, eat the cake, cookie, fried chicken or pizza every now and again.  It’s okay to do that.  For real.  Gimmick diets are something I highly recommend staying away from.  And I’ve tried extreme and strict eating.  Sure, I was lean, but I wasn’t as happy.

And here is that fabulous article I referenced earlier, in regards to detoxes: http://www.girlsgonestrong.com/detox-diets-demystified/

I hope I helped bring some clarity to some of you — if you have any thoughts on this blog, please share your feedback in the comments section.  I love to hear from you!

~Melissa*

RANT: Tracy Anderson & The McDonald’s Experiment

“…next on the TODAY Show, can spinning class make you heavier?  According to celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson, it can…”

OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.  Tracy Anderson.  That was all I needed to hear to send me over the edge.  She is something.  Furthermore, that is what I heard this morning coming from my TV.  Gah, ruined my coffee moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I rarely bash anyone publicly.  Actually, I’ve never bashed any particular person on this blog.  But when I feel strongly about something, then I state my opinion and try to stop any madness from spreading (such as Tracy Anderson theories).

To back up my rage, according to Tracy A, spinning will bulk up your thighs and essentially that will make you heavier.  (I have so many swear words formulating in my head about this ridiculousness).  ANYHOW.  A normal person looking to get a cardio session in with a spin class will not significantly increase their thigh muscle size and be noticeably heavier.  Bear in mind this is a trainer that won’t use more than 2-4 pound dumbbells — and she also claims you can get “long and lean” muscles.  That is also false.  You can make muscle bellies bigger or smaller but you cannot make them “longer” than what they are genetically built, due to the muscle origin and insertion point on your bones.  You’d have to make your bones longer too…….make that happen, Tracy Anderson.  When you do, perhaps I’d pay for one of your obnoxiously, invalidly promoted programs you create and sell.  Oh and don’t get me started on her 500 calorie per day diet.  I just can’t go there.

Moving on, let’s talk about another popular story that hit the headlines recently…The McDonalds Diet.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/06/mcdonalds-nutrition-fast-food-mcdonalds-menu/4339395/

The jist of this story is that a teacher decided to experiment with eating McDonald’s for every meal for three months…and he lost 37 pounds with improved blood work levels.  McDonald’s was likely very happy with this story.  But — here are the BUTS of this story:

• This teacher was significantly overweight, so any discipline with his calorie intake and increase in activity would assist in weight loss. Improved lab readings (blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, etc) are also associated with this amount of weight loss.  Therefore:
• He did start taking 45 minute walks daily, along with his McDonald’s diet.  This is a significant change in his daily activity level.
• He ate no more than 2000 calories per day, all chosen items from the McDonalds menu for each meal.  Calorie restriction.
• He did NOT choose from many of the less healthy options on the menu (double cheeseburgers, large fries etc).
• Instead he ate grilled chicken sandwiches, a breakfast sandwich with orange juice, small fries once per day, salads and fruit/yogurt parfaits.
• He will continue on this path for another three months and have his blood work and vital signs assessed again in March; the “internal workings” of his body may or may not show signs of decline from eating only fast food.  Time will tell.  Stay tuned!

Although the McDonald’s experiment is interesting, there were some standard parameters that many people are told to adhere to, in general, when trying to lose weight and become healthier: start to exercise and reducing calories to no more than 2000 per day.

I just want to be sure that no one is jumping on the McDonald’s diet without knowing the other facts to this story, (from what I have read).  It wasn’t JUST that he ate from this fast food restaurant.  There were definitely other restrictions and lifestyle changes that helped.

And Tracy Anderson.  Well, you know my opinion.  I have several fitness experts I highly respect and she is not one of them.  I would NOT recommend her to any of my blog followers.

If I have offended any of you, I apologize.  However, I’m looking to stimulate your thoughts and perspectives on some of these mainstream stories we see out there in regards to diet and exercise.  Let me know your opinion, as well!

Take Care,

~Meliss*