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de dish that you cannot resist then remake it to fit your plan pinterest is your friend try searching 21 day fix friendly or whole 30 recipes these terms will help you makeover almost anything personally i m making mashed potatoes in my crock pot love this method no draining and mixing them up with coconut oil and coconut milk to keep them dairy free 2 snack especially if you re travelling to your meal pack on plan snacks i would do raw veggies and some hummus or apple slices and almond butter just watch portions and time it so you re still ready to eat at meal time 3 get your veggies in so many holiday meals are carb heavy try to fit in veggies in other ways the fiber will help keep you full so you don t overindulge at the main table and on most plans you can eat as many veggies as you want without ruining your progress watch out for veggies that are actually starches corn green beans etc and extra sauces 4 portion control is your friend so you re sitting at a beautiful table filled with all kinds of amazing goodness and you really just want mashed potatoes and gravy or maybe that s me you can have some here are the guidelines get the veggies first green salad raw veg platter easy on anything with a sauce lean protein white meat turkey is actually really good for you just take the skin off sorry a serving size is about the size of the palm of your hand keep that in mind when counting how many servings of protein you had fruit if there s uncandied or not sugared fruit grab some starches mashed potatoes stuffing dressing yams and sweet potatoes green bean casserole rolls use the palm of your hand as a measure again not literally because that would be weird but as a general idea of appropriate serving size try to stick to one potato type and one bread type your plate should already be pretty full anyway fats gravy dressings etc for this i suggest measuring with a teaspoon the idea is to get the flavor of the gravy without going overboard on fat fats and salad dressings are the number one culprit for hidden calories if you control it here you will feel so much better about yourself when the meal is over dessert you have permission enjoy one piece 5 get out for a walk before or after dinner collect some leaves or pine cones for a craft see some new sights make some new memories 6 refuse leftovers this is more difficult if you re hosting i m having visions of my children doing a jack sparrow impression but why is the gravy gone but here s the deal if you can t resist it or control portions in the days following the holiday it s not worth keeping around 7 remember that it s one meal on one day one meal does not have to throw you off for the entire day weekend trip season you are more than the food you eat you get together with family and friends to make memories so make some let go of the guilt it overshadows the time and takes away from your enjoyment of the actual day and whatever happens you will get another chance to make healthy choices even if you overindulge at thanksgiving or christmas you can start over at the next opportunity i hope you have a safe and blessed holiday season happy thanksgiving from my family to yours posted by drea_dear at 3 36 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 21 day fix christmas food plan goals holiday thanksgiving wednesday june 10 2015 my weeks in stitches hello everyone i ve had a few crazy weeks with training for my job end of school stuff and prepping for a business trip i m actually typing this blog post from the airport on my way home i have a few photo updates for you though this last weekend i started back on my socks i figured i should do some work on them before it officially hits 100 degrees in the boise area and i ve been doing a lot more cross stitch i finished the brown on the first set of dorotheos as you can see i decided to do a second shade of brown as the stems of the flowers i ve been doing the variegated flowers on the plane this trip i also printed some coloring pages from don t eat the paste they were so fun to work on when we had a little down time during our trip if you need coloring pages for a trip or just to help you unwind i highly recommend her site posted by drea_dear at 9 07 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels cross stitch dorotheos knitting my big toe socks wednesday may 13 2015 health focus sometimes it is about the numbers we ve all heard weight loss experts encourage us by saying when you re working out to lose weight don t worry if your weight goes down slowly you re building muscle it isn t about the number on the scale this is true and it s an important idea i hope everyone grasps when you re training to lose fat your body weight can actually go up as your muscles get stronger this is normal and healthy and the way it s supposed to be please don t severely restrict calories while you are strength training just because the scale isn t doing what you want definitely pay more attention to inches than the scale starving your hard working muscles is not the answer however there s something i want to say to you who are in the trenches with me i understand that the number on the scale does matter to you it matters to me more than i d like to admit the only time it didn t matter to me was when i gave up on my health and even then it still had power to make me feel bad about myself here s why it matters for most people it s the only way we ve had to measure our health and our progress over our lifetime i m going to bet that very few of us knew our waist circumference when we graduated from high school let alone our bicep measurements we may have read an article in cosmo about how to calculate bmi to determine if we were healthy over the course of years the one place we ve gone to see where we are is the scale when i moved to idaho i weighed 195 pounds i don t know what my waist circumference or body fat percentage was over the next almost 6 years i gained nearly 30 pounds those 30 pounds were not muscle when i started working out on my own i was discouraged at how slowly the weight was coming off even though i ve read more and i know that muscle tissue is denser than fat and it has to build up before it can increase my resting metabolic rate and that eventually my strong muscles will take over the fat burning that number on the scale still mattered to me when i started the 21 day fix i knew that i was already 13 pounds below my heaviest weight i knew that meant 17 pounds to my move to idaho weight which was about 30 pounds above my top weight for a healthy bmi for me being able to watch those 17 pounds tick off on the scale was really exciting and encouraging because i could see long term progress i started to see the drop in my measurements i lost 11 inches on my first round of 21 day fix i felt my clothes feeling looser but now i had confirmation of a downward trend and i knew that i was making progress with the help of proper nutrition and sustainable fitness so here s the bottom line don t hang all your hopes on the scale don t weigh yourself every day for some people even once a week is too often if you re doing a set term program like the 21 day fix weigh yourself at the beginning the halfway point and the end when you re strength training and building muscle it will mess with your head to weigh yourself more often than that but separate paragraph because i don t want you to miss it do use the scale as one of your many tracking tools it s like your tape measure it s like your bmi calculator it s like your perceived exertion and that feeling that maybe you need heavier weights it helps to mark your progress just don t let it be the sole indicator set your milestones and realistic expectations for weight loss and use all the tools in your bucket to see how close you are to reaching your goals posted by drea_dear at 3 22 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 21 day fix beachbody fitness random thoughts weight loss sunday may 10 2015 my weeks in stitches a finish hooray i finished the easter sweater i m really happy with it it fits it feels so soft and it got lots of compliments at church lol people hugged me and stroked the fabric then said wow you made that followed pretty quickly by you look amazing by the way it feels nice to have people notice my efforts so sorry for the bathroom mirror selfie laundry room no less but the kids were occupied when i wanted to take the pictures this is a little better look at the fabric and the front drape it can also be twisted and worn around the neck like a scarf with sleeves the sleeves fit perfectly too i didn t have a single moment of tugging the shoulders forward this is awesome because it s my first time doing sleeves this way i ve always done raglan but these were set in i also did a little bit of cross stitching i pulled out dorotheos my big toe designs this is the last progress picture i found in my gallery so i m pretty certain it s the last one i shared at some point i finished the brown border of this motif this is what i accomplished thursday night i m out of the practice of taking pictures when i stop for the day but i did finish the blue flowers in this motif and start the border of the next i ll have more to show next week posted by drea_dear at 3 35 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels cross stitch dorotheos finish my big toe wip monday april 27 2015 my weeks in stitches the easter sweater continues when you are creating over 9 inches worth of stockinette it can be hard to gauge your actual progress the conversation in my head goes like this is going to be the rest of my life don t measure you ll just get discouraged okay now you can measure holy cow only 1 2 inch left yes at the end of friday night i only needed to knit 6 more rows on the front drape then 4 shoulder shaping rows then a joining round then 3 or 4 rows of ribbing depending on how it looked and how tired i was then i would be done with the body and ready to start the sleeves saturday was a stay home and clean kind of day and normally i would have the kids clean their rooms and hide in mine and knit but this time i actually did something about the clutter i d accumulated why do i keep so many plastic bags i feel a little better about the state of my space i cleared out my reading writing study corner again it has to stay this way lol but i still managed to make progress and by sunday afternoon i had finished the body and everything sunday night i started the sleeves i really hope to wear this thing to church next sunday stay tuned posted by drea_dear at 9 53 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels easter knitting sweater wip monday april 13 2015 recipe reboot ham and bean soup recipe disclaimer i m not a chef or a nutritionist dietitian i m just a mom who loves the 21 day fix program and i figure out container counts for some of my favorite foods and share them with all of you one of my favorite comfort foods is ham and bean soup i love ham in general it s a great way to feed your family for several meals when you re on a budget if you get a ham on the bone one of your options for using up the leftovers is soup this soup is not traditional diet food but what does that even mean on the 21 day fix it s usually high in fat and sodium canned soup uses a lot of starch very little ham and a lot of salt to make it taste ham y all of that changes with what is about to follow it even passes the kid test in my house kids that usually don t like soup at all so you start with a bone in ham when i made this soup and took pictures it was a few days after easter i had a large spiral cut ham the kind that comes with a packet of brown sugar glaze a packet that promptly went in the garbage we had a delicious dinner on easter breakfast for dinner the night after sandwiches and soup the soup starts with soaking the beans overnight or if you re like me and forget to put beans in water overnight it starts by covering beans with water placing on the stove and bring them to a boil let them boil for about 5 minutes then turn the temp off cover and let sit for an hour drain and set the beans aside have your yellow container handy for later now we get to the delicious smelling part in the same pot brown the ham hock on all sides butter is not allowed on the 21 day fix but you do need a fat to brown the meat you want to avoid coconut oil for this as the smoke point is too high you can use a small amount of olive oil a tablespoon or less when you divide into servings the amount will be negligible while the meat is browning chop your veggies i start with the holy trinity of soups onion celery and carrot one green box of each when the meat is fully browned drop the chopped veggies in and allow them to soften if you re using frozen spinach add it now hold fresh greens until the end for the record i love frozen chopped spinach for soups and i always keep a box in my freezer in case i get the urge to soup something when the carrots and celery are soft add the water seasoning bay leaf and beans measure them with your yellow box into the pot cover and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for an hour when the timer goes off carefully remove the ham hock from the pot and set it on a cutting board let it cool before handling check the beans to see if they are tender if they aren t give them another 30 minutes of simmer time mash them gently with a ricer when the ham is cool enough chop it up removing fatty parts and measure it with your red container into the pot stir in the meat increase the heat slightly add any fresh greens now if you want and cook together for 15 20 more minutes to serve ladle soup into your green box per autumn s instructions in the book when i measured my soup i got 12 green boxes so all my calculations are done by dividing the total ingredients by 12 i think that 2 green boxes makes a hearty soup for a main dish see the top picture 2 green boxes worth in that bowl if you re having it alongside a sandwich or salad stick with one box if you have 2 remember to double your container counts annie was really mad that she didn t get any of this soup she thinks it s really unfair to have to smell ham cooking so many days and not get any meanest dog mom ever also mean to call her over for a picture and not have a piece of ham ready this soup just gets better when it sits in the fridge although if it will be more than 4 or 5 days stick it into the freezer it also thickens as it stands so add water if necessary to bring it to your preference select and print this part shopping green celery chopped 1 box onion chopped 1 box carrot chopped 1 box spinach frozen chopped or fresh 2 boxes worth yellow 2 cups white navy or great northern beans 8 9 boxes after soaking red leftover ham hock browned and chopped...