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| On the ferry to Mackinac Island |
Last
week Brad and I took Maggie, our two year old cock-a-poo, to Mackinac Island.
We got lucky with the weather as it was a warm, clear, sunny day with a
nice breeze off the lake. We spent the
day touring Fort Mackinac and walking the island, Maggie enjoyed playing in and
drinking from Lake Huron. She did not,
however, enjoy the boat ride to and from the island nor the crowded streets. We stopped for lunch at Grill’n & Chill’n
Waterfront Café. You’ll find it off the
main street down by Archie’s dock. The
food was surprisingly delicious from what I expected to find at a place where
you order from a walk-up window. The
girl who delivered our food was even nice enough to bring out a bowl of water
for Maggie.
The
point of my story is, due to our, although short, vacation it occurred to me
that I didn’t do anything to blog about this week (and I’m starting to think
that blogging once a week may have been an impractical goal). Actually,
going to Mackinac Island was a new experience for Brad and I
and we did have a good time. However,
despite popular belief, I didn’t personally find it so spectacular that I could
stretch our trip into an entire blog, leaving me with nothing to write about.
So
here I sat staring at the computer eating my chocolate chip, banana oatmeal
breakfast muffin and it hits me; the homemade, low calorie chocolate chip,
banana oatmeal muffin is (or was about 6 months ago) new to me.
It
hadn’t occurred to me to share the recipe before because I got it from a blog
where I get a TON of recipes. I could
basically repeat all the recipes on Emily Bites, and even though my blog is
based on what I’ve found/learned from other people, repeating her recipes
just feels like stealing because once I share one I will want to share them
all! Therefore, in the future I will only repeat my very favorite recipes that
I’ve gotten from Emily Bites, but for now let me tell you a little about how I
happened upon her blog.
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| Sophomore Year "Fat" |
I’ve
had a love hate relationship with food and my body image all my life, even at
my thinnest I was convinced I was fat. I
never wanted to get thin the healthy way either, exercising was too much work
so I ate less and what I did eat was unhealthy.
My junior and senior years of high school I joined the track team, but
anytime they wanted me to actually run I whined about it. The 400 meter (once around the track) was the
most they could pull out of me, and the only reason they didn’t cut me was
because there were no cuts.
Over
the years I’ve gone through spurts of working out but always giving up in the
end. My goal was always to be thin and
once I’d hit my goal weight I'd stop trying.
Honestly looking back at pictures of myself, I was never actually
overweight; sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, never unhealthily fat, but
never healthy either. The last time I
decided to get in shape was for my wedding.
My parent’s neighbor told us about this workout DVD she had been using
called Turbo Jam and my parents ordered a copy.
I worked out with that DVD almost daily from January until my wedding
day, August 15, 2009. I LOVED Turbo Jam,
for me it was the most fun, high intensity workout I’d ever done, plus it
offered the convenience of working out in the privacy of my own home. I lost almost 30 pounds in those months before
my wedding. Then, in Brad’s and my first
year of marriage I put all the weight I had tried so hard to lose, back on.
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| Summer Before Wedding |
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| Wedding |
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| Summer After Wedding |
It
was almost two years ago now that I decided to start working out again, but
this time I wasn’t trying to get thin, I was already married and Brad loved me
no matter what size I was. No, this time
my goal was to be healthy which is why I decided to change my eating habits as
well.
I
asked my parents for my own Turbo Jam DVD as a Christmas gift and was so
excited when I opened it! This time
around I didn’t work out every day, only 3-4 times a week. I didn’t stop living my life for the goal of
being thin like I had done many times before. I also didn’t commit myself to
doing strictly cardio, I often traded in my cardio workout for “Turbo Sculpt”,
a low intensity weight lifting and squatting workout from the Turbo Jam
DVD.
Along
with working out I bought two “Eat This, Not That” books. One book was about items to switch up when
eating out, the other about items to switch in at the grocery store. These books
explained to me the importance of calories and taught me that just because
something was lower in calories did not necessarily mean it was better.
Reading
the “Eat This, Not That” books prompted me to find My Fitness Pal, a free
online calorie counting tool. I love My
Fitness Pal because it not only lets me count calories but it also has a
feature for subtracting calories burned from working out. I personally am not extremely strict with my
calorie intake, I try to keep it close to the number they suggest but I don’t
freak out when I go over. Other perks of
My Fitness Pal is the community of people all working toward the same thing,
sharing goals and setbacks, giving encouragement, and sharing recipes and
websites with low calorie recipes. This
is forum is where I stumbled upon Emily Bites.
What
is so awesome about Emily Bites? Brad is
never aware he is eating low calorie food.
I’ve made a few of her recipes for family, friend, and even work
gatherings and I always get rave reviews.
Her recipes are original, easy and DELICIOUS.
As
for me? I still eat what I want, but I’ve learned portion control and when Brad
invites me out on a date I still splurge and throw calories to the wind. My goal this time around is to try and be healthier not thinner. It’s no longer
about dieting, it’s just a lifestyle change.
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| Pin I found on Pinterest |
Recipe taken straight from Emily Bites
Ingredients:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 egg
1-1/4 cups skim milk
3/4 cup mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly mist 18 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites, egg, mashed banana, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until blended together. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the oatmeal mixture evenly between the prepared muffing cups. Bake uncovered for 18-22 minutes or until oatmeal is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
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