Being Healthy Vs. Losing Weight

My best friend and I were having a conversation about eating healthy and how there is a general consensus among society that we can continue to hold on to our old habits, in moderation, and still lose weight.  She said something so profound to me, "[There are] two different mind sets: health versus weight loss.  They aren't the same for a lot of people.  They should be but they aren't."  

I had this moment of realization.  For the past 8 years, I had been concerned with only losing weight. Every time I looked in the mirror I would think, well, I need to lose some weight.  Every time I would feel my clothes get tight, well, need to lose some weight.  
What I didn't seem to be concerned about was, what's going on inside my body?  Just because the food I was eating was fitting into a certain calorie bracket didn't mean it was healthy.  

Thankfully, I discovered this amazing company called Beachbody.  There's no quick fixes here, but there is the chance to change your life.  The difference?  You have to change your mindset to focusing on what is healthy instead of just losing weight.  I'm so impressed with this company that I decided to pay it forward and become a coach.  

The weight loss industry if full of promises for a quick fix with minimal effort on your part.  You don't have to look far past your social media feed to see that.  

This is my philosophy- if your weight loss plan follows these guidelines, I believe you will be set up for long term success.

  

Eat less CRAP: 
Carbonated drinks (Yes, even the diet ones)
Refined sugar 
Artificial sweeteners and colors 
Processed foods 

Eat more FOOD: 
Fruits and veggies 
Organic lean proteins 
Omega-3 fatty acids 
Drink water

If you are ready to get healthy, I would love to be your FREE coach.  I'm so happy that I changed my mindset to wanting to be healthy rather than only concerned with what I saw in the mirror.  
Send me an email at coachmeganputnam@gmail.com and lets talk about your health and fitness goals.  

Where do you want to be a month, six months or a year from now?  

Changing your life is possible and I promise, you won't regret it.  

If you have a success story, please share below.  It's so inspiring to hear about others successes.  

Focus T25- Week 1

They say that eating is 80% and exercise is 20% part of the fitness equation.  I knew I had the 80% part down, but the exercise part was still not happening.  Keeping up with an almost 3 year old and a 9 month old is hard work.  They never nap at the same time, so there really isn't any "me" time during the day.

I 100% identify with the "I don't have time" to exercise excuse.  

I was doing well with my weight loss by eating healthy, but I started noticing that my muscle tone just wasn't there.  For about 2 years, I've followed a fitness coach on Facebook.  I had talked to her before and never committed to a program for one reason or another.  After realizing that none of the classes at my local gym fit into my schedule, I decided to explore some at home fitness options.
The program we both felt like would work best for me was the Focus T25 challenge pack with Shakeology.

In case you haven't seen the infomercial, Focus T25 is a 25 minute, ten week, high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout program created by Shaun T.  The big seller for me on this program is that it's only 25 minutes and there's no equipment needed.  You commit to 25 min a day, 5 days a week and a 25 min stretch session on Sunday.  It's also recommended that you complete 2 workouts on Friday for maximum results.  A clean eating nutrition guide and a 30 day supply of shakeology are included.  The challenge pack also gives you access to beach body on demand so you can begin streaming your workouts ASAP, which I did!

Now that my first week is complete, I am very happy I chose this program.  After my kids are in bed, I am able to get my 25 min workout in for the day.  Each days workout has a different focus, so I have't completed the same workout twice yet.  Because it's only 25 minutes, everything moves extremely fast. There's no rests between moves and sometimes very little time to set up for the next move.  There is a prompt on the screen that lets you know what's coming next, along with a countdown clock letting you know how much longer you have in the workout.  My favorite thing about the whole series is Shaun T himself.  My goodness he is so motivating and it cracks me up when he talks in the third person.

I'm super excited that I made it through the first week!  I've been sore, but it feels great to know that I've gotten myself back into the fitness game!  After just a few days, I have already seen some changes in my energy level.  One morning, I realized that it was 9 am and I hadn't even thought about making coffee.  That is a huge deal! I am also loving Shakeology.  Hands down, this is the best shake on the market.  There's nothing else out there that is going to give you such a dense dose of nutrition. It can be used as your meal for breakfast, but I've found that I really enjoy it as my afternoon snack, especially since I work out very late in the day.

I can't wait to see and share my results over the next 10 weeks!

Do you feel like you are struggling to make time for workouts?

How do you find ways to make time to for fitness?  Share those tips below.

Want to know more about Focus T25 or Shakeology?  Send me an email or Facebook message.  I would love to help you with your health and fitness goals!

Banana Flax Pancakes

I have such fond childhood memories of Saturday morning pancakes.  My brother and I would begin the morning jumping into bed with our parents to wake them up from peaceful slumber.   After everyone was wide awake, we would all head downstairs to the kitchen where my dad would whip up some Bisquick pancakes covered in Log Cabin pancake syrup.  If we wanted to be really fancy, mom would microwave the syrup with a little butter.  Ahhh....good times.  

Fast forward a couple years and those same pancakes, while seemingly nostalgic, always leave me feeling uncomfortably full and ready for a nap.

Enter the revamped Saturday morning pancake that will leave you ready to face your Saturday......or any day of the week!  My inspiration came from a Pinterest 2 ingredient pancake recipe, The Detoxinista and Laura Miller from Raw Vegan Not Gross.  

The consistency is somewhere between a crepe and a traditional pancake. 

These pancakes are delicious by themselves, but please feel free to top them with pure maple syrup or even add some natural almond or peanut butter as a filling. 

Items needed:

High Speed Blender

Griddle

Ingredients:  makes about 12 pancakes

1/4 cup Flax seed

2 Bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter the pancakes will be)

4 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (please use the good stuff, no imitation!)

pinch of fine sea salt

Coconut Oil for greasing your griddle

Optional toppings and fillings: 

Pure maple syrup

Almond or Peanut Butter

Heat griddle on medium heat or about 300 degrees.

In your high speed blender (or coffee or spice grinder) grind up the flax seeds. 

After you have processed the flax seeds, add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. 

It will look like this:

Measure 1/4 cup of batter and pour onto a greased griddle. 

It takes 4-5 minutes to cook each pancake.  You can tell when it's time to flip because the little bubbles will appear just like they do on traditional pancakes. 

Sorry about the terrible lighting on these pics!  I'm working on that! 

You can even get creative and add a few chocolate chip for the kids. 

After you flip, it takes another 2-3 minutes for the other side. 

Now it's time to enjoy!  These are pictured with natural almond butter spread between each pancake and topped with about a tablespoon of pure maple syrup.

  

What are some of your family's favorite breakfast traditions? 

Ingredients:  makes about 12 pancakes

1/4 cup Flax seed

2 Bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter the pancakes will be)

4 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (please use the good stuff, no imitation!)

pinch of fine sea salt

Coconut Oil for greasing your griddle

Optional toppings and fillings: 

Pure maple syrup

Almond or Peanut Butter

Heat griddle on medium heat or about 300 degrees.

In your high speed blender (or coffee or spice grinder) grind up the flax seeds. 

After you have processed the flax seeds, add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. 

Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto greased griddle.  Cook 4-5 minutes or until bubbles appear.  Flip pancake and cook an additional 2-3 min.

Simple Solutions

Some days I feel very enthusiastic about trying a new recipe and some days I just don't have the time or energy. Today was one of those days where I needed to keep it simple.

A couple months ago, this would have been one of those days where I asked my husband to run through a drive thru to pick us up some takeout.  While we still like to eat out on the weekends, I try to keep our meals as clean as possible during the week.  Even "healthy" choices at restaurants sometimes contain all the sodium you need for entire day.

The great thing about all these recipes?  You can easily customize the portions!  Whether you are cooking for yourself or a family, these meals will work!

Breakfast 

This is one of my favorite breakfasts.  I cringe when I think about how many years I skipped this meal! Even when you don't have a lot of time, you can pull the whole thing together start to finish in less than 10 minutes.  Best of all, this isn't going to spike your blood sugar and leave you ready to crash like a muffin or breakfast pastry would.

Scrambled Eggs Sprinkled With Cheddar Cheese and Sautéed Baby Kale

Lunch

For lunch, I had some left over veggie stir fry I made to use up produce I had in the fridge.  I didn't take a picture, but it was broccoli, cabbage, onions and cauliflower tossed with quinoa.

Dinner

Dinner was as easy as boiling water and using the salad spinner.

Trader Joes has a delicious quinoa and brown rice pasta that is gluten free.  This pasta is so filling and doesn't leave you with that heavy, overly full feeling that traditional pasta causes.

The sauce is a store bought sauce with lower sodium.

The salad was my favorite part.  Delicate baby kale leaves, tangy grape tomatoes, red onion, feta cheese and a hemp seeds.

If you haven't tried hemp seeds, this is a great way to incorporate some additional protein in your diet.

A gorgeous salad like this shouldn't be covered up in salad dressing that's been sitting on a grocery store shelf for who knows how long.

Trust me, once you start making your own salad dressings, there is no going back.

It's. Just. Too. Good.

My new favorite salad dressing is the Greek Dressing from the cookbook Everyday Detox.  This was also a big hit with my father in law on Fathers Day weekend.

6 tbsp Olive Oil

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 cloves of fresh garlic

1 tsp oregano

Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and process until smooth.

What are your favorite, easy meals to prepare on busy days?  Share your ideas below!

PB2- Product Review

Peanut butter is a staple item at our house.  So is dark chocolate.  I instantly fell in love when I saw this new product on the peanut butter shelf at the grocery store.  I was a little skeptical about how it would taste, but for the love of peanut butter and chocolate, I was willing to give it a try.  The fact that this claims to have 85% less fat and calories than traditional peanut butter was also nice motivation.

The label on this powdered peanut butter says the peanuts are roasted then pressed to remove 85% of the oil.  You mix 2 tablespoons of PB2 with 1 tablespoon of water and stir until smooth.

First, this is an extremely fine powder.  I've used it several times and have yet to measure out my 2 tablespoons without leaving a mess all over the counter.

I was very surprised at how creamy the consistency is when mixed.  It's very similar to peanut butter, just without the oil.

I tasted it alone, and it was decent, but did have that "low calorie, low fat" taste.

When mixed in oatmeal or a smoothie, the peanut butter and chocolate flavor was wonderful.  I did miss the creaminess of traditional peanut butter, but I guess that's the trade off when the oils are removed.

The verdict- this is a nice addition to your pantry.  It's not going to ever replace traditional peanut butter for me, but, I think it's great for adding peanut butter flavor to other foods without adding the fat and calories.

Have you tried PB2?  What did you think about it?

Easy Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

I didn't always like breakfast.  I skipped that meal of the day for about the first 30 years of my life.  There would be the special occasion breakfast here and there, but that was it.  It wasn't until one of my many times I hopped on the weight loss wagon that I began to realize my need for this meal of the day.  I was doing a very intense exercise program and I couldn't properly fuel my body without those calories.

While I yet again fell off that wagon, I did continue to eat breakfast.

Growing up, my mom began serving us Ezekiel bread long before it ever made it's way into mainstream grocery stores. I can't remember if this was before or after the juicing revolution hit. We went to the little local health food store to buy this bread that was completely different than any whole wheat bread we had ever eaten.  Strangely enough, I really liked it. In college, I was even able to find it at this tiny little health food store in Sylva, NC.

Ezekiel bread- you and I have been through a lot together.

About the same time I began liking breakfast, I noticed a new item beside the old faithful regular Ezekiel bread- Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread.  Game changer.

This item quickly found it's way into my shopping cart and became an instant favorite.

I personally think the best way to enjoy it is in french toast.  It tastes so good you will think it's bad, but it's not!

Easy Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

Makes 1 serving

Heat griddle on medium heat or about 300 degrees.

2 pieces cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk (or more if you like the egg mixture thinner)

1/4 tsp real vanilla extract (totally optional)

dash of extra cinnamon

Optional Toppings

maple syrup

favorite fruit

Coconut oil for greasing the griddle

Toast the Ezekiel bread in a toaster on medium to light setting just so it becomes slightly dry.  It will absorb the egg mixture better.

While you are toasting the bread, mix up the remaining ingredients.  Pour into a shallow dish or pie pan.

Dip each side of the bread in the egg mixture until well coated.

Spray griddle with coconut oil and cook each piece 2-3 min on the first side and 1-2 min on the other side.

Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit.

Do you like Ezekiel bread?  What are some of your favorite ways to enjoy it?

My Story

It's easy to make excuses for ourselves.  It's easy to say, well, this isn't that bad for me, or tomorrow I'm going to make an effort to be healthier.  It's easy to mindlessly fall into bad eating habits.  It's easy to be in denial.

It tastes good.

It's more convenient.

It's what everyone is doing at social gatherings.

Then it all catches up to you.

For me, the moment I could no longer live in denial came on a Saturday, in a dressing room.  At 5 months postpartum with my second child, I hadn't "bounced back" like I expected too.  I was looking for a dress.  I grabbed the size I assumed I was only to discover it no where close to fit.  Hmmm.....maybe the sizing is just off on this brand or style.  That wasn't the case.  The reality was, I hadn't been exercising and I hadn't been eating healthy.  I wanted to cry.  I was mad at myself.  I put all the dresses back on the racks. I wasn't going to try a size bigger because I had already made up in my mind that a big change was coming.

That Monday, I broke out my old South Beach Diet book.  I had followed this plan a few years before and had great success but I didn't stay on the wagon for one reason or another.  I planned out my meals, made the shopping list and prepared myself for the hard road ahead.

Since I was nursing a 5 month old and I knew that totally cutting out carbs would not be the best idea for my milk supply, I did allow myself to have some fruits.  I also began taking the Mothers Milk supplement to make sure I didn't have a decrease in my milk supply.

I'm not sure if it was simply my stubborn determination, but the first two weeks of my new eating habits were not as stressful as I expected.  At the end of phase 1, I had lost 10 pounds.  I was ecstatic. I was motivated.

I wasn't where I was two weeks prior in that dressing room.

I fell in love with the clean eating concept. I love making meals with fresh ingredients for my family.

I am very strict during the week, but do allow myself to live in the real world on the weekends.  You may catch me at the Mexican restaurant having some chips and salsa, but I don't go overboard.  I have realized that the term "cheat" meal is essentially a "set you back" meal.

I

I'm happy to say that 4 months later, I am down 20 pounds.  I haven't seen this weight and size in years!  Most importantly, the term "diet" doesn't describe how I live.  I've changed my eating habits. I no longer say, oh, I can't have that right now because I'm on a "diet."

I hope that some of my recipes will inspire you to make healthy changes in your own life.

Your diet is 80% of the equation and fitness/exercise is 20%.

This blog is my accountability.  For the past 8 years, I have yo-yo dieted and allowed myself to fall back into those habits. I haven't made exercise a priority. That isn't happening again.  Ever.

Do you struggle with falling back into bad habits?

What are some ways that you stay accountable to your goal?

What healthy eating habits have worked for you and keep you on track?

If you haven't taken that first step, what's holding you back from making a change?