Spinach and Cheese Tart Plus Banana PB Shakeology

I have a couple of things to share today. One, I made this awesome tart for dinner. It's a spinach and cheese tart. It has awesome flavor. It's another recipe I acquired out of my vegetarian cookbook. However, it wasn't the simplest thing to make. It took probably an hour of prep work. Still, it had a good taste. If you like spinach and cheese, that is, which I do.

However, my husband and daughter didn't care for it. They are picky eaters though, always have been and probably always will. Still, it's always nice to try healthy alternatives. I'm not exactly sure what the calories are on this dish, but I can already assume it's high in calories because of the cheese then the crust had cheese in it as well. Also, a stick of butter. So..yeah..definitely not the healthiest.

If anyone is interested in the recipe you can drop a reply here or message me at andrena28@beachbodycoach.com, and I will be happy to send the recipe to you.

The second thing I have to speak about is I am happy to say that the Shakeology drinks are going fabulously. I love the taste of them. For breakfast I like to add a banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter to the shake. Sometimes I add strawberries to that. It's so good and so filling. Plus, you get all these vitamins and nutrients from it. It's totally worth dropping the daily coffee purchase for this.

Counting Calories Correctly Makes A Huge Difference

I'm about to get my groove on and do HIIT 25 and Sculpt 30, which is a TurboFire workout. It's a really intense cardio workout with high intensity, but I don't do the jumps because I have bad knees. Still, I've lost 35 pounds, which is fairly impressive..considering.

I found after reading PUSH by Chalene Johnson, which is the creator of the TurboFire workout, that I was not counting my calories correctly. I was not eating enough, and my body was storing fat to use as energy from the daily workouts I was doing. After I made the correction and adding calories to my meal plan, I am happy to say I lost 4 pounds in 3 days, which to me was amazing! It shows how important it is to figure out your caloric intake with the amount of calories you are burning each day.

Also, avoid alcohol! I had one beer last night, and I felt so tired and woke with a headache. I was, also, very dehydrated, which made me feel icky this morning. Now I don't feel like doing my workout. Although, I am still going to do it. I've forced myself to do it in worse conditions. Like when I got the flu over Christmas. After the the fourth day of feeling weak I decided to push myself and just do it. I felt good after the workout, but wow...it was hard doing it. I didn't feel like I could keep up. My energy had been completely depleted.

So, in conclusion, if you are working out, but not losing anything you should use this formula to check your caloric intake. You might be surprised at what you find.

For a woman:

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

For a man:

BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)

These equations will give your total in caloric intake. REMEMBER, as you lose weight you need to reconfigure the total by redoing these equations. Also, the BMR (basal metabolic rate) is based on a common number. If you feel your BMR is different here then you can get that tested or they have things like the Bodybugg or Fitbit, which is a device you can wear to tell you exactly how many calories you have burned in a workout.

I'd like to add I got all of this wonderful information from Chalene Johnson's book called PUSH. You should really look into it. It's a very good read and very informational!

Quote of the day: "Choices are the hinges of destiny." – Pythagoras

Breakfast of Champions

I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to make a dish that I have a lot for breakfast in the mornings. Well, this is it. I got this from the TurboFire workout program. In one of the books that come with the program it has recipes, quite a few recipes that I absolutely love. It's a very light dish, low on calories and has a great taste to it.

The recipe calls for:

1 whole egg plus 2 eggs whites
3 slices (2 oz.) ham (or turkey bacon or turkey sausage), cut in thin strips
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 oz. pepper jack cheese (or cheddar, mozzarella, or swiss), shredded
2 scallions chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Nonstick cooking spray

Scramble the eggs in a bowl. Add ham, bell pepper, scallions, and cheese. Add dash each of salt and pepper (if desired). Spritz microwaveable bowl with nonstick cooking spray and pour in egg mixture. Microwave on medium for about 3 minutes. This time can vary though. I had to cook mine for a little over 4.

You can serve 1 slice of whole wheat toast and 1/2 cup of cranberry juice with it as well.

Enjoy!

Nutritional information:

Calories: 395
Protein: 35 g
Carbs: 37 g
Total Fat: 12 g
Fiber: 3.5 g

Quote of the day: "He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality." – Anwar al-Sadat

Focused!

I am very focused today!

Also, I was really disappointed in something. I was reading through some of Chalene Johnson's books that came with Turbo Fire. After some calculating I was very low in caloric intake, and she says if it's too low that your body stores fat, especially with as much calories being burned during the Turbo Fire workout. So, I know this now. It could also explain why I wasn't losing that much over the course of the last 17 weeks.

Oh well, we live and learn, right? Life would be boring as hell if we were perfect at everything we did! If you are interested in this formula check out Chalene's products by clicking the link above and searching for Turbo Fire, Turbo Jam, and many of her other products there.

Today was my first day working with a new preschool class. I've worked the lunches for them before, so it isn't like I don't know the kids, but it's a new experience working so closely with the teacher and the other aide. I had fun! We had a little trouble with one of the kids, but nothing we all couldn't handle. The parents aren't too happy with the decision from the principal in regards to that student, but it's a private school for a reason - they definitely don't like to deal with bullying, which was happening.

I'm must run - typing this quickly. I am off to work, yet again!

Quote of the day: "I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character." – Theodore Roosevelt