Losing motivation!

Gah! I've been noticing my workouts aren't as full as they should be, and also I've been feeling cravings for shitty foods again (although I haven't caved!) The worst I've had is pancakes I made myself (from scratch). But I'm running out of motivation! I need some healthy meal recipes that may not be on this website's list, and if anyone has any out-of-the-box exercises it's be much appreciated!

Also, I went moutain climbing the other day, and on the way down my dad slipped and broke my camera. So much for my progress pictures >.< I never got the chance to put them on my computer yet.

Thanks in advance!

~Wolfen

I went moutain climbing the other day

That sounds "out-of-the-box" to me! Everyone goes through times when we start to falter on our diets or exercises, BUT you must not lose your determination and motivation. Just remember what it was that brought you here. The way you were feeling, what decisions you made about changing your life. You are young and are so smart! You mention in your profile alot of your family members have diabetes...well there is a great motivator right there! You don't have to travel down that same road. You already know what it takes, and you have made great progress! Don't freak out or beat yourself up if you have a weak moment or two and experience some "bad" food cravings...it is normal, we all have those moments. Proud of ya for not giving in!
Another good motivator is to set a long range (or short range) goal....something you want to achieve. For me my short range goal is to be under 160 lbs by Thanksgiving! Now that is only 1.5 lbs....but it seems to be the hardest 1.5 lbs I have ever tried to lose! I get down and discouraged, just like you...but I don't stay there. I just keep on keeping on...that's really all anyone can do. Just stay focused, keep exercising, find new routines, be creative, and keep making healthy food choices. You will find your motivation comes from the good feelings you get with every pound lost, every extra rep you can do, every additional step you take, so hang in there! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

I found some really tasty sounding healthy recipes on this website, if you are interested:
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections

Best of luck to ya!

Gah! I've been noticing my workouts aren't as full as they should be, and also I've been feeling cravings for shitty foods again (although I haven't caved!) The worst I've had is pancakes I made myself (from scratch). But I'm running out of motivation! I need some healthy meal recipes that may not be on this website's list, and if anyone has any out-of-the-box exercises it's be much appreciated!

Also, I went moutain climbing the other day, and on the way down my dad slipped and broke my camera. So much for my progress pictures >.< I never got the chance to put them on my computer yet.

Thanks in advance!

~Wolfen

Hi friend!

Healthy recipes.. Here we go! (sorry the first part was taken from an email that i recently snt to help out a friend... its formatted kinda funny but copying and pasting saves time).

Oatmeal Bars:
This is a versatile recipe that can easily be altered to fit your tastes
Mix 3-4 cups oatmeal, 1 cup applesauce, 3 eggs (or 6 eggwhites), 2 teaspoons baking soda in a bowl. With this base recipe, you can add apple chunks, mashed banana, blueberries, natural peanut butter, honey (to sweeten it up a bit), raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, cinnamon, pumpkin (or replace applesauce with canned pumpkin and add some pumpkin pie spice... it's a great recipe for the fall!). You can also add a bit of protein powder to this recipe to increase the protein content. If you add a few scoops of protein powder and maybe some peanut butter and nuts these bars are great for a snack as they provide complex carbs from the oats, protein from the eggs and protein powder, and healthy fats from the nuts and nut butter. This is a fun recipe because there is so much you can do with it and its so healthy!
>
>Homemade Pizza:
The crust can be made at home using whole wheat flour instead of white, or you can purchase a whole wheat crust from the store... however you might be best just making it so you can make it thin and then you know exactly what ingredients are used. You can also do individual mini pizzas by buying whole wheat pita bread (you can split the bread in half for 2 thin crust or just use the whole pita for one pizza). Use pizza sauce, low fat cheese, chicken, and veggies of your choice for a healthy homemade pizza.
>
>Hamburgers:
For a healthier hamburger, go for lean beef (less than 7% fat). Opt for low fat cheese and low fat mayo and go for the whole grain buns instead of white. You can also only use 1/2 a bun then top with lettuce to cut down on carbs.

>Tacos:
>For beef tacos, go for lean beef (7% fat), turkey burger, grilled chicken or fish (tilapia works great!). Opt for low fat sour cream, whole wheat tortillas (I really like the low carb ones), low fat cheese, black beans, spinach/lettuce, olives, onions, tomatoes, avocado chunks, and salsa. This is a very healthy meal!
>
>Nachos:
For a healthier plate of nachos use baked whole grain chips instead of regular. For beef go for lean or ground turkey burger and add a can of nonfat refried beans (or make your own using dried beans... this takes a while longer). Top with low fat or fat free cheese, fat free sour cream, avocados, onions, olives, salsa, and tomatoes.

"Stuffed burgers"
Buy lean beef or lean ground turkey. Add in a few eggwhites and a bit of oatmeal (not sure how much exactly as i don't measure... maybe 1/2-1 cup) and stir it all together. From there you can add things like chopped peppers, olives, mushrooms, onions, low fat cheese, salsa... and whatever else you want. Form into patties and bake! Yum!

Homemade sushi:
This is one of my all time favorite things in the whole world! Look up (online) a recipe for homemade brown sushi rice (sorry i can't remember it off the top of my head). Buy some nori, wasabi, avacados, mangos, cucumbers, fat free cream cheese, crab, baby shrimp, smoked salmon (I don't use raw fish in my homemade sushi... not brave enough) and anything else that you like in your sushi. Prepare the rice and let cool. Spread rice onto nori, add your veggies/fruits, roll, and slice. This makes AWESOME and affordable sushi! I do love me some sushi!

Taco soup:
Brown lean beef or ground turkey/chicken. In a large pot, add in things like onions, olives, chopped peppers, corn, black beans, kidney beans, chili beans, hominy, whole stewed tomatoes, salsa, and a can or two of tomato sauce... Add a bit of water... bring to boil.... Toss in the meat... simmer until veggies are tender (the longer you simmer the better so go for atleast an hour or more). You can add things like pepper, chili powder, and any other spices you like to flavor. Serve with warm low carb whole wheat tortillas!

These should be enough to get you started. If you'd like more recipes feel free to ask and i'll come up with more ideas.

For workout ideas...Simply add in "exercise" any chance you get. Park in as far from the store as possible, take the stairs whenever you can, take a few small walks each day (even if they are only 10 minute each), when you're watching television every time a commercial comes on do some form of exericse... lunges, squats, pushups, sit ups... whatever you can do in the comfort of your home. These small bouts of exercise add up over time and will help to burn extra calories each day.. .bringing you closer to your weight loss goals. Also, hiking, biking, kayaking, swimming, gardening, yardwork, shoveling snow... are all great forms of exercising where you don't feel like you're exercising. Whenever you get the chance add in active activities.

Hope this helps!

Cassie

Gah! I've been noticing my workouts aren't as full as they should be, and also I've been feeling cravings for shitty foods again (although I haven't caved!) The worst I've had is pancakes I made myself (from scratch). But I'm running out of motivation! I need some healthy meal recipes that may not be on this website's list, and if anyone has any out-of-the-box exercises it's be much appreciated!

Also, I went moutain climbing the other day, and on the way down my dad slipped and broke my camera. So much for my progress pictures >.< I never got the chance to put them on my computer yet.

Thanks in advance!

~Wolfen

Hi friend!

Healthy recipes.. Here we go! (sorry the first part was taken from an email that i recently snt to help out a friend... its formatted kinda funny but copying and pasting saves time).

Oatmeal Bars:
This is a versatile recipe that can easily be altered to fit your tastes
Mix 3-4 cups oatmeal, 1 cup applesauce, 3 eggs (or 6 eggwhites), 2 teaspoons baking soda in a bowl. With this base recipe, you can add apple chunks, mashed banana, blueberries, natural peanut butter, honey (to sweeten it up a bit), raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, cinnamon, pumpkin (or replace applesauce with canned pumpkin and add some pumpkin pie spice... it's a great recipe for the fall!). You can also add a bit of protein powder to this recipe to increase the protein content. If you add a few scoops of protein powder and maybe some peanut butter and nuts these bars are great for a snack as they provide complex carbs from the oats, protein from the eggs and protein powder, and healthy fats from the nuts and nut butter. This is a fun recipe because there is so much you can do with it and its so healthy!
>
>Homemade Pizza:
The crust can be made at home using whole wheat flour instead of white, or you can purchase a whole wheat crust from the store... however you might be best just making it so you can make it thin and then you know exactly what ingredients are used. You can also do individual mini pizzas by buying whole wheat pita bread (you can split the bread in half for 2 thin crust or just use the whole pita for one pizza). Use pizza sauce, low fat cheese, chicken, and veggies of your choice for a healthy homemade pizza.
>
>Hamburgers:
For a healthier hamburger, go for lean beef (less than 7% fat). Opt for low fat cheese and low fat mayo and go for the whole grain buns instead of white. You can also only use 1/2 a bun then top with lettuce to cut down on carbs.

>Tacos:
>For beef tacos, go for lean beef (7% fat), turkey burger, grilled chicken or fish (tilapia works great!). Opt for low fat sour cream, whole wheat tortillas (I really like the low carb ones), low fat cheese, black beans, spinach/lettuce, olives, onions, tomatoes, avocado chunks, and salsa. This is a very healthy meal!
>
>Nachos:
For a healthier plate of nachos use baked whole grain chips instead of regular. For beef go for lean or ground turkey burger and add a can of nonfat refried beans (or make your own using dried beans... this takes a while longer). Top with low fat or fat free cheese, fat free sour cream, avocados, onions, olives, salsa, and tomatoes.

"Stuffed burgers"
Buy lean beef or lean ground turkey. Add in a few eggwhites and a bit of oatmeal (not sure how much exactly as i don't measure... maybe 1/2-1 cup) and stir it all together. From there you can add things like chopped peppers, olives, mushrooms, onions, low fat cheese, salsa... and whatever else you want. Form into patties and bake! Yum!

Homemade sushi:
This is one of my all time favorite things in the whole world! Look up (online) a recipe for homemade brown sushi rice (sorry i can't remember it off the top of my head). Buy some nori, wasabi, avacados, mangos, cucumbers, fat free cream cheese, crab, baby shrimp, smoked salmon (I don't use raw fish in my homemade sushi... not brave enough) and anything else that you like in your sushi. Prepare the rice and let cool. Spread rice onto nori, add your veggies/fruits, roll, and slice. This makes AWESOME and affordable sushi! I do love me some sushi!

Taco soup:
Brown lean beef or ground turkey/chicken. In a large pot, add in things like onions, olives, chopped peppers, corn, black beans, kidney beans, chili beans, hominy, whole stewed tomatoes, salsa, and a can or two of tomato sauce... Add a bit of water... bring to boil.... Toss in the meat... simmer until veggies are tender (the longer you simmer the better so go for atleast an hour or more). You can add things like pepper, chili powder, and any other spices you like to flavor. Serve with warm low carb whole wheat tortillas!

These should be enough to get you started. If you'd like more recipes feel free to ask and i'll come up with more ideas.

For workout ideas...Simply add in "exercise" any chance you get. Park in as far from the store as possible, take the stairs whenever you can, take a few small walks each day (even if they are only 10 minute each), when you're watching television every time a commercial comes on do some form of exericse... lunges, squats, pushups, sit ups... whatever you can do in the comfort of your home. These small bouts of exercise add up over time and will help to burn extra calories each day.. .bringing you closer to your weight loss goals. Also, hiking, biking, kayaking, swimming, gardening, yardwork, shoveling snow... are all great forms of exercising where you don't feel like you're exercising. Whenever you get the chance add in active activities.

Hope this helps!

Cassie

Holy moly cassie your awesome! I made stuffed burgers for my dada nd my friend and they couldn;t believe their tastebuds! All I was able to put into them were peppers, onions, and some cheese. I'm making healthy tacos tonight as well.

So I thought of another question! How much sugar would be "too much" in a protein bar/shake?(such as muscle milk)

Is it dextrose? HFCS? Sucrose?

Lol idk, just wondering like how many grams of sugar would be too much in any foods. If it has HFCS I don't eat it at all.

The RDA doesn't have one.

Most people I think get somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40/day. There are several groups petitioning to have an RDA limit set at a maximum of 10tsp/day which is about 40g. This is added sugar. It does not include fruit sugar (: (A soda has about 10 tspns).

Wolf... I'm glad you liked those stuffed burgers! You can also make those into meat balls and have them with tomatoe sauce and whole wheat pasta. Let me know when you get tired of these recipes and I'll give you more ideas. I love to eat and have spent many years coming up with healthy recipes and figuring out how to make common foods more healthy. If you get creative you really can make most recipes healthy... or atleast healthier.

For sugar... If i were looking for protein bars I would shoot for no more than 5-10 grams of sugar per bar. Remember you can also make protein bars yourself. I prefer making my own so I know exactly whats in them.

Making your own bars is cool too, since they also lack preservatives and other interesting additives!

How would I go about making my own bars? That sounds like a great idea!

So those tacos I made last night were phenomenal! I just browned some diet lean beef, whent hat was done turn the temp down by about 100 degrees and poured all-natural salsa on it and let that cook in. Had them on whole wheat tortillas and omg it was amazing!

Mmm I looove tacos. Have you ever tried ground turkey? I actually prefer it sometimes. I don't season it, just add salt!

Tacos... My favorite are fish tacos! Take your fish of choice... grill it up... add things like mango salsa, cabbage/lettuce/spinach, olives, onions, tomatoes, black beans... they are beyond delicious!

To make your own protein bars.... Very simple my friend.

3 cups oatmeal
1-1.5 cups unsweetened applesauce
3-5 eggs
2t baking powder
3-5 scoops protein powder of choice dissolved in about 1/2-1 cup water

From this recipe you can add things smashed bananas, chopped apples or other fruit (I made some with wild plums that i picked off my moms plum tree a while back. Quite tasty!), nuts, nut butter (tastes good when you use chocolate protein powder), ground flax. You can even throw some greek yogurt in there and cut back on applesauce. This is a recipe i made up myself so you might have to play with it a bit to suit you tastes.

Hope this helps!

Cassie

PS: You MUST try the sushi one of these days when you have time! To die for!

w8w8w8w8.. never had sushi?

O man...

w8w8w8w8.. never had sushi?

O man...

What? I'm confused... who's never had sushi? Les have you ever made your own? Its FANTASTIC and soooo much cheaper when you make it yourself! The last time i made it i made some with brown rice and some with quinoa. Mmm Mmm Mmm. Good stuff!

Sushi is one of my fav!!!
I love it with Japanese sticky white rice!
For my brother b-day once.... I made 5 different trays of sushi!
NEVER again... i'll make that much as my hands & fingers was hurting b/c of all the rolls I did!
I went to this top of the line kind of market and found brown rice sushi... It was iight!
Can't beat sticky white rice though...