While I really believe that exercise is important to weight loss, I think the most important factor is diet. I am a calorie counter. I use a handy little computer program called MyFitnessPal, and of course, they have an App for that. It's made a huge difference in my weight loss journey. I love this program because it not only tracks calories, but nutrients. I love knowing how much protein I've had, how many carbs, sugars, how much fiber, calcium and so on. It really helps me eat well.
I like to cook almost as much as I like to eat. I love the whole process. Searching for recipes, doing the shopping, talking about what I was going to make, making it and eating it. The only thing I don't like is the clean up, but who does?
I used to plan out the week's meals and every night was something different. I was spending hours involved with dinner. I liked it- but I didn't like the result. No time left for the gym and too much food being eaten.
Recently, I read that people who eat the same thing over and over gain less weight. At first I thought "yeah, because they don't like food", but then I really began to think about it. If I took out all that planning, the detailed shopping, the hours of prep- I would have a lot more free time. Free time = work out time.
I decided to re-evaluate how I handle my meals and started with breakfast and lunch. Today, I'm going to talk about breakfast.
I love breakfast. I used to skip it or eat something full of carbs, but when I started having a lot of protein in the morning, I saw and felt the difference. The problem is, I have to be at work at 6 am and this is just too early for me to eat.
I was looking at Hungry Girl and was intrigued my her "Egg Mugs". I'm nor the biggest HG fan, but scramblers made in the microwave? I was skeptical, but tried it- and it worked. I had a hot, high protein solution, but I needed to make it still more time friendly. Enter- assembly line cooking.
I bought five 3 cup rectangle glass pyrex containers, one for each work day (and because that's all they had at the store). Once a week I pick a different type of scrambler, make up all 5 at once, place 2 in the fridge and the other 3 in the freezer. I take the fridge ones to work on day 1 and 2, then the night before work I pull one from the freezer and thaw it in the fridge. By the time I throw it in the microwave at work the next morning, it's mostly thawed.
I decided to really be "bloggy" (like crafty- but for a blog- I'm sure it will catch on) and took pictures of the process. Here is this week's breakfast: Egg Whites with Turkey Sausage and Salsa.
Tools: 5 pyrex containers apx 3 cups (I rec. the square/rectangle shapes, and the store better)
measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients:
Liquid Egg Whites-1 container
Salsa
Turkey sausage links-15
Laughing Cow-Queso Fresco and Chipolte- 5 wedges
Pepper
Here's what you need
Start with 1/2 cup of egg whites
Add 3 links of sausage cut up, 2 TB salsa and one wedge of cheese. Don't forget to add some pepper too.
Cover and stack. All this took me about 5 minutes and dirtied a measuring cup, a knife and a spoon.
Now, doesn't that look tasty? No? Yes, I agree, it looks awful! And it will continue to look less than pretty- but it will taste fantastic!
How to cook: I'm still figuring this out. I think I "stop and stir" too often and I am working on it. It seems like microwaving it on high in 90 second intervals, stirring between intervals seems to work well. I take the lid off for the last 30 seconds or so, it helps that last bit of liquid to disappear. It's still taking close to five minutes to cook, so I am thinking maybe I need to up that first interval to 2:00 or even 2:30.
As I mentioned, it won't look great. How could it? Egg whites plus salsa plus sausage all mixed up- it's really... beige. But I promise, it tastes great.
I take along a piece of Trader Joe's Sprouted 7 grain and toast it in my hello kitty toaster. YUM.
Now the really good part- nutrition:
Without the toast:
Calories: 235
Fat: 9
Cholesterol: 60
Carbs: 4
Fiber:0
Sugars:4
Protein: 30g
Calcium: 10%
The bread adds 60 calories, 1 g fat, 7 carbs, 3 fiber and 5 g of protein.
I think that is a great start to the day. Try it and let me know what you think!
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