Well, I take it back. We aren’t cutting the cut entirely, well “we” being Josh. I am just the chef behind the cut. He is still going to stay in a calorie deficit for the most part except for Saturdays. Cause football season is here and beer is good!
I have heard several people state that they can’t count macros or eat healthy because that isn’t the way their family eats…excuse me if this is rude, but that is just an excuse. If you want to get healthy you will. If you want to cut calories you will.
Yes, I am a big help in Josh’s success of counting macros because I am the one that counts them all. I make all the food and create all the recipes. I would love for someone to cook all my meals and weigh everything out and say here are your macros ma’am (on a silver platter). Josh has the hard part of restricting himself right now to a certain amount of calories and managing his snacks, but the big meals is where I come in.
If your husband or wife doesn’t want to count calories or eat quinoa or try beets or eat grilled fish instead of fried, that is fine. If you want to eat healthy then don’t let anyone hold you back from that, not even your family.
I get asked if Anderson eats the same thing we do. Yes and no. I would love it if my 2 (almost 3 in 3 weeks!) year old loved beets, but that isn’t the case. He loves green beans and corn though. So green beans and corn it is. It isn’t very hard to serve him the same meat we are having but give him different sides. If I ate based on what my two year old would eat, I would be as big as a house. I am not going to let my two year old decide what we are all having for supper because I am too lazy to fix him different sides.
Kids can eat junk or three rolls at supper every night and not gain an ounce. That is not the case with our slowing metabolisms. The stubborn husband that won’t eat anything other than meat and potatoes…he can cook for himself (kidding, maybe) or meal prep that man a large sheet of roasted potatoes and call it a day.
One of my co-workers was fixing two meals every night. A healthy one for her and another not-so-healthy meal for her husband. My hat goes off to her, because I just don’t know if I would do that. My children yes, my husband no. You can eat healthy with me. The great thing is, her husband started trying her meals and actually liked them. Sometimes even preferring them over the food he used to eat AND he started losing weight (of course)!
My point is, saying you can’t track because your wife cooks for the kids or your husband won’t eat that kind of food is just an excuse to not do it. Making excuses is a lot easier than putting in the work. I have got a laundry list of excuses to not do skill work at home (i.e. handstand walks).
We make time for what is important. That goes for everything in life. Spouses, friendships, working out, work, playing with your kids, meal prepping, counting macros…it is all in how you prioritize in. If you could care less about losing weight, getting on track, maintaining weight, putting on muscle then you could have skipped my whole rant, but if you do care and you are serious about it, it has to become a priority.
It has to truly matter enough for you to put in the effort. Not like the ‘oh let’s get together conversations’ you have had a million times, but never follow through on, but truly matter. Being healthy is a lifestyle choice and sadly it is not a popular one yet. People love to check in at the gym, workout, and then completely reserve any good they did with a poor diet.
Proper diet DOES make or break your health. Working out is awesome and requires you to fuel your body properly, but eating healthy is even more important than being physically active. Stop making excuses. Let your spouse see the amazing changes in you through a healthy diet and maybe he or she will jump on board with you too!
M • E • N • U
Chicken Blueberry Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
Rotisserie Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
Cuban Quinoa Bowl (with a different salsa)
So I am skipping around between 3 different recipes to make this bowl exactly like I want it.
The original bowl has so many moving parts, a few key parts that I omitted from the get-go. When we came back from Grand Cayman this summer I wanted to find as many Caribbean inspired recipes as I could and this one was one of my firsts. The chicken burned in the pan because of all the orange juice. If you are going to grill your chicken then the original sauce would be great. I am going to cook our chicken in the cast-iron pan and will be using this Caribbean seasoning. It says you can use store bought seasoning, but I mixed up my own and it was great.
I am going to use this salsa. The last time I made this salsa, per serving only had 88 carbs, 1.1 grams of protein, 13.5 grams of carbs, and 4.4 grams of fat.
I am going to use the quinoa and black beans of the original recipe, but use water not broth for the quinoa.
Using three different recipes to make one delicious healthy one, is definitely worth it.
To recap: salsa, quinoa and black beans, chicken seasoning
Chicken salad without mayonnaise or yogurt! Sign me up!
This has it’s own “mayo” but does not have any flavor so you need to season the mess out of it. All it has is one egg, Dijon mustard, and lemon. I always add my favorite hot sauce or sriracha to top it off. If you don’t like spicy you can always add some greek seasoning and find a great greek dressing to add some extra flavor.
We add celery, matchstick carrots, and green onions to the chicken. Wrap it up in a high fiber, low carb tortilla and you have the healthiest chicken salad around!
Chicken Blueberry Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
This salad is so simple and easy that I thought it wasn’t going to be very good. You always think the harder recipes should be the tastiest, but that isn’t always true. Josh even loved this salad.
The one thing you have to be aware of is the fat in the dressing and from the nuts and avocado. I pick between the almonds or avocado, we don’t eat both. It is necessary to weigh out your oil. I used to think ‘oh it’s just salad dressing’ but man is that the wrong way to think, EVERYTHING matters when you are tracking.
I will not do equal parts of oil and lemon. I am going to use 1-2 Tbsp of oil and 1/2 cup of lemon juice. The mustard and honey will cut the lemon juice and make it bearable if you aren’t into a zesty dressing.
We have been getting non-fat feta and I can’t tell the difference between it and the regular feta.
Sadly, we are eating the salad and not the TOTES toast this time around. If you don’t fry the toast, it isn’t that unhealthy, but we can eat more of the salad than we can the toast.
I skip the green beans in this salad, only because Josh doesn’t care about them. I like to get the tri-colored new potatoes. The purple ones are my favorite. Make sure you check the amount of oil that you are using in the dressing so this doesn’t turn into a fat-filled salad for you.
If you can’t find champagne vinaigrette, white wine vinaigrette is a fine substitution. I always have 1 egg and 1 pouch of tuna on my salad. Before the cut Josh would have two eggs and two pouches of tuna.
This salad is so filling and very healthy and very tasty!
Rotisserie Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
I love this soup. I tried a similar one a few weeks ago and really liked it. I liked that she did not mix the noodles in until she was plating her meals. This really made tracking a lot easier. She also had vegetables that I wouldn’t have thought about using, like zucchini. I definitely underestimate the use and versatility of zucchini.
This recipe only has kale, rice noodles, chicken, chicken or vegetable broth (I have used both and mixed them depending on what is in my pantry). The other recipe used zucchini, corn, onion, and jalapeno. Feel free to mix it up and add in some extra veggies to make this a hearty dish.
Also, I do not use a rotisserie chicken. I cook chicken breast, so I don’t have to guess how much and which part of the chicken we are using.
Don’t forget the list!
& Go Dawgs!
