It's Week 4 of our Meltdown and each of our Meltdown particpants are doing wonderful! We have increased our exercise minutes each week, the healthier eating lifestyle is helping us make better choices, & most of all our old habits are fading!
I emailed our guest blogger Denise VanCleave a few questions that I feel each of you will benefit from. Denise has lost a total of 70+ pounds & her ideas, tips, and inspiration have filled our cup this week on the blog.
Denise I want you to know what a true inspiration you are to each of us not only at our office but to our Meltdown particpants! You are a great friend & I appreciate your time & attention to making our blog so wonderful. We had over 400 hits this past week on our blog & I know it's due to all of your great words of wisdom. Thank you!!
What started your initial beginning to a healthier lifestyle?
I think what started my move to a healthier lifestyle was the realization that I needed to set a good example for my girls. I also wanted to be able to do anything they wanted me to do with them. I knew that I had to get in better shape in order to do that.
Were there any obstacles?
My obstacles, at that point, were few. They (the triplets) weren't in school yet, so we weren't dealing with a huge amount of sickness, we stayed home most of the time, etc. Really, the only obstacles at that point were internal. I just had to get past the idea that I was not going to lose fast. It took me years to gain the weight, so it was going to take some time to get rid of it.
What kept you going every single day striving to reach your end result goal?
I honestly don't know what kept me going. I don't like to give up. I also saw results, both in the way I looked and felt, so that probably kept me going more than anything else. It's very empowering to know you feel strong.
How did you fit exercise in? How many days a week did you exercise? For how long?
At that point, I squeezed exercise in during the morning when the girls were content playing. Whenever I knew I had a good 30 minutes of open time, I put in a workout video. For the first 4 weeks, I exercised daily in order to develop a habit. After that, I worked out at least 5-7 days a week. Obviously, the more I exercised, the better I felt.
What was your total weight loss? How long have you kept it off?
I lost 70 poudns, but at this point I have kept off 45 pounds. I'm back in the hunt to get rid of those 25 pounds that have crept back up on me. When the girls started school and were sick ALL the time, my exercise had to go by the wayside. When they were sick, I inevitably got sick. So for two years I have been a very infrequent exerciser. With things becoming slightly less chaotic at home right now, that's one of my priorities. I have to get back into shape. It should be relatively easy since Hope is going to want to be in the house (with it COLD) most of the summer due to her brace. I have some time to "take care of the heart" at this point, so I'm going to take advantage of it. There are other struggles now, though, because I'm doing everything I can to ADD calories (think ice cream in smoothies and corn oil in slushes) to Hope's (and Addie's, in reality) food. Hope needs to heal and gain weight, so I have to cook for her as though I was trying to fatten a cow while I'm trying to make things lighter for myself (and Gary, but he doesn't know it). Every moment has its struggles, but I guess the important thing is to find a way to overcome them. I'm still working on that.
What was our key to success in keeping up your healthy lifestyle and weight loss?
What was our key to success in keeping up your healthy lifestyle and weight loss?
As for my "secret" for doing it and keeping (most) of it off, it's pretty simple. We have watched a lot of kids' movies at our house. In the movie "Nemo," Dory tells Nemo to "Just keep swimming." That's it. That's the secret. Just keep doing it. Keep exercising. Keep making healthy food choices. Just keep swimming. :)
Recipes of the week
Chicken Rollatini
INGREDIENTS
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 1.25 lbs
- 2 ounces Sun Dried Tomatoes, not in oil
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 tsp Dried Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
- 6 Tbsp finely shredded low-fat mozzarella
- 3 cups Whole Wheat Egg Noodles
- 1 Zucchini and 1 summer squash, quartered and diced
- 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
- 1/4 c shredded carrots
- 1/2 c cherry tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp fresh chives, minced
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 4 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak tomatoes in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain.
2. Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of saran wrap and pound away with your meat tenderizer to make them about 1/8th to a 1/4 inch thick.
3. Sprinkle each side with sea salt, black pepper and dried Italian Seasoning.
4. Place 5-7 spinach leaves, 2 Tbsp of sun dried tomatoes and 2 Tbsp of mozzarella on each breast.Roll up each breast, tucking the “stuffing” in as you make your “rollatini”. Use toothpicks to secure.
5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat and add 1 tsp olive oil. Add your “rollatini” and brown on all sides, about 6 minutes. Remove and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before removing toothpicks.
6. While the chicken cooks, prepare the pasta according to the packaged instructions.
7. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Sauté the squash, carrots and mushrooms in nonstick spray for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Toss in the cherry tomatoes and remove from heat.
8. Drain pasta, add in butter, parmesan, chives and veggies. Toss gently.
9. Slice chicken into 1 inch pieces and serve “fanned” over 1 cup of the pasta mixture. Sprinkle with additional parmesan and chives if desired.
Makes 6 servings, 1/6th of the chicken and 1 cup of pasta per serving,
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Buffalo Chicken Bite Ingredients12 ounces raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into 15 nuggets
1/2 cup High Fiber Cereal (I like it better than Fiber 1 b/c it actually “crumbs”)
1 ounce Garden Salsa Flavored Sun Chips, about 15 chips
3 tablespoons Tapatio Hot Sauce
Dash onion powder
Dash garlic powder
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash black pepper
Dash salt
Cooking Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a blender or food processor, grind High Fiber Cereal and Sun Chips to a bread crumb-like consistency.
In a small dish, mix crushed crisps with cereal crumbs. Add onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper, and salt, and mix well.
Place chicken pieces in a separate dish. Cover with Tapatio and toss to coat.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Give each chicken piece a shake so it’s not dripping with sauce, and then coat evenly with crumb mixture. Lay crumb-covered nuggets on the baking sheet.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Flip nuggets over and bake for 10 more minutes, or until outsides are crispy and chicken is cooked throughout.
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