21 Day Fix - Maintaining and complaining...

  I am now on Day 4 of Round 2 of the 21 Day Fix, which is an all-inclusive plan that includes a guide, a nutrition plan and a series of workout DVDs.  I don't have the official program, but thanks to Google and Pinterest, I have managed to find nearly all of the pages of the guide, which includes how to figure out your containers (more on this in another update), what to put in the containers, how and when to workout and recipes for your nutrition plan.  I have tried a couple new recipes this round and while some have been successes, others have been utter failures.  One was so much a fail, in fact, that I tossed about 8 more servings of it because I simply couldn't eat the 1 serving I tried.  The recipe was sound and brilliant in principle, but the execution and failed attempt to add in extra vegetables doomed the whole thing. More on those recipes as well as one I plan to try tonight later.

 First things first, my weekly accountability which is now a day late (and probably a dollar short).  As expected, my weight increased slightly from the 3 Day Refresh results, but not too badly - much less than expected in fact.  I gained back less than 3 pounds since Thursday morning, but I have resumed eating protein as well as carbohydrates, so it wasn't totally unexpected.  It's also not a major hurdle to overcome.  The Refresh was meant as a reset to my system, not a cure to my problem.  The only "fix" for my problem is maintaining a healthy lifestyle and changing my whole outlook on eating and exercise completely, even if it is something I have to do day by day, week by week.  Rome wasn't built in a day, so I can't expect to return myself to healthy overnight when it took me 25 years to get here.

Measurements:
Weight: 253
Chest: 44 (-1.5)
Natural Waist: 39 (0.0)
Belly Button: 45.5 (-1.5)
Hips: 49 (-1.5)
Left Arm (Upper): 15.5 (-0.5)
Left Arm (Middle): 12.5 (0.0)
Right Arm (Upper):15.5 (0.0)
Right Arm (Middle):12.5 (0.0)
Left Thigh (Lower): 19 (0.0)
Left Thigh (Upper): 27 (0.0)
Right Thigh (Lower):19 (0.0)
Right Thigh (Upper): 27.5 (0.0)
Overall:  Gained 2.2 pounds, but lost 5 inches.

The hardest thine for me on any nutrition plan has always been, as was previously discussed in another blog post, vegetables.  I just don't do many of them at all, and few of them well.  I am trying desperately to like cauliflower and zucchini in order to use them as carb substitutes once in a while.  I am failing miserably at that task.  I have gagged down many different incarnations of each and have yet to find one that I like and some I couldn't even tolerate.  I have tried grated zucchini in place of spaghetti, sliced zucchini in place of tortilla chips, spaghetti squash in place in spaghetti, pureed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes and many mixed-in incarnations that inevitably get spat out or choked down. I don't want to choke down my vegetables.  I would like to possibly enjoy them.  There will be a way, somewhere, somehow that I will like.  It may take me 500 times to find it, but I will eventually find a way to eat at least ONE new vegetable.  However, mixing veggies into quinoa pizza bites is NOT going to be that way.

 I saw a recipe on Pinterest and my Facebook newsfeed about quinoa pizza bites.  Essentially, the concept is to replace the pizza crust with quinoa.  While still a grain, quinoa is exponentially more nutritionally sound than pizza dough.  I cooked up the quinoa into a delightful and tasty mix.  I had Italian turkey sausage, turkey bacon and turkey pepperoni lined up to make 3 meat pizza bites and a lovely little 6 cheese Italian blend to mix in and top the bites with.  We were on track for something wonderful.  The family was having pizza and these were going to be my salvation from cravings - and very bad decisions.  I SAW how much butter went into making those crusts... Then I decided to get crafty and try to be sneaky and it was all downhill from there.  Too many ingredients made a big mushy mess that took twice as long to cook as it should have and yielded a texture not unlike dog food.  The basic recipe, which I will attempt again at a later date and FOLLOW this time:

QUINOA PIZZA BITES

1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup tomato sauce (or pureed/diced tomatoes)
1/4 cup each mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup meat of your choice - pepperoni would be the basic idea

Preheat over to 350. Cook quinoa until light and fluffy.  Once the germ spirals out, continue cooking until all water is absorbed.  Reserve half of cheese and half of sauce. Mix together all ingredients and spoon into mini muffin tins.  Cook for 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Top with remaining cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until cheese is browned.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Serve with remaining tomato sauce for dipping. Makes 2 servings.

Do not, I repeat do NOT add spinach, cauliflower, egg and ricotta cheese, as I did.   The spinach would have probably been fine as it's virtually undetectable.  The  cauliflower might have passed too, but I won't risk it next time.  The ricotta cheese and egg were completely unnecessary and undoubtedly contributed to the runny nature of the mixture and the utter in-edibility of the final dish.

For 21 Day Fixers, here is your breakdown for 1 serving: 1 yellow, 1/2 green, 1 blue, 1/2 red.

COUSCOUS ENCHILADA BAKE

1/2 cup dry couscous
1/2 black beans
1/2 cup mild green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
3/4 cup shredded chicken or beef, seasoned to preference

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook couscous until light and fluffy.  I recommend cooking in organic vegetable broth.  Mix together the couscous, beans, enchilada sauce and meat of choice.  Spoon into muffin tins or into a baking dish.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Top with cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Serve with plantain chips and homemade salsa. Makes 2 servings.

Breakdown for 21 Day Fix: 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1/2 red per serving.
With plantain chips: Add 1 purple and 1 green.

HOMEMADE SALSA:

1 cup roasted and finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup roasted peppers (red, green, orange or yellow, or any combination) finely diced
1/4 cup roasted and diced onion
1/4 cup roasted and diced garlic

Chop/dice all ingredients and roast in over for 10-15 minutes at 350 or until softened and slightly browned.  Place in food processor and rough chop until blended.  Makes 2 servings.

21 Day F Breakdown: 1 green per serving


My final update for now is on my 5K training.  I have concluded the 1 mile portion of training and will begin 1.5 mile training today.  I will likely be reducing my speed and intervals back to starters in order to build up my endurance.  During my 1 mile training, my best 1 mile run was 12:36, which is also an all-time best.   My goal for 1.5 mile training will be 20 minutes to complete the 1.5 miles while treadmill training.  I don't typically set goals for pavement training and the terrain can vary and it's a bit unrealistic.  I haven't mapped out the actual race course yet,  but I should in order to figure out what kind of hills I may encounter.  Race day is April 19, so just about 6 weeks away.  I have trained at 1 mile for 2 weeks and will likely do the same for 1.5.  From there, I will look at how much time I have left and adjust according but I should be able to do 2 weeks at 2 miles and 2 weeks at 2.5 miles before the race.  Not sure how much time I will be able to train at the full 3.1 miles or if I even want for that matter.  Another goal is to drop 15 pounds by race day in order to fit into the snazzy new jogging pants I have on layaway.  That layaway comes out the week before the race.