Well guys, I’ve been doing the Extreme Transformation program for a week now and I love it! It definitely takes some effort and planning, but it really hasn’t been too hard.
It’s really just a simple, straight-forward, practical way to eat well. I love it. I’ve been counting macros on and off for a long time now, so that’s nothing new, but I’ve been loving the high and low carb days. I love the science behind it (in a nutshell, the high carb days rev the metabolism and the low carb days burn fat) and I love changing it up. It definitely keeps it interesting and really helps me to stay focused and motivated.
It has been weird to eat so many carbs though. I’d gotten used to cutting unnecessary carbs out of most of the things I eat, so it’s been interesting to purposely add them back in again. The high carb days definitely don’t feel indulgent though because the carbs are all from healthy sources; fruit, oatmeal, Ezekiel bread, healthy wraps, brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, etc.
On my high carb days, I also eat low fat, so I’ve been cutting out nut butters, cheese, butter, nuts, whole eggs, chia seeds, coconut oil, olive oil, etc. I like that though because when I switch to the low carb/higher fat days, it’s so nice to add all of those healthy fats back in! It helps me to not miss the carbs so much.
I also really love the reset day. My reset day was yesterday and it was so nice to eat more and to eat some more indulgent things. I kept it mostly healthy throughout the day, but I did make one of the “clean cheat” recipes from the book; Muddy Buddies.
Aaaaaannnnnnd, they were awesome!
They don’t look very awesome, I know, but they tasted great! A couple of my boys tried them too and loved them. The recipe is for a single serving, but it was quite large. I ended up eating about half of it and my kiddos ate the other half.
I can’t share the exact recipe, but I’ll just say that it included peanut butter, honey, protein powder, cocoa and Rice Chex. Oh, and instead of powdered sugar, they are coated in powdered peanut butter (PB2.) YUM!
Kev and I also went to a movie last night and we bought food at the theater. We both got salads and then we shared an order of fries. It was perfect.
Oh, and we saw the movie Lion. Wow. Just wow.
It was based on a true story about a darling little boy from India who became separated from his family and got lost. He ended up being adopted by a wonderful family in Australia and then he decided to search for his family.
I don’t want to spoil the story so I won’t say more than that, but I will say that this movie pretty much ripped my heart in two. It literally hurt my heart to watch it. I now want to scoop up every homeless/battered/abused/neglected child in the world and bring them home with me. I also want to open up a can of Whoop-A on every evil person in the world who ever tries to hurt a child in any way. I will never understand why some people do the things they do. It absolutely kills me.
Anyway, the fries and the “healthy” Muddy Buddies were pretty much the only “cheats” I had, but it was just right. Oh wait, I did snitch a spoonful of peanut butter with chocolate chips too. I thought that was fine though because some of the “clean cheat” recipes in the book include peanut butter and chocolate chips!
I still kept track of all my food in My Fitness Pal. I could have had up to 2,500 calories, but I ended up my day right around 2,000.
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Well, I’ve been loving all the food I’ve been eating. I’ve tried a few of the recipes in the book, I’ve made some of my old standbys and I’ve used a lot of the recipes in the book as inspiration, but made my own version.
I’ve still been having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning (this is the same pic I shared in my last post, but it looks the same every day!)
I’ve been loving having berries on top. Yum!
I’ve also been having various Greek yogurt creations most days…
On my low carb days, I mix in some chia seeds and top it with peanut butter (I’ve been using Jif Whips so I can use more!) and whipped topping. On high carb days, I’ve been topping it with berries, banana slices and unsweetened coconut. SO GOOD!
Oh, and my yogurt creation is usually just 2/3 to 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt, a big scoop of cocoa powder, a pinch of stevia and some unsweetened cashew milk. I don’t measure anything except the yogurt. Super easy. It’s an easy thing to take on the run too.
I’ve been having various protein shakes most days too. I haven’t taken any pictures, but they look just like all the zillion other protein shake pictures I’ve shared on the blog…
They are just varying shades of green and brown depending on what I put in them! On my high carb days I’ve been putting some frozen banana in there and on my low carb days I’ve been putting chia seeds and peanut butter.
They are all really good!
Here are some of the other things I’ve been eating…
Scrambled egg whites on Ezekiel toast topped with ketchup.
Turkey burgers (yes, it’s buried under there somewhere) with a side of Ezekiel toast with jam.
I topped my turkey burger with tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, ketchup and mustard.
Oh, and I just used the turkey burger recipe I have on my blog, but I omitted the cheddar cheese. I didn’t even miss it either!
I’ve been loving this BBQ chicken salad…
It’s just lettuce, tomatoes, corn, black beans and chicken mixed with BBQ sauce. I also drizzled some homemade Ranch dressing on there. They have a ranch dressing recipe in the book, but it kind of looked so a pain in the bum, so I simplified it by mixing Hidden Valley Ranch Powder with Greek yogurt instead. Oh, and I bought my ranch powder at Costco and it doesn’t have any MSG in it, although I know the single packets usually have it in there. So weird.
I made tacos for dinner one night and I had taco salad…
I like to make various creations with chicken, veggies and brown rice too. I drizzled some BBQ sauce on this one.
This has been one of my favorite low carb meals…
I just cook up some frozen green beans in the microwave and then cook them up in a skillet in a little coconut oil and mix it with cooked chicken and a wedge of Laughing cow cheese. It’s so yummy, warm and satisfying!
I also made this on one of my low carb days…
It was okay. It was just some cabbage slaw mixed with Greek yogurt, mashed avocado, cucumbers and chicken.
Well that’s pretty much the basics of what I’ve been eating. The meals are all pretty easy, no nonsense and come together quickly.
I haven’t done a lot of food prep except making sure I always have some cooked chicken on hand. I’ve relied on leftovers a few times too.
I love how I feel right now. A week ago, I felt very poofy and chubby. Today, not so much. It’s not dramatic, but I can feel it. I can just tell that my body is liking the consistently healthy diet. I’m not expecting to see or feel mega results for a least a few more weeks. I’m not quittin’ though!
Sadly, I’ve had a bit of a cold this week. I’ve just felt kind of blah, low energy and achy. I didn’t go to my gym a few days this week and it made me sad! I do try to listen to my body though and I knew I needed to rest. I went to the gym this morning for the first time in several days and I still felt sub-par. I was glad I went, but my workout just felt extra hard and my body felt extra heavy and sluggish. It was frustrating.
I’m hoping I’ll perk up next week! I’ll just keep pounding the Vitamin C.
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I thought I’d share a few fun pictures this week. I helped with the Valentine’s Day parties in my two boys school classes this week. It was fun and I love being with them in their classes…
My 8 year old and I made that Monster Valentine box on Monday night. He was happy with it and I think it turned out cute. We decided to mod podge pieces of tissue paper on there and it was quite a pain in the bum.
I was grateful that my 1st grader’s class didn’t do Valentine boxes this year, they just decorated bags in class. Awesome.
I also went to a fun “Wax Museum” for my 3rd grader’s class this week. He was Dr. Suess, so we dressed him up as The Cat in the Hat.
The kids in his class were all dressed up as different famous people and when you’d press the sign next to them that said, “Tap here,” they would tell you all about their person. It was cute.
However, this was one of those times that as I was climbing into bed the night before I thought, “Oh crap!” “I need to make a Cat in the Hat costume for tomorrow!!!” Soooo, I was up until almost 1:00 AM making that hat. It doesn’t look like it would take that long to make, but it was harder than I thought it would be! Oy.
Well, I think that’s all I have to share today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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