A 2 week Nutrition Plan anyone can follow!

 


Well it's been awhile!

And a lot has happened. But the biggest personal thing that has happened to Cody and me is our combined 80+lb weight loss. 

How? A combination of amazing 6 day a week workouts (Message me for info!) and Noom.

Noom is an app that reeducates you on your diet and nutrition. But the reality is that Noom doesn't tell you what to eat - so that's why we've put together our list for you. 

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE:

This is separated into four categories: 

  •     Breakfast
  •     Lunch
  •     Dinner
  •     Snacks
Our eating schedule: Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack. (Cody doesn't usually have the evening snack that I do!)

The best part: these are easy recipes and the ingredients are available readily at Trader Joe's and at Kroger locations. 

Let's get to it!

Breakfast. CHOOSE ONE:

    
    Quaker Instant Oatmeal (make with water)
            2 varieties we recommend: the fruit and cream (lower calorie already) and the reduced sugar variety pack. 

OR

    2 Scrambled Eggs

OR

    Trader Joe's Whole Wheat English Muffins with a dollop (small!) of peanut butter. You can top this with 1/2 a banana as well! I do sub any whole wheat or organic English Muffin if Trader Joe's is out.


DRINKS: Coffee with a splash of creamer is totally fine! Watch your heavy sugared drinks for breakfast - they tend to be loaded with calories. You should drink 8oz or so of water with breakfast as well.

SUPPLEMENTS: I always start my day with a health shot. It's currently being tested so I can't tell anyone about it just yet. I also use Beachbody's Energize when I work out in the mornings and after I workout I use Beachbody's orange recover. These things protect my muscles and enhance my exercise routines.








Lunch. CHOOSE ONE:

Every day for lunch I have a salad. I can't tell you the importance of tons of fruits and veggies, but the reality is that you'll feel fuller when you have a huge bowl of salad. 

SALADS:
    Mixed spring greens, butter lettuce, spinach - it doesn't matter the variety you choose, but keep in mind the darker the leaf the more nutrient rich it is. FILL THE BOWL! FILL IT WITH GREENS!

Toppings: use more veggies! I use carrots, celery, Trader Joe's mini bell peppers, red onion, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and chop everything up and add it to my greens. 
Be careful with avocado - it's very high in calories!

I have a protein normally: 1/4c of cooked chicken, one hard boiled egg, etc. Don't over do this - 1/4 cup is all you need. Don't do fried chicken.




Toppings continued: you should use 2tbsp of dressing and no more. Check your labels! Some salad dressings have 250 calories a serving, which is more than your entire lunch with out it! I use and love the Trader Joe's salad dressings. But my absolute favorite is Olive Garden's Italian dressing. 

I also will put 1/8 cup of fat free feta or bleu cheese or goat cheese on my salads. 

WRAPS:
    With a wrap, think about making a salad in a wrap. Marinated chicken, tons of veggies, olives, tahini sauce, and a LOW CALORIE tortilla/wrap. We have found the holy grail of those: HERE!

SOUP:
    A can of lower calorie Progresso soup is a good choice, too!

Dinner. CHOOSE ONE: 

White Chicken Chili

SLOW COOKER RECIPE
Servings 6
Calories per serving 135
Ingredients:
8oz chicken breast
1 yellow onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
24oz chicken broth
1 can of great northern beans drained and rinsed (Dillon’s clicklist gave us butter beans so that’s what I used🤦‍♂️)
1 can of whole kernel corn drained
2 cans of diced green chilies (we use mild but if you want spicier you can use hot)
1 can of Rotel
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of cumin
3/4 tsp of oregano
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
Hand full of fresh chopped cilantro
4oz fat free cream cheese
1/4 cup of milk or half and half
Toppings: (optional)
Fat free cheddar
Light sour cream
Tortilla strips
Cilantro
Avacado
Jalapeños
Directions:
-Thaw chicken breast and place in the bottom of your crockpot and top with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cayenne pepper.
-Poor in chicken broth and add garlic, diced onions, corn, great Northern beans, diced green chilies, rotelle, and cilantro. Stir.
-Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8hrs.
-Remove chicken and shred them return to crock pot and stir.
-Add cream cheese and milk, stir. Cook for additional 15-30 minutes until chili is creamy and slightly thickened.
-Top with desired toppings and enjoy.


Chicken spinach mushroom white lasagna
Makes 2 servings. 315 calories per serving.
Ingredients:
Hearts of palm palmini lasagna noodles
8oz chicken breast
2 handfuls fresh spinach (ours was from our cold bed)
1/2 white onion diced
4oz mushrooms
1/4 cup Low fat ricotta
2 wedges laughing cow cheese
2tbsp milk
2tbsp low fat sour cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp garlic minced
1tsp oregano
1tsp basil
1/4tsp white pepper
1/4 mozzarella shredded cheese
Parmesan or low calorie Prego for topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Slow cook chicken and shred. Set aside.
In one pan cook onion, basil, oregano, garlic, mushrooms until moisture is gone from mushrooms
Stir in spinach until wilted
Stir in chicken
Remove from heat
In a bowl mix ricotta and milk.
In separate bowl, mix 2 laughing cow, sour cream, chicken broth and white pepper. Microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time stirring until mixed through.
Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to deep 9x9 baking dish
Lay down 2 lasagna noodles, making a 2x2 grid
Top with 1/4 of ricotta mixture
Top with chicken mixture
Layer on top more sauce
Repeat noodle, ricotta, chicken, sauce until all ingredients are placed. Top last layer with mozzarella and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 30min or until cheese is melted.
Broil for 2-3 minutes to finish off! Bon Appetit!

CHICKEN SHAWARMA WRAPS

By far one our favorite dinners in our regular rotation. Chicken Shawarma wraps, can also make into a salad. We stumbled across using this recipe from a Noom food blog and off we went for our 1st trip to Trader Joe’s! The Ole Xtreme wellness tomato basil wraps are amazing, a green food per Noom’s food tracker, 50 calories, and 4 grams of net carbs!
Ingredients:
Trader Joe’s Chicken Shawarma marinated chicken thighs
English cucumbers
Red onion
Cherry tomatoes
Greek Kalamata olives
Trader Joe’s Tzatziki creamy cucumber dip
Trader Joe’s fat free feta
Ole Mexican foods Xtreme wellness tomato basil wraps
Curry powder (optional)
Directions:
Cook the chicken and while the chicken is cooking dice up all of your veggies. Once the chicken is done I thinly slice the meat and return to the pan to evenly coat the meat in the seasoning.
Set up your veggies buffet style to accommodate any variety of tastes!
Then it’s time to assemble your wraps. Do it any way you please! We top ours with a dash of curry powder.
This can also be made into a salad if you want to eliminate the wraps!



Chicken and broccoli Alfredo.

One of our easier and honestly healthier dinners. We substitute Hearts of Palm, Palmini for our pasta and use a low calorie Alfredo sauce that we make on our own. Less than 300 calories per serving!
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts or thighs (2 servings)
Hearts of Palm (1 bag or can linguine style)
Laughing cow spreadable cheese wedges ( 2 wedges)
Broccoli florets (2 hand fulls)
Milk, we use 2% because that’s what our kiddo drinks but you can use skim for less calories or whole if you want (1 Tbsp)
Directions:
1. Cook chicken until done and set aside. Season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
2. While chicken is cooking boil broccoli in water for 5 minutes.
3. We do boil the palmini for 5minutes to soften it!
4. For the sauce: while the chicken and and broccoli are cooking, in a small bowl stir together the laughing cow cheese, sour cream and milk.
Microwave the sauce for 20 second intervals, whisking between each 20 seconds until smooth and creamy.
5. Plate and enjoy. Top with Parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper, low calorie marinara sauce, fresh basil, or diced cherry tomatoes.


Jicama street tacos!
Who doesn’t like TACOS!! We started substituting Jicama wraps from Trader Joe’s for tortillas. They taste delicious and provide that crunch of the taco shell but at 15 calories and 3g of carbs in 2 wraps you can indulge without going over your limits for the day.
Ingredients:
Trader Joe’s Pollo Asado (seasoned chicken breast) 4oz serving is 130 calories
Trader Joe’s jicama wraps
Sides: (open for variation) we use
Fresh cilantro
Trader Joe’s spicy, smoky, PEACH salsa
Trader Joe’s corn and chili salsa
Light sour cream
Fat free feta
Trader Joe’s Green Goddess salad dressing (for that awesome 🥑 taste without the calories!)
Fat free cheddar
Diced red onion
Diced jalapeños
Directions: cook the chicken on the stovetop, when it’s done shred it! Move to a plate and keep warm.
In the same pan, heat 3-4 jicama wraps until they’re a little brown and warm.
Move the jicama wraps to a plate. Dish the chicken onto the wraps and choose your toppings!
The calories on this vary based on your toppings, but we use one 4oz serving of chicken and the jicama wraps as our base. With the oz of chicken we usually make 4-5 tacos per person!




Shrimp and grits!

This is the first recipe I made for Cody when we were dating. Modified from an old sailors book that I found doing my pirate research! Yes seriously! 🥰
20-30 medium cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, de-tailed
3 bell peppers - color doesn’t matter
1 onion red or yellow
2 tablespoons divided Balade light butter with sea salt
1/4 cup chicken broth or bouillon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Quaker instant grits
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (you can use low fat or no fat!)
1-2 tsp of hot sauce
Chop and sautéed veggies in 1tbsp butter until soft. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, simmer. Sauté shrimp in remaining butter in separate skillet until pink and tender. Season with cayenne, Cajun, garlic, salt and pepper.
While shrimp and veggies cook, prepare the grits according to package instructions. I usually substitute half of the water for milk!
When the grits are done, stir in the cheese until melted. Add the hot sauce.
Serve veggies and shrimp over grits! Enjoy!
Calories: 800 total!
Optional: mushrooms in with the peppers is also really good!


Easy Crockpot turkey chili
Makes 8 servings
125 calories per serving
Main Ingredients:
1lb lean ground turkey
2-3 cans of diced tomatoes. We use our own canned tomatoes from our garden!
1 can of light or dark red kidney beans
1 packet of chili seasoning
Optional toppings:
Spicy or regular pickles
Jalapeños
Fat free cheddar cheese
Low fat sour cream
Red onion
Fritos (go easy on these!)
Ritz crackers (again easy!)
Directions:
Brown the turkey in a skillet until it’s cooked through then add all ingredients to the crock pot and mix well. Cool on low for 4-5 hrs or on high for 2hrs stirring occasionally.

Honey Dijon chicken and mushrooms!

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs
16oz Baby Bella mushrooms
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp honey Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp Light Sour Cream
Spray large skillet with calorie free cooking spray. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook until no longer pink. Set aside.
In the same pan, add mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid. Add chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, honey. Simmer and reduce for 5min.
Turn heat off and add sour cream. Mix well. Chop chicken if desired and add chicken back to pan.
Service over riced cauliflower, Konjac rice, or rice of your choice! Or just eat it as is! 😋
Calories: 255 per serving or 510 for the whole thing! That’s if you use the Konjac rice. Factor in your own rice configurations as needed!


Wonton soup.

Using frozen Wontons is really easy and this is a filling yet low in calorie healthy meal! We modified this recipe from Skinnytaste.
6 cups chicken broth or your ratio of bouillon (we always use bouillon!)
1” piece of grated fresh ginger
Large bok choy, chopped
8oz fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 package (200g) Konjac or Shirataki noodles
6 Pork & Shrimp Wontons (these are higher in calories at 190cal per 6! You can omit them, but I like the flavor they bring)
16 Trader Joe’s Chicken Cilantro Wontons
1 tsp Trader Joe’s organic sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
Boil the broth with the fresh ginger. After 2-3min, add the veggies and noodles. Stir! Add the wontons. Bring to boiling, boil for 5min or until the wontons are cooked. Add your sauces! Stir! Enjoy!
20 minutes or less folks!
Calories: 570 for the entire pot! We usually eat half a pot each for dinner!


SNACKS - I have 2 a day!

These are my GO TO for protein bars! I absolutely crave them and can't survive without them! 












Yogurt: Dannon Lite & Fit is great! I mix in berries and a tbsp of chocolate chips! Make sure your yogurt calories aren't really high.

Popcorn: 100 calorie packs are fantastic!

Fruit: any! Grapes, Cuties, oranges, apples! Eat away!

Hummus & Carrots/Celery/Veggies

Chips & Salsa - do the mini round chips and organic salsa.

THESE! Cauliflower bites have taken over my chip craving!


Focused Energy Bevvy is part of my routine as well. It helps with a little energy burst and also has a tea supplement that helps me get to dinner.


















THAT'S IT! This weight loss plan is a sustainable one. We've been eating this way since September with great results! As always, ask a doctor for your special dietary needs!

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