Last Week!

It's the last week, ladies! We were in second place after last month's tally, can we hold our place? Let's push through and bring it in strong - show those Otters that you don't mess with the Double D's!

Tasty Chicken and Rice

I've been loving the recipes Brantley has been sending out lately! Sometimes I need to make little changes to them, like swapping chicken in for tofu or whatever. The latest batch had a great one that I blended with another recipe I found and the result was incredible. Give this one a try:

Olive oil
1 c white wine
1/2 white onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 c brown rice
Chicken or veg stock to cook rice
1 lb chicken breast cut in bite size pieces
1 8oz pkg mushrooms
Additional veggies as desired: I used zuccini and carrots :)
1 T butter
1/3 c Parm cheese
salt, pepper
sage, parsley

Heat oil in covered skillet or large bottomed pot. Add onions, allow to soften, add garlic, cook until onions translucent. Add rice, stirring for about 3 minutes to allow to toast lightly. Add about half of the wine to the pot, keeping the heat at med-high and allow liquid to reduce. Add stock and cover to cook rice.
In a separate skillet, saute chicken to cook. Remove from skillet to bowl or plate to hold. Add butter to skillet, saute mushrooms. Do not wipe out the skillet between items - you want all the good tasties on the pan. Add any additional veggies if you have them, saute just to cook. If you use zuccini, remove it from the pan when lightly cooked and hold to add just before serving so it doesn't go mushy. Return chicken to the skillet with the mushrooms, pour in remaining wine to deglaze the pan. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, sage and parsley to taste, stir everything around to distribute all the tasties! Top with parm and cover, simmering lightly for about 5 min.
Serve chicken over rice and enjoy! This meal has tons of flavor, isn't dry or tough and the leftovers were great :)

Having a Goal

Working toward something specific makes all the difference. Some arbitrary idea doesn't work for me. Reasons like "feeling better", "fitting my clothes better" and "looking good in my swimsuit" are more like nice side effects for me - I need a concrete goal!

I found mine. Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, June 1. A gruelling one-three day hike (we're shooting for one day, we don't camp...yet) that covers 14-16 miles round trip and rises over 5000 feet! The final mile or so rises at such a steep angle that they have attached cables into the granite so you can climb up to the summit. All the reviews we've read have suggested months of training, upper body for climbing, leg strength for the miles of granite stairs they say are like running up bleachers in a stadium and cardio for the exhaustion. We'll be carrying 5-7 liters of water each and enough food for at least 3 days. It's gonna be AWESOME!!!

This is what I'm working toward, what about you?

Minor Setbacks

Well, ladies, I'm afraid my activity points are going to be sorely lacking for this week as I've been sick for the last 3 days. The good news, I'm injesting nothing but water and will most likely contribute weight loss points! Always a silver lining :)

I am glad to have noticed I miss getting out and being active each day. I am really enjoying this challenge and am excited to see it is becoming a life style that will stick around once the challenge is over.

I apologize that you, my teammates, are taking a hit because I am not able to be there for any extra activities. You miss out on bonus points from lunch-and-learns and community runs because I cannot participate. However, it will make it that much more impressive when we win this thing by overcoming the additional challenge of a remote team member!! Woot, go DD's!!

Hope you all are doing well, enjoying hearing your updates!

Good Morning Ladies

Yesterday lunch and learn was fantastic. I think my biggest takeaway is to take every chance you get to get a little movement in during the day.

I have two new favorite snacks I wanted to share with you all.

In place of chips: chopped up peppers and humus... YUM

also... pistachios are amazing

Have a great day.

Heather

Lunch and Learn

I think the tip that I picked up from the lunch and learn today was put food that I buy from the grocery store in little snack bags for easy grab snacks. Also, to use smaller plates and to split meals or ask them to box up half of it. I have a bad habit of finishing my plate even though I am full. I am trying to drink more water, but still need to improve. Thanks for the blog, Tricia. The scale isn't budging yet, but it feels like my clothes are not as tight, so I'm going with that. Hang in there ladies and forge on!

Water Water Water

So we've all agreed to drink more water. We've heard it helps with weight loss and overall health. But I got curious to exactly why. Being always slightly skeptical, I thought I'd read a few articles about water and weight loss. Here's what I found:

• Studies show that people who drank 16oz of water 20-30 minutes before each meal lost weight more quickly and more significantly than those who did not. Why? Water helps fill you up. The study also showed that those who drank water before meals ate an average of 75 fewer calories per meal (115-225 fewer calories per day!)
• The body processes hunger and thirst similarly so often times you may feel hungry when you are just thirsty. In this way, staying hydrated acts as a natural appetite suppressant.
• Being deyhdrated lowers your metabolism, which means you burn calories less efficiently and therefore lose less weight. Why? When your kidneys aren't properly hydrated, they don't work to capacity and the extra load gets dumped on your liver. Your liver metabolizes fat so when it is spending it's time helping the kidneys, it metabolizes less fat.
• How much water should you drink? A good benchmark is to try to drink half your weight in ounces of water each day. If you way 150 pounds, you should aim to drink about 75 ounces of water per day. If you work out, that number should be increased in order to replenish fluids lost during your workout.

Water can get a little boring, so here are some tips I found to make it better:

• Have a big glass of water at every transitional point in the day (when you first wake up, before each meal, before going to bed)
• Make it convenient, keep a water bottle on your desk all day and fill it up when it's empty!
• When you have a junk food craving, drink a big glass of water immediately. This will up your water intake and may also give the craving time to pass.
• Don't allow yourself to drink a diet soda until you've had two to four glasses of water. You'll find that you may not want soda anymore or that just half a can is enough.
• Put slices of fruit in your water (citrus works well because it doesn't break down quickly). This adds a hint of flavor to "spice up" your water!

Happy Drinking!