Low-carb Salsa Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
3 large chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
Lg bag of favorite salad base
2 12oz jars of your favorite salsa
1 8oz package shredded cheese, mexican blend
1 medium tomato, diced
8 oz sour cream (optional)
Low-carb salad dressing (optional)
Doritos tortilla chips

Directions:
Cook chicken breasts in 1 1/3 jars (16 oz) of salsa in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Shred chicken when fully cooked.
Place chicken on a plate of salad mix (picture is traditional iceberg salad, I prefer dark greens but was cooking to my family's palette.) Top with 2-3 tbs of shredded cheese and 2-3 tbs diced tomatoes. To with either your favorite low-carb dressing or some of the remaining salsa and a dollop of sour cream. To keep it low-carb crush 2 Doritos chips on top. For the non-carb-counters feel free to crush up a whole handful, the flavor is great. But if you're eating low-carb, you'll want just enough to taste. There are about 3 carbs in the 2 chips. One thing I would add next time would be half an avocado sliced up, it would have been the perfect low carb complement to the meal.

Enjoy!

Progress So Far

Weight Loss Weeks 4-18 - Free Slideshow Maker

The Low Carb Fudge

Ok, so the title is a little mean because this post isn't about tasty fudge, but "fudging" to get something tasty.

A huge part of maintaining the low carb lifestyle is finding ways to satisfy high carb cravings without the carbs. It isn't easy, and may not be as good as the real deal, but you can find yummy alternatives.

Tonight I share one of my fudging techniques on a favorite high carb meal.

I love a hefty bowl full of cinnamon Life cereal with fresh raspberries and ice cold milk. The raspberries are ok on the low carb lifestyle but the milk and cereal are big no-no's. So what's a low carb eater to do?

I bought an individual Carb Master (Ralph's/Kroger brand) vanilla low carb yogurt, I cut up 5-6 raspberries in small pieces and mixed them together. Then I took 3-4 PIECES of Cinnamon Life cereal and crumbled it on top. It's enough for the flavor with very minimal carbs.

That's a great key to low carb eating, just enough for the taste! Make every carb worth it!! (Sorry if the pic is sideways, the challenge of blogging from one's phone.)

Stalled

So I've hit another plateau.

I hit the halfway point of my 81.2 goal a couple weeks ago. Then I dropped like 3 lbs in a weekend, but it was "medically" induced. And when my (being purposely vague) "issue" subsided, I gained 2 lbs back. I'm at 205.6 (not the 204 on the chart above) and I've been there almost a week, EXACTLY half way between where I started and where I WANT to be.

And I've lost my mojo. My desire has completely waned.

I've had a couple conversations in the last week, pumped, encouraging others, feigning my own determination, but it's been a total facade. I'm practically on the brink of giving up.

I've pushed the envelope the last couple days with my eating choices. More than once I've commented to my intention to "cheat a little" for the purpose of "shocking my system" to get things "moving again." But it doesn't feel true when I say it. Either way I've tested "trace" consistently for ketosis for several days.

I feel like I'm holding on to the last stand of my diet plan and my good intentions, and it's unraveling in my hand.

I'm looking at myself and I see this girl who's going on an important journey. She's halfway there and she's just plopped on her bum, alone in the middle of the desert, halfway. She can't stay there, or she won't, anyway. The decision has to be made, get up, press on, move forward; or amble backwards from whence she came.

But I don't want to go back.

This is how I know I cannot do this in my own strength, so I am begging God to help me. I did it in my own strength before, and then I gained 53 lbs in two years. FIFTY-THREE POUNDS!  That is what willpower got me, that saturated with impure motives, and a little personal idolatry.

I'm frustrated. Discouraged. Frightened. Desperate. I need God's help, because I can't stay here, because no matter how much better it feels than where I WAS, it's not good enough. I don't want to set up camp here in the middle of the desert.

But I'm stalled.

I need God to give me a jump. Because right here is where "The Fight to Lose" is really won or lost. There is no partial victory, and I cannot settle for a modified loss. I've got to run the race. But I need God's help to do it.

Low Carb Favorite

OK, today I am going to share with you one of my FAVORITE low carb tools/ treats. Are you ready?  Drumroll please....

Now let me elaborate, I am NOT a bread person.  Bread is quite possibly one of the easiest things me to give up.  But then I discovered this little gem! 

First thing I want to direct you to is the serving size.  Most bread considers 1 slice to be a "serving" (though if the world settled for half sandwiches perhaps we'd all be thinner.) This offers both a single slice or double slice serving.  And 2 slices is only 90 calories and more importantly 14 "net" carbs.  That is amazing!

This bread, on top of it's great numbers, has great texture and flavor.  When I shared it with my dad (who is diabetic) he breathed it in and said "it smells like real bread."  This comes from a history of low carb breads that are dry, flavorless and quick to spoil.  This bread has NONE of those challenges! 

Today I had a sandwich for lunch, I added turkey (no carbs); swiss cheese (<1 carb) with mayonaise, and mustard (no carbs) and a slice of tomato (negligible) and HALF an avocado (about 2.5 "net" carbs).  It was delicious!  And it totaled less than 18 carbs, not bad for a meal in the ongoing weight loss phase!

I also love grabbing a slice of this bread and putting a couple spoonfuls of Trader Joe's chicken salad (3 carbs) and folding it like a taco.  It's a great quick snack and in that case only has about 10 carbs. 

This bread has been a real godsend to me. I've actually started buying it for the whole family because it has considerably less sugar and calories for the non-carb counting family members.  This bread is amazing and I give it my highest recommendation for helping to maintain a low-carb lifestyle, it's delightful!  Hey, maybe that's where they got the name!  ;)

Indulge

A friend of mine is embarking on a  low carb diet. Everybody and their brother (or at least all my Facebook friends) knows I'm converting to a low carb lifestyle and on a serious quest to shed my pounds. My friend however has more class than I do and isn't outing herself to the world.

But there other day there was a hint about her making some weight loss effort, just a tongue in cheek comment about trying to overcome the allure of a french fry. And because I know about her weight loss goals, I told her to "step away from the french fries." But most of her other friends offered a different kind of encouragement, and it got me to thinking.

The Facebook feed was filled with comments like  "you deserve it, go for it;" "enjoy!" or "a little won't hurt;" and "moderation over deprivation!!" And the truth is  they all probably had sincere, loving motives to encourage my beautiful friend, but I think it's thoughts and comments like those that helped me get 81.2 lbs overweight!

I gave myself permission, dare I say the "right" to indulge over and over again. The big meal, the creamy gooey dessert, the cookies and milk in the wee hours of the night, they were all rights or rewards and slowly food became so much more than fuel for my body.

Now I'm not saying we shouldn't enjoy what we eat, but it shouldn't be in lieu of good judgment, or at the expense of our health.

Indulging in what I "deserved" had a lot of consequences: FAT, high blood pressure, fatigue, yeast growing on my skin, not being able to get off the couch, much less up the stairs without being wiped out. Not to mention years of hating myself for how I looked, how I felt. Years of avoiding the camera because I didn't want to remember how I looked.

The picture of me with my oldest son on his graduation day is humiliating. It was the final straw for me that changed my mindset from the "right to indulge", to the right to become the person I want to be: a woman with self-control, strength and wisdom.

The truth is, choosing to "step away from the french fries" is a step toward a healthier, happier, much more satisfying life. I'm going to indulge in my right to become the healthy happy person I want to be, inside and out.