This Blog

I thought I'd give you all a little background on why I'm starting this blog before I get into the recipes.

Recently, I decided that I should start eating healthier. Sure, I wanted to lose a little weight, but the goal in the long run is to change how I eat so, ultimately, I'll be healthier, regardless of what I weigh. To help me achieve my goal, a co-worker suggested I download the "My Fitness Pal" app for my phone.

A calorie counter? Those don't work. I've tried them before, and had absolutely NO luck. But, having no other plan to kick start my new eating lifestyle, I decided to give it a try.

Boy am I glad I did!

Unlike other calorie counters, My Fitness Pal also keeps track of the nutrients you eat every day. You start by punching in your information (height, weight, gender, and how much you want to lose per week), then it asks you what kind of lifestyle you have (are you on your feet all day? Or do you spend all day sitting at a desk?). After all those questions, the app calculates how many calories (and nutrients) you should consume a day. Each day you put in what food you do (+ calories) and what activities you do (- calories).

Anyways, before this post turns into a sales pitch for the app, let me get back to the point.

It was so easy to stay right around the calorie and nutrient goals it gave me all week . . . . until it came time to go out to dinner with my boyfriend. Have you ever looked at the calorie content of some of your favorite restaurant foods? I was shocked. Now, I'm not naive, I know that cheeseburgers and greasy pizza aren't going to be considered a low calorie meal. What I was shocked about were the foods that I thought were healthier. Nope. Not so much. Big old plates of sodium and saturated fats is more like it!

It took me half an hour of googling before I thought I'd found something decent that I could eat. Soup. Low calorie, usually. And the one that I picked wasn't HORRIBLE (didn't say it was good, but hey, lesser of multiple evils, right?). But after a week of eating healthy food I'd made at home (a big pot of fresh chicken stir-fry), the sodium and saturated fat counts had me feeling just gross.

After that, my boyfriend and I decided maybe it was a good idea to eat at home a little more, and save the restaurants for special occasions. I love to cook, and with a googling, I knew I could find some healthy recipes. And I've decided to share my findings with you!

Stay tuned for some yummy (and healthy!) recipes.