protein sweet treats
I CAN ONLY EAT SO MUCH CHICKEN … seriously, I’m a cake loving sweets kinda girl and the same old proteins GET BORING. Protein is by far the most important macro when it comes to weight loss. It keeps us full and satisfied and is the basis of our nutrition. Getting 80-100g daily is HARD with regular food and commonly we get burnt out over the same handful of sources we utilize day in and day out. So why not spice it up a bit? Having some protein alternatives, particularly for cravings is essential! Here are some of my FAVORITE protein sweet treats.
Legendary foods - 100% my favorite
Legendary Brand has become my #1 favorite high protein treat. I start every morning off with a protein “pop-tart.” It satisfies all my nutrition requirements and best of all it is quick an easy. At 180-200 calories and 20g protein, you can’t go wrong in flavor. Texture is spot on as well, particularly if you microwave for around 10 seconds. Check out the details at the links below:
Cinnamon Tasty Pastry Birthday Cake Tasty Pasty Protein Cinnamon Roll
PRO JYM protein powder & COOKIE DOUGH
Absolutely love the taste and texture of this protein, particularly if you like using protein powder for “alternative” uses. This may not be a whey protein isolate, and the most readily absorbed type of protein, but heck I’m getting protein in and its better than grabbing chips or a cookie. This protein is fantastic shaken, in a smoothie, and my favorite …. as PROTEIN COOKIE DOUGH!
PROTEIN COOKIE DOUGH RECIPE
1 scoop Vanilla Pro-Jym
2 Tbs powdered peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
Dash of cinnamon
Water / Almond Milk / Fairlife - to mix to consistency
Add chocolate chips, sprinkles, or basically anything to your liking (freeze for 10 mins and its even better)
READY TO GO PROTEIN SHAKES
We all know these favorites and they are EXCELLENT for busy days! BUT …….. have you tried them for other purposes?
PROTEIN PUDDING - a ready made protein shake with sugar free pudding mix and you have yourself a wonderful protein pudding. Top with whip cream and it’s my favorite post workout snack. Plus … add some birthday cake extract (a few drops) and its almost cake batter
STARBUCKS ANYONE ?!?!?!? - use protein shake as a creamer in an Americano or just get 2 shots of espresso (blonde is my favorite) and then add your protein shake and its a protein packed breakfast
PROTEIN PANCAKES - use ready made vanilla protein to combine Kodiak pancake mix! Adds a little extra protein kick
KIDS “CHOCOLATE MILK” - Ellison’s go to and great to pack in the cooler for busy sports weekends
start here: behavior
“If this isn’t the hardest part of weight loss, I wouldn’t have a job.”
- ME about 20,0000x a day
Behavior change in any aspect of life is hard, when it comes to health and wellness, its the HARDEST. We have the best intentions but fail to execute consistently. The WORST is that sometimes we don’t even know why. Not only is it the hardest part of weight loss, I’ve found its been the hardest “Getting Started” article to write. There are so many aspects we could discuss and I’ve written and rewritten this about 20x. To at least provide you with SOMETHING I’ve narrowed it down to 3 topics that I feel are beneficial to hear/understand when getting started.
First and foremost, we need to acknowledge that most of us have a very “all or nothing” and “black and white” thinking when it comes to dieting and wellness change. This is one of the only areas of our life we have this mentality and it generally doesn’t work. We need to acknowledge and be willing to give ourselves some grace during the process. This article will discuss 3 topics (not even related because I struggled to limit my flight of ideas to just 3). First, identifying and understanding that there are intrinsic physiological processes in our body that sometimes override our best intentions (i.e. its not all willpower). Secondly, identifying and accepting that behavior change is the key to long term weight loss and what that looks like. Lastly, the importance of consistency over perfection and how perfection is the kryptonite to long term success.
WHY OUR BEST OF INTENTIONS SOMETIMES FAIL
Eating behaviors specifically are influenced by a multitude of factors. Environment is the biggest influence and most widely recognized. Setting yourself up for success and having healthier options always available is beneficial, but sometimes life throws us a curveball with travel, time crunches, or changes in routine. There are things we can do to minimize these obstacles, but most of the time we have to rely on willpower to get us through. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, willpower doesn’t always were and here is why. There are other intrinsic physiological mechanisms such as hunger hormone secretion as well as brain neurotransmitter release (dopamine and serotonin) that influence our drive to eat. These intrinsic mechanisms commonly compound on our environmental factors and make it easier to overpower our willpower to stay on track. This is why its exponentially harder to resist temptation when hungry or causing you to eat past a normal level of fullness. This is why the BEHAVIORAL aspect is so hard. Our body can override the best of intentions.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE MUST BE ACCEPTED FOR LONG TERM SUCCESS
The National Weight Control Registry performed a 10,000 enrollee survey that polled people who were able to sustain significant weight loss (avg 66lbs) for at least 5.5 years. The biggest behavior changes were as follows
98% modified food intake (change habits)
94% increased physical activity
78% ate breakfast
75% self monitoring - weight regularly
62% reduce screen time
90% exercise 60 min/day
Successful long term weight loss is rooted with lifestyle interventions. Please note - this survey didn’t specify a specific diet or exercise routine. It was just doing SOMETHING and taking action in your food choices and daily movement to improve overall health. The key is that we accept that these behaviors are not a “diet” or to “lose 20 lbs.” It is realizing to get to where you want to be these are actions your are going to develop and accept this new lifestyle as your long term future. Starting out, adopting behavior change sucks. Its new, you question yourself, or don’t see results quick and second guess everything. But, over time the more consistent you can be with these small actions they will compound to large effects. You will learn hacks, develop resilience, overcome challenges and identify your strengths in the process to lean on when times get tough. From my perspective, the sooner we accept that our behaviors are going to have to change to live the life we desire, the easier it will be to execute these behaviors consistently.
PERFECTION IS THE WORST
NOW, with that being said, please note how many times I say consistently. THERE IS NO PERFECTION in life and there is no perfection in weight loss or wellness. There will be seasons of life when things come up and you are not able to focus as much on your wellness journey. A family member is sick, you are nearing a deadline at work, or kids sports are in full swing. I get it, we are all busy and life throws us curveballs. THE ABSOLUTE 100% key is to stay neutral. We are notorious for adopting the all or nothing / “black and white” thinking that I mentioned earlier. We make one small deviation from our plan or don’t execute it perfectly and we immediately switch to the “screw it” mentality, polishing off the entire back of chips or a half gallon of ice cream..
We have to give ourselves permission to not be perfect, and coming from a recovering perfectionist I know how hard this can be. I’ve gone to years of therapy, listened to podcasts, read book after book to figure this out. It doesn’t change overnight, but recently I’ve found the power of neutral thinking. The premise is that when put in stressful or adverse situations we take a moment to downshift into neutral. Take a breath, take the emotions/anxiety out of the situation, identify the facts, and move forward with the next best choice. . When you get off of your schedule/plan, take a second and evaluate from non emotional perspective and determine the facts, then try to make the next BEST decision (not perfect but whats the best option). For example - you are traveling and everyone picks a restaurant that doesn’t have the best options. Generally anxiety will set it and we get overwhelmed and just say screw it. Instead, take a minute and take a deep breath. Accept you can’t control the situation and then try to make the next best choice - anything with the highest protein and trying to get some veggies in. Maybe its taking the top bun off of a sandwich or choosing a side salad over fries. You easily could have gone down the rabbit hole, but you were able to make a decision that yourself tomorrow will be proud of.
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Hopefully this provided some insight into the complex aspect of behavior change when it comes to weight loss and wellness. There are SOOOO many topics we can discuss and future articles to be written. Feel free to reach out if there is a topic you would like addressed. Thank you again for following along with my passion of serving others to help them live their best and healthiest life possible.
Court
start here: exercise
Implementing activity and exercise into everyday life is probably the hardest lifestyle modification to become consistent with. Who isn’t busy with work, kids, and general life obligations? Most often finding time exercise is almost never a lack of knowledge, but usually a lack of priorities. We know what we have to do, but how the heck do we get ourselves to do it?
This article is not going to tell you to go join a gym or buy the newest program/equipment on social media. My goal is to purely focus on getting starting is to hopefully bring a new perspective in regards to physical activity and exercise that will help set the foundation for future endeavors.
PERSPECTIVE # 1
There is no such thing as a healthy sedentary individual. In fact, two of the most important longevity predictors are ones’ social interactions followed by their level of fitness. If we want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs at age 80 without assistance of fear of falling, we need to start working on this now. It will require cardiopulmonary fitness, strength of the lower body, and most importantly balance. Wanting to get up off the ground easily after playing with kids. Yes, that takes strength and balance. Its easy to get caught up in the minutia, but ultimately if you want to be able to function later in life without assistance, we have to taking time or it now. I like this perspective because its focusing on what you want (quality of life in future years) rather than what you don’t want ( illness, injury, disease, ect)
PERSPECTIVE #2
A VERY large number of our best memories involve activity. Think back to your favorite memory – what physically were you doing? Was it walking with your family or friends? Standing at a counter while baking with a loved one? Playing a sport with your child? To be able to create those memories we must be functional. Again, focusing our “why” on being physically able to gain the experience and memories helps establish a solid foundation to leverage excuses and setbacks in the future.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Find a way to make activity an important part of your life. I didn’t say exercise, but just simply activity. Once you’ve set the foundation of why you want to add this to your life, start by JUST MOVING YOUR BODY MORE. Take the stairs, park a little further away, impromptu dance parties, walk to get your mail instead of stopping in your car on the way in. Any movement counts. This can go for EVERYONE whether you are sedentary or have a regular exercise program. Moving more = more calories burned. Anything is better than nothing.
My goal was to provide you with a new perspective on exercise and activity just to get you thinking about the importance of this in your life and what it means to you. There will be more to come on how to combat excuses and design plans, but for now we just set the foundation.
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START HERE : nutrition
Getting Started: Nutrition
It seems that social media is plastered daily with the newest, hottest, sure to be perfect diet trend. What was promised to be the next best thing today, is commonly outdone by the next trend a week later. Finding a nutrition plan that WORKS FOR YOU is HARD. You see others having success with one method but then try it and either struggle to stay consistent or don’t have results.
The MOST IMPORTANT concept is that not everyone loses weight or improves their health the same. Different genders, ages, medical conditions, schedules, environments make this virtually impossible. The KEY to long lasting success is adopting a mindset of learning how your body likes to lose weight best rather than falling into the strict black and white, “on and off again” diet trap. Sustainable success comes down to willingness to learn, ability to pivot, and most importantly finding something you can be balanced and consistent with.
To help assist people getting started, I’ve created a quick start guide that I use daily whether my clients have undergone surgical, pharmacologic, or medical weight loss therapies. I have found these tools combined with behavior change coaching have helped clients flourish and achieve consistent and sustainable results.
GETTING STARTED ESSENTIALS
TRACK YOUR DIET
We need data to evaluate where we are starting and where we need to go. Tracking your diet is essential in the beginning of a weight loss/health journey. I know this is a VERY unpopular opinion, but putting the work in initially will lead to significant returns on your time investments in the future.
Find an app that you like - My Fitness Pal, Lose It, Baritastic, ect. Fill out the basic information for your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This calculates how many calories you need to eat every single day to keep your body functioning (think laying in bed, not moving a muscle, keeping the lights on). Subtract 500 calories from that number and that is your goal calories for the day.
When getting starting, don’t worry about being perfect or hitting your calorie goals, just get some information. I completely understand that this is very tedious at the beginning, but once you get your favorites it becomes easier. Also, when adding meals such as lasagna or a casserole, simply search that meal in the app and go with the average for that food that pops up.
** I promise you will not have to track every day of your life if this process doesn’t work for you, this is just to get started. There are several other options you can utilize long term, but again remember this is to just get started. More information and ideas to come in the future **
PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN … AND MORE PROTEIN
Protein keeps you full and satisfied and has an immensely important role in the functioning of your body and overall health. I find most people grossly underestimate the amount of protein they need daily. I suggest 30% of your calories come from protein and generally that equates to 80-100g protein. THAT IS A TON OF PROTEIN. In order to get that amount of protein daily, it means you have to have protein with every single eating opportunity. I tell people protein first whether it is a snack or meal. I’m a huge proponent of adding in a protein shake (limit to 1 daily or add to coffee as creamer) or bar to achieve this goal but these are also great options for when you have sweet cravings.
EAT MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY (4-5x)
Growing up, I was told “only eat when you are hungry”. While this is still pertinent as we commonly eat for reasons other than hunger, it is important to eat regularly throughout the day. I know eating 4-5x daily sounds overwhelming but think of it as eating opportunities. To absorb and utilize the protein we need for weight loss ,we have to spread it out throughout the day. It will also keep us full and satisfied and keeps us from overeating (particularly late in the day). Eating opportunities can be as simple as grabbing cheese stick as your run out the door to transport kids, a protein shake as your coffee as creamer, or a bar as a snack.
** Intermittent fasting is a very popular and beneficial approach for some people. Future blog post coming for this. If this works for you, just ensure you are still hitting your protein goals during your eating hours and spreading them out as much as possible”
HYDRATION
The more water we drink that more weight loss we have. I suggest at a minimum, 64 oz of hydration fluids at a minimum, and then we can work our way up from there. Hydration fluids, from my perspective, are low calorie and non-caffeinated. Plain water is likely the best, but if adding some crystal light or gatorade zero to your regimen gets you to hit your goals then use it. Avoid excess caffeine (guilty) as this can cause dehydration.
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PLEASE NOTE – these are generalized recommendations, there are some medical conditions that limit the amount of water or protein a person should have. When making any dietary changes with medical conditions, please consult your medical provider first to ensure you are staying safe.
** These recommendations are not meant to diagnosis or treat specific medical conditions. I provide this information as part of my passion to help others discover and live their healthiest and happiest life as part of Courtney Rickstad Coaching, LLC only and not under my profession physician assistant license.