Are you running short on time in the mornings but want to get good, quality carbs, and protein on the go?  Try this:

 Strawberry Banana Meal Replacement Shake

• 1/2 cup dry, plain oatmeal
  
• 1/2  cup apple juice
  
• 1/2 banana
  
• 1/2 cup strawberries
  
• 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
  

Place oatmeal in blender and blend to a powder-like consistency.  Add remaining ingredients and blend.  You can add water or additional juice depending on desired consistency.  You can also swap orange juice for apple juice.

This give you quality, slow digesting carbs, plus your daily fruit, plus PROTEIN!  The whole shake is 500 calories with 6g fat, 63 g of carbs, and 50 g of protein.

Of course you can reduce protein or oatmeal as desired but this is a quick way to fill up before heading out the door!

So I packed all of that food for the weekend (see post from Friday about taking it to the next level...).  I cooked a pound of ground beef, 4 cups of brown rice and about 4 cups of broccoli.  Mixed it all together and split it into 4 Tupperware dishes.  I also packed almonds, raisins, oatmeal, one turkey burger that was in the fridge and a slice of wheat bread.  

My goal was to still eat every three hours and use the best fuel available.  I didn't do to bad.  I had a couple of occasions where I went off plan...

1) Had dinner with my wife at Friday's - we ordered one angus burger with bacon and split that and the order of fries that came with it.  You should have seen the waiter's face when I asked for broccoli ahead of my meal (my salad).

2) Saturday night/Sunday morning - after 4 hours of dancing, we were famished.  First of all, I did manage to stay on my schedule.  We went to two events Saturday evening.  On the way to the second one, I pulled out one of my dishes and ate on the way.  Good thing I wasn't driving!   After the second one, we ended up at Denny's (not much open at 2 AM).  I ate 4 egg whites, turkey bacon and 2 wheat pancakes with maybe a teaspoon of syrup.

3) Sunday... more dancing.  Ate right before we left.  We weren't out that long but my stomach let me know 3 hours had passed.  We stopped at Steak n Shake.  Ate a double hamburger and fries.  Originally ordered a single but my they somehow gave my wife a double instead of the single she ordered.  I told her I'd eat the extra patty (I know, sometimes it's just best to waste food.. especially if they didn't charge you in the first place).  This was probably the worst meal of the weekend with respect to calories.  

Now you may ask why I take all the time to put all of this out in the open for everyone to read...  I do it because once I lose this ten pounds I am going to lose in the next five weeks, I want to be on record of what happened.  Someone may be in the same situation (to lose 10 lbs) and maybe this will help them.

 TTYL

I know I've reached the next level!   I am doing some traveling this weekend and I spent almost an hour planning out all the meals I'll need while I'm gone. I've tweaked to get a good amount of protein and complex carbs at every meal and leaving a few openings for the meals out.

I went to the store last night and got a pound of lean ground beef.  Will cook that and some brown rice and some broccoli and put it in 4 Tupperware containers (I am now eating for purpose, not pleasure). 

Also taking my whole container of protein with me for those "on the go" meals (although I now prefer actual food versus drinking a shake because it takes more to burn the food up).  I am also going to pack my oatmeal and raisins for breakfast (the first breakfast) Sunday morning.  Will likely meet friends for breakfast Sunday morning but I'll have already eaten once (or twice) by the time they get up. 

I'm looking at the cooler I normally carry for every day with my 3-4 meals and wondering if it will hold everything.  I may have to have a suitcase just for my food.  This should make for interesting conversation!  It's a good thing I am driving!

I figure that of the 12 meals I eat Saturday and Sunday, 2 or 3 of them will be in a restaraunt.   But for those other 9-10 meals, I know they will be moving me toward my goal... TO BURN THE FAT!!!  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to have a whole pizza or a stack of pancakes, but I may exercise a little freedom to keep my sanity!

Will check in when I can!

Listening to a nationally syndicated morning radio show this morning and they posed the question to listeners: "What would you give up for a year in order to be thin?" Some, no all, of answers given by callers made me SMDH. Callers gave such answers as "Sex" , "my Escalade", "TV", "my nasty attitude", and "shopping." ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Now before I go any further, the average weight of the callers (yes the show asked their weight) was 220 lbs.

Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You'd give up your Escalade, watching TV, and sex to be thin? How about giving up a lazy lifestyle of sitting on the couch doing nothing? How about giving up eating greasy food every day? How about giving up 3 donuts at a time 2-3 days a week for breakfast???

It's sad that we, as Americans, would rather take the easy way out to lose weight rather than putting in work every day through a better diet and some exercise.

What are your thoughts?

Just wanted to get your take...

After a weight workout that last minimum of 30 minutes, I'll usually have a post workout snack.  This could be any of the following:

- Chocolate Milk

- 32 oz of Gatorade mixed with 1 scoop of protein (20 g protein and 50 g carbs)

- gum drops (about 50 grams of carbs) and protein mixed in water (20 g of protein)

- Protein mixed in water (20 g of protein) and 2 slices of white bread with 2 tbsp of jelly (50 grams of carbs)

What do you normally do for a post workout snack? My goal is to drop body fat.

I made it through the Superbowl without fumbling!  One piece of advice, if you want to have a healthy Superbowl Party, do two things: 1) Limit the party to less than 10 people and 2) Party with like minded people.  In other words, if you are trying to maintain caloric sensibility, party with those that are calorically sensible!

The party I was invited to was REALLY small.  It involved me and another couple and our kids.  It would have been the four of us but my wife went out of town.

The menu consisted of grilled chicken tacos/taco salads.  There were nachos too but there was only a small portion of queso and we split that between three people and four kids!

For dessert, we had brownies available but I only ate one. 

For the first time, I went home not feeling guilty or stuffed.