M&M LOVES LC days simply because you just FEEL lighter. I love them for that reason too. Your body flushes all the water it's been holding due to carbohydrate consumption, and so the heaviness you feel dissipates throughout the day. I struggle a little more on LC days because my energy levels are low (it's a good thing...your body is burning fat for energy) and I seem to be hungrier much faster. Those are normal things to experience on LC days, but combined with low energy and no quick carb consumption, meal planning is your BIGGEST friend. AND having LC friendly foods that take hardly any brain power to put together.
As I prepped for my upcoming 2 days of LC eating, Sunday was my final day of Slingshot, which meant a HC day along with family dinner. Now, family dinner...that's a WHOLE 'NOTHER PLACE of temptation in it's own, but I knew what was coming: homemade chicken alfredo. I was SERIOUSLY done with carbs by Sunday afternoon, but I KNEW I needed to finish out the day as planned and finish strong. So...what to do about family dinner AND what to do about my whole Sunday??
For breakfast, I served both my husband and myself my Spanish Eggs with 1 tortilla. He liked it, I loved it, and it kept me so full and satisfied the whole three hours until I needed to eat again!
Spanish Eggs with Whole Grain Tortilla (5sp)
1/2 steamed green beans, cut into thirds
1 whole egg (2sp)
3 egg whites (1sp)
2 T salsa
1 Food for Life Sprouted Grain Tortilla (2sp)
Steam green beans in a pan until they are ALMOST done and drain water. Add favorite spice to green beans, then drop in egg and egg whites. Add salsa and cook until eggs are just the way you like them. Serve on a plate with 1 warmed tortilla on the side
Second meal was my favorite go-to...Smore's Flavored Quest Bar (4sp). I LOVE that these babies are SO filling and SO LOW in smartpoints, considering that there are a LOT of protein bars out there that cost a pretty smartpoint penny. Munched on that, and then came home and had a variety meal.
I had some leftovers that I needed to work with, and some cravings that I needed to calm down! I satisfied that craving with 1/3 serving of my Clean Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie dough for 7 sp, 3 oz of the last of my Cilantro Lime Shrimp from Costco (1sp), 1/2 cup celery with 1 T of Salted Almond Butter (3sp). Yeah, it was a strange meal when all said and done, but my craving was gone and I was able to hold out for dinnertime.
How did I manage to make it through a delicious plate of homemade chicken alfredo?? Well, I didn't have the exact recipe, but I used the calculation of Stouffer's Chicken Alfredo, Family size...For a whole cup of that stuff, it's 8 smartpoints. So what did I do? Instead of using the large spoon in the bowl, I grabbed my sister-in-law's 1 cup measuring cup and gave myself 1 cup of the chicken alfredo, and then I sat down and ENJOYED IT. I made sure to give my plate a GOOD heaping dose of veggies (that I got to bring because we were in charge of the side) and enjoyed the whole thing.
The best news is, I was still within points and I didn't feel deprived...until dessert-which my other sister-in-law brought. Oh gosh...Cheesecake with fresh strawberries. Oh my GOSH I love cheesecake. I haven't had it in so long that I had forgotten how much I loved it until I saw it. So, before I dove into one of the ridiculously small pieces...I scanned it. 18 smartpoints for one piece! *small sob inside* *okay, more like a huge sob* Now, mathematically, I couldn't have it with my smartpoints...It would put me in the negative. It's not that I felt deprived, I actually cut a slice in half and gave it to my son...swiping off the remnants of the knife and tasting it...deciding if it was worth going into the negatives for. Mmmm, it was yummy! For a dang Walmart Cheesecake? It was YUMMY!! But, you know what?? I remembered that I still had banana cream yogurt at my house...I could have a WHOLE SERVING of my Protein Banana Pudding (The Devil Done Me In...With No Regrets) and only use 8 smartpoints. So, I enjoyed that swipe of the knife, tracked it as 1 smartpoint, and loaded up on the fresh strawberries my sister-in-law brought as a topping. She even brought 2 different bowls...strawberries WITH sugar, and strawberries without. She was so thoughtful! I pretty much ate the sugar free bowl by myself...and everyone was going for the sugared strawberries anyway, so no big deal I guess.
I survived family dinner...with 1 smartpoint left to spare. I was craving something sweet, something cookie-ish, almost just the crust of the cheesecake. So what did I go for?? I remembered that we had 5 Mini Nilla Wafers in a pre-portioned bag left over from a previous meal...that equalled 1 smartpoint. So, I had those, and decided to have a Dannon Greek Light and Fit Salted Caramel Yogurt (3sp) as an accompaniment.
I ate those cookies nice and slow, dipping them into the yogurt and savoring every bite. Yep, I even enjoyed them in bed, watching my favorite show. It was such a treat. Now, I don't think I'll get this flavor again as a staple...maybe a rare treat, but it wasn't sooo good that I'm rushing to the store to get it. If you want something caramel-y but not have the burden of the points, then this is a good alternative.
All in all, I ended my slingshot week with 33 smartpoints to the day, and 5 Weekly Smartpoints to use at my discretion for the coming week. It was truly, a great start to my new Turbo Week.
Bring on the Low Carbs and the fat burning cycle!
Camille
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