Favorite Salad Bowls and Food Travel Bag

One thing that makes healthy eating more pleasurable is the way the meal is plated and served. Although I am guilty of eating a meal in my car when I have to, I much prefer to sit down to a pretty table (a simple placemat and fresh bunch of flowers) with some care taken in how the food is presented. My girlfriend, Karen, turned me on to the best salad bowls ever and I'm hooked on them! They are the Blanc Porcelain Bowls from Sur La Table and they are so perfect because they are wide (9 inches) and shallow. You can see all the beautiful components of your dish in this bowl and have lots of room to mix things up. A pasta or noodle dish is also perfect in this bowl, but I think it's too big to use as a cereal bowl. The bowls are expensive ($9.99 each) but so worth it. You can microwave them and even cook up to 500 degrees in the oven, and of course, they are dishwasher safe. A set of 4 made a nice "thank you" gift for my trainer after the bikini competition too.

The other kitchen item I can't live without now is my insulated World Market Jane Lunch Bag. It's insulated and I use it probably once a day if I have to take a meal with me on the go to eat later. I can actually fit quite a bit in there- a tupperware meal for me, one for my son, an icepack, and a juice box! There are pockets on the sides that I use to put plastic silverware and napkins. The bag is $12.99.

What kitchen item can you not live without? Please share!

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40 Day Fat Loss Challenge

At the beginning of last year (2014), I challenged myself to get in shape for my first ever NPC bikini contest and reached that goal after 5 months of training (July 2014). Since then, I'd been pretty much slacking on the diet and workouts, but by October 2014, I was not liking how I felt physically when I had gotten used to being in great shape. My weight was creeping back up and my muscle was turning into fat. In November, I started back with my trainer and by December had started embracing my bikini meal plan again, but not nearly as strictly and not without lots of "cheats". It was the holidays after all. And I like to eat as much as the next person. Read more »

Healthy Meal Prep | Grilled Chicken Salad

Today (Thursday) marks Day 7 of our 40-day Fat Loss Challenge. I measured in on Day 1 at 24% (calipers) and today was at 22%! Woo-hoo! A 2% difference in 1 week is a big deal! I'll show you some progress pics soon so you can see what it looks like. I'm also using my heart-rate monitor (twice) and have been surprised at how little amount of calories it says I'm burning during my workouts. I'll get into more detail on that in another post soon too. Today, I'm sharing one of the meals I've been eating- a Grilled Chicken Salad and I always make multiples at a time so I can just pull the assembled salad out of the fridge and I don't have to spend time reprepping. Step 1 is to always have grilled chicken on hand or prepare enough for several salads. If I'm just cooking 4-8 chicken breasts at a time, I use a grill pan. Spray that pan with cooking spray, and heat to medium-high heat. I pound my chicken breasts a little so they are thinner and cook eve

40-Day Fat Loss Challenge (Day 14 Update)

It's time to check in and update my progress for the 40-Day Fat Loss Challenge I entered at my gym. For my body fat percentage, I'll use my trainer's caliper measure since I won't have access to the machine until the 40 days is up. The machine measured about the same as my trainer anyway. My goal is to lose at least 1% body fat each week so that at the end of the 40 days (nearly 6 weeks), I'll have gone from 24% down to 17%. I'm on track for that now, but would love to get closer to 15%. PROGRESS Day 1: 24% body fat (112.4 pounds) Day 7: 22.4% body fat (110 pounds) Day 14: 21% body fat (109.4 pounds) (These numbers reflect what I weigh when I weigh-in at the gym mid-morning. My weight below I take first thing in the morning when I wake up, so it's slightly lower.) Below is a picture of where I'm at as of Day 13. I didn't take a good "Day 1" picture, so the "start" is from December, but it's a good representation o

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