Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Clean Eating Mexican Lasagna


This was one of the first clean eating recipes I ever made. It has been a staple in my weekly meal planning ever since. I swear every time I make it, it gets better and better!

Now of course I didn't come up with this recipe. I actually got it from my coach, Melanie Mitro! She has amazing clean eating recipes for every meal (that I'm sure I will be re-blogging about)!

This recipe makes 4 servings that are around 350 calories each. It is very easy to over indulge with this fabulous meal, so make sure you are adhering to portion sizes!

This is 1 serving! Soooo delicious! :)


Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. lean ground turkey
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (fat free or low fat)
  • 1 cup cottage free (low fat)
  • 1 cup clean salsa (all natural, low sodium)
  • 1/2 cup black beans
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. low sodium taco seasoning
  • 4 low carb whole wheat tortillas (torn into pieces or cut into strips)
  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a skillet, cook the ground turkey and onion together until brown. Once cooked, turn burner to low and mix in taco seasoning, black beans and salsa and let simmer.
  3. In a bowl, mix 3/4 cup (not all) cheddar cheese and the cup of cottage cheese and stir until blended.
  4. Lightly spray baking dish (I use a glass 8x8 baking dish) with non-stick cooking spray. Line the dish with 2 torn up tortillas. Scoop 1/2 the meat mixture on top and spread out. Add 1/2 the cheese mixture on top of meat and spread. Repeat the layers one more time, tortillas, meat, cheese. Add remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheese to top.
  5. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes.
Hope you all enjoy this amazing meal. Let me know what you think in the comments below! :)

Monday, August 12, 2013

Transformation Story

I started my fitness journey on July 8th, 2013. I ordered my Focus T25 challenge pack and began working out, eating clean, and drinking Shakeology every day. I can't even begin to tell you the emotions going through me right now as I sit back and look at these before and after pictures that were taken 5 weeks apart!

A little bit of background on me! I'm 25 years old and love playing softball. I have played ever since I was 4 years old, and will play as long as my body lets me. I played competitively up through college. Once I graduated college, I switched to slow-pitch softball which is still a blast but you don't need to be in top shape to play. Because I wasn't training and practicing like I did in college, I let my fitness and health slip. I gained weight and just felt awful and tired all the time. I was becoming a couch potato and would eat junk all the time. I was starting to realize how crappy I felt and how I was letting my body go and I wasn't happy with myself about it. That just lead to more emotional eating.

Then a couple nights in a row, I would wake up randomly around 2:30am or so and there would always be an Insanity commercial on. No matter what channel I left the tv on when I fell asleep, that infomercial would be on when I woke up. One night I woke up out of a dead sleep to this infomercial and decided enough was enough. I needed a change. So I contacted one of my friends who I knew was involved with Beachbody and she put me in touch with my coach, Melanie Mitro. That is probably the best decision of my life to date. After speaking with Melanie for a couple days, I decided to order a T25 challenge pack and become a coach! I figured this would give me the motivation to not give up, like I did with everything else. I had no clue of the amazing things to come!

My challenge group started July 8th and I was soo nervous about starting! I was nervous about talking about my struggles with total strangers and I was nervous about the workouts and trying to eat healthy. All I know now is that I would not have been able to do it without the help and guidance of my challenge group ladies! They have all inspired me and pushed me to not give up. Even after having a bad day with working out or eating bad, they were there to give me the support I needed and to make tomorrow a better day.

Five weeks later I can now say that I am 6.6 pounds lighter and 7.75 inches thinner. Below are my progress pictures after 5 weeks of doing T25, drinking Shakeology and eating clean. Before pictures on the left, After pictures on the right.







I knew that I felt better, but hadn't really noticed a change in my body before these pictures. Once I put these side by side, it really showed my hard work paying off. I still have a ways to go, but this just motivates me to push harder and make my next 5 weeks even better. This has been such a great experience and there is no way I would have been able to do this on my own! I was down and out in my life at the time I ordered my challenge pack, and in 5 short weeks, I feel like a whole new person. I have such a more positive outlook on life and can't wait to wake up every morning, workout, and feel great! And believe me, if I can do this so can you! Check back in 5 weeks for even more, better results! :)