Delicious Smoothie Worth Only 6 PointsPlus on Weight Watchers

Dolly Allison Howard — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:15:30 +0000

Every morning I wake up and wonder what I should eat. Sometimes it’s an egg white with laughing cow cheese and toast. Sometimes it’s Kashi cereal. More recently it’s been a spinach, banana, and peanut butter smoothie. Sounds terrible, right? WRONG! It’s amazing! So delicious and keeps me full until lunch. YOU CAN’T TASTE THE SPINACH! I found the original recipe on Iowa Girl Eats and have made some minor changes. If you follow Weight Watchers, this is worth 6 points!

First, here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

1 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla milk
1/2 Tblsp all natural peanut butter (no sugar added)
1 Dannon Light and Fit yogurt (vanilla is great, but strawberry banana was yummy too)
1 medium sized banana
6 ice cubes
2 cups fresh spinach leaves

Instructions:

Put milk, banana, yogurt, peanut butter and ice into blender
Fill the rest of the blender, to the top, with spinach
Turn the blender on to “Ice Crusher” setting and watch the bottom ingredients blend
Leave the lid on, but take out the middle plastic piece on top
Use a spoon, or small spatula to gently press the spinach toward the blades
Let all ingredients blend for about 1 minute

The total time it takes to make this delicious baby is about 5 minutes. I put the ingredients in my Weight Watchers app as “Green Monster” with the appropriate point value. Keep in mind, if you use a sugary peanut butter, the points will most likely go up. The same goes for milk. Almond milk is worth only one point where regular, skim milk is worth 2 points I believe. If you’re scared of buying Almond Milk, don’t worry! It tastes incredible in smoothies and all kinds of baking. The smoky flavor is perfect for cooking!

Now that my stomach has finished digesting, I’m headed to the gym to get my run on! Have a great weekend!

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Workout Wednesday – Valentine’s Day Challenge

Dolly Allison Howard — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:38:40 +0000

Valentine’s Day is only 20 days away! Whether you’re going to be with someone you love, or loving yourself on Valentine’s Day, it’s a good idea to look and feel your best! So, for the next 20 days, I’m encouraging the DGF community to take part in the Valentine’s Day Challenge. Follow the sets on the image below. Do the workout as fast as you can, twice a day! You’ll be looking slim and trim in no time! Make sure to have a friend do it with you too for encouragement and EAT HEALTHY! The exercise means nothing if you’re putting garbage in your body. GOOD LUCK!

Low Calorie Breakfast + Halfway to January Goal

Dolly Allison Howard — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:57:32 +0000

Well I’m halfway to my January goal of losing 5 lbs! I’m so excited and can’t wait to keep dropping the pounds. Ok, so I know 2.5 lbs is nothing and it could be just water weight, but I’m learning to celebrate the small victories in this journey! I’ve stayed 2.5 lbs lighter for 3 days now. Usually, that means the weight is gone. Still a little over 2 weeks left in January though, so I better get back to being more physically active before time runs out.

Now, for a DELICIOUS low-calorie breakfast for you to try. This is egg white (with bacon!) omelette is worth only 125 calories! And it keeps you full until lunch.

Check it out:

You will need:

1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) liquid egg whites – about 70 calories
2 Tbsp green pepper – about 3 calories
1 Tbsp mushrooms – about 4 calories
1 slice of turkey bacon – about 45 calories
1/8 cup fat free shredded cheddar – about 6 calories

Next you should…

Preheat a skillet on the stove
Measure out egg whites and set aside
Chop green peppers, mushrooms and turkey into bit pieces
Place turkey in warmed skillet and cook until slightly brown
Add in vegetables and cook until tender
Pour egg whites over the top and cook until sides become firm and center begins to bubble
Once the above is complete, flip half of the egg whites onto the other half (creating a half moon shape)
Cook for another minute, remove eggs from heat on to plate
Add cheese on top

This recipe is extremely quick and easy and so tasty! Sometimes I like to add a bit of salsa on top too for an extra zest.

Try it out. Tell me what you think!

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Motivation Monday

Dolly Allison Howard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:30:12 +0000

Keeping this in mind this week…

Not yet, but soon…

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Finally Went Grocery Shopping…

Dolly Allison Howard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:41:46 +0000

And it wasn’t a total disaster! I bought all healthy foods and let the crummy cookie/cracker isle alone for once. I’m looking forward to making some delicious meals and I’m sure my husband will be pleased to eat at home for a change too.

Here are some things I like to keep in mind while I shop for the week:

Usually if you stick to these 4 rules, you’ll be ok. Avoid the processed food sections like the plague! This includes most of the FROZEN FOOD section. However, frozen vegetables are a great option for those that want to keep fresh longer. Frozen fruits can be good too, but MAKE SURE there is NO ADDED SUGAR. Fruit is already sweet. This is a HUGE reason why you shouldn’t buy canned fruit…there are all kinds of sneak attacks. Only buy canned if it’s in WATER.

Here’s another nifty tool I found during a google search to help understand what you should be trying to do when you look at nutrition labels:

Good luck with your weekly shopping!

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Workout Wednesday – Full Body

Dolly Allison Howard — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:32:36 +0000

One of my favorite workouts that I use to maintain and tone is called The 100 Workout. I first heard of this on pinterest.com (follow my boards @dollyhoward), did all the exercises as it said, for a bit, and have since made changes for myself. Here is what my 100 Workout looks like:

If I’m not feeling up to the task of running (my least favorite exercise!) I will do a 1 minute wall sit, plank, or 60 more jumping jacks. The point is to get moving, not to do exactly as the sheet says. Any movement (when you’re starting out) is better than no movement at all. The best part about this regimen is that you can change it up whenever you want keeping boredom to a minimum. I also will focus more on arms one day, legs the next, core the following, etc…

What is your version of the 100 Workout? What works for you?

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Vacation! WHAT HAPPENED?!

Dolly Allison Howard — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:43:37 +0000

I’m sitting here on vacation in the US Virgin Islands with a tummy that is protruding past my waistline farther than that of a woman 8 months pregnant. I’ve only been here 3 days and I’ve already started being bad. Not just kinda bad either…like I had marshmallows with chocolate sauce, carrot cake, a piña colada, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, bacon, eggs, full fat cheese and yes, that was JUST today! Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and I’m sure Temptation will rear his ugly head and I will rise to the occasion of filthy eating.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you a very useful tool that has helped me keep track of my calories the last 2 days (and that I’ve avoided like the plague today). It’s an app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal. It takes down your information (weight, age, activity level, goals) and then sets a goal for you to achieve in a month based on the fitness and number of calories allotted. It looks like this (this is not my image. Thank you google search!):

On the left is the search function. This app has just about everything you can think of, including restaurant options (NOTE: Stay away from Carino’s salmon salad!! It has close to 800 calories!!).

On the right, is the journal showing you the total amount of calories allotted, how many you’ve burned with fitness, how your food and fitness balance, and how many calories you have left to eat that day. For me, that number is RED today as I’ve certainly gone over my 1200 calorie limit.

The best way to use this when you’re eating out or making your grocery list is to search for the food BEFORE you order or shop and then count your calories. Decide if it’s worth the extra 2000 jumping jacks (PS – the carrot cake was NOT worth it, but the marshmallows DEFINITELY were).

Not only is this tool great for personal use, but you can also add your friends and track each other’s progress. I LOVE IT!

You can add me too if you want. My name is: dollygetsfit

Let me know if you use this and how you like it, or if you know a better app share the info!!!

Stay healthy, stay fit,

Let’s Begin

Dolly Allison Howard — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:12:48 +0000

Today is Christmas Day. This is a day full of things like cookies, candy, hot cocoa, eggnog…basically a nightmare for those trying to live a healthy lifestyle. That’s what this blog is about. It isn’t about dieting. It isn’t about being sexy, or fitting into a size zero. It isn’t about reaching the lowest number on this scale possible. This is really about finding a healthy lifestyle that I can be proud of, setting goals so that accomplishment is a part of my daily routine, and finding new habits that I can pass on to future generations.

Remember to follow my blog to track my journey. The link is in the top right of the page. More importantly I hope you join me and start your own journey to a healthier, more fulfilled lifestyle. If you already have a blog please tell me! I’d love to follow it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS,