Slender With a Blender

Hello family and friends, and thank you for joining me in the “Slender With a Blender Challenge” as we test the truth in our little book title…. Am I slender yet?  C’mon, give it time!  Although I HAVE lost about 4 pounds this week.  Have I been using my blender recipes? YES! And having a lot of fun with it!

The first five days were shakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a low-glycemic peanut crunch bar for mid-morning and afternoon snacks. Salad and veggies with the dinner shakes, and even 2 medallions of a pork loin on two of the five evening meals. Day 6 was the first day of shakes for breakfast and lunch, with a bar for a mid-morning snack, and fruit as the afternoon snack.  Dinner was a large plate of veggies, both cooked and raw, and a small serving of meat. It’s easy to eat dinner with friends at a pot luck BBQ, because you can bring a veggie plate, and/or a big salad as your contribution, enjoy a lean cut of barbecued meat, and load up your plate with salad and veggies. If you find you want a dessert later in the evening, (as I did), a handful of pecans, and even a square from a 70% cacao dark bittersweet chocolate bar can fill the bill! Yum! I had so much energy all week! I walked the dogs each a total of 3 hours (which means 6 total hours of  brisk walking over the 7 days), and I had enough energy to clean my house, sweep the yard, trim the plants, and GATHER AND ORGANIZE PAPERWORK. Plus going to work 5 of seven days, with one of those work days beginning at 9AM and lasting straight through to 8PM. 

The real discovery was the advanced planning necessary to make it through the day. One day I was without my low glycemic peanut crunch bar for my mid-morning snack, and big hunger pangs kicked in! I could have easily eaten ANYthing… but didn’t.  After that, I always traveled with my bars and shakes in a cooler in my car, plus plenty of drinking water, and some raw veggies to munch on, so that I had what I needed, no matter where I went. I also realized that although it takes a little planning to carry foods and be prepared, it’s a lot simpler and takes less time, than preparing full meals – and at approximately $3/shake, costs less, too!

Every morning I woke up excited to try the next new flavor for the day!  Starting my day with Jungle juice (p.6), or a Yummalicious Mocha Latte (p.5) created just the variety I craved, and the day that I had the Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup from the recipe on p.13, I felt like I had indulged in my favorite high calorie treat, and yet I was still on the SWAB plan. This kind of indulgence makes it easy to stick with it!

One week down, 22 more to go!  Let me know if you’re participating, and which recipes YOU like best.