How Are Your Taste Buds Doing???

Hi friends! 

How are your taste buds doing??? Are you needing some ideas for healthy and new recipes to prepare for that Lean and Green meal that you look forward to everyday? I found that taking time to prepare a variety of Lean and Green meals not only added a little spice to my pallet... but also helped me learn more about what foods would become a part of my regular shopping list and have carried into the way that my family now eats on a nightly basis. 

While I've used cauliflower in the past,
last week I made up a tasty Spaghetti Squash crust pizza. 

Here are a few links to some great recipe websites that offer Lean/Green ideas that work with our program:

Sandy's Kitchen Adventure

Not only does this site have a TON of great lean/green recipe ideas, but at the bottom of the "Medifast Recipe Box" you will also find a section that gives a ton of suggestions for recipes altering the Medifast foods that we use. 

TSFL Client Health Tips 

You can look up these recipes by name, by the ingredients in the recipe or by categories (which are Game Day Ideas, Greens, Holiday Recipes, Lean, Maintenance, Soups, TSFL Meal Recipes). Lots of choices.

Lean and Green Recipes Facebook Group

This is a closed Facebook group where people post program compliant Lean and Green recipes. If you would like to be added let me know and I can easily add you. 

And my personal favorite way to search for Lean/Green recipes is to simply jump on Pinterest and go crazy. There are a gazillion recipes on there... at least hundreds anyways. Use the following terms to search and you will come up with lots of  options: TSFL, Take Shape for Life, Medifast, Lean and Green, etc. 

Food is going to be a part of our daily lives forever - this is a great time to learn to adjust how we cook and set ourselves up for a lifetime of optimal health!

The Importance of Transition

Are you getting close to your goal weight??? In the past 2 weeks I have spoken to multiple clients about the Transition Phase. One person has lost all her "baby weight" (20 lbs in about 6 weeks) and the other reached her goal of 40 lbs over several months of working hard to get to her healthy weight. It is exciting to journey alongside folks as they work the program and watch their bodies transform. When you have reached your goal weight, please reach out to me (or your health coach) and we can share a Transition Guide and helpful instructional video with you. 

As I have often shared, my favorite thing about TSFL is that our purpose isn't to be dependent upon the their food/fuelings forever as you find with most weight loss programs. I love that once you have reached your healthy weight/goal there is a Transition and a Maintenance plan ready to help you live a long happy and healthy life. And I appreciate that in reality we are never "done" with this journey. Our commitment to being healthy is a lifelong desire requiring a true lifelong change. Basically that means we will be making our health a priority until the day we die... isn't that what we want???

While the transitioning tools will help you in understanding how to make a healthy transition back to regular food, I wanted to share 2 of the main reasons why I found the Transition Phase to be instrumental to learning how to maintain long term weight loss. 

1. Transition Phase helps your body adjust back to regular food
This 1st reason is pretty obvious. In the transition phase you slowly remove the TSFL meals and replace them with different food groups over the course of several weeks.  Trust me... this transition phase is important. Possibly as important as the process of losing weight. As we slowly add back in additional vegetables, fruit, dairy, whole grains, etc., we also increase our calorie intake in systematic incremental increases. If you have been following the program strictly and suddenly jump back to regular food your body will go into a sort of freak-out shock. Lets just say your tummy will not be happy with you... transitioning is the healthy way to get into maintenance. 

2. The Transition Phase helps you learn HOW to eat in a healthy way and be sure you don't return to the habits that you have said good-bye to. 
If you remember back to your 1st conversation with your coach, or read Dr. A's book, you will remember that this program is largely based upon healthy habits used by the 15% of people in the focus group that kept 20+lbs off for 5+ years. So... if the key to keeping the weight off is to "fuel your body" and eat several small throughout the day, then it is vital that you learn how to continue this element of your new lifestyle. 

For me, during this time I learned what I could eat and what I wanted to eat in order to keep myself fueled throughout the day. Here's what a general day during transition looked like for me:
7am - Apple
10am - Lowfat String Cheese Stick
12:30 - Lunch that was based on greens and lean meat
3pm - TSFL Medifast bar (I eat this while I go get my daughter at the pick-up line. This is an easy fueling for me to forget, so making it part of my daily routine has helped. Plus, bars are easy and I like the taste.)
6pm - Dinner with my family - Lean and Green style meal
9pm - Either a Greek yogurt (look for low carb count), or TSFL Medifast Brownie (I just love those things) or a slice of meat and a little cheese, or a small bowl of popcorn

It was during this time of transition that I learned how to really read labels and not bring stuff into our house that was high in carbs or fat. I have also found more exciting ways to cook healthy - not necessarily just by the TSFL lean/green requirements - but healthy, fresh whole food meals. While re-introducing new foods I used the "My Fitness Pal" app on my phone almost daily to not only help me keep myself in check with calories, but also help me learn to understand what foods are high (or low) in carbohydrates, fat and protein. 

This time also helped me build the confidence in myself that I COULD actually keep the weight off. It is so much easier to give yourself back freedom in little doses rather than just jumping ship and hope you don't drown. Learning how to change up your order at a restaurant is exciting... but winning is when you learn to stay within a healthy guideline and eat the appropriate size portion. 

Maybe the most important thing I learned during the Transition Phase is that my old habits are still there BUT I have control and DO NOT have to be destroyed by them. Sure they miss me - we had fun together (sometimes too much fun together). But they were a bad influence  on this "good girl" and I need to keep strong boundaries from those old naughty habits. 

I have kept 55 lbs off for 9 months & if I can do it you can too!
I Believe it you!!!