Friday Favorites

Happy December! 

Welcome back to Friday Favorites. Hope you had a good week. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this week I haven't been feeling very good lately. Sadly I am not doing much better but I was still able to discover some new favorites this week. 

Peppermint Mocha Coffee Creamer
     As I mentioned yesterday, it is peppermint season!! I am not a big coffee drinker. I go through phases where I crave it and drink it for a few days but I don't drink it daily. However, I have been craving peppermint mocha coffee and this delicious stuff is satisfying my new food kick!

Call of Duty
    I didn't think a shooting video game, or any video game would be on my favorites list. But I am really enjoying this game!  It started out as something to do with my husband that he loves.  I wasn't any good at it... I'm still not really very good. I am having fun though. We play it at night and talk with his family through Xbox live party chat. I even have been playing it on my own as practice.

Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
     My Mom told me about these little gems. I don't know if I should be thanking her or angry at her. They are so delicious. I have been eating them every day for breakfast since I purchased them. You can find them at your local Walmart in the frozen breakfast food section. They also offer original french toast sticks but I recommend you get the cinnamon if you are going to try them. One side is covered in a little cinnamon sugar mix! Sadly, these will probably be gone before the weekend is over.

Profusion Smokey Eye Palette
     I haven't really talked about makeup on the blog but I do love a good eye shadow palette. I picked up this one from Walgreens for less than $5. It is by a brand called Profusion which I had never heard of but they had a small section of their products (mostly palettes) near the holiday makeup section. I loved the colors and thought for such a cheap price I might as well give it a try.
     I have not used all of the colors yet but I already have a small handful that I love which make the palette worth the money already. Once I have had a chance to test all the colors I will post a review up on my blog!

Franklin's Favorite

Since I have only had this little guy a few weeks I am still learning his likes, dislikes, and quirks. Trust me, he is quirky, I love him and he fits in well in our family.

Rawhide Twists with Chicken
     His little nub of a tail starts wagging when he sees these little twists. He devotes an entire half hour to chewing on the stick until it is completely gone and then he sniffs around the house for a few minutes looking for more.
     Now I'll be honest, I don't know a ton about dogs. I thought this twist would take him a few days of chewing on it for a half an hour to hour. I was surprised when he devoured it so quickly. He is pretty little so I was hesitant to get him a bone, but I think I will go back and get him the mini bone version when he runs out of these.

Thanks for stopping by.

What have you been loving this week?

Any new discoveries?

*Linking up with Life in Leggings , Running4Cupcakes , and Grace & Love.*

Friday Favorites: E-Card Edition

What I am loving this week...

 The fact that I didn't have to deal with the daylight savings nonsense. I am so happy I live in a state that doesn't use it. I understand at one time it served a great purpose but it is outdated.

I have been loving homemade cookies this week. My mom has officially become the cookie lady to everyone who knows her. I am not complaining.



I have been loving peanut butter this week. PB on toast. PB in the form of delicious cookies. PB in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  You get the idea!

What have you been loving this week?

*Check out what others are loving at Life in Leggings , Running4Cupcakes , and Grace & Love.*

Salted Caramel Protein French Toast

      I love trying new treats. 

      I received a sample of Quest's Salted Caramel Protein Powder and was brainstorming of a good way to try it out. Typically I would throw it in a protein shake and call it good. I think protein shakes are the best way to get the true flavor of a protein powder. However, I had heard that Quest protein baked/cooked really well. So I decided to get a little creative and thus Salted Caramel Protein French Toast was born!

Salted Caramel French Toast 

topped with Salted Caramel Protein Sauce

• Two egg whites
• a dash of cinnamon
• half a serving of Quest Salted Caramel Protein Powder
• a splash of Silk Vanilla soy milk
• two pieces of whole wheat bread (I used Nature's Own Whole Wheat)

I combined the two large egg whites with cinnamon, protein powder and soy milk. I soaked each piece of bread in the mixture for about 15 seconds and then cooked on stove until outside of bread was no longer soggy looking.

Since I have no maple syrup in the house, I made a protein syrup out of peanut butter (10g), about a teaspoon of the Salted Caramel protein powder and soy milk to thin it.

Do you like to bake/cook with protein powders?

Macro Monday

     Welcome to Macro Monday! I have talked about my reverse diet and macronutrients (carbs/fat/protein) a little bit in the past. So I thought I would show you a full day of my meals and snacks. Each day is completely different, this is just one random day I choose to photograph.   

     Reverse dieting is a specific kind of IIFYM (if it fits your macros) diet. I have a certain number of grams of protein, fat and carbs I eat everyday, for me these number changes weekly. I can eat what ever foods I want as long as I hit my designated grams of fat, protein and carbs. Because this diet leaves lots of flexibility in choosing what you want to eat, it has been given the name "Flexible Dieting". 

My day started with a hard boiled egg topped with Pink Himalayan sea salt while I heated up my 'real' breakfast. 

'Real' Breakfast - Leftover shredded chicken with french cut green beans and BBQ chicken

Mid-morning Snack - Peanut Butter Cookie that my mom brought over the day before. 

It was delicious, Thanks Mom!

Lunch - Mesquite Smoked Turkey Breast on Honey Wheat Bread 

with White Cherry Gatorade (unpictured)

Afternoon Snack - Vanilla Greek Yogurt with vanilla soy protein powder mixed in (wouldn't do that again...) topped with warmed up fiber chocolate brownie and sprinkles.

Dinner - Shredded Buffalo Chicken with broccoli, carrots & cauliflower on the side  (not pictured)
It was good, but spicy.

Nighttime Snack/Dessert - A serving of Despicable Me Honey Maid Crackers (...cookies?) and part of a three musketeers bar.  Minions are too cute.

Also non pictured lots and lots of water. I was a little short on protein but I hit my other macros on the mark. With flexible dieting you don't have to eat the typical 'diet' foods. I ate what I wanted/was craving.

What kind of diet do you follow?

Reverse Dieting

      From now on I think Mondays on the blog are going to be all about diet, nutrition, and what I am eating. 
     
     Diets suck right? Not this one! I started reverse dieting about a month ago (mentioned here) and I absolutely love it. A reverse diet is where you keep increasing your calories (in the form of carbs and fats) each week while still maintaining about your same weight in order to repair your metabolism. It sounds too good to be true, right? 

    Well, I can say from personal experience it is not too good to be true! I have increased my carbs by about 20 gram and my fat by 5 grams in the last month  and my weight initially went down and has now stayed about the same. I weigh myself daily and my weight only ever fluctuates by 0.2-0.4 lbs. 

    The benefits to reverse dieting:

• Getting to eat more carbs (donuts, please) = having more energy   
• Your body is being well fueled every single day. When you workout your muscles need a lot of fuel to successfully complete their task and heal post-work out. 
• Maintaining a low calorie diet is not possible in the long haul. If you lose a bunch of weight on a low calorie diet you will have slowed down your metabolism in the process. When you try to start eating more food you will rebound and gain back weight. With reverse dieting there should not be much weight gain (depending on your body weight %).
• Increasing your metabolism makes future weight loss much easier - no more cutting down to a sluggish 900-1200 calories in order to lean out.

    I decided to reverse diet because I was fascinated by the idea of having the ability to heal and somewhat control my metabolism. It has been a fun and eye opening experience for me. I am seeing food in a whole new light. 

    I think I picked the perfect time to reverse diet with the holidays (aka carb season) coming up!!

Do you count macros (protein, carbs, fat)?

Have you ever reverse dieted?