Deflated

So I finally feel like I have deflated, or in other words, lost all of the water weight I was carrying around after my four day splurge.  That means it took me four days to get rid of it, although I'm not sure if it will be completely reflected on the scale tomorrow morning.  This morning I was 145 even, so only .2 down from yesterday and still 1.8 up from completely recovering from the weekend.  It took four days to put it on, and so it will take at least four days to take it off, if not longer.  It always seems to take longer to recover than it does to do the damage.  Today is day four and I am still doing great.  I made some Zucchini brownies last night and had a few today.  I tracked everything in MFP and I am still at about 1700 calories with my brownies, which is perfect for a workout day.  That is exactly what I am trying to do: live normally and count my treats and eat them throughout the week so I don't feel so deprived and like I need to go crazy on the weekends. 

I made the brownies from http://www.texanerin.com and I loved them!  They are made with coconut sugar and applesauce for sweeter and I really enjoyed them!  They are a much healthier version of their cane sugar and white flour counterparts.  Here is a picture and the recipe

Source

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies - 16 servings

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup coconut sugar or unrefined or granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (60 ml) unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup (125 grams) whole spelt or whole wheat flour
• ½ cup (45 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder if you don't have Dutch)
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (about 300 – 320 grams) peeled and grated zucchini
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips + ½ cup mini chocolate chips to sprinkle on top

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) and line an 8"x8" pan with parchment paper or spray with baking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla, coconut sugar, and apple sauce and let this sit for 5 minutes to let the coconut sugar dissolve.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder (sifted if lumpy!), baking soda and salt. Make sure there are no clumps before going on to the next step.
4. Add the dry mix to the wet, gently stir until combined. Be sure not to over mix!
5. Then fold in the zucchini and 1 cup chocolate chips.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and even the surface with a spatula.
7. Sprinkle ½ cup mini chocolate chips on top.
8. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes (14 minutes for the half batch) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle doesn't come out gooey. It might still be sticky - just not have raw batter on it.
9. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature or up to one week in the refrigerator. I recommend storing them in the refrigerator right from the beginning due to their high moisture content.

 The original recipe can be found HERE

I love Erin's site!  It's all about healthier baking, and I love baking.  I think this is what is going to tip the scale.  Now I can still enjoy baking without feeling so guilty about making treats and eating them!  I make sure that I calculate all the calories in MFP.  For this recipe here are the nutrition facts:

Calories 101
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5 g	7 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	12 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 31 mg	10 %
Sodium 169 mg	7 %
Potassium 208 mg	6 %
Total Carbohydrate 15 g	5 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g	12 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 3 g	7 %

Another thing that crossed my mind today is that I should make a list of my go to snacks and then I can start expanding them.  Pretty much I eat the same thing for snacks every day: fruit and yogurt.  Sometimes carrots and hummus.  I am glad that I am focusing on nutrition, I have a lot to learn still even though now I know all about clean eating, healthy food choices and all that, there is still a lot of preparation to be done especially when you take into account preparing snacks for kids and husband.  I just need to not be overwhelmed and continue making small changes.  I think I've tried to make too many changes too fast with nutrition and that is why I keep reverting back to my old cycle and bad habits of buying frozen foods.  I also need to make sure I have my go to food in the house.  It is much easier to feed the kids healthy food when we actually have it in the house!  When we run out of fruit and yogurt I am at a loss of what to feed them and they end up getting goldfish and fruit snacks and popcorn.