Medi Weightloss Clinics of Fort Worth

Let’s face it, plain Greek yogurt tastes like sour cream!  It is just not edible in the mornings for breakfast, but it’s great on chili.  There are several ways that you can dress up plain yogurt to make a yummy breakfast or afternoon treat.

1. Add your favorite Crystal Light or Mio flavor to your yogurt.
2. Get even more creative and add Splenda and a few fresh berries.
3.  Add coco powder and Splenda for a chocolate pudding taste.

There’s a lot of value in finding a favorite way to enjoy Greek yogurt. It has twice the protein of regular yogurt, which will help you stay full longer.  After you check out some of the comparisons below, the choice is clear. Go with Greek!

A restricted calorie diet does not mean that you can’t exercise. We actually encourage our patients to exercise, but we have a few suggestions to protect you when exercising:

1. Allocate some of your protein calories to a meal about 30-45 minutes before you exercise. This will  help you keep up your energy.
2. Consider adding about half of the calories that you burn back into your diet on the days that you exercise.  For example, if you spend 30 minutes on the elliptical, you will probably burn about 150-250 calories.  Eat an extra 75-125 protein calories that day.
3. If your exercise of choice is extremely taxing or requires you to go a long distance (like a 20 mile bike ride or 5-10 mile run), pack a snack. Separate an orange, put it into a plastic bag and eat it along the way for energy.  You should still add the protein calories, but having the extra healthy carbs will give you more stamina to make it through.
4. If you are just not feeling it…STOP!  Remember to listen to your body and honor it!  If your body is not functioning at 100%, but you push it to perform at 100% your risk for injury increases dramatically.  Would you rather take a day off or 6-8 weeks off? It’s a no brainer!

What is your favorite way to exercise on the Medi Weightloss Clinics program?

For many of us, spring break is the last hurrah before what I call SBF,  “Serious Body Focus.”  Once spring break has come and gone, I know that bathing suit weather is just around the corner. My family loves swimming, tennis, soccer and pretty much all outdoor activities.  In order enjoy these activities in the Texas heat, weeks of SBF are in order to get my body in shape.  As summer approaches, it’s time to step up the exercise and reduce the caloric intake.  Thankfully, exercise can now be done outdoors rather than in a gym.

Here are some of my favorite way to enjoy this beautiful weather and burn some calories:

• Go for a walk with your dog
•  Practice yoga at the park
• Play with the kids
• Plant a garden
• Start a pickup kickball or basketball game

And remember to pair your exercise with a visit to Medi Weightloss Clinics of Fort Worth for a nutrition plan to help kickstart your SBF!

This week the team at the South Medi-Weightloss Clinics location went back to the beginning.  For one week, they all are doing protein-only, just like most of the new patients.  This is a great testament to how our team keeps up-to-date on not only the newest nutritional and medical information, but continually tries to put ourselves in the patient’s shoes.

“It’s important for our team to remember how difficult that first week is.  It’s been fun watching the girls love their protein.  It’s a good reminder for us all to help our new patients with ideas and empathize with what they are going through.” –Jana Howell

“I’m feeling pretty low on energy, but it’s better than I thought it would be.” –Liza

“My experience getting into ketosis was fun although it has taken a little energy out of me. I got a shot though and I feel much better! –Amanda

“The protein shake recipes on the website were so good that I went home and made it for lunch too!” -Cynthia

This warmer weather and longer days have me ready for spring. Every year, I create a “run it out” playlist to listen to while exercising. I pick enough songs to make a list that’s about 1.5 hours long (just in case) and quite often they are songs that I wouldn’t actually listen to while making dinner or driving in the car. This is the kind of music that pumps me up. It motivates me to go that extra mile and helps me enjoy exercising more. I’m thinking both Madonna and  Katy Perry will make the cut this year.

Finding music that moves you can be a good way to help  you exercise.  Whether it’s a yoga class, Zumba or alone time on a treadmill, music can motivate you to push yourself harder and longer. Certain songs evoke certain emotions in each of us. Find the songs that make you want to jump up and dance….then get up and MOVE!

We all  like fried foods, but there are lots of good reasons to avoid them. Frying your food adds a ton of calories and fat to your meals. On top of that, fried foods are easy to overeat.  Instead of succumbing to your cravings for breaded, crunchy fried foods, try this recipe for baked Parmesan chicken breasts. It will satisfy your need for crunch in a healthy way.

Eat This

This healthy alternative to fried chicken has 175 calories and 6 carbs.

Ingredients

• Pam cooking spray
• 3 tsp. reduced-fat shredded Parmesan cheese
• Garlic power
• Pepper
• Chicken breasts

Not That

Without the bun, Wendy's fried chicken sandwich has 270 calories and 12 carbs.

I often sit in a consultation with a first time patient and hear a groan when I explain that they will be cutting out sugar and “white foods” for a while.  Most people expect to have to give up the sweets, but struggle with giving up the starches.  Unfortunately, the reality is that all of those “white foods” cause weight gain.

Eating carbohydrates leads to the release of the fat-storage hormone insulin, which acts to remove nutrients from the bloodstream and store  it as fat. Not only does the insulin store calories as fat, but when present it also blocks the fat burning pathways. If your insulin levels are chronically high, as they are when your diet includes regular infusions of sugars, you will never be able to access that stockpile of stored fat.

The next time you’re sitting in front of plate with meat and potatoes, envision the meat as energy and the potatoes as FAT!  Eat the energy and skip the fat…enough said.

For me, the switch to ground turkey was easy. I love turkey burgers, turkey tacos, turkey taco salad, and of course the fabulous turkey tex-mex meatballs!  But more recently, I’ve been hearing about ground chicken.  Although I haven’t used it yet, I have some ground chicken in my freezer. Even Jana is replacing several of her recipes that call for shredded or cubed chicken with ground chicken.

You may ask, how good is ground chicken? The benefits are really in the leanness of the chicken versus the ground beef or turkey.  Here is the breakdown:

Ground chicken and 93% or 99% ground turkey has 35 calories per ounce. Regular ground turkey and ground beef has 75 calories to the ounce. If we do the math: in a 250 calorie dinner,  you can have either a 7-8 oz  lean ground turkey or chicken burger or 2.5 oz  beef burger.  Hmmmm….. which would you choose?

Eat This

Not That

Patients often tell me that they travel for work and struggle to follow the program while on the road.  Whether you are a pilot or just a beach bum (like me), you CAN “order Medi” wherever life finds you.  Here are some tips and hints for staying on the plan while on the road!

1. Invoke your sense of “high maintenance.” Don’t hesitate to order your meal just as you want it.  If they have Shrimp Scampi on the menu then they have grilled shrimp! Just remember to be nice with your requests.
2. Pack your snacks.  I always have a 100 calorie pack of almonds or a tuna packet in my purse. These make perfect “on-the-go” snacks.
3. Order fish or chicken. Whether it’s a sandwich or just a fancy filet with some heavy sauce on top, fish or chicken are a sure bet.  (refer to # 1 when ordering)
4. Journal. Just cause your away, doesn’t mean you skip brushing your teeth, right? Don’t skip journaling your foods either.  Remember, 70% of patients who journal lose MORE weight than ones who don’t.