Tip Tuesday: What I Ate To Lose Nearly 50 lbs

Hey guys,

A lot of you all have been messaging me and asking me exactly what I eat to lose weight because you don't know where to start with low carb dieting. I'm here to help! Everyone goes on their spill about "There is no such thing as dieting. You have to change your lifestyle and end your love affair with chocolate eclairs" blah blah BLAH. Hells bells, you've got to start somewhere, and that somewhere is not at the nearest all you can eat buffet. Think of your diet as the proverbial starting line. Remember that you can't run before you walk. Start making small changes that you are more likely to stick to. I can only muster the strength to tolerate one change at a time, but alas, I am a creature of habit.

Today I am going to show you a few low carb substitutes to help get you started as you embark on your weight loss journey. All aboard the low carb train, destination pain and misery! I'm just kidding, but really, it is hard to stick to at first. The following tips will make your transition to low carb eating a little easier. Like I said, if you change one little thing at a time, you are more likely to have overall success. Let's get started!

1.) Amp up your protein intake!
Protein, that's like steaks, right? Well, technically yes, but good luck trying to eat 3 steaks a day. That's pricey and is probably going to give you atherosclerosis. Let's try to avoid triple bypass surgery and instead add some protein powder into our diets instead. An easy and rather tasty way to do it is by having a little at breakfast time. Now, you all are probably thinking "Protein shakes, Bridge? Are you serious? I'm not a body builder." Don't get your knickers in a knot, you are forgetting that I am a creative biyotch.

I typically eat oatmeal in the morning. Listen to me carefully: Put down the Quaker Oats. Not only does that dude on the box look like a registered sex offender, but his product is loaded with carbs and sugar. To do this properly, you need to buy Oat Fit Oatmeal. I get mine at Kroge's and I like the brown sugar and maple flavored kind. Oat Fit is only 100 calories and only has 18 carbs. I like to eat between 40-60 carbs a day when I am doing my cruise phase dieting. This may not work for you, so play around and see what range works best for you.

My go to breakfast is 1 pkg of Oat Fit oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder and 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter. You can leave out the peanut butter if you want to, but I think it tastes awesome this way. I add my oatmeal to a bowl, put in my protein powder (I use vanilla flavored), then add the water and pop it in the  microwave. I then take my little scoop of peanut butter and throw in into my bowl of hot oatmeal and stir it up. If your peanut butter doesn't melt well, just microwave your oatmeal concoction for another 10 seconds or so. This breakfast is so filling that I sometimes have a hard time finishing it off. It is so yummy! Try whatever flavor of Oat Fit oatmeal that you like. I know they have a Cinnamon Bun one, but I think it's pretty awful.

2.) Throw out your potatoes! 
I love potatoes. Not as much as pizza, but they're on the list of things I would trade an organ for. Rather than heading to KFC and grabbing a family size side of mashed potatoes to bury your face in, you can satisfy your craving with a healthier option. Click HERE for a recipe on how to make mashed cauliflower. You can still do this recipe while on Dukan, just use fat free cream cheese and skip the butter. If you have been extra good and you just cannot forgo butter, get some of that I Can't Believe It's Not Butter that is in a spray bottle and treat yourself to a spritz or two. As you see, you can pretty much eat any food you want if you tweak the recipe a little bit. I think that recipe would be really good if you skip the cream cheese and instead add some sour cream, ranch mix, and stop with a little green onion. Nomz.

3.) Get rid of your bread!
This one is a bit obvious. You can't really eat bread while you're trying to low carb, but there are options out there besides getting rid of the bun on your chicken sandwich. One of my favorite bread replacements is to make lettuce wraps. Have you ever eaten at PF Chang's? Their lettuce wraps are where I got this idea (I also make a healthy version of these at home). Instead of having a chicken salad sandwich for lunch, why not replace the bread with a leave of iceberg? Do you love tacos? Me too. Lose the shell and instead make a lettuce wrap out of it. For my picky eaters out there that don't like lettuce, I have an option for you as well. Low carb tortillas have a substantially higher carb count than a lettuce leaf, but they are still better than 2 slices of sourdough. I usually only use the low carb tortillas if I am going to cook something that I can't put in a lettuce leaf. Click HERE for a recipe on how to make a pizza quesadilla using a low carb tortilla.

4.) No chips, you can leave the dip right here.
Sometimes a girl just needs something crunchy. You can make your own dip, click HERE for a homemade salsa ranch dip that is one of my favorites, and enjoy some healthier alternatives to potato chips. One way is by microwaving turkey pepperonis. I know this sounds strange, but you can thank me later. What you need to do is take a few pepperonis and put them flat on a paper towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds. The paper towel will pull all of the fat out of them, and what is left behind is a crunchy pepperoni "chip." I will even dip these babies in spinach dip if I have some on hand. You can also do this microwaving technique with turkey bacon, but obviously you will have to cook it longer in the microwave. If you're not a fan of dipping crunchy meat products into your french onion dip, you can use cucumber slices. They will also give you that crunch that I seem to crave. You could do tomatoes too, but I hate tomatoes so I'll pass on that. Do not use carrots, you'll run into carbs there and be up all night screaming "WHY DID I EAT THOSE?" when you realize it.

5.) Oh pasta, where art thou?
Cutting out pasta is the hardest thing for me to do. No, I'm not Italian. I'm just hungry and want to eat my weight in Chicken Parmesan. Seriously, how does Giada de Laurentiis stay so thin when she is constantly eating pasta on her show?

                                              Her calories must accumulate in her huge head.

For the rest of us, a good alternative to eating pasta is squash. You can substitute zucchini or spaghetti squash for pasta. I'm not a fan of spaghetti squash. I think it tastes like flowers, but I don't mind zucchini. You can even do slices of zucchini to replace the noodles in a lasagna. You won't notice much of a difference, I promise. Plus, I can eat a ton of zucchini lasagna and be guilt free. Don't act like you've never eaten an entire lasagna in one sitting, we are all guilty.

And there you go, a few low carb substitutes to get you started and to help you expand your menu. I plan on posting a few recipes using some of these substitutes in the future. What are some of your favorite low carb alternatives? Do you know an awesome substitute I didn't list? Let me know. Follow me on twitter @Butterybiscuit7 and on Instagram @Bridgetb2011. I'll be back tomorrow with more diet related stuff for Weigh In Wednesday! Talk to you soon.

Xoxo,
--B