Week 2 Summary, IIFYM, and Protein Pancakes

I read nonstop on the internet.  There's such a wealth of health and fitness advice and theories out there, it's crazy.  The thing I realize is that it doesn't matter what advice or "diet" you chose to follow, you can get great results using different approaches as long as you are committed to it and consistent.  As long are you are being physically active, burning calories, lifting weights, and following a nutrition plan that's balanced and creates a calorie deficit, you will succeed.  Key words being committed and consistent, as in not cheating.

The latest thing I stumbled upon on Twitter was this concept called IIFYM (If it fits your macros), or flexible eating.  Basically, as long as you are hitting your goals on calories, carbs, protein, and fat, then it doesn't really matter what you are eating.  This is totally against the concept of clean-eating, which limits you to lean proteins, veggies, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc....basically the chicken and broccoli diet lots of people in the fitness and bodybuilding industry live by.  The problem with clean eating is it can become boring and bland and is so restrictive that it's hard to stick to.  It can even create an unhealthy obsession with food, which can lead to an eating disorder.  This is kind of what has happened to me.  It led me to develop a binge eating disorder because I was restricting myself so much and wouldn't allow myself to eat "bad" foods.  Then I would just eat everything in site, feel horrible about it, and the cycle just continues.

I like this IIFYM idea because it allows you to eliminate the idea of "bad" foods.  I can eat somewhat clean still - oats and egg whites, chicken and spinach salad, sweet potatoes, etc, but if I want to have a slice of pizza for dinner, then I can eat it without getting depressed about it.  You still count it and log it, and as long as your are hitting your caloric goals for the day it's ok.  I think this is a great concept for me to follow so I don't feel deprived and want to binge. 

I also decided that I need to increase my caloric intake to reach my weightloss goals.  Eating 1200 calories per day is awful and definitely sets you up to binge.  Based on my activity level and goals, I should be eating around 1600 calories per day for weight loss.  This should keep my body out of starve mode and help facilitate fat burning.

I lost 1 pound last week.  I had 2 days where I ended up bingeing, so that definitely hurt me.  This week I start with a new outlook on what I can eat and my daily calories, so we will see what happens.  Also, the Jamie Eason program gets tougher this week.  Bring on the muscle!

Now, on to the pancakes!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

 

1/3 cup oat flour*

1/4 cup vanilla whey protein powder (my brand has 80 cal & 18g protein per serving listed on container)

1/2 tsp baking soda or powder

1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened (not pictured)

1/4 cup pumpkin puree, canned (not canned pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or more to taste)

1 egg white

stevia to taste

 

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and fry in a pan using cooking spray.  Yields 3 pancakes. 

 

Nutrition facts for whole recipe: Calories 285, fat 4.5g, carbs 33g, fiber 7g, protein 30g

 

I topped it with strawberries and Kroger Carbmaster Vanilla Yogurt :)  If you want even more pumpkin flavor, top with Kroger Carbmaster Pumpkin Pie Yogurt.

 

* Notes - you can use different flours, although I haven't tried yet.  Note it will change the calorie, carb, and protein content