Week 16 Weigh In

So as I mentioned last week, I was having a hard time trying to decide what to do about my dosage. I'm normally a Monday doser, and because the hunger had returned so intensely, I gave myself a booster dose on Thursday, which was the last dose in the pen so it included the bonus bit.

I didn't want to stay on a 2x per week dosing schedule because the night I take my shot I apparently need very deep sleep and I feel good if I get it but terrible if I don't. As a busy mom, there's no way I can guarantee myself two great nights of sleep a week! So I wanted to make a decision about the amount of dose but to stick to Mondays only going forward. I wasn't going to take only 0.25mg because that would probably put me back in the original situation where I wanted to increase my dose, but I thought going up to 0.5mg immediately when I already had the booster dose in my system would make me ill. I went for the Solomonic choice and dosed using the click chart to get to 0.38mg, or 27 clicks (9 clicks past the 0.25mg marker).

While the click chart generally isn't needed if you are following the standard dosage schedule, it can help if you want to work your way up to higher doses more slowly. While I didn't experience many side effects when I first started 0.25mg, I did certainly have more this week, and I think if I had increased my dose more quickly that I may have had more issues tolerating the medication. I feel like it is helping my body adjust by using smaller intervals. 

Currently, after doing some math and seeing how well this plan fits with the size of an Ozempic pen, I'm planning to take another 3 doses of 0.38mg to see how I'm adjusting, and if things go well, go up to 0.5mg for the final dose. That would total 2.02mg on a 2mg pen, but with the "bonus amount" in each pen to ensure full doses after priming the pen, I'm sure there would be enough. That would give me 5 doses out of the pen as well instead of the usual 4.

We'll see how it goes for now. If I need a slower progression, that's fine too. As long as the medication is working and my body can tolerate it, then I'm happy with my choices and the opportunity to work on my issues around food.

And it's definitely working! I was delighted to see this message after I input my weight into Lose It this morning. Now that includes my pre-Ozempic weight loss, but that is still a LOT of weight. I don't see much difference when I look in the mirror, but my clothes are definitely fitting differently so I'll take that as a win. And whether or not I can see the difference, my body knows the difference. That's stress off my knees, and off my heart. I hope it will be years more of life, but of course we never know and that's why we have to make the most of the time we have.

Also? I was never strong enough to bowl with an 11lb bowling ball and can't even imagine carrying around five of them at once!

My Ozempic weight loss is coming up to close to 30lbs, which is exciting! While I wouldn't want to continue losing 4lbs per week, my overall loss is right in the healthy range of 1-2lbs per week, which is great. The higher loss weeks help compensate for the lower loss weeks, or the weeks where I gain some back. For today though? I'm pretty happy! Just got my exercise clothes on so that I can do a workout before work. Funny how it can motivate you to keep going when you see things working well. It's just important to keep going on the weeks where it isn't.

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week, so 0.25mg + 0.33mg)

OZ Week 16 loss: 4lbs  raised dose to 0.38mg

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 29.4lbs

Eat the Rainbow!

 While salads can be awesome, variety is the spice of life. Eating vegetables is so important for good health. They're packed with vitamins and minerals, not to mention fiber. And of course eating a wide variety of different vegetables gives you more flavour and helps prevent boredom.

These rolls are so versatile- you can swap out veggies for the ones you like, change the protein, change the sauce you use... I have some ideas and I think this base idea will be fun to play with!

Rice Paper Spring Rolls:

10 rice paper wraps
30 shrimp, cooked, peeled, and deveined

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 sweet bell pepper, diced (go for red or yellow for colour contrast!)

1/2 red onion, diced

3/4 cup Boston lettuce, chopped

1/2 cup red cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup matchstick carrots

2 tbsp fresh basil, finely shredded

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp minced ginger

Mix together the hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, and minced ginger in a small sauce bowl, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Make sure you have a clean cutting board or plate to build your wraps on! Fill a large bowl with warm water, and before you build each wrap, dip the dry rice paper wrap into the water entirely to moisten it- it takes about five seconds for it to start to soften but it will be finished by the time you're done adding toppings. Lay the wrap on your work station. Slightly to the right of middle, make a vertical line of three shrimp down the middle of the wrap. Add your basil, and a little bit of each of your toppings- fill it out with the lettuce last. Fold up the bottom of the wrap until it reaches the bottom of the toppings. Then take the right side of the wrap and pull it entirely over the toppings and tuck it in. Finish rolling up the wrap tightly, and fold the top part in so it's sealed. This will take some practice but by the time you're done rolling ten, I'm sure you'll be much improved!

Take out your sauce for dipping, and enjoy! These are so versatile- you can have them as a snack, or have a few more and they become a meal! You can easily make them vegan and of course depending on the sauce you use, they can be gluten free as well.

One spring roll has 55 calories, 0.5g fat, 8g carbs, and 4g of protein- not to mention how filling you'll find them with all the fresh veggies!

I've also tried them with sweet chili Thai sauce and rice wine vinegar and that's also good- 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce to 3 tbsp vinegar mixed well. Sweet chili sauce has about the same caloric value as hoisin sauce so it shouldn't change the nutritional information much.

Enjoy! 

Dealing with Emotional Eating

 One of the things I find really helpful about Ozempic is that it gives me the space to start looking at and unpacking my issues around food. Sometimes, issues I didn't even know I had.

This past week, I thought to myself that I would be happy if I was never hungry again. It took one of my friends pointing out how disordered that line of thought is. Of course it's healthy to be hungry! It's normal to have your metabolism kick in and remind you it needs fuel, or to have a specific craving when your stomach starts to rumble. It would be abnormal not to!

I feel like the wiring in my brain has gotten so wonky over the years that I may not correctly identify hunger at all anymore. I think that possibly the feeling I name hunger is actually feeling starving. I don't usually have (pre Ozempic) a rumble in my stomach that makes me feel like, "oh, I could eat"- but instead mine tended to be much more intense and carry a sense of urgency to eat something quickly. This would often lead to me grabbing convenience food or quick snacks.

Now, that being said, I have always had issues with hypoglycemia where if I ignored being hungry for too long, I'd start to get a headache and nauseous, and while it would go away for a while if I ate, it would generally come back later as a painful reminder that I really do need to pay more attention to my body.

While I've been taking Ozempic, I've had two episodes of hypoglycemia where I forgot to eat and didn't notice because I wasn't hungry. It's not something that I consider to be an issue with the medication, since it's been part of my life before. However, it's definitely created an awareness for me that I need to pay attention to my body's cues other than hunger as a reminder that I need to eat- or failing that, even to keep an eye on the clock to continue to eat my three small meals a day plus two snacks. It's also why I make a point of saying that it's important to eat enough to fuel your body and not only eat when you think you're hungry, because I may not be the only one who has a disordered concept of hunger, satiety, and all the other cues that go along with eating. 

Taking a step back from our past perceptions can give us the opportunity to try and build healthier habits around eating. Do I really want never to be hungry again? No, I don't. What I was really feeling is fear of reverting to my old patterns. I don't want to feel that sense of lack of control that when I'm starving that I can't make good decisions about food anymore. I don't want to feel that intense sense of urgency that I'm eating to stuff my face instead of eating both for enjoyment and for fuel.

I like that Ozempic has given me the opportunity to take a step back from those abnormally intense hunger pangs that I suspect are part of my faulty brain chemistry issues. And I hope that over time, I learn how to manage and welcome normal feelings of hunger, and create healthier patterns. I'm not in this just to reach a healthy body weight and to deal with my diabetes and other health issues, but to develop a better relationship to food.

Obesity isn't like many other emotional coping mechanisms- we can't just stop eating because we have issues with food. We are going to face these choices every day for the rest of our lives. It's not realistic to assume we will never eat the things we love again. What we need to do is to find a way to change the way we eat, and the way we think about eating, so we can find a good balance for ourselves.

Week 15 Weigh-In

Well, as you know, I've been holding out on increasing my dose for as long as possible, since I wanted to stay at 0.25mg as long as it was effective. But this past week I was just getting so hungry. I finally decided to take another dose on Thursday (I'm a Monday doser) and that would equal the 0.5mg that maybe I should have taken last Monday. I know many people do split their doses so I didn't foresee any problems, especially after so many weeks at 0.25mg with little side effects.

Life is full of surprises sometimes, isn't it? I was pleasantly surprised that the hunger pangs dissipated, but it definitely felt different than it did at the lower dose. When I first started Ozempic, I was just not hungry, but didn't feel like I couldn't eat (until I hit that hard stop sensation). This past few days with the booster dose, I felt almost like I'm experiencing the way gastric balloons are described to me (I have not had any kind of weight loss surgery). Almost like there is a balloon full of water taking up space in my stomach. I didn't find that a particularly comfortable sensation.

Also, the side effects came out full force, which I really wasn't expecting. For the first two days after the booster dose, the nausea intensified until it was almost constant. Not to the point of being sick but just definitely not feeling well. The Ozempic headache (which feels different from a "regular" headache but hard to explain why) was very present as well as some additional fatigue.

I noticed that I almost felt food averse the first day after the booster dose as well, as opposed to just not hungry. While in my early weeks on Ozempic I almost felt that food was more flavourful (perhaps more enjoyable since I only needed a small portion?), the past two days I felt like my sense of taste had diminished a little bit, which I also didn't love. The first day after the booster, I only consumed 900 calories and I really did have to make myself eat dinner because I was not interested in food at all.

Today is the third day since the booster dose, and my regular shot day. I am still trying to decide how to progress from here, and I guess I'll make that decision based on how I feel today. I did wake up hungry, which is something I'd prefer not to. I've had breakfast and now have that balloon like feeling again but fortunately no other side effects. We'll see how the day progresses. My options are to take the 0.50mg shot as I had originally intended, take another 0.25mg shot and do biweekly dosing for a while, or skip my shot entirely today and wait until I feel it wearing off. I'll have to weigh some pros and cons.

Speaking of weight, this week's weigh-in wasn't wonderful but it's still a step in the right direction! 

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

OZ Week 15 loss: 0.4lbs (took booster dose halfway through the week)

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 25.4lbs

What Did I Eat Yesterday?

 Well, I've got a great new recipe to share with you and I thought I'd write a bit more about what I'm eating on a daily basis, since there always seems to be lots of discussion about that.

My best advice is to find what works for you, and go with it! For example, I hate drinking calories. It has always felt like a waste to me. So I will never choose a protein shake when I could have actual food instead. Some people love the convenience and that's great too. What is more important is finding a way of eating that makes you feel satiated, not deprived, and is sustainable for you. Don't try to copy someone else's eating style if it doesn't feel right to you!

Here is another day in the life of Susie!

Breakfast:

1 ripe banana, sliced into coins

1 vanilla PC Greek yogurt cup

1/2 package Nutrisystem granola (substitute 1/3 cup of your favourite protein granola)

This always feels like a decadent treat for me. I like the mix of textures and I do have a major sweet tooth. The Greek yogurt gives this the protein I need for satiety and the protein granola helps prevent blood sugar spikes. It's important to always eat your carbs with protein for this reason. I also do still follow the glycemic index- this is one of the important lessons I learned when I was on the Nutrisystem plan. Now that I'm diabetic, this is even more important for my health and not just weight loss. If you're not familiar with the glycemic index, I'll be adding some more content for Ozempic users at my Tips for Newbies page soon!

Breakfast Summary: 345 calories, 3g of fat, 68g carbs, 16g protein.

Lunch: 

I really like the Tim Hortons soup at home line. I've always been a sucker for creamy soups and this line is surprisingly low calorie and fat for the flavour. I can eat a whole can without blowing my calorie budget. It's also really nice on a cold day. With my soup I made myself a sandwich on Weight Watcher's whole wheat bread with honey mustard, a slice of cheddar cheese, and some deli sliced ham. If you have a panini press, you can make it a grilled ham and cheese without the extra butter needed to pan fry!

Lunch Summary: 456 calories, 16g fat, 60g carbs, 18g protein.

Afternoon Snack:

Since I had a big lunch, I only wanted to have a small snack today. I really like the Sargento Balanced Breaks and how they're already preportioned. Yes, you could definitely make your own snacks if you buy bulk bags of almond and dried fruit and cut your own cheese, and if you choose to do that, more power to you! But sometimes it's nice just to have a quick grabbable snack available, and thanks to preservatives, these last a while in the fridge!

Snack Summary: 190 calories, 13g fat, 12g carbs, 7g protein

Dinner: Moroccan Shrimp with Couscous

285g shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp harissa spice blend

160g Roma tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup dry couscous

50g shallots, diced

160g sweet bell pepper, diced

200g zucchini, cut into half moons

100mL plain Greek yogurt

1 sprig fresh cilantro

1 tbsp vegetable broth liquid concentrate (or substitute your favourite powder equivalent, or liquid broth with no water added)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 tsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

You're going to love this one- tastes zesty and fancy, very filling, and ultra low calorie! 

 

Start by making your yogurt sauce so it has time for the flavours to blend. In a small bowl, mix your yogurt, the chopped cilantro, 2 tbsp of water, and the sugar. Add a little salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Set aside.

If you have a rice cooker, it's the easiest way to leave the couscous to set and forget. Follow the ratio instructions for water to "rice", and add the broth concentrate or your broth substitute (don't add water if you use premade stock!). If you don't have a rice cooker, take a medium pot and add 1/2 cup of water and your broth concentrate and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat, stir in the couscous, cover and set aside.

Drain and rinse your shrimp and pat them dry with a paper towel. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp oil once it's hot. Cook until the shrimp just turn pink, 2-3 min, then set aside and keep covered so they stay warm. 

Bring the pan heat up to medium-high, and add the remaining tsp of oil. Add the garlic, shallots, peppers, tomatoes, and harissa spice blend. Cook, stirring often, 4-5 minutes. When tender, add zucchini and cook until it is tender-crisp, 2-3 minutes. Stir in shrimp.

Divide couscous between plates, top with veggies and shrimp, and drizzle the herby yogurt dressing over top. Serves two.

Dinner Summary: 254 calories, 5g fat, 78g carbs, 38g protein.

Dessert:

Not all desserts have to be sweet! I like to eat later in the evening since I have dinner fairly early, and again, it's important to make sure that you have a protein as well even if you do choose a sweet snack. Many low calorie treats don't have protein and then you might find that your blood sugar spikes and you get hungry again.

That wasn't a problem for today though, when I decided to have a high protein late night snack anyway!

It's easy to make deviled eggs lighter- just use reduced fat or fat free mayo. Eggs are one place I don't recommend swapping Greek yogurt for mayo- while it works in a lot of places, I find it tastes terrible with eggs so I stick with lower calorie mayo for this one. For every 3 eggs, I use 1 tbsp of light mayonnaise. Then add your favourite seasonings and garnish! I like to add chopped onion, black pepper, and smoked paprika to mine.

There's still room left in the day to eat three whole eggs cut in half, so six deviled eggs for evening snack!

Dessert Summary: 255 calories, 18g fat, 4g carbs, 18g protein.

Daily Total: 1500 calories, 52g fat, 222g carbs, 97g protein.

I definitely don't feel deprived eating like this- nor am I hungry! Hope this helped give you some ideas! What did you eat today?

Week 14 Weigh In!

So this was a challenging week. I got sick, and that meant I triggered my emotional thoughts around eating. All I wanted was comfort food, and for me that generally means bread and sandwiches and the like. Two days I found myself going way over my daily calorie range, and not because I was hungry but because I just really wanted it. While Ozempic has helped a lot with wanting more normal portions of things, it can't do all the heavy lifting for me!

The first day I went way over- I ate nearly 2700 calories that day. And my stomach really, really didn't like that. I was bloated and uncomfortable and had pain in my stomach for a few hours. Apparently that wasn't enough to stop me from eating nearly 2200 two days later, either. I'm not super impressed with the choices I made, especially since I wasn't even really enjoying what I was eating. It brought back a lot of the feelings of shame around overeating.

I'm going to try and make a plan for next time I'm not feeling well, so that this doesn't happen again. There's nothing wrong with mindfully having a higher calorie day, and I wouldn't be upset with myself for that. The issue here is that I was falling back into old patterns and not even enjoying it. So this is definitely behaviour I want to extinguish!

I also wound up taking three days in a row off from exercising while I was sick. I didn't have the energy and I needed to rest. Today I was finally ready to get back to it and it felt good instead of exhausting!

Since I had the bad days and I was sick, I wasn't expecting to lose any weight this week. I was pleasantly surprised to still have a good loss! 

I tried a few new recipes this week and I'll try to write them up soon for the Recipes page!

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

OZ Week 14 loss: 1.6lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 25lbs

Cravings Smash!

 Well, even on Ozempic occasionally I see an ad for something that looks delicious. I am definitely a member of the school that believes we shouldn't deny ourselves treats just because we're trying to lose weight, but instead try to find sustainable ways to enjoy the things we crave. That could mean smaller portions less frequently, or it could mean making our own version of the foods we enjoy so they feel like treats, but instead they keep us right on track.

While I do enjoy treats in moderation, I love being able to play with a recipe and make something that will satisfy a craving and still be healthy! So last night I was scrolling my Facebook feed, and one picture caught my eye; the McDonalds Filet-o-Fish. Now I'm not normally a McDonalds fan, but I did like the fish sandwich and for whatever reason, last night I could almost taste it. So, the question was, did I want to buy one? Or did I want to try and make one?

I'm always game for trying to nerf a recipe first!

Copycat McDonalds Filet-o-Fish:

1 low calorie whole wheat hamburger bun 

1 piece of healthier breaded fish

1 slice of light processed cheese

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

1 tsp lemon juice

optional: lettuce, tomato, red onion

I know the veggies aren't really part of a Filet-o-Fish but in my mind, they make any fish sandwich taste so much better!

Start by mixing the Greek yogurt with the lemon zest, garlic, dill, and lemon juice so that the flavours have time to blend. You won't need all of this for your sandwich but then you'll have leftovers in your fridge in case you want to try this recipe again- or it's good on grilled fish, too!

Bake your fish according to the box instructions. I used President's Choice Blue Menu Scottish Haddock Fillets, which clock in at 210 calories, 6g fat, 23g carbs, and 17g protein for a generously sized piece. It was large enough that it more than filled my bun! Then layer your bun with the cheese slice, fish, veggies, and spread the top side of the bun with your dill sauce. Enjoy! Not only did I find this less greasy and much more filling than a Filet-o-Fish, but it's lower calorie and higher protein, too! Compare my copycat sandwich (which is almost 50% larger!)  at 379 calories, 8.5g fat, 50g carbs, and 27g protein, with McDonalds much smaller sandwich that has 410 calories, 20g fat, 39g carbs, and 18g protein. I'd rather have more food and higher protein for less calories and fat!

That being said- if you wanted a treat once in a while, there are worse things you could choose than a Filet-o-Fish. But if you have the time? This copycat recipe wins, hands down (and is probably a lot less likely to upset your stomach!).

Week 13 Weigh In!

I've been tired lately, but that's my chronic health conditions flaring and doesn't have anything to do with the Ozempic. It's much harder on some days than others to keep going with my exercising and to make good choices. 

I've been learning that there is nearly always a good solid choice in the middle, though. If I'm tired or not feeling great, I don't have to skip my workout. If an hour feels like too much, I can do half an hour. I can go for a walk instead of something intensive. I can still feel like I'm making a good decision to be healthier without pushing myself too hard.

That being said, it is the first week of the month, so it's my competition week with my friend, and this is the week to push! We started a little off-centre, Friday to Thursday instead of following my usual schedule of Mondays, but it's still seven days and I'm doing my best. Slightly bigger loss this week which is great, and we'll see how I do at next week's weigh in since I've really stepped up the exercise this week to a minimum of 60 minutes a day. One week pushing and three weeks of doing something that is maintainable is working for me so far and I am seeing a difference not only on the scale but in my body.

Sooo... does that mean I should eat some lobster? :)  Seriously though, I know this wasn't all on Ozempic, but it's a big milestone and I'm proud of it.

Start Date: November 7, 2022  0.25mg

OZ Week 1 loss: 3.4lbs

OZ Week 2 loss: 2.2 lbs
OZ Week 3 gain: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 4 loss: 4.4lbs

OZ Week 5 loss: 1.4lbs

OZ Week 6 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 7: skipped weigh in  0.39mg (used "bonus bit" in the pen)

OZ Week 8 gain: 4.4lbs  back to 0.25mg (started exercising seriously)

OZ Week 9 loss: 6.6lbs

OZ Week 10 loss: 2.0lbs

OZ Week 11 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 12 loss: 2.4lbs

OZ Week 13 loss: 2.6lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 23.4lbs

Breakfast Fun!

So I've started to notice this week that I am waking up hungry at night. It has happened the past three nights, and it's very unusual for me. Prior to using Ozempic I've never in my life woken up hungry. I've also noticed that after I've gone back to sleep and woken up in the morning that the raging hunger is gone. So I'm not sure if I do need to up my dose to 0.5mg after all, or if I am just not eating enough given the exercise that I'm doing. I'm going to try eating a bit more the next few days to see if it resolves the hunger issues before just going straight to upping my dose. I am still losing weight (oddly enough, it seems that Thursdays are the day where I weigh the least) and other than the middle of the night hunger, my appetite still seems well controlled during the day.

I've been stepping on the scale daily just to see my patterns, but only logging Mondays as my official weigh in. It seems that right after my shot I start losing, and it keeps dropping until Thursday. Then on the weekend, a little bit seems to creep back on. I'm still very pleased with the losses I'm seeing so I haven't been concerned. I find it interesting though because I do track every calorie I consume on Lose It, and I'm not generally eating more on the weekend. Monday actually tends to be the day I eat the most. I try for an average of 1500 calories daily, but calorie cycling between about 1200-1700 so that my body doesn't get too used to it. So I'm not sure what specifically is causing this pattern (I'm no less active on the weekends, either), but it's interesting, and so I'll keep an eye on it.

So that being said, I decided to focus on heartier breakfasts this week so that possibly I'll be less hungry at night. I've always loved decadent breakfasts. They feel special to me for some reason. While with some of my health conditions I found myself skipping breakfast more often, I've been trying to make an effort to eat something early in the morning because I've found that if I do something that requires energy on an empty stomach, that I am more likely to feel nauseous afterwards.

Pancakes really aren't that time consuming to whip up, especially if you use a premade mix. I prefer to go for one with added protein and whole grains so that it's lower on the glycemic index, less likely to spike blood glucose, and to increase satiety. I've tried a couple of different recipes lately, and both were delicious, filling, and sweet enough not even to need maple syrup!

Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pancakes:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 egg, separated

8 tbsp light ricotta cheese

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp sugar replacement of your choice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

handful of blueberries

Preheat your griddle or frying pan over medium heat. In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, egg yolk, milk, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar replacement, baking powder, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined- do not overmix. Beat the egg white with a mixer until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter, do not over mix.

Spray your cooking surface with cooking spray, and when it's heated up, spoon 1/4 of the batter out per pancake. Dot each pancake with blueberries. Cook each pancake for about three minutes, or until the edges are dry and bubbles form in the top of the pancake. Flip pancake, and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until golden brown on both sides.

You won't even need syrup on these- they're nice and sweet as well as loaded with protein. I dusted mine with a little bit of Swerve icing sugar.

This recipe serves two people two generous pancakes each, for a total of 220 calories, 6g fat, 16g carbs, and 13g protein per serving. You could also use your favourite high protein pancake mix in place of the flour, salt, and baking powder if you like.

One of the reasons that I enjoy pancakes so much is that they're such a blank canvas to play with. You can make them savory or sweet, but always delicious. I've got a few great savory pancake mix recipes if you look in my Recipes tab, like a copycat McDonalds McGriddle sandwich and corn dog pancake puffs! 

I can't stand sugar free syrup, so I either use a small amount of real maple syrup, or I look for recipes where the pancake doesn't need any and tastes great on its own. Here's a trick- freeze bananas while they're still in the peel, and let them defrost overnight. The freezing helps break down the sugars so it tastes like you're using real sugar plus a nice rich creamy flavour but less intense banana taste.

So this morning I modified the recipe a bit to this:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 egg whites

3 tbsp light ricotta cheese

1/4 cup water

1 banana, frozen, then thawed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

handful of blueberries

The banana, once thawed, is easy to mush into almost a liquid, but the dry mix still needs the water to thin out the batter. I kept the ricotta cheese and the egg whites to up the protein. Again, use your favourite high protein pancake mix if you like instead of the dry ingredients.

Definitely no syrup needed on these! Again, serves two with a total of 199 calories, 1.5g fat, 19g carbs, and 9g protein.