45 Strong Challenge Day 9

 I'm really tired this morning- more so than usual. Getting up was a bit of a struggle even though I was hungry and wanted to make breakfast. That being said, I'm feeling like I'm sleeping more deeply lately. I am not sure if it's because of the exercise or if it's just random, but when my pets wake me up in the middle of the night it feels like I'm swimming through molasses.

Today will be 20% of the challenge completed! It's hard, but it actually does feel like it's going by so quickly. I can get through this. And also I'm curious to see what my results will be. It seems like maybe the scale won't be too happy with me but who knows how things will shake out in a few weeks more. I already have improvement with the weights I'm lifting, although I don't know if that's a function of the challenge specifically or not, but it's still measurable progress and I'm happy with that.

I did:

• 32 minutes of walking, and 46 minutes at F45 for a total of 78 active minutes. Today was the Titans workout which is probably my favourite. Or rather I don't really know the difference between the various named workouts, but Tuesdays are always the day where you try to lift heavier rather than to focus on reps. I like that even if it's challenging. The names of the workouts change every month (I think) but the basic premise of what type of workout is on what day doesn't seem to. 
• drank 3 litres of water!
• did my dental care!
• 21 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

You can probably see from the meal plans I've been sharing during the challenge that I tend to eat the same food in little bursts. While it's fun to share new recipes here and try new things, I wouldn't have the time and energy to do that every day! Mostly when I shared meal plans previously it was to add new recipes to my blog- but during this challenge this is what I'm eating every day! Hope you find it helpful!

Breakfast was 2 slices of Weight Watchers bread, toasted, each with a slice of ham on top, half a slice of pepper jack cheese, and a sunny side up egg pan fried in cooking spray with a soft yolk. 353 calories, 17.5g fat 18.5g carbs, 30g protein.

Timing is still making it tough to get my usual morning snack in so that hasn't been a thing so far this challenge, which contributes to the heavier meals.

Lunch was a bit of a calorie splurge but worth every bit of it. My son had asked for a bag of sub buns and they're so delicious so I decided I wanted to have one. I topped it with lots of protein to make up for it though- 4 slices of smoked turkey, 4 slices of black forest ham, 1oz of Brie cheese, thinly sliced, romaine lettuce, tomato, red onion, and 1/2 tbsp light mayonnaise. Obviously you could change the stats here by going with a wrap or a lower calorie bread. 534 calories, 17g fat, 53g carbs, and 42g protein. 

Afternoon snack was grab and go- a container of President's Choice vanilla Greek yogurt. Quick and easy. 80 calories, 0g fat, 11g carbs, 9g protein.

Dinner was my Ginger Glazed Shrimp & Bulgur Bowl- delicious and high protein! 387 calories, 13g fat, 42g carbs, 27g protein.

The best part of my day was dessert! This one is easy to prepare in advance and refrigerate for later. If you haven't tried my NY Style Cheesecake, I'd highly recommend it!

1 large graham cracker, crushed into crumbs
2 oz fat free cream cheese
2 tbsp light ricotta cheese
1 tbsp vanilla Greek yogurt
2 1/2 tbsp Splenda or your favourite sweetener
1 1/2 tbsp egg whites
1/2 tsp lemon juice or vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp of fruit or sugarfree pie filling
1-2 tbsp fat free whipped cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix together cheeses, yogurt, Splenda, juice/extract and Egg Beaters and stir until well blended. Spray your baking dish with cooking spray (I used a mini silicone loaf pan). Add in the graham cracker crumbs and shake around to coat bottom of dish. Pour cheesecake filling into dish and put the dish into a larger oven safe dish and add water about half way up the side of the mini pan in the larger dish to create a water bath. Bake the cheesecake for 40 minutes, then turn off toaster oven or oven and let it sit in the oven for 10 minutes. I put mine in the fridge to let it set while I had dinner, and then topped with the sugarfree cherry filling and light whipped cream.

It's so delicious, you won't believe it's healthy! This recipe serves one, so you may want to double or triple it so that you can have more in the fridge for another day!

You can also do variants- use different flavours of Greek yogurt! I like using key lime and some lime zest, or lemon meringue and lemon zest. I'd love to hear how you experiment with it! 176 calories, 2.5g fat, 18g carbs, 14.5g protein.

That brings my daily total to 1530 calories, 50g fat, 142.5g carbs, and 122.5g protein! That should help with muscle growth!