My Kind of Weight Loss

I started my diet one week ago and I'm relieved.  It's getting a little bit harder to lose weight since I had my 7th baby.  Okay, okay I know I hear comments like, "you aren't big."  I'm big to me so that's what counts.  If I feel uncomfortable then I need to do something.  I just want to be the size I was around baby number 5.  I usually won't drop weight till I'm done nursing and I quit nursing about a month ago.  I didn't want to, I didn't have a choice because I ran out of milk.  Phooey.  The doctor told me she thinks it's because I'm too active.  She mentioned I should sit down a lot more. Ummmm....I can't do that.  LOL.  I have a lovely family to play with!

Every time I diet I use Sparkpeople since it's always worked for me.  It's basically using portion control.  That's what I love about Sparkpeople.   After baby number 4 I just needed a booster to lose weight and it just stayed off after that using that method.  So I found this recipe that is actually Weight Watcher friendly and I made it that very day.  Oh my gosh... so good!  Unfortunately, I didn't have the mozzerella cheese so I used regular chedder cheese.  

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Chicken Parmesan MeatloafSource: adapted from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs raw ground chicken breast (if you have trouble finding ground chicken that is breast meat only, do what I do and throw the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the food processor and run until ground)
1 large egg
1 egg whites
6 T dried breadcrumbs
¾ t dried basil
¾ t dried thyme
¾ t oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ a small onion, chopped small or grated
¾ t salt
1/3 t black pepper
¾ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup pasta sauce
¾ cup 2% reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese
Optional: dried parsley, oregano or basil for garnish

  

Directions:
1.    Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2.    In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, egg whites, breadcrumbs, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and lightly mix together. Do not over handle.
3.    Form the meat mixture evenly into the 12 cups of your prepared muffin tin. Spread the pasta sauce evenly over the tops of each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. Top each muffin with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish if desired. 

Yields 12 muffins. WW P+:  4 per muffin or 7 P+ for 2 muffins (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per muffin from myfitnesspal.com: 147 calories, 6 g carbs, 5 g fat, 18 g protein, 0 g fiber

What so awesome is the portion control factor.  I know when I get one exactly how many calories, fat, ect. that I'm eating.  Awesome, huh?  Yeahhhhh, was so good too.  My husband and kids loved them and devoured them.  Portion control was not exactly on their mind but it worked for me.  :D