Chicken Balsamico with Pears

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 medium bosc pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch 


Directions:
1. Rinse the chicken in cold water. Then pat dry with paper towels. Place each chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound the chicken breasts to 1/2" thick. Remove the plastic and sprinkle both sides of each breast with salt and pepper to taste.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, turning once, until it's no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear. Remove the chicken from the heat and transfer it to a platter. Cover it to keep it warm.

3. Add the garlic and turn the heat down to medium for 2 minutes, or until the garlic is soft. Add the pears and continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pears are soft and golden brown.

4. In a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, honey, and cornstarch. Pour over the pear mixture. Increase the heat to high until it comes to a boil, and then immediately lower the heat and simmer, stirring frequently for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

5. Place the chicken on individual serving plates or on a large platter. Use a slotted spoon to mound the fruit over the top. Spoon the sauce over the fruit and around the chicken. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Facts: (per serving)
Calories: 270.6
Fat: 5.9g
Saturatied Fat: 1.1g
Cholesteral: 65.8mg
Sodium: 139.3mg
Carbs: 27g
Sugar: 18.5g
Fiber: 3.3g
Protein: 28.1g

Why the Scale Lies

"I continue to warn everyone that the scale is a springy, beady-eyed, lying menace.

We've been told over and over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence its readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.

Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body's water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don't understand what's happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto its water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.

Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. Thats why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.

Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.

Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and its packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with its associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if youre prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything youve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it.

Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, its likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.

This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesnt necessarily mean that youve lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what youve lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when youre just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.

Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.

If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. Its a matter of mind over scale."

Credit * 

I used to weigh myself daily. I actually just chucked my scale in the closet a few weeks ago. I don't plan on weighing myself for another 2 weeks. My weight was staying around the same and it was frustrating. Know what I found out after a few days of not weighing myself? I was losing inches. I measured myself and lost inches everywhere. Scales aren't the only thing that can tell you your progress. Measuring yourself and just by taking before pictures and taking a new picture every month or two can show you your progress. Especially since you see yourself in the mirror a few times a day so it's hard to tell which is why pictures are great.


So don't get frustrated seeing the scale fluctuate assuming you gained 3 pounds overnight. That's not happening. Either toss the scale for a while or get used to seeing it go up and down every day.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

 Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 8 slices turkey bacon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place spinach in a large glass bowl, and heat in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every minute or so, or until wilted. Stir in sour cream and pepperjack cheese.
3. Lay the chicken breasts out on a clean surface, and spoon some of the spinach mixture onto each one. Roll up chicken to enclose the spinach, then wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon. Secure with toothpicks, and arrange in a shallow baking dish.
4. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, then increase heat to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C), or use the oven's broiler to cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to brown the bacon.

Nutrition Facts:
Serving size: 1 chicken breast
Calories: 288
Fat: 12g
Protein: 41g
Sodium: 455
Iron: 16g

Don't give up.

In the past, I have tried other things to lose weight. I tried a few workout DVD's, but they were so boring, I didn't even get excited to do them! I would stop within a week. I got impatient and was expecting weight to fall off instantly. I also wasn't even eating right. What's the point in eating chips, cookies, soda, whatever the heck I wanted to? That's not going to help! There would be no point in exercising.

It's a totally new perspective now. I don't drink any soda and I haven't since I started in June. I don't eat chips, or cookies. I may have 2 'Nilla Waffers with my tea on a rare occasion. I have 100 calorie packs of cookies and chips, but they have been sitting on top of my fridge and in the pantry for about 2 months. I only eat one if I am truly craving something like that which is rare. I drink 80 oz of water a day. I never drank water in the past. I literally mean never also. I thought drinking Diet Coke was fine because ZERO calories. Just because it has zero calories doesn't mean it's healthy for you. I don't even crave soda and when I see people drinking it, I could careless that I am drinking water instead. I love it.

Eating right is my lifestyle change, not a diet. A lot of people will eat right as a diet, a quick fix in getting rid of that extra weight. But, then they will go back to eating junk all the time. The number on the scale isn't the only thing that can tell you how healthy you are. You can be overweight and be healthy, as long as you are eating the right things. You can be a twig and be completely unhealthy just from what you are eating.

Just don't give up on your journey. Don't be impatient. No, it doesn't take overnight to lose the pounds you want to lose. It takes a little time just like it took time for the weight to build up in your body. Don't get discouraged and it WILL happen. You WILL see results and the more you see it, the happier you will get and the more motivated you will be.