Fat Head Pizza Party and Keto Toppings Tips

Fat Head Pizza has quickly become my favorite pizza ever and as a true pizza addict I was bound and determined to find a way to eat it while still maintaining ketosis.

I discovered the recipe through someone that I follow on Instagram and quickly learned that it is probably the most popular pizza recipe in all of the low carb/Atkins/ketogenic communities. The best part? It's super easy to make!!!!!!!

Rather than giving you all of the details of how to make the dough itself, check out the original dough recipe from where it all started as far as I can tell- The Oldest Brother's Oldest Son's Faux Carb Pizza a.k.a. Fat Head Pizza. 

The kids had a blast as usual because we let them get in on the fun both preparing the mise en place for the pizza, and actually topping the pizzas when it was time. While they prefer the more traditional dough as a finished product, they can't tell the difference between pizza types when we eat that stuff cold the next day (YES!!!!!).

With the fun of topping off these already extraordinarily low carb babies in mind, I started thinking about making up a fun list of low carb toppings and combos for those folks who are new to low carb/keto and might need some creative suggestions!

General Tips and Tricks

• Use Rao's Sauce. Rao's homemade tomato basil sauce is only 3 net carbs per serving and tastes AMAZING! We have also done the Rao's Arribbiata sauce with great success although it does have a little heat and the kids preferred the tomato basil. 
• Make sure you have the carbs for a side salad. Why a side salad? This pizza is calorically dense and you will feel it in your tummy but you might need a little volume in there too rather than eating a couple thousand calories of pizza in the blink of an eye. I usually go with romaine, cucumbers, and some Ken's Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing which is only 1 carb per serving.  

Low Carb single toppings we love all on their own

Aside from the usual sauce and cheese we love the following:

• 3 cheese combo topping
• Mexican cheese topping
• Egg (cracked into small wells in the sauce and cheese and cooked like a sunny side up in the oven)
• Bacon - precook
• Chorizo - precook
• Mushrooms
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Olives
• Zucchini
• Asparagus
• Pepperoni

Low Carb Pizza Topping Combinations we love

• Bacon and Eggs
• Bacon, eggs, and spinach
• Chicken and Low Carb/Sugar Free BBQ Sauce
• Chicken, cauliflower, and hot sauce
• Seasoned ground beef, taco blend cheese, jalapenos
• Mozzarella slices, tomato slices, fresh basil
• Alfredo sauce, oven roasted shrimp, parsley and parmesan shreds

The possibilities truly are endless! As long as dairy stays kind to me, I will keep on enjoying Fat Head Pizza! It is a game changer!!!

How Mr. Photobomb Got His Groove Back...

Hey everyone! It's been a little while, but if you have been following me on Facebook, you know that Team Mercado (yes, my husband AND I) has been kicking butt and taking names for just over a week, getting into our new program, 22 Minute Hard Corps.

Most people know that I am a coach and that I help ladies and gent's with weight loss, nutrition, and fitness based on my own experience, successes and pitfalls, but what most people don't realize is that my husband is a coach, too! He keeps most of his life private and does not bleed healthy nutrition and fitness and running and everything else like I do, but he has FINALLY gotten serious about his health and well being and I AM SO PROUD!

Day 1 - We just finished our Fit Test and Day 1 workout and were PUMPED (and tired)! 

We started out this journey with me harassing him to get back into the habit of working out with me at night and reel in some of his food (and junk) spending. As someone who works in the city, he really has a very hard time finding breakfast, lunch, snacks (and dinner on occasion),  in a reasonable price range or in appropriate portion sizes. This program, so far, has been the answer to both of those problems.

Day 2 - I hate working out in glasses but the eyes were killing me. How thrilled are we, post workout?

Mr. Photobomb has been on plan for 9 days so far and we know that he has lost at least 2 pounds so far. His tummy is smaller. He is happier! He loves having his delicious, filling, home made packed lunch and pre-planned breakfast each day. He doesn't have to guess what to eat or when and has really been doing well.

Another post workout selfie - Thursday right before my eyes went officially crazy. We were super tired but we did it! 22 minutes gives you no excuse to NOT do it. 

Working out together again has also been a game changer for our relationship. With his long hours and the fact that I work nights and weekends, we rarely have time to just be with one another, talk, hang out, and be bums (being bums is my favorite). Now that we are working out each night together again, we have a scheduled bonding time. We cheer each other on, high five at the end of the workout, and laugh at ourselves and each other through the sessions. We have also become much more positive about accountability - neither of us thinks of it as the other person nagging anymore - we are helping one another reach our goals. On Saturday, I didn't want to do my workout at all, but he reminded me that once it was over, we would have a rest day and all day on Sunday to be done for a while. So, kids went down for nap and we crushed our workout!

Last night. We both had meetings and late night plans, but we made it happen. Yahoo!! You see the return of the glasses? Yes, I have a virus and damage to my cornea right now - so it will be an annoying week this week waiting for it to heal and treating it. I won't let that stop me though!!

Stay tuned for our progress. I will share our midway point and program finish progress as we reach those goals. I will also share our wins and struggles as they come! So far, we are sore pretty much daily but its been a reminder that those moves are working and we are changing!!!!

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xoxo

Jumping

Several days ago, while watching some quiet time Nick Jr. with my kids, Blaze and the Monster Machines I think, they asked what is the only mammal that can't jump. Of course my kids know everything and shouted out Elephant. It got me thinking, and really really searching my own soul about what it means to jump.

Literally, when I started this journey I was AFRAID to jump, both figuratively and literally. Can you imagine? Being afraid to injure yourself from just jumping? I felt the weight of my body with every step.I was afraid to take that figurative leap of faith and start to work on myself. I was afraid to dedicate time to myself for fear of sacrificing time with my family, clients, and everything else I had on my plate. When I finally started my daily at home workouts, after much coaching and guidance from my cousin, I found that my body didn't work like it used to before two babies and a terrible time with thyroid disease.

During my first week of my own challenge group, I learned that when I did my "Supermans," I would lay on top of my stomach. My stomach would literally be underneath me AND my quads while laying faced down. When I jogged, my stomach would slap on my legs and make a loud awkward noise. When I got brave enough to JUMP, it slapped and hurt.This was all before I had lost any significant amount of weight. Jumping was hard.

60 pounds later, being afraid to jump means something else to me. It no longer hurts me to jump. In fact, much of what I do as a coach involves me jumping. I am active, yes. I do those power jumps (and hate them. LOL), but I also have to consistently remind myself that my journey is not for me alone. People are watching. People are looking for guidance, leadership, friendship, and someone who understands the struggle of chronic disease, weight loss, parenting young kids born close together, and a whole slew of other things. I sometimes have to remind myself, when I JUMP and share something scary or uncomfortable, I am giving people a window into my life, not just letting the highlight reel play and so I have decided to share something I think a lot of folks struggle with.

People always think, when they see my progress photos, that my stomach is that bump in the front. They imagine that it's just fat that will eventually flatten out. Guess what? It's not just a bulging, smooth stomach - it's a LARGE SKIN FLAP. While it does have some fat in it, it's important to know that I have lost and gained 40+ pounds twice and now LOST and KEPT OFF 60 lbs in my third and final attempt (because now it's a lifestyle) at reclaiming my health. My skin laxity is bananas and while I do hide it well, my body has been through hell in the last 10 years.

Throughout this journey in the last year and a half, I have gone from an inflated balloon look to a deflated balloon, the flap has changed from being all the way around to just the front now. It does get smaller. It has been lifting marginally. It is unlikely that this skin will go away. It will (hopefully) continue to get smaller as my body fat decreases but it's very likely that I will require skin removal surgery in a few years.

Now, the fear behind jumping is less literal. Today I am jumping by sharing. I am taking a leap in hopes that I help someone else. I know it's long winded, but I want people out there to know that this is my real body. I work hard every day to heal myself and reclaim my health. That lump in my pants is my skin and a reminder of where I come from. The doubts, the haters, the people waiting for me to fail, the unsolicited opinions about my body, my food, my training, are all part of my journey. I grew two beautiful humans in there. I nursed those humans. I worked my ass off to come this far despite massive struggles with adrenal fatigue, vitamin D deficiency, lipase deficiency, and Hashimoto's disease. Seriously, my stomach has been through some crap. While that flap might not be the most sexy thing on me, I am not ashamed of myself. I love this body and I stand in my power while reclaiming it. It will get better.

Not Before and Afters - same day, same time, same everything. What the "flap" looks like in the pants vs. out of the pants. Evidence of hard work and how I fought off 60 pounds to date. 

So for those of you who have that flap, will likely have a flap, or who are just thinking about your own journey and struggles with "jumping," you have a safe space here and I am always ready to push you in the right direction. If you think you can't start, you can. If you think you are too big to jump, you can. If you don't think you are enough, you are! If you don't think you are strong enough to do what I have done, you are. If you are thinking about quitting, push harder! I may be a Superhero to my husband, kids, and family, but I am just Rose. I am human. I am just like you, and I know you can do this.Today I am taking that JUMP and SHARING myself and my real body here in hopes that someone sees it and feels that they CAN change, grow, get healthy, and learn to love themselves.

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Cooking up a storm!

Hey everyone! It seems like I get requests for my recipes daily! I am trying my best to get them up as fast as I can but, I am sure that like many of you, my kiddos get a huge chunk of my time (but they are the best investment of that time, too!).

In the past week, my sister, Virginia, and I have been cooking up a storm and testing recipes with our own twist. This weekend we made Fat Head Pizza which is amazing and seriously THE BEST non-pizza pizza out there. I even ate it cold the next morning and it was AMAZEBALLS. For Fat Head Pizza - the original real recipe is all over the internet so we did not invent anything there but I will be posting about our experience and what we did for our toppings and some tips on keto friendly pizza toppings if you are not a plain cheese fan.

We also made these amazing chocolate biscuits dipped in sugar free dark chocolate with a little mint, which I am calling "Trying-To-Get-Thin Mint Cookies." See what I did there? They are also super low carb and awesome and I will be sharing that recipe soon - I am just working on a few tweaks to the coating as it was a little tricky for us.

Please let me warn you all - as a keto recipe, the recipe below and MOST of my recipes are low carb but that does not mean they are low calorie. If you are not familiar with keto and choose to make any of my keto friendly recipes - make sure you are tracking those calories because they are usually quite high. :)


Today, I am dropping a super simple dessert in a dash! I call it My Melted Peanut Butter Cup! Here is how you do it:

1. Melt 2 oz Cream Cheese (I use Philadelphia Original) and 2 tablespoons of Peanut Butter (I use Skippy) in a microwave safe dish, in the microwave for 20 seconds.

2. Remove from the microwave. Squirt two small squirts of liquid stevia extract (I use Skinnygirl) into the dish and stir the melted cream cheese and peanut butter in with the sweetener until fully blended. When ready, it should be a homogeneous mixture.

3. Lastly, you can add in some chocolate. To keep it low carb, I do a teaspoon of mini chocolate morsels or a tablespoon of sugar free chocolate chips. You could also use cocoa nibs if you are ok with the level of bitterness without adding more sweetener.

TASTES AMAZING and literally only takes you a minute (probably less) to make!!! Don't cheat, just make something sweet.


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