Paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, THM Orange Cream Cookies!

These were a huge hit in my house today. Even my husband, who usually gets his carbs through drinks, pastas a breads and isn't really big on "sweets", thought these were pretty good and requested them again with chocolate chips. Ha! I would have made a second batch this evening, but I am almost out of almond flour. BOO!!!

These cookies hold together very well and have a nice texture. They fit into several categories; Paleo, Trim Healthy Mama (THM), gluten-free, dairy-free and Weston A. Price (WAP). Enjoy!

Orange Cream Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond meal
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 scoop of whey protein powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar (I used about 1/2 cup of birch xylitol and 2 squirts of SweetLeaf Stevia* extract, Vanila Crème flavor. These were VERY sweet, so if you like them less sweet, one squirt should be plenty!)
• 2 tablespoons finely-grated orange rind
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• ½ cup whipping cream OR coconut milk

*If I didn't use Vanilla Crème Stevia, I would also add a tsp of vanilla extract

I also want to add a drop of Young Living orange essential oil next time. I was out today, but I just know it would be great! I will update this when I have a chance to add that in.

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients. (If you want the smoothest texture possible, try sifting the almond flour. You may have larger pieces that will be too big to go through the sifter. I just put mine back in the container and only use the finest flour for a smoother texture.) 
2. Mix wet ingredients.
3. Mix together.
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. (I rolled mine into balls a little smaller than golf ball size.)
5. Gently press down with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake at 325° for about 18 minutes.
7. Let cool.
8. Enjoy with or without your favorite milk. Pictured is the rest of the can of coconut milk used from the cookies. YUM!

THM -- 25 pounds lost so far!

So, I can't really tell a huge difference, but there is some! The lighting was different because my hair color hasn't changed, but otherwise I tried to take them at the same angle and with no editing. Even though I can't see a drastic difference in the size/shape of my face, I think my skin looks much better!

Milestone!

I'll have to get new pics soon, but I wanted to say that I have hit the big 25 pound milestone of weight lost!!! Still a long way to go, but I have a great start! I am setting a couple of new, short-term goals: another 20 by the end of November, and then another 15 by the end of the year. That will put me at a 60 pound loss in 6 months. I CAN DO IT!!!!!!

I do need to exercise more, but I am eating mostly fatty meals, very little carbs, lots of good protein and really didn't exercise this past week. The weight is just melting away! I do feel better every day, and I could have lost more by now if I'd stop cheating (mostly when we eat out, i.e. DR. PEPPER)!!!

Weight loss update

I am 9 weeks into my weight loss journey. I haven't stayed perfectly on plan, so the weight has been coming off much slower, but this past week I resolved to do better, and it paid off. I lost 4 pounds this past week!!!! I am getting close to the 20 pound mark, finally, so with no more cheating, I am hoping to reach that by next week. Yay!!!!

I have to say, the idea that fat people eat too much is sooooo blown out of the water! I wasn't eating ENOUGH or often enough, so my metabolism was slow. Now I am eating every 3-4 hours, am hungry all the time, exercise very little and the fat is melting away. I can lose 2 pounds in one day some days, when I stick to the plan, and eating more often is key for me.

Here is a side by side comparison of my face before starting THM at my highest (non-pregnancy) weight ever, and again at 5 weeks. I had lost around 15 pounds at this point. It's not a drastic change, but I can see a difference!!!

Update on weight loss

Apparently that big, sudden drop in weight was not accurate. It jumped right back to where it was, then I have slowly been losing since then, so I guess the scale was having a bad day!

But I am HAPPY to report a total loss of 14.2 pounds for my first month!!! I was hoping for more, but with all the little cheats I've had here and there, I am good with that! And I am losing at a steady pace, regardless of the occasional cheats, so I feel really good about it!

I'm not sure if I'll take pictures or not. Maybe just for my own viewing, we'll see, but I will definitely post some more updated pictures in the near future.