Off the Couch Cuties Kelsey & Rita Share Stories & Recipes

Today we get to here from the latest Oxygen Collector's Issue cover girls - Off the Couch cuties Kelsey Byers & Rita Catolino. They share their stories and recipes with you below. Loving this? Get your own copy of Off the Couch by commenting below. We'll choose 3 winners.

From Kelsey: Eat Clean & follow your dreams
I am Kelsey Byers, one of Oxygen’s new Off The Couch cover girls.

I have lost about 50 pounds since college.  I lost quite a bit of weight by avoiding both fast food and alcohol, however, the real results did not come until I started Eating Clean.  By that I mean eating non-processed meals every three hours therefore eating 5-6 meals a day.  This meal frequency keeps my metabolism sky high and allows me to keep my body lean year round.

I learned to choose a lean protein and complex carbohydrate at each meal.  Eating complex carbs allows your body to use the food as fuel for energy versus storing fat.  I avoid simple carbs such white bread, white pasta, white rice, chips and other snack foods.  I stick to complex carbs such as oatmeal, whole-wheat bread, brown rice, beans, sweet potatoes, grits and wheat or corn tortillas.

I hired a nutritionist to help me with my portion sizes and that made the biggest difference in my physique.  My body was able to hold more muscle and my midsection got really lean.  Within just 3-4 months of Eating Clean, my body had completely transformed itself.  Eating measured portions of clean, complex carbs helped me to achieve the body of my dreams.

I would like to share one of my favorite recipes that helps curve my sweet tooth and still eat my proper portions of protein and complex carbs.

Egg-White French Toast

Photo Credit: Kelsey Byers

Ingredients:
Olive-oil based cooking spray
6 egg whites
2 pieces of whole-wheat bread
Ground cinnamon

Tools: 
Stove
Spatula
Plate

Methods:
1. Lightly coat a medium-size pan with cooking spray.
2. Turn your stove burner to medium heat and place the pan on top of the burner.
3. Once the pan is hot, place one piece of whole-wheat bread in the pan.
4. Pour three egg whites on top of the piece of bread in the pan.
5. Let the egg whites soak into the bread and then use a spatula to flip it bread over to its other side.
6. Once the other side has cooked for a minute or so, continue flipping the piece of bread over using the spatula, until both sides are slightly brown and fully cooked.
7. Use spatula to place the first piece of toast on a plate; then repeat with the 2nd piece of bread and three more egg whites.
8. Once 2nd piece of toast is cooked, place on the plate with the 1st piece of toast. I sometimes add a little ground cinnamon at this point.

Enjoy your healthy and sweet meal!

From Rita: Changing my life one bite at a time

Photo credit: Rita Catalino

Here's  how a pasta-loving Italian woman lost over 30 pounds and 15 percent body fat and took back her life with the Eat-Clean Diet.

Some of you may know me as Tosca’s Trainer, but there is (and was) a lot more to Rita Catolino.  I am a former unhealthy, unshapely, un-everything woman who has transformed herself into a new healthy, shapely and anything-goes woman, thanks to the Eat-Clean Diet and resistance training! This new way of life, which helped me lose over 30 pounds and 15 percent body fat has led to a career change, a new found sense of confidence and leadership, the opportunity to train and coach my mentor Tosca Reno, as well as landing me on the cover of my favourite magazine, Oxygen’s Collector Issue - Off The Couch! I am thrilled to be able to share my story and hopefully inspire, motivate and educate other women and men to start making proper health decisions one step, one bite and one rep at a time.

The first step in my transformation came with education on proper nutrition and how to fuel my body.   I learned how to eliminate processed and packaged foods, and started looking at what mother nature offered, slowly changing my palette and taste buds.  Sweet potatoes started to taste very sweet, and my heighted sense of taste craved fresh sweet raspberries and tart blueberries over sugar-laden cookies and cakes.  Growing up in the Italian culture, white pasta and bread were daily staples.  I started to eat these “treats” in moderation and making different versions including brown rice pasta or sweet potato gnocchi made with coconut flour.  The results of my new lifestyle were doubly rewarded − I learned to love new flavours and enjoy food at a different level as well as “uncover” the optimal Rita that was covered way too long in layers fat, guilt and unhappiness.

But don’t forget your greens!

Vegetables are a great source of clean carbohydrates, and through my transformation I have relied heavily on leafy greens and bright red tomatoes and peppers to first fill my plate and give me the energy I need to navigate through my day. Starchy carbs like yams and sweet potatoes, or butternut and acorn squash help my refuel post workout and have substituted unhealthy processed carbs like flour and sugar in many old “not clean” recipes into clean, energy-giving, craving-curbing goodness!

I cannot thank the Eat-Clean Diet Team, Tosca Reno or Oxygen magazine enough for giving me the guidance to take back my life and a platform in which to live it.  Grazie Mille.

Don't miss my Pumpkin Protein Mini Muffins!