Monthly Archives: March 2012
Day 61: Cheat day is overrated
Weight loss: 15 pounds; next weigh-in: Saturday, Mar 17th
Yesterday’s cheat day was nothing to brag about. I skipped breakfast after my awful weigh-in.
While I was showering, Rick dug out his old recipe for low-carb chocolate fudge. It’s made from heavy cream and cocoa, and tastes a bit like the chocolate mousse recipe. It was our go-to recipe when we lived in Maryland and Rick was on sugar-busters. He chilled it to prepare for a snack later in the evening.
After doing errands and paying bills, Rick and I headed to Mexican Fiesta about 2 pm. Rick doesn’t care for the restaurant, but it serves my favorite meal in my favorite way: cheese enchiladas with rice and cole slaw. They also have the best chips and salsa in town. I’ve been frequenting the place since the 1980’s, but now I only meet friends there once in a while. Rick doesn’t like the food or the service, and he thinks the cole slaw as a side item is ridiculous and completely off for a Mexican restaurant.
No matter. I love it.
Sooo, since Rick had a cold and couldn’t taste anything anyway, he made the ultimate sacrifice and took me to MF. He ordered tamales and liked them (miracle!). I ordered 2 cheese enchiladas with the aforementioned sides, but also ordered a deep-fried flour shell taco. I knew I wouldn’t be eating there again for at least another 2 months until next cheat day. I enjoyed the chips and salsa tremendously.
I left about 1/4 of my meal and some chips to take home.
At dinner time, I ate the leftovers, followed by a cream-filled donut someone left laying around.
It was movie night at the Palmerosa, and we ate some of Rick’s low-carb fudge for a snack.
It was an anti-climactic cheat day, as there were very few foods that I’ve been craving. I’ve been able to find a satisfactory keto-friendly substitute for just about everything I like to eat. I hope this serves its purpose and shocks my system back into weight loss.
Day 60: Bad weigh-in; time for a cheat day!
Today’s weight loss: PLUS TWO – ACK; total weight loss: 15 pounds
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that! I’ve been carefully counting my carbs and I’ve been under all week. My clothes are getting looser and I feel great. Why oh why did I GAIN?
I was actually UNDER carbs by about 6 yesterday, and probably didn’t drink enough water. I’ve been reading up on reasons for weight gain in keto, and I’ve found a lot about the importance of eating enough fat, avoiding being UNDER carb count, and drinking more water. I think it’s time for a re-set and a better effort.
I’ve been avoiding it, but it’s time: I’m going on a cheat day today to see if I can get my metabolism moving. I’m also going to be sure to eat enough and drink more water in the coming week. If I’m going to work the keto plan, I need to do it right. On other diets, not eating as much as the allotted amount may work, but that hinders progress on keto (or so I’ve been reading, anyway).
Yesterday started with my usual breakfast. For lunch, we met George and Beccy at the Twisted Rooster. I ordered the Diablo burger, which was topped with pepper jack cheese, jalapeno bacon, hay stack onions, and a chipotle aioli. I removed the onions because they were breaded, and most of my sauce was stuck to them, so I asked for a small dish with more. I HOPE this aioli didn’t have any weird ingredients of sweeteners, but there was no way to find out. And, of course, I removed the bun, as well, and gave Rick my fries.
The burger was good. the jalapeno bacon added quite a bit of flavor. After the bun and onions were removed, it didn’t look like much of a meal for $8, but it was quite filling – almost like eating a steak.
The bad part about a meal like this is the unknown quantity of ingredients that will mess up my carb counth. Was the spicy burger filled with any kind of high-carb ingredient? What about the jalapeno bacon? Sounds safe, because bacon is a-okay, but who knows if there is some kind of hidden carb in it? I think I’m going to lay off the unknown menu items for a bit and stick to eating at home for the next week, where I know exactly what I’m eating.
Later in the afternoon, I was working on websites and had a handful of almonds and a dish of sugar free jello. Rick felt a cold coming on and took a nap. Around 8 pm, we were both hungry, so I made a late dinner of quesadillas using Mama Lupe’s tortillas.
They turned out very well, and I was well under 20 grams of carbs for the daily count.
Day 59: More of the same
Weight loss: 17 lbs; next weigh-in: tomorrow
Yesterday began with eggs at work. For lunch, I heated leftover taco meat and assembled 2 tacos in Mama Lupe tortillas. They made for a delicious and filling meal.
I left work at a reasonable hour and had an early dinner. I used the spaghetti squash I had prepared earlier in the week as a base for Cincinnati chili. It was just okay. I think something happens to the texture/flavor of squash after a few days in the fridge.
We were out of cocoa, so I made sugar-free lime jello with cream cheese mixed in for dessert.
Day 58: Another successful dinner out
Weight loss: 17 pounds; next weigh-in: Saturday, Mar 10th
Typical morning at work. It was busy as all get out and every time I started back to the kitchen to heat my eggs, I was interrupted. The result was I still hadn’t eaten by noon.
Rick was coming by work to drop off the truck and ride his bike back home. I asked him to pick me up something for brunch, because the eggs had lost their luster.
I check out Wendy’s online and lo and behold, they have some customization options. After selecting the item you want from the food menu, look for nutritional information. On that page, is a button that says “personalize it.” I was able to remove the bun and honey mustard sauce from the grilled chicken sandwich and see that the results made the meal only 3 grams of carbs. I personalized a side salad to go with it, and submitted my order to Rick, the carryout delivery guy.
Rick picked up and delivered, and the results were very satisfying. Although I rarely eat there, I’ve always thought Wendy’s chicken breasts were very big and moist, and it was just as good without the bun. I was just happy to outsmart the fast-food carb monster once again.
I had dinner plans with my friend Shelly. We met at Red Robin, where I had the guacamole cheeseburger again. This time, I didn’t ask for a lettuce bun. The concept was great, but the guac tends to smoosh around between the lettuce leaves. I opted for the side salad instead of bottomless fries again. As usual, they were tempting me from Shelly’s plate across the table. I ate about an inch off of the end of one. That was enough.
As I contemplate what to add to a potential cheat day menu, steak fries become a great possibility. Those, and perhaps pasta, are the only things I can’t successfully replicate in a low-carb option.
Dessert was chocolate mousse.
Day 57: I think I’ve got the hang of this
Weight loss: 17 pounds; next weigh-in: Sat., 3/10
Is it two or three weeks to make a habit? I’ve definitely gotten the hang of this by the beginning of the 8th week! I’m getting into the habit of always planning ahead. I have a few low carb snacks or meals made ahead, and Rick makes sure that there are all the vegetables and other ingredients I need on hand all the time. Restaurants are no problem, because most have either a burger option, a grilled chicken option, or a salad available on the menu.
Brandon and I were discussing having a keto cheat day, and it is honestly so ingrained in me to avoid carbs, that I don’t know if I can do it! What would I choose? What do I miss the most? Maybe a pasta meal? Some cake? I get a little tense thinking about it. I don’t want to waste 24 hours of weight loss. I’ll have to research this idea some more and mull it all over.
Yesterday started with the usual breakfast of eggs/cheese/sausage. Lunch was 2 Beddar Cheddar sausages with some almonds a couple of hours later.
I was really really hungry at the end of the day. I was supposed to meet my friend Shelly for dinner, so we opted for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I had been there before and the bacon cheese burger with some grilled onions was really filling and satisfying.
I met her at 7pm, but she was called away due to a scheduling mix up at work. I took my bun-less burger home, and it was just as good as I remembered from a month ago. I seriously doubt the necessity for a bun with a burger at this point in my keto career.
Evening snack was chocolate mousse. I was about 5 grams under my carb goal for the day. Maybe because I was so low, I was hungry again in a couple of hours. I ate one leftover Carbquik cheesy biscuit and it worked like a charm on my hunger.
Day 56: Back to work and trivia night salad
Weight loss: 17 pounds Next weigh-in: Saturday, March 10th
I started out my week in the dentist’s office for a teeth cleaning, so breakfast was delayed. Once home, I scrambled up some eggs with cheese and onion, before setting out for work.
Around noon, my hurried breakfast was all used up and I was pretty hungry. I ate 2 handfuls of almonds. Lunch was around 3 pm, when I microwaved some Beddar Cheddar sausages.
Monday is trivia night. After visiting with my dad, I headed on up to Albert’s On the Alley. They have a HUGE chicken club salad which has become my carb-friendly trivia night staple. Albert’s makes the best pizza in town, but I always feel bad when I order it and butcher it by removing the crust. Better to wait until I can eat the whole thing – either because I’m doing some kind of break day, or because I have lost all the weight and decide to have a treat.
So, I ordered the chicken club salad with blue cheese dressing. I could only eat half. Despite being overweight, I never had much of an appetite. My weight gain was due to eating the wrong foods, not too much food. I took the remainder home to eat for lunch today.
Back home after trivia, Rick and I settled in front of the TV to watch Real Time with Bill Mahr while we ate our chocolate mousse dessert. Rick likes this treat a lot, so it is definitely going to be our nightly treat.
Around midnight, I got really really hungry, so I ate 3 deviled eggs and a Carbquik biscuit. That did the trick and I was still under carb count for the day.
Day 55: Hanging out around the house and trying some Carbquik recipes
Total weight loss: 17 pounds; next weigh-in: Sat., Mar 10th
Sunday morning was a little stressful. Friday night, I found an IM on Facebook from Rick’s cousin Bob in Valparaiso, IN. He said Rick’s cousin in Chicago had died. Rick wasn’t close with his cousin, but he did want to attend the funeral, which was today.
Unfortunately, I forgot to tell Rick about the IM. Saturday night when I went to bed, I found the obituary posted on his cousin Bob’s FB page. UHOH. I emailed Rick (he goes to bed much earlier than I do, so I email him at 1 a.m. if there is anything he needs to know when he wakes up in the morning–it works for us). When I awoke at 8:30, Rick was looking up the last minute flights. Turned out we couldn’t get a flight back until Monday, so I couldn’t go due to work and other commitments. We hightailed it to the airport, and Rick made it in time for the 3 pm service.
I was on my own, so I made the best of it. I watched old romance movies (Jane Eyre), I recleaned the kitchen and cleaned out the fridge. Then I did 2 loads of laundry, played around with old audio tapes from my 13th birthday (trying to record them and make mp3’s), and generally relaxed.
Back to the topic, keto:
Breakfast was 3 eggs with cheese and onions. Snack at noon was almonds.
I was super hungry by 4 pm, and I reheated Indian butter chicken leftovers and made up some fresh “c-rice.”
In the evening, I decided to experiment with the new Carbquik, and I made some cheesy garlic biscuits. They probably could have been cheesier, but they tasted similar to the authentic Red Lobster rolls. The texture and look were the same. The Red Lobster version is 17 grams of carbs, and this is only 2 grams, so it’s a nice substitute. I ate two topped with butter. 
I also made a batch of deviled eggs. I ate 3 of them with the biscuits in lieu of dinner.
Day 54: Delicious low carb tortillas and surviving a birthday party
Weight loss to date: 17 pounds; next weigh-in: Saturday, March 10th
Yesterday was Saturday. We decided to eat breakfast at home. I started playing around on the computer, and by the time I made myself breakfast, it was actually brunch. I decided I get enough eggs during the week, so I cooked some “Beddar Cheddar” sausages. They were meaty and moist, and I ate a handful of almonds as a side dish.
We spent the day cleaning for our granddaughter’s birthday party. I enjoy having parties, just because it means I’ll clean the house from top to bottom — then get to enjoy how great it looks for a couple of days.
I didn’t get a chance to have lunch, and I didn’t want to waste the pizza the kids were eating by tearing off the top, so I heated up some taco meat and tried the new Mama Lupe’s tortillas I received from Netrition.com. They were really good and only 3 net carbs each.
Next was cake and ice cream time. My step-daughter Cindy made some beautiful fondant cakes and it was hard to resist. When everyone was busy filling their pieholes with rich cake and creamy ice cream, I whipped up some low-carb chocolate mousse. Of course, the adults wanted some of that, as well, so I made a huge batch. I only ate one portion, and it took away the craving for all that carb-laden dessert around me. I had a portion left over, so I froze it to see if it turns out like ice creams. Fingers crossed.
After everyone left, I sat down to watch some TV and was a bit hungry. The only problem was that my carb count was at the max for the day. I poured a big glass of zero carb almond milk, and that hit the spot.
Day 53: Weigh-in day did not disappoint
Today’s weight loss: 3 pounds
Total weight loss in 7 weeks: 17 pounds (woot!)
I had been assuming that today’s weigh-in would not go well. Not because I went off, or went over carb count, but because the past few weigh-ins have been so disappointing. I know my clothes are looser, and I have lots of energy, but the more I thought about only losing 14 pounds in 6+ weeks, the more this keto plan didn’t seem like the quick weight loss dream I thought it would be.
I know 2 pounds a week is a safe and practical amount to lose. But when one accomplishes a 14-pound weight loss on day 39, and that hasn’t changed by day 46, it becomes frustrating.
Wait. What did I just read? It was only one week later that I weighed in and had a zero weight loss? And, now, a week later, I’ve lost 3? That isn’t bad at all!
I’m guessing most of the frustration developed in that week between day 39 and day 46, when I was weighing myself daily. Now that I’ve settled on a weekly weigh-in, it should show a little more progress than tiny increments of weight loss per day (or no weight loss per day). I’m still doing well; I think I’m just used to seeing those big numbers the contestants accomplish on The Biggest Loser. Even in terms of a 2 pounds a week goal, I should only have lost 14 by today, so I’m 3 pounds ahead. I think I’d better focus on continuing with the plan and not focus so much on the scale.
C’mon 20! [Okay, not focusing on the numbers is going to be difficult.]
Yesterday, I had some errands to run and things to accomplish before starting work at 10. We didn’t have time for Rick to cook, so I bought 2 McDonald’s sausage, egg, and cheese, breakfast sandwiches (on sale for $3 for two). Of course, I removed the delicious smelling biscuits. I’m glad I ordered two, because after the biscuit removal, and with no hash brown patties, one would not have satisfied me.
At 2pm, I discovered that I did not have a yogurt in the fridge. Oops. I ate 2 ounces of almonds and a beef stick. Yum.
After work, I was pretty hungry, but we needed to get groceries. Usually Rick goes without me, but I was interested in looking over the health food aisle to see if there was something I was missing out on. I bought some soy hummus (1 carb per serving) and some almond “peanut” butter – $9.99!!! This had better be good.
Rick has some kind of whole grain bread that he buys, and he said it was only 5 carbs per slice if I ever wanted a tuna fish sandwich or something. I’m not willing to sacrifice 10 of my 20 grams of carbs for a sandwich, but I did decide to toast one piece and top it with the almond butter to stop the hunger pangs while I started making dinner. The almond butter had about 1 1/2 inches of oil on top and I could not get it to mix in with the thick and dry substance below it. Maybe at 10 bucks a bottle, no one is buying it and it sits on the shelf awhile. Rick manage to dump the whole thing in a bowl and use his formidable muscles to stir it into a nice gloppy, spreadable butter. It was pretty good.
I thawed some chicken breasts for Indian butter chicken, and mistakenly started getting the spaghetti squash ready. Then I realized that I use chopped cauliflower as a rice substance. I finished cooking and forking out the squash anyway, so now I’m ready for another dish that uses that.
I had leftover cauliflower rice (“crice”) from the Mexican rice recipe, so I heated that, topped with microwaved butter chicken and enjoyed a delish meal. Dessert was the usual chocolate mousse. It never gets old. LOL
Oh yes, I almost forgot. My low carb food order from netrition.com came in. That was very quick. Almost tops Amazon. I now have some experimenting to do: low carb “Carbquik” for pancakes and other pastries, those odd shiritaki pasta, Mama Lupe low carb 7-inch tortillas, barbecue sauce, and Margarita mix (I couldn’t resist that last one). Let the experimentation begin!
Day 52: Burger and drinks at the bar
Weight loss: 14 pounds; next weigh-in: tomorrow
Getting antsy about weighing in tomorrow. I sure hope I see some weight loss.
Yesterday, I had egg breakfast and almond snack at work.
I had to leave early for an appointment. I rushed home to pick up some paperwork and decided I’d better eat since dinner would be much later.
I piled some taco meat on a plate, topped it with salsa, grated cheese, and sour cream. I ate the last of the Mexican rice as an accompaniment. I just skipped the shell completely, because it was quicker, and it’s really not necessary when one needs a Mexican food fix.
It was nearly 8 pm when I left my appointment, and I needed a drink. Rick and I went to Beaver Creek and I had 2 vodka and Diet Cokes. I debated getting a salad, but instead chose a 1/2 pound burger, no bun, with bacon, grilled onions, and pepper jack cheese. Of course they came with some delicious looking steak fries, which were donated to a good cause: Rick.
Okay, this picture isn’t authentic; I stole it from Yelp. I was tired and forgot to take a picture for the blog, but mine did look just like this — without the bun.
I asked for some mayo and that added a bit of flavor to the burger. I took my usual 1/2 bite of fry, and moved the rest to the other side of the table.
We had chocolate mousse for a late dessert when we got home.