Monthly Archives: December 2012

Day 328: An effort to stay on track

Total weight loss: 38 pounds

cincinnati-chili

After a day of weight gain, and looking ahead to a couple of holiday celebrations at the end of the week makes me realize I need to take advantage of the next few days and eat under carb count as diligently as possible.

Monday morning, and we decided to make that diner breakfast day. I had the cheese omelet and bacon.

Lunch was leftover keto-friendly Cincinnati chili warmed up at work.

I ordered the delicious grilled chicken club sandwich with blue cheese at trivia. I have to say again, Albert’s on the Alley makes good quality and delicious food. I ate 2 steak fries.

Day 326: Keto-friendly pumpkin tarts

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

I didn’t feel like eggs, so I made a tortilla filled with shredded cheese and a chopped up pappadew pepper. YUM

Lunch never happened. I got busy cleaning and sorting things, and working on sites. I had a late afternoon snack of Michelob Ultra (low carb) beer and almonds.

For dinner, I made Cincinnati chili over spaghetti squash. I can never quite get over how good that tastes and how little I miss spaghetti. The chili, cheese and onions simply need a pasta-like base and spaghetti squash does the trick.

I finally made the dessert I planned to make on Thanksgiving. Pumpkin cream cheese dessert. I used this recipe as a base, but changed it up a bit. Who needs crust? I mixed cream cheese, spices, sweetener, and pumpkin and portioned it out into a muffin panned lined with foil cupcake liners. The entire recipe was about 40 carbs and it garnered 12 cupcakes, so they were just under 4 g. a piece. I baked them at 350 for about 25 mins and topped with about a tbsp of Reddiwhip after they were chilled.

Day 325: TGIF

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

Yesterday was Friday and we started out the week at Bigboy’s for breakfast. We hadn’t been before work, but wanted to try their 3.99 breakfast. The only way I could handle getting my eggs over medium was to eat 1/2 piece of whole wheat bread. I need something to sop up the yolk! Anyway, I ate at least 6-7 carbs just having that small 1/2 piece of bread, not a good start to the day.

I forgot to take my lunch, so Rick brought me up 2 coney dogs and I tossed out the buns. I also had an almond snack.

Dinner was Mongolian BBQ. We went to the restaurant in Canton, and they had something a bit different: appetizers. Oh my. Crab rangoons.

NO! I put my head down and forged my way to the meat and veggie bar. I filled a bowl with chicken, onions, mushrooms, and garlic and had them cook it in the newly discovered 1 carb per ounce Asian black bean sauce. I ate two plates, ignored the rice and tortillas and called it a success!

Day 324: Success at the movies again

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

Breakfast – diner – omelet and bacon

Lunch was disappointing. I had purchased some shredded pork at Kroger when I went searching for new meal ideas the other day. The package claimed the pork was spicy and good for making carnitas. I heated it at work and made it into a taco with a low carb tortilla. It was bland and boring. I didn’t taste even MILD spices. Bleck.

After work, we went to see Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. On the way, we stopped in a McDonald’s for a quick 20-min dinner/snack. I ordered the angus wrap and ate it without the wrap.

I had a Diet Coke during the movie. Success! (The nachos sure did look delicious, but, oh well.) I discovered a really good treat, though: a small cup of jalapenos. They were salty and good and reminded me of eating a small bag of potato chips. Who needs the nachos to go with them? They were quite delicious by themselves.

When we got home, I had 2 squares of 70% chocolate with peanut butter.

 

Day 323: Cheat day

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

I had lunch and dinner out, and both went over my carb count. Back to the keto plan tomorrow.

Day 322: Unplanned Buffalo chicken salad

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

I cooked 3 scrambled eggs for breakfast and nukes some pre-made bacon. It was quick and I had time to relax before work, although I missed the waitress pampering me.

I ate 2 beddar cheddars and some almonds for lunch in the late afternoon.

After work, we were planning to have Cincinnati chili, but Rick didn’t start cooking the sauce early enough. He was out working on cleaning out the garage and forgot. Oh well. It was almost six, and we made the executive decision to grab something quick. We pass Big Boy on our route, so we went there. I do love that buffalo chicken salad. I have to admit, the time I goofed and ordered it with the regular chicken tenders, it was tastier. However, the grilled chicken is much lower carb and it is good as well.

I ate an Adkins chocolate coconut bar for dessert. Oh, and I drank a glass of red wine. Still on track.

We eat out a lot. It’s just a necessary part of our lifestyle – and something we enjoy. Combining a full-time job and with owning a small business means we are working almost around the clock. After eating at Big Boy, I spent about 3 hours on the computer working on client projects and bookkeeping for our business. Having dinner out is a nice treat between the day job and the evening work.

That said, it really is fantastic that there are so many delicious low carb options in so many restaurants. And if it’there aren’t readily apparent options, there are always choices that come with bun, potato, or tortilla that can be substituted for something better. If that fails, remove and toss the offending carby product.

A coney dog with no bun, a burrito with no tortilla, a burger with no bun, spaghetti squash instead of pasta, cauliflower instead of potatoes – all these options have become second nature to me by day 322. I can do this. Once the weight is off, I can also maintain. Carbs are not a necessary part of my diet. I just need to remind myself of this every now and then. Here’s to “re-losing” that 2 pounds I gained over the past month.

Day 321: Monday trivia and a cheat cupcake

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

We started our week at the diner. We’ve pledged to only go 2 times a week, and I think Monday morning is the perfect day to start.

I had the omelet and bacon.

For lunch, I heated 2 beddar cheddars at work. In the late afternoon, I ate some almonds.

Dinner was at Albert’s for trivia. I have to say, their chicken club salad is one of the best salads in town. In fact, my trivia team and I agree that ALL their food is really really good. The salad is chock full of ingredients: arugula, cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, really good “real” bacon bits hot off the grill, and of course, the grilled chicken. I gave away my tomatoes and cukes and it still took me about 45 minutes to eat the salad. I’ll take a picture of it next week.

I drink about 4 glasses of water while I’m at trivia. For one thing, although the food is delicious and well cooked, the pop leaves something to be desires. Flat and tasteless. So, since I’m always trying to drink plenty of water, I opt for that in most restaurants in the evening, especially if I start the day at a diner and have pop for breakfast. I really am trying to cut down, even if I only drink diet cola. I just know it isn’t healthy, even tho low carb.

There were 2 birthdays being celebrated last night. I was offered 2 cupcakes, and I caved on the second offer. I ate it. It’s over. ‘Nuff said.

Day 320: Dinner guests and Jet’s pizza

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds

Sunday morning, I made an omelet and some of that precooked quick-zap microwave bacon. I enjoyed my NYT puzzle and had a cozy meal in my pj’s.

After breakfast, I unexpectedly fell asleep in my chair. I’m still not quite recovered from the respiratory ailment and I was really tired. Rick convinced me to go back to bed even though I’d only been up for 2 hours! I did, and I had a great sleep. When I got up, I sat in my recliner dozing while he cleaned the house. What a treat!

Rick’s son George, wife Beccy and our granddaughter Danielle were coming by to let Rick take pics of Danielle with his new camera. After a couple hours of visiting, we decided to get a pizza. I hadn’t been up very much during the day, so I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I was hoping I would have the will power to avoid the pizza crust.

I did. We ordered Jet’s pizza, and it had a nice thick topping that slid easily off the crust. Some pizzas, like Buddy’s for example, are just too difficult and frustrating to eat sans crust. The crust is almost the central point of a Buddy’s pizza and eating only the topping leaves me feeling dissatisfied.

The Jet’s pizza topping were filling and tasted great. George and I shared one with pepperoni, spicy pepperoni, jalapenos, Italian sausage, and something I can’t remember. I also ordered naked boneless wings so the others could add bbq sauce, and I could eat mine with low carb buffalo sauce.

At the end of the meal, I made low carb chocolate mousse.

The crazy thing is, before going to bed I was disappointed that I had gone off and had an unplanned cheat meal. I just had a bad weigh in, what was wrong with me? Then I had to laugh when I realized I had eaten okay for the whole day. I didn’t eat crust, I didn’t eat boneless wings with coating or bbq sauce, and I had stayed well under my carbs. You know it’s a good meal for keto when you think you went off. Jet’s pizza is going on my list of good keto options.

Day 319: Doomsday (er, I mean weigh day)

Total weight loss: 39 1/2 pounds. Sigh.

Yes, I gained 2 pounds. How depressing. I’m over it by now, but it took quite a pep talk  – from myself. Rick chimed in a bit. It could have been worse. I’m doing okay. 39 1/2 pounds is a significant amount. Yada yada. I just hate going backwards. I want to see that 50 pound loss and soon!

So, I went on. I ate well and stayed under carb limit. We had breakfast at home. I didn’t feel like cooking and Rick was already enjoying his newspaper over cereal, so I didn’t ask him to cook for me. Instead, I ate a bowl of leftover taco soup. That finished the pot I made last week, so I’ll be sure to make some more to carry me through the upcoming week.

Lunch was cheese in a low carb tortilla topped with jalapenos.

We worked on the garage a bit. The house we renovated may be sold, but its former contents are still stowed in boxes all over our garage and basement. After that, I did something rare: I went grocery shopping with Rick. I know, I am spoiled. Most people have to go into a grocery store more than one time every few months. However, if the man LIKES it, and I don’t, who am I to insist on accompanying him on such a mundane task. He buys all the food I need for the diet, and has become a real expert on finding the lowest carb foods and ingredients. I just decided to take a quick walk-thru and see if I found any new inspiring foods.

I was craving coney dogs, but didn’t want to eat out again. I headed over to the canned bean aisle and found some canned chili toppings for hot dogs that were only 1 net carb per serving. I’m looking forward to trying them out this week. Other than that, I grabbed some low carb yogurt and some avocados, and we headed home.

Dinner was 2 beddar cheddars.

Day 318: Mongolian Barbecue inspires

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

After the usual breakfast at the diner, I headed off to work. I only needed to work until 1:30 because I worked late a couple of days this week. Rick called and offered to take me to Bonefish Grill for lunch to make up for a “bad vacation weekend” as he called it. It’s true, Thanksgiving Day/birthday was great fun, but driving up north and back in two days, followed by an upper respiratory ailment did make for a short and awful vacation.

But I digress. We stopped by the Apple store to pick up a new battery for my Macbook, then headed to Bonefish Grill. We were both very hungry since breakfast was at 7:30 am. I am not a fish lover, but I do really really like their shrimp tacos. Unfortunately, the sign on the door said they opened at 4!

What to do? Well, if you read the title of the blog, you know the answer. Brandon has been telling me that Mongolian Barbecue is a great place to eat on keto, since they now labeled all their sauces with nutritional content plus offer lettuce for wraps in place of tortillas. We decided to check it out.

I loaded up my bowl with chicken, shrimp, onion slices, and mushrooms. Brandon recommended the Asian black bean sauce. I know beans have carbs, but the label says 1 gram of carbs per ounce. Sounded good to me! I added a bit of garlic and waited for the griller to do his work.

It was very very very good. It was one of my favorite keto dinners to date! Rick liked his alot too. I went for seconds, and didn’t change a thing. It was spicy, nutritious, and delicious. We didn’t take the waiter up on the offer to take a full dish home in a carryout container for only $2.49. I was full and it didn’t appeal to me, but the next day, I rued that decision. It would have made a cheap and delicious leftover meal on Saturday at home. Oh well. Next time.

I do have to say, the only spoiler was trying to roll up a lettuce wrap around a portion of my meal. It was just too soggy to handle. I ate the meal with a fork and ignored the lettuce altogether. I also ignored the bowl of rice. I know it is deceivingly delicious looking. In reality, I didn’t need it as filler to detract from my flavorful dish.

All in all, I would say this is in my top five low carb keto meal choices when eating out. In fact, if I could find that Asian black bean sauce, I would cook this at home in our wok at least once a week. So far, I have scoured Amazon.com and other sites, but many of them have similar looking sauces without any nutritional info. I’ll keep searching.