Category Archives: Cheat meal

Day 6: Better, not great

Saturday progress:

Brunch – coneys (ate the buns and about 10 fries)

Dinner – Steak with onion cream sauce and a side of cauliflower mashed potatoes. Delicious!

Photo Mar 23, 8 25 50 PM

Photo Mar 23, 8 32 00 PM

That’s it. It was a short day, and I hit the hay early. Since I’ve never done “low carb” and only strict keto, I’m not even sure how many carbs were in the buns and fries, so let’s take a look:

buns = 18 grams carbs each
fries = a little bigger than shoestring, so I’ll say 15 grams to be safe

So I went over 33 grams from “non-keto” eating. And then I went right back to keto-friendly for dinner.

That’s something I’ve decided to try. I’m working on getting rid of this all or nothing attitude, where I screw up one meal, then go on a binge for the rest of the day. Instead, I ate the carbs at brunch, then went back on the keto plan for the rest of the day.

My son (who is doing very well on the keto plan) proposed an interesting idea –

He suggested that I add up my carbs by the WEEK instead of the day. That would definitely help rid the “I’m a failure” attitude that is so pervasive after one binge meal. I’ll think about trying that next week.

Day 5: The birthday party

It was Friday, and I had a good start with a keto-friendly breakfast (eggs/bacon, of course).

I was only working until 1:30, then my son/wife, niece/husband/kids and I were getting together at 3 to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My dad died last May, and his great-grandson Owen decided we should get together as usual and have a party for him. We ordered his favorite pizza, I made the cake he always baked, we watched some videos of him, and had some pictures out.

llrcakeIt was nice, and I decided to go for a cheat meal and just enjoy it. I had 4 pieces of pizza (with crust) and some lemon/lime refrigerator cake.

Breakfast and the party food was all I ate for the day. At home that evening, I was pretty hungry, and made the unwise decision to have a glass of wine. Maybe it was thinking about and missing my dad, but I ended up eating no more, but drinking a bottle of wine. Sigh. Bad decisions all around.

I’m pretty sure the carb count was astronomical. Let’s start over tomorrow.

 

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 308: Monday trivia failure!

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

Monday started out fine with a nice leftover quiche breakfast. Lunch was a couple of beddar cheddars and some almonds.

Dinner. Sigh.

I was at Albert’s for trivia. I always order a really good chicken salad. Today, I blew it. I just wanted pizza. I had 4 pieces of pizza AND some steak fries. I fairly wallowed in carbs.

That’s it. I blew it and tomorrow is another day.

Day 297: On again, off again

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

Thursday started off okay. I went into work a little early, because we were going to a movie after work, and I didn’t want to work too late. I took a homemade sausage/egg/cheese bowl from Rick.

I was working pretty intently, and the next thing I knew it was 1 pm. I put 4 pieces of bacon in a low carb tortilla and warmed it up. Pretty tasty. I followed that with some almonds.

I made the mistake of not eating enough to make it through the movie. I was hungry at 5:30 and bought an order of nachos from the concession stand. It was at least an historical event from the standpoint that I didn’t eat them all! I don’t think I have ever NOT finished nachos, but there were far too many for me to eat knowing how many carbs I was ingesting. And so much for saving money by not purchasing costly concession stand treats.

Next week, I’ll be sure to eat more during the day so I’m not hungry when I get there. The plan worked well for me last week.

I completed an evening of poor decision making by eating a ham sandwich on sourdough bread. Didn’t hit the spot and was a waste of carbs.

The movie we saw was “The Flight.” I don’t want to post any spoilers, but there are a few characters with alcohol and drug issues. I can empathize. Food is still ingrained in my psyche as a means to comfort. I’m proud that I keep getting right back on the plan after small failures, but watching the addicts battle for sobriety reminded me that the keto diet is not just going to solve all my weight issues. Many of my poor decisions with food are caused by ingrained habits, wrong ideas, and emotional decisions that I’ll probably be battling for the rest of my life. And, although I’ve lost the weight a little too slowly for my own satisfaction, I’m happy that I have stayed with it this long, and that I jump back on the plan daily, instead of throwing in the towel after bad decisions.

Today, I enjoyed a pleasant, albeit poor choice of nachos for dinner, but tomorrow is a new day.

Day 296: Yummy pot roast from Costco

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

You may notice that I skipped Tuesday’s blog post (day 295). It was election day, and I knew I was going to attend a party at my friend Jo’s and would probably succumb to the temptation of her moist and chew brownies. I declared a cheat day in advance, and ate a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell for dinner, plus the aforementioned brownies and some chips and dip.

I had actually planned to have a cheat meal yesterday, since we were supposed to close on the home sale and celebrate at Macaroni Grill. Unfortunately, the closing was postponed until next week. This is the most difficult home sale we’ve ever had – and we’ve been through a few in the past 15 years. Since the cheat meal on Weds. was cancelled, I just moved it to the election party on Tuesday.

Yesterday morning began with a cheese and onion omelet at the diner. I added a side of crispy bacon and it was a very good meal.

Lunch was at my desk. I ate 2 Beddar Cheddars.

I had chili lime almonds for a late afternoon snack.

I worked late and didn’t get home from work until 7 pm. I popped a Costco pot roast from Costco into the microwave. I’ve had it before and I thought it was pretty tasty. It only takes 10 minutes to cook. I ran off to do some cleaning and sorting in the basement. When the 10 minutes were up, I tossed a bag of frozen cauliflower in the micro for 6 minutes and went outside for a quick vodka and diet drink on the deck.

It was a REALLY quick drink, because it was 40 degrees outside. Rick may enjoy the great white north, but not I. I cut my drink short and went back inside to whip up the cauliflower into mashed potatoes.

We had a quick and hearty meal in fewer than 25 minutes.

For dessert, Rick wanted me to whip up the keto-friendly chocolate mousse from heavy cream that I used to make. I did, and we had a lovely dessert.

Day 293: Trying a new chicken piccata recipe

Total weight loss: 41 1/2 pounds

Sunday morning and we decided to stay in for breakfast. It was a chilly, but sunny day and it was nice to eat in our cozy home. I had a leftover egg/sausage/cheese bowl that Rick had made for my Friday breakfast at work. I didn’t get around to eating it, and it was a perfect easy-peasy breakfast for someone who doesn’t love to cook. I ate that while attempting the NYT puzzle. This week’s was a bear!

On to the busy day: we went for one last clean out at the house we sold. I spent the day washing out the fridge, washing floors, vacuuming, sweeping, and for the grand finale: carrying old boxes, paints, and sundry items out of the basement. It was good exercise, but I was achy when finished.

We took a mid-day break at the Del Taco nearby. I wonder if that’s the last lunch I’ll have there, now that the house is sold. I ordered the macho beef burrito and was eating it without the tortilla, when I realized that it had beans in it. The guy taking our order did keep messing up, so I wasn’t surprised. I decided to eat it anyway, since I already had planned to have a cheat lunch due to the addition of 2 churros.

Eating the cheat lunch didn’t stop me from trying out a new keto-friendly dinner recipe. I think I am getting the hang of being balanced about this plan. I used to be so “all or nothing” that I would have just eaten a lot of carbs for the rest of the day since my lunch consumption was far from perfect. After more than 9 months on keto and nearing the 50 pound mark (woohoo!), I have learned to jump back on the wagon right away.

Chicken piccata ingredients include chicken (duh), garlic, white wine, lemon juice, and capers. I added mushrooms to make it similar to the meal I had at Angelo Brothers a few nights ago. Rick kindly shopped for the ingredients, and even cut the chicken and pounded it flat with a mallet. After that, the whole recipe took me less that 20 minutes to complete.

I sauteed the chicken in olive oil and butter, then transferred to a plate. Then I sauteed garlic and mushrooms, added wine and lemon juice, then added capers. I let this simmer.  

I put the chicken back in the pan and simmered some more. Unfortunately, here’s were I goofed up. I decided there wasn’t enough liquid, so I added more wine and lemon juice. I think adding these at the end made the recipe too lemony-flavored. I believe these ingredients need to be set early in the simmering stage so as not to be such a prominent flavor. It was good, but not exactly right.I had some leftover cauliflower mashed potatoes and those made a great side item, since the soaked up the delicious gravy.

All in all, it was pretty good, but I need to work on it. I was tired from a long day, and didn’t feel like cooking, but it was a really nice and quick meal. I’ll attempt it again next week and see if I can get the proportions right, then I’ll post the entire recipe on the blog.

Day 290: Successes and failures…and lessons learned

Total weight loss: 41 pounds

Breakfast – skipped

I took my breakfast bowl to work, but our morning meeting went so long that I wasn’t hungry for breakfast by the time we got out. My friend Wally called unexpectedly and invited me to lunch. I decided to wait to eat until then.

Lunch – Big Boy buffalo grilled chicken salad with bleu cheese dressing. It was delicious, as usual – and Wally treated. Thanks, friend. Good food, good conversation.

Snack – Rick and I decided to go to a 5:00 movie: Cloud Atlas. I knew I wouldn’t make it until after it was over to eat dinner, and I didn’t want to show up at the theater hungry and get tempted to buy something bad at the snack bar. (I am learning to plan ahead.) I was already getting hungry, since the salad for lunch was all I had eaten for the day. Around 4, I heated a leftover portion of lasagna and ate that as a preventative measure. It was really tasty. Most “pasta” dishes seem to taste better when reheated since all the flavors have time to blend.

Movie – 2 sips of Rick’s diet Coke. Very determined NOT to buy concession food

After movie dinner – We didn’t eat out. When I got home, I heated another portion of lasagna. I have no problem repeating meals when I like them.

I congratulated myself on my restraint. I had a perfect keto day.

Then, an hour before bed, I decided to read and have a choco/peanut butter low carb snack.

I went in to the kitchen to get some 70% chocolate and noticed that Rick had eaten one package of the Hostess cupcakes we had purchased for the grandkids. How are we supposed to give only ONE grandchild a pack of cupcakes? Boy, they sure looked good. They were orange frosted. I could just taste the tangy citrus flavor of the frosting and the creamy center. So I did. I ate two Hostess cupcakes.

BLECK. I was SOOOO close to going to bed. Why didn’t I just close my eyes and ignore them? They were a total of 60 grams of carbs. I know I was well under 80 carbs for the day, which is probably fine on a low-carb diet, but for keto, I’m sure I knocked myself out of ketogenesis, and for no good reason. They were just okay tasting, nothing to get excited about.

Lessons learned:

  1. I am not perfect.
  2. I should probably fill up more on water.
  3. Don’t skip breakfast.
  4. I probably did not eat enough during the day, and allowed myself to be too tempted.
  5. NEVER have junk food in the house.

Day 288: Oops, cheat lunch at Chinese restaurant / excellent keto-friendly lasagna

Total weight loss: 41 pounds

We finally decided not to go out to breakfast. Just too costly. Rick made my “breakfast bowl”: 2 eggs, 2 sausage patties, cheese, and Taco Bell hot sauce. He puts it in a bowl, and I reheat, chop up, and eat at my desk. MMMMMMMM. Thanks, honey.

I was going to eat 2 Beddar Cheddars for lunch, but I got a surprise lunch invite from my niece, Marsha. The AUCE Chinese restaurant that we both love is very near my workplace, so I agreed to lunch with her.

I debated if I could do a low carb lunch, or if it was too difficult with the few options that I should just do a cheat meal. I sort of did a blend of both options.

I went to the Mongolian section and made a bowl with chicken, onion, garlic, and a little crab. I asked the cook to use garlic oil – he offered spicy; I said sure. It turned out to be delicious. Unfortunately, the Mongolian counter was at the back of the store, past the crab rangoons and the tempura sushi. Sigh.

So, I sort of did a half and half cheat meal. I had a main course that was low carb, and side dishes that were coated with breading. I do think I’ll get some garlic oil and try to make my own “Mongolian” stir fry at home. It’d be pretty easy, and keto-friendly. Always looking for some fresh ideas for keto recipes.

While I was off galavanting with my niece, Rick was home slaving away over the stove – for me! He made marinara sauce with the low carb tomato sauce and diced tomatoes he found yesterday at Kroger. He also cooked a pound of ground up Italian sausage. He was preparing the ingredients for a new keto-friendly, low-carb lasagna recipe I wanted to try. I thought I’d make it pretty close to my Dad’s traditional recipe, only using spaghetti squash as the lasagna “noodles.”

I saw this idea on several low carb sites, but most of the recipes, although low carb, were too high in carbs for keto. Rick did some investigating while shopping and found that a 14 oz can of Del Monte diced tomatoes with zesty mild green chilis was 7g per can, and Kroger tomato sauce was ZERO net carbs per can. He used 2 cans of each in his recipe, with 2 tbsp of olive oil (og), and various ingredients like garlic, 1/2 cup onion (10g), and 1/2 cup of red wine (4g). The whole recipe is posted here.

After work, I cook a whole large spaghetti squash, gathered the rest of the cheeses and ingredients and assembled a lasagna. Approximately one hour later, we sat down to a delicious bubbly authentic-tasting lasagna meal. At approximately 7.4 grams of carbs per serving, it surpassed my wildest dreams. I am no cook, but Rick’s marinara sauce is really flavorful and added to cheese and pepperoni, this tasted almost like my dad’s traditional recipe!

Here’s a picture of the whole pan…

So, dinner was a hit, and I have lots of servings to warm up during the week. This will definitely be a staple of my keto diet, and I’ll be making it a couple of times a month. I have to recalculate and be sure I didn’t mistake any of the carb counts. For instance, the mozzarella cheese said less than one gram of carbs per serving. Well, if you have many servings, when does that become 1 or even 2?

We each had an Adkins coconut bar for dessert. It was kind of an up and down day in terms of the keto plan, but creating such a keto-friendly pan of lasagna was a real high point of the day.

Day 224: Catching up on the blog (38 pounds down)

Total weight loss: 38 pounds

You may have noticed I’ve been gone for about a month. I’ve still been on keto, I just haven’t taken the time to blog.

The month had its usual ups and downs. Lots of stress, way too much to do and solve, but the keto habit remained ingrained. I had a few cheat meals, felt some remorse, jumped back on.

Since the last blog, I’ve lost another 3 pounds. I’m always happy to lose, but always look for that next highlight…this one is, of course, the 40 pound mark. I hope to reach it by Saturday (my son’s wedding day, BTW), but if I don’t then I’ll just keep plugging away.

As I think of any highlights, or low lights, of the past month, I’ll post them and try to catch up. Yesterday’s meals were nothing great. I have strep throat and I’m on antibiotics. I just don’t have much of an appetite, but I started the day with a low carb yogurt just to have something in my stomach. Lunch was way off the wagon – 2 beef chalupas and an order of nachos from Taco Bell.

Dinner was on track: chicken kabobs on a low carb bun. I had an Adkins candy snack in the afternoon.

In the evening, I had 2 glasses of wine sitting outside on a beautiful summer evening my hubby. Oh, and some Dubliner cheese with the wine.

I’ve probably been knocked out of keto by the Taco Bell, but I didn’t eat too much for the day besides that awful meal. (It wasn’t even very satisfying? why o why don’t I remember that before I order?)

Challenges to face this week: Luncheon at Macaroni Grill, rehearsal dinner at Traffic Jam, and WEDDING! I’ve had cheat meals, and I’ve had cheat days. Is there such a thing as a “cheat week”??