Category Archives: Keto food review

Day 281: Update on progress, 39 pounds off

Total weight loss: 39 pounds

In case you think I have fallen off the keto wagon, I have not. I have simply been overwhelmed by life and far too busy to blog. There is no chance for me to catch up on my daily progress, but here’s a recap:

When last I blogged, it was on the cusp of my son’s wedding. I blogged just before the celebratory dinners began. For the week or so before/after the wedding, I had cheat meals galore. In fact, I was off the plan.

The next week (the end of August), I started afresh. Before going off the keto plan, I had lost 38 pounds. I weighed myself before starting back on the plan, and was sad to see I had gained 4 pounds during my cheat fest. Sigh, back into the routine I went.

I stayed on the plan through September and October. Each week, I saw slow progress: 1.5 pounds down, .5 pounds up, 1 pounds down, .5 pounds up, etc. etc. No consistent loss or huge drops in my weight, but I did have at least one-two cheat meals or days a week (planned, and unplanned, depending on the week).

At my weigh in last Saturday, all the weight I gained in August was gone, plus one pound – total 5 pounds lost in September and 3 weeks of October. WHEW!

As an added bonus, I am in one size smaller in my work slacks. For some reason (the cut of the pants or whatever), I have not been able to get in a smaller size all these months. In jeans, I dropped a size long ago. Well, whatever the reason, the pants fit, so I must not quit. [bad pun, sorry]

There isn’t much to report from the past week. I have no new recipes or food ideas, and my meals have been somewhat boring, so I will begin my daily meal journal with tomorrow’s blog.

Oh, one thing I do have to report: I’ve had a stupendous amount of energy! From dawn til dusk, I’m going going going, and feel great! I guess a nearly 40-pound weight loss can relieve the body of  a lot of stress. I know if I pick up something that weighs 40-50 pounds, I appreciate how heavy that is.  I think it’s time to work more exercise into my routine. I feel very healthy now, and that will speed up weight loss and make me feel more energetic as well.

Goals – I’d like to get back to more inspirational meals. I’m going to spend this weekend investigating new ideas. I’m also thinking about recording my meals in myfitnesspal.com again and getting more regimented in my intake. I have been estimating carbs based on the fact that I’ve been doing it so long. I’d like to see how much leeway I’ve been allowing myself by not recording every meal in a food calculator.

Review of some no-carb and low-carb foods

I’ve ordered and tried several low carb options, and now I’ve even found some zero-carb food items to try. I ordered these items from Julian Bakery.

  • Two loaves of bread: carb zero white and carb zero cinnamon
  • Two candy bars, one regular, one raspberry
  • A box of zero carb chocolate cookies

The bread – I’ve only tried the white bread so far. It’s dense, tasteless, and nothing to write home about. AND, it was $8 for a loaf! It’s similar to the texture of home-made flax bread. It doesn’t darken when toasted. It just gets really hard.

I don’t miss eating bread all that much. Sometimes, however, I’d just like a sandwich, or a piece of toast with peanut butter. This definitely is not worth the money and is not a very satisfying substitute.

I’ll update my blog with the cinnamon bread review soon.

The chocolate bars – Both chocolate bars tasted really really good. They were each a very good imitation of a high-carb bar, for only 2 carbs each. HOWEVER, it is really hot outside right now, and the box came with two extremely melted bars. I think I would either look for these in a store, or only order in the winter. They did ship from California, so maybe the winter idea wouldn’t work. The raspberry bar was dripping from the bottom, but, bonus!, it gave the plain chocolate bar a little raspberry flavor since it soaked up a bit of the juice.

The cookies – These were okay. They remind me a bit of the Snackwells chocolate cookie that I tried a few years ago. For zero carbs, they are a satisfying option. However, they are a little more than a dollar for each cookie, which should be factored in. I may try some home made cookie recipes from some keto recipe sites.

 

The problem with this whole order, is that I paid a REQUIRED $14 for shipping – supposedly 2-day air. The order arrived about ten days later. With the high price of the items, plus the shipping cost, these went over my usual food budget.